Melvin

Yep. My cousin threw winning TD pass. My other cousin caught the TD pass 

Ricky Schneph was his name.

Good Morning, 
  Graham High School will host Appomattox High School in the Class 2 VHSL State Football Semi-finals on Saturday, December 3rd at 2:00 p.m. This will be a GOFAN online ticket event. No tickets will be sold at the gate.  The cost of tickets will be $10.00 with a convenience charge of $1.50. Tickets will go on sale Monday evening on GOFAN. Children 6 and under will be admitted free with a paying adult. More information will be shared on social media and to participating schools throughout the week.   

Made my first and last trip to Central about 6 or 7 years ago. We got there about 15 minutes before kickoff, as I usually stand at the fence anyway. I didn't realize I was going to need binoculars to watch the game. 

Or sitting 80 yards from the field at Central

Council Cobra football.  Undefeated since 1995.  I am one of the few who played a game at Council.

Currently: 2A: Bullitt Park (Union); 1A: Warriors Stadium (Chilhowie)
In the past:2A: Legion Field (Gate City), Bullitt Park (Powell Valley), Stephen C. Ragsdale Stadium (Giles); 1A Riggs Stadium (Appalachia),  Ralph Cummins Stadium (Clintwood)

Yeah coming off the best year in school history, there would be no reason to think you couldn’t give it a go. Iron man football is not appreciated enough. Places like Graham, Richlands, Giles etc are spoiled with having enough players that if you truly wanted to could just play one side of the ball. These BDD teams and teams of the past (Whitewood, Garden, Pocahontas etc.) some kids go on the field the opening kickoff and don’t come off until it’s time to go through the handshake line. I’m sure before that game with Montcalm it looked like TVHS could field a team for the season but when you lose a few kids, those visions change. Important to have perspective. 

Yeah man... normally I agree with your posts, but that's a bad take.  Respect the Panthers for giving it a go and continue to pray for those affected by the awful flooding  in and around Oakwood and Pilgrim's Knob.

A community devastated by catastrophic flooding attempts to give their kids normalcy but by all means let’s think of the poor other schools losing a game/gate.
 
GTFOH with that…for real. Do I hate we are losing a game? Sure, but it’s BS to criticize those kids/coaches/admin. 

Much rather make QB run back and forth smh

Well Folks, after reading a lot of the off season and recent comments on this site, Uncle Percy said we definitely need to step in and pick this years Losers and expose the so called  “Mamby Pamby Millennial Experts” who wouldn’t know a cow patty from a horse biscuit. We’ve noticed that VHSL realignment has brought about its usual 4 year craziness and it looks like the Buchanan County teams are about to get the short end of the stick. More on this later on. Could be a crazy year in Russell County, Uncle Percy said he couldn’t ever remember a county having to hire new head football coaches (3) for every county school. Maybe Mr. Researcher might know if this has happened before or of something similar. This could be a crazy year, but Mr. GMan’s Revenuers, The Ridge Pack, probably Sixcat’s Fiddle Players, and Union_Fan’s Bear Cubs (they may start slow but probably finish strong) will more than likely be the “Big Dogs”.  Mr. GMan, thanks and we’ll try to keep Uncle Percy calm, but could he have 2 Mulligans this year.  Let’s pick some losers.
Richlands @ Gate City
This used to be one of the biggest and hardest games of the year and to pick a loser. Some years this game was so tough to pick a loser we would have to sneak and use Grandpa Clovis’ Fightin’ Rooster Ol’ Phantom to pick a loser. Ol’ Phantom always picked the right Loser. The Blue Devils have been on the downs in recent years, however it looks like Ol’ Coach Hosswright may have gotten his Blue Imps headed in the right direction from what little we have heard. Over the last few years, The Big Blue Win Machine has slowly became The Little Blue Losing Machine. Uncle Percy watched The Slate Crik Crawdads crawl all over the Blues last week. One of the experts on this site called The Blues “a work in progress”. Uncle Percy’s definition of that statement - they are bad. Tazewell Co. has band all noise makers at home games this year, however Richlands fans had better take some earplugs to Gate City because they’re going to need them this Friday. Look for Gate City to make a lot of noise this Friday Nite. Uncle Percy was wondering if the Devils still have that big noise maker they used to blow.
Lil’ Leonard’s Loser:
The Little Blue Losing Machine
Graham/Bluefield, WV
Uncle Percy calls this the Game of the Year in SWVA. If you’ve never been, you should go at least once. We’ve been several times. This year, they’ll probably be around 8500 to 9000 fans. Don’t believe us, asked Mr. GMan or Mr. Reseacher.   Both teams are coming off a good year. The Revenuers got to the State Finals and The Flattails got to the State Semifinals. The Revenuers are looking at beating The Flattails in back to back years since 2005 and 2006. Both teams lost good players from last year, but that seldom slows these two teams down when they play each other. This may be this years’ hardest pick and we can’t use Ol’ Phantom to help us (we’ve talked about this game for 2 weeks). We know The Flattails will be coming up from the bottom of the pond with their tails on fire after losing to The Revenuers and Princeton last year. Sorry Mr. Researcher, but unless The Revenuers come in overconfident look for them to make it back-to-back wins since 2006.
Lil’ Leonard’s Loser:
The Flattails
Tazewell @ Virginia High
Last Year the Nascar Cats started their season with a blaze at the Tazewell Dog Pound and blazed their way to one of their best seasons in years surprising a lot of people. This year The Fast Cats will not be a big surprise and may find it a little tougher racing down the sidelines. This year the Bull Pups return one of the better passing duos in the area with several other Bull Pups that know how to play catch. Spider-Man Harris starts this season with a good chance of breaking the VHSL receptions record. This game has the makings for a high scoring affair with the Bull Pups and Nascar Cats chasing each other all over the field. However, when the final flag drops and the dust clears, the Nascar Cats prevail in a close one.
Lil’ Leonard’s Loser:
Tazewell
Lebanon @ Honaker
Things may seem a little strange at Honaker this season. Coach Hubbard has retired after many seasons as the Head Tiger, but the Tigers will adjust quickly. They’ll have to because a bunch of long hunters will be rolling in on Thursday looking to bag a bunch of tiger pelts. Both teams have new Head Coaches and both will be wanting that first win badly. However, the Big A Mountain Tigers will have a couple of new tricks up their sleeves that’ll send the Long Hunters back down the Red Bud Highway licking their wounds.
Lil’ Leonard’s Loser:
Lebanon
On another note, we hear that Ellen & Helen College has moved up to play Division 2. Ouch, they’ve definitely crawled into the wrong nest.
 
