sixcat

Dam, we’ve completely agreed twice in less than a week!

It's Cave Spring....no "s" at the end. I lived there for a decade when he was in high school. Even refereed a few of his games while finishing college. No, it's not SWVA. The image at the top of the homepage of this website clearly shows the SWVA boundary and schools represented. Welcome to the board!

RIverheads lost two very close games to two top quality Class 2 teams. One of which will be playing for a Class 2 state championship Saturday in Salem. I'm not sure anyone outside of Essex and Sussex Central can compete with them this year. Class A West is down across the board this year with the exception of Narrows and Chilhowie. I don't see either having risen enough to beat any of those three teams out east. Just calling it like I see it! It's Riverheads, not Rivershead. Represent Galax with some class and dignity, please. The actions of a few reflect on the whole, whether negatively or positively! Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

A lot of the middle school kids follow the same routine. The football coach started his "breakfast club" about 7 or 8 years ago. The commitment is amazing and the kids hold one another accountable. Kids from 6th grade through 12th grade are all over the school at 6am every morning. It looks like that is filtering into the girls program now.

I don't know if they are the "team to beat", but a win over a Carroll program that has been a perennial fixture in the 4A playoffs for the past decade is impressive. Galax does only have 7 varsity players but all 7 work their tails off. Shoot around, video session, and weights before school and practice after school since the close of last season, same routine all summer, 5 or 6 days a week, all on a voluntary basis! I would think only having 7 players will be a weakness at some point though.

That's a lot of turnover. There is a lot to be said for stability, regardless of context.

Former coaches taking the reigns as athletics director is a mixed bag. Tom Osborne's platform for the position at Nebraska was to hand pick his successors, both in the coaching ranks as well as administrative in an effort to "stabilize" the athletic department. Time has proven, his hand picked choices for coaches and administrators were less than quality selections. Nebraska is currently bringing in head football coach number 6 since Osborne sold the university on his "program stabilizing" plan. Bob Devaney and Bill Byrne were the only two AD's at Nebraska from 1967 to 2002. They have had 5 since. Not really a "stabilizing" plan. Pat Hayden was an abject failure at USC as AD. Lynn Swann will not fair any better in my opinion. Frank Broyles and Barry Alvarez could easily be considered a hall-of-fame caliber coaches and administrators.

^^^THIS^^^ Seems like a knee-jerk reaction by a university and fan base stuck in the past.

Those two are four year starters and will not be easily replaced. My thoughts are, replacement by committee after talking to someone I grew up with on the coaching staff. If they can manage to do that, the rest of the roster is returning pretty much fully intact.

Grayson County came on late in the season and return virtually everyone. I believe they will be very good next season.

Galax beat Carroll soundly last week in a game that was never as close as the final score. Galax lead by more than 20 most of the night and won 62-52. I'm not sure what Carroll returns from a Class 4 state quarter-final team from a year ago but that's as impressive a win as Galax has had in a number of years.

I've read your commentary on the "other site". Welcome! All of 1A football is down this season as compared to recent years with the exception of Narrows and Chlhowie. Any of the Galax, Clintwood, Haysi, Riverheads, Essex and George Wythe teams of the past 5-6 seasons would have dominated from the opening quarter of the opening game of this season. With that said, I wish Chilhowie all the best and will be rooting for anyone from SWVA at this juncture of the season. But Riverheads will win this game going away! I have said on this site for a year, if you're going to get Galax, get them now. The group coming up through the middle school is going to be something special!

Unless I’m missing something, neither of these teams will pose much of a threat for Riverheads. Galax has 2:14 to win it or play basketball.

Actually the pick was by Caxton Vaught, 5’-6” DB against a 6’6” TE. Spurlin fumbled the punt a few minutes later and Vaught recovered it as well. Kind of a sloppy game. Lots of penalties, lost footing and dropped balls.

I don't think anyone in the school system, administration, coaches, or players are paying attention to any of this. This isn't the first time Galax has had to make wise use of its time in order to meet standards across multiple fronts. Given the success of the Galax athletics department as a whole this decade, they are always having to work around tournaments. They will figure things out quite nicely if they are allowed to do so. It seems to be social media BS coming from a small number of people. But you know what they say, it only takes one bad apple.

SAT's are generally planned well in advance of a school year so, this isn't something that couldn't have been planned for. But my issue isn't so much with the timing as it is with some folks response to the timing. People are upset that some players are choosing to take the SAT's on the same day rather than "focusing on the biggest game of the season". The quoted text is taken directly from social media! That's the lack of perspective that infuriates me. I also don't understand why concessions can't be made under the circumstances to allow a Friday game given the proximity of these two schools.

Galax is getting some push-back for scheduling this game around SAT's. Some people have such a lack of perspective, it's both confusing and infuriating. Not one kid in this game is likely to ever make a dime from playing the game of football. Every single kid in this game can benefit from a quality education.

Galax has 10 seniors but two are kickers and another rarely plays. The coaching staff tends to cater the starting lineup to match-up with the opponent in certain spots but they typically start 6 seniors. But another half a dozen freshmen play significant minutes. As has been stated previously, if your going to get Galax, now is the time. The group coming up is something very special.

Yes we do and what a surprise, yours must differ from mine! I’ve known John and his family for more than 30 years. One doesn’t typically coach and direct the athletics department at the junior college level for a dozen years without having talent for the craft. Grayson will be a solid 2D basketball team this season.

Grayson County should be very good. They are excellently coached and have an awful lot of returning talent with excellent size. They wont compete with Gate City in Region D but they will be very competitive with everyone else.

My daughter is in 7th grade with this group. I’ve seen them excel at every level and not just with football. They will be a very talented group in several other sports as well. Very good all around talented athletes. And as you say, great numbers as well.

Craig Worrell posted on Twitter that Beeman finished today with 45 carries for 218 yards and 4 TD’s. Have yourself a day, young man!

The current group of 7th through 9th graders at Galax are the group I have been talking about for a couple of years. Keaton Beeman leads that group and yes, he is a freshman. He has a brother in 7th grade as does the other star freshman #33, Barnes. As someone said, if anyone is going to get them, this is the year. The next few years are going to be something special, I believe.

Keaton Beaman has 4 TD’s on the day for Galax. Kid is just a freshman. Gonna be something to watch as I have been saying all season.

Very nice, positive outlook. You definitely won't face 2A competition like this in Virginia. Before Hough High School opened about 5 years ago, North Meck was the largest school in North Carolina. They split the school boundary to have equal enrollment at both schools. Hough now has an enrollment of 2,453 while North Meck has 1,881. While I understand the area around Hough has grown substantially over the past 5 years, imagine what North Meck would have looked like prior to Hough.