Moe Jontana

to me, this speaks volumes. GW is kinda doin' what Clintwood did last year. winning a few games perhaps they weren't expected to win. travelin' across the dang state to beat the east #1 seed. these type of performances build confidence and force you to be tough as sh!t...physically and psychologically. Honaker's road has been MUCH easier overall (Sussex was obviously a good team, but not even close to last year's team that Clintwood beat. plus, Franklin put up 60+ on Sussex beating them by over 30pts in the regular season). anything can happen when youngins' are playin', but unless GW is just flat out spent from playin' tough games, and bus-lagged from last week's hellacious road trip, they should win by 2 or more tds. simply put, i think GW is just better than Honaker. still gotta play, though. good luck to both "Westerners" for the second year in a row.

Confirmed time and place: Wednesday morning 10am at Longs Fork Elementary School playground behind the monkey bars. Adjacent to the basketball court...the one with 9ft. goals. Ain't no way GW wins in that environment.

i've ate my crow...washed it down with a cold beer. congrats Battle.

and you're from Dickenson County? quit bein' so responsible, you'll ruin our reputation.

pack your own munchies, pack your cooler, find the field way early, park and tailgate. eat food. drink beer. it's playoff football...do it right, dammit!

No offense to the locals (of which i'm one of), but... Battle overrated. Giles rolls. Simple as that. Battle has cool uniforms, though.

Cave Spring's QB's parents both graduated from Clintwood. Grandparents retired to Abingdon...old school Clintwoodians at heart. so, don't hate on'em too much.

despite their record and being the 14th seed, Radford could probably beat anyone from the 4th seed on down. they're better than most seeds above them (with exception of Galax who they lost to in a close game 40-28 during the regular season). played tough schedule and scored some points on some really good teams. only lost to George Wythe 44-31. i think they're a bit like Gate City, pretty potent offensively because they have some athletes and can throw the ball, but they seemingly struggle defensively against the run. definitely not your typical low/high seed first round game. a very stiff test for Clintwood, as opposed to past years. one of those times when the first round game will probably be more competitive than the second round game. actually think it's a good thing...should get Clintwood's playoff focus kicked off right from the start. a very interesting first round matchup.

Originally Posted by starcityfootballfan "The Grayson County team that defeated Graham? Or the Grayson County team that lost to Clintwood"? Good question, Ironlung.

Good question.

Graham was only on a different level when he played against subpar teams. He still was good when he played tough teams, but being on a "different level" is a consistent state of being...it shouldn't matter who you're playing against, especially in Single A ball. Gavan Meade was, at the very least, just as good of a RB as Graham last year, and he's better than Graham this year. That's just comparing them as RB's, as overall football players, in all facets of the game, Meade is more than a few notches above. I saw them both play last year, and I've seen every game that Gavan has played since he was in the second grade. He is a football player, and he doesn't have to have the ball in his hands to prove it. I just can't say the same thing about Graham. Anyway, not slighting Graham, but "different level" he was not.

people fail to realize that Meade has power AND speed. he can run over you or he can outrun you. he's deceiving because he glides, no wasted motion. contrary to popular opinion, over the last few years Clintwood has had very good team speed and quickness on both sides of the ball.

don't know what the cmd people are talkin' about. hopefully, dylan will be fine and last night was just precautionary. tanner's shoulder popped out in the back last night, usually comes out in front and him and doc can put it back in fairly quick. a bit more painful and harder to get back in last night. he had surgery in january, contact started late july-early august. that's just about 6 or so months recovery time. may have been too soon. he told me it didn't matter though, he's gonna play anyway cause he's a senior. made it through last year's playoff run, albeit with some periodic issues. it's a bothersome and frustrating thing though. like i said, hopefully their resilience will continue.

yeah, a tad flat for both lebanon and lee, but still won 42-6 and 40-6. purty sure they'll be flyin' high for them raiders. a few health issues goin' into this game, but hopefully their resilience will continue.

now a freshman at Concord University, is starting at linebacker after beginning the season as a fullback. a beast on the field and a good feller, hope he continues to do well. http://cumountainlions.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1894&path=football