 

Think Central is a tough place to coach? Yesterday, Fort Pierce (FL) Westwood hired their 11th coach in the last 13 years. Amazingly, the Panthers managed to make the playoffs with winning records in 6 of those 13 seasons. Their biggest problem has been other schools poaching their players, which is rampant everywhere down here. This past year, Westwood lost 4 starters to Vero Beach. Their QB, a DB who is headed to Indiana, a WR who is committed to FSU in the class of 23, and a DE. They also lost a starting OL to Treasure Coast HS. Down 5 quality starters and losing several others to injuries, the Panthers finished 0-9 and had 27 players dressed the last time I saw them play. Who did they hire this time? It's a guy who is a radio host for the local ESPN radio station. Yeah, Wise is probably a tough place to coach, but it can always be worse...

My predictions for next football season are that: There will be a 10 game season; There will be a lot of blowouts and close games; Union fans will complain if they go undefeated and unscored on during the regular season but lose in the second round if the playoffs; The QB play will be the key to all the contenders contending; No team from Southwest Virginia will win a championship until Appomattox and Riverheads combine and move to 4A. You could call them Rivermattox or Appoheads! Threads like this are really crazy to have because no body knows, there are too much speculation anyway, and in football season to many other variables like weather, injuries and coaching changes, transfers, your starting QB's love life or your starting tackle's mindset on getting lucky after the game with the cute cheerleader! Just let it happen, as it happens and enjoy the game we all love! Here's to better days and football forever!

Mildly Interesting (or not) Title Day Tidbits:
Riverheads-9th title since '00, 6th in a row along with a 50 game winning streak
King William-2nd title since '00, 1st title was win over Honaker during Heath Miller's senior season
Phoebus-8th title since '01 but first since '11, only loss this season (Oscar Smith 42-0)
Varina-1st title in the 82 year history of the school
Stone Bridge-3rd title since '07 and 2nd in a row, HC Mickey Thompson, the only coach in the 22 year school history, has appeared in 11 title games (3-8) and has an overall record of 244-47 (.838)
Oscar Smith-4th title since '08 and 2nd in a row, OSHS has appeared in 9 of the last 14 title games (4-5). Oscar Smith's only loss this season (St. John Bosco, CA  49-0)
 
 

There are lots of places in Virginia that feel sorry. All of the homes not in Lynchburg where the LCA players reside!

Sorry LCA, but nobody outside your campus feels bad for you.

The TSSAA 2021 Season is over. The Finals were completed over the weekend. The weather was nearly perfect all weekend with high's in the 70's. Congratulations to all the winners here are the summaries of all 9 games.
On Thursday the Division 2 Teams took the field. In the 1A game Donaldson Christian beat Nashville Christian 31-7: It is DCA's 4th State Title. In the 2A game Lipscomb Academy beat Christ Presbyterian 27-0, it was Lipscomb 1st title.
In the 3A game The McCallie School  of Chattanooga beat Montgomery Bell Academy 28-7. It was McCallie's third title in a row and 4th overall.
On Friday in the 1A Game: South Pittsburg beat McKenzie 24-21, it is South Pitts 6th State Title and first since 2010. South Pittsburgs coach quit on the team after their first game to become a DC in the CFL.
                 In the 3A Game:  Alcoa beat East Nashville 45-14. Alcoa has won the last 7 straight 3A titles and it's their 20th overall.
                In the 5A Game:  Powell beat Page 42-34. Jordyn Potts outdueled Jake McNamara (Colorado State Commit) (they combined for 615 yards passing and 8 TD's) It is Powell's first state title!
On Saturday. In the 4A Game: This was a classic. Tullahoma beat two time defending state champion Elizabethton 21-14 in 2 OT's. Tullahoma's Ryan Scott was the MVP he was 12-16 for 124 1 TD, and ran 16 times for 88 yards and 1 TD. Bryson Rollins finished his brilliant
                  career at Elizabethton Rollins finished 16-26 passing for 131 and a touchdown and a interception on the first play of the 2nd OT for Betsy, and ran 35 times for 138 yards. Tullahoma had back to back 0-10 season's on 2015 and 2016. It is Tullahoma's first state title.
                      In the 2A game.: Westview beat an outmanned and outclassed Hampton 55-14. Ty Simpson (Alabama commit) was the MVP he was 5-10 for 99 yards and 3 TD's and ran for 181 yards on 10 carries and 2 TD's. 
                     In the 6A game: Oakland beat Summit 43-26. This game marked the first time that defending state champions teams played for a title ( Summit won the 5A title and reclassified this season). Georgia commit Jordon James was the MVP 
                                                 he carried the ball 27 times for 232 yards and 2 TD's. Oakland now has won 2 championship in a row and 6 overall.
                                                
Congrats to all the Champions and it's just 36 weeks till kickoff!!!

The Elizabethton game was an instant classic... for those who didn't watch the game here locally Saturday on the CW, and if you have NFHS, it would be well worth your time to go out of the way and watch it.
I normally hate the low scoring affairs, but this one had me on the edge of my seat the whole second half/OT.  One of the best games you'll ever see.

Our crew loves Macadoos whenever we are in a town that has one anymore. I can speak for Wooden Pickle, Bellas(we have all of our pre-season crew meets there), and Bonefire. Although it used to be a chain, we STILL mess with the Bonanza in Lebanon. I'm with Sixcat, find the local spots. We ALWAYS get great food and service there and they are usually more than accommodating to host us for our meetings..  I can microwave food at home, looking at you Applebees and Chilis. 

Tennessee does have a separate division for the privates. The split that they have today all started with the TSSAA fined and placed on probation Brentwood Academy for recruiting and Brentwood sued and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. Brentwood Academy was the prominent large football power in Tennessee from the time the school opened in 1969, they won 9 3A titles (the largest classification at the time) between 1969 and 1997. The split came 21 years ago for the schools that offer financial aid and the rest of the private schools left to form their own division in 2018. TSSAA labels it D2. and has three classes (1A-3A) and gave Tennessee a total of 9 State Champions. Football is the only sport that is split into more the 3 Classes, everything else is a three class system. There are rumbling that the TSSAA want to go back to a 4 or 5 class format in the future, which will probably happen! 

Same for Tony Palmer.  He's not winning like he should be.  In those 13 wins, those scores should have been a lot worse.  Time to get him out of there and get in somebody that knows what their doing!!  Oh yea, Doug Smith at Appo, he should have been fired for not winning that title in 2018.  No excuse for not having more titles.  I don't know why Appo keeps him.

No problem with LCA.  Class act school in my opinion doing great work, but they have an advantage compared to public schools of the same size.  They have the ability to literally recruit players at a rate that is better/not on the same playing terms as public schools.  So, if they are going to compete with public schools, they should have to give up some kind of an advantage they have, or to put it better, the public schools should get some kind of advantage to counteract the one a school like LCA has.  In my opinion, that should mean making them play at least 1 level, maybe 2 levels higher in classification.  
Here's another solution.  If your a private school and your competing with public schools, then not one of your student athletes is allowed a tuition break, and you have to pay full tuition like every other student if you want to compete with public schools.  This immediately takes away about 90 percent of the recruiting advantage.

Interesting. Of course, what could be more American than suing? Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and lawsuits....🙄

LCA sued the VHSL if I am not mistaken is how it got to this.