Eastside over Haysi. After all the upset talk about the Tigers havin' a chance to beat Clintwood, then gettin' drilled. Then losin' to Eastside. Obviously the high hopes of Haysi were a bit exaggerated, because Eastside is average at best. As far as Clintwood goes, they are better than they were last year, and last year they won it all. Just sayin'...

no matter what the score is at halftime, Rick will almost always play his starters at least halfway through the third quarter (as he should). and the only reason he went for two at the end of the half was to make up for missing an extra point earlier (he's fairly obsessive about the kicking game). the only people trying to make a statement tonight were the players, as i mentioned in an earlier post, they were all well aware of all the pre-game trash talk, and were very focused on physically shutting up the "talker of the trash". as a result, that particular player quit early in the 2nd quarter. Cumberland District experience doesn't translate well when playing LPD teams. he's physically impressive for his height...but so is Kim Kardashian...there seems to be something missing in the psychological resilience department. he is just a youngin', though. i found it more interesting that Colley kept his starters in the whole game, even against Clintwood's 3rd and 4th stringers. i figure that was purely an ego thing...a chance to make the final score a bit more respectable. i find it funny they still only scored one TD ("trash talker" from about 20 or so yards out). Haysi has the tendency to play well on emotion early, then fold when the real sh!t starts happening. starters against starters...for 4 quarters, no matter the score...when heart and mental toughness counts...the Wave wins 70-6. Coach Mullins was gentle tonight...against the wants of his players. Classy as usual. Maybe that'll rub off when consolidation happens.

unlike last year, the people who are saying that the Wave "doesn't have it together" aren't FROM Clintwood. like i said, they could've/should've beat Hazard, and Hazard is the best 1-A team that Clintwood, or anyone else, will play in the regular season this year. if there is such a thing, it was one of those "positive losses".

Olinger is a SR., Jones is the SOPH.

Him (and he is probably the best back in SWVA this year), and about 14 other returning starters from last year's champs. (offense, defense, both ways combined). last year means nothing though, still gotta play this year's games.

too early, nobody knows squat after one game. recent history, however, would show Richlands in AA, and Clintwood, Gate City, and JI Burton in A.

anything can happen, of course, especially in high school football...but, Haysi only beat Castlewood 28-14, and from what you said Castlewood lost almost everybody from last years team (a good Cumberland district team, but average in most other districts). so, i'm assuming Castlewood is rebuilding...from an average team, and that would probably make them worse than they were last year. Haysi should've killed them. Clintwood, on the other hand, played away at the best 1A school in Kentucky (defending champ Hazard) and could've/should've beat them. lost by 6 and were up 17-3 late in the first half. the Wave played extremely well in the loss, best opening game (considering the level of competition) in years. comparing the strength of each opponent, Hazard would drill Castlewood by 50 points or more. Add to the mix that the game is Clintwood's home opener and the team is well aware that there's been alot of Dickenson County upset chatter about Haysi's chances this year, and the Tiger's chances decrease even further. like i said, anything can happen, and i know you don't think strength of schedule is that big of a deal, but i just don't see Haysi winning this game. this Clintwood team is just too "big game" experienced (about 15 returning starters from last year's champs), and the coaches will not allow them to underestimate anybody...especially after last year's 1-2 start. the Bowen kid and the quarterback are good, but there's no way they can be better than the RB/QB Clintwood just faced in Hazard (not to mention their D-1, Cincinnati-bound WR/LB/Athlete, and they were all held in check by Clintwood's defense for MOST of the game...not all, obviously). it may be close, and it may be a good smashmouth county rumble, but i'm gonna have to take the Wave in this'n. of course, i'm from Clintwood and you're from Haysi...i'm guessin' we're both a tad bias.

clintwood had 59 on roster, 55 at press day. so, let's just go with 57.

Now that's a major redneck weekend! Too bad NASCAR ain't a sport and mainstream country ain't real music.

Robbie has never been inside on the DL, he's been the strong side defensive end the last two years, with a little LB thrown in depending on the formation. This year, a full-time move to the LB position is more than likely. Offensively, Clintwood has the luxury of rotating 4 or 5 players from position to position in the backfield...including quarterback. If Coach takes advantage of this, Clintwood should be alot more diverse and unpredictable this year.