Column: Cubs-Owls combination may work

[beaverbaseball 10]

Posted: Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 - 10:44:37 pm EDT

By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

 

It's been talked about for years, but it's finally supposed to happen in 2008.

 

Iaeger and Big Creek high schools will be closed, replaced by a new facility in Bradshaw. That will also mean a combined football team.

 

"You have opposition for it and against it, but I think once it happens and because everybody is already aware it is going to happen, I think it will be OK," Iaeger head coach Mitch Estep said. "I don't think we'll have any problems with it."

 

There are plenty of heated rivalries in the region, from Graham-Bluefield, Tazewell-Richlands and Honaker-Haysi. Iaeger and Big Creek have long been the same. Located a short distance from each other, there's nothing those teams like better than to beat the other. In a few years, they'll become one.

 

 

 

"I don't think any of the team likes it necessarily," said Big Creek head coach Mike Vallo, who has taught in the past at Iaeger. "I think - as far as the future with the way the enrollment keeps dropping - that would probably be a good thing.

 

"I think it will work good. The kids think that they don't like each other, but the kids are very similar and I think they would get along good, I really do. I think they will like it more than they know."

 

Both teams have tradition. Since the early 1970s, Iaeger has been a consistent winner, recently going 15 straight years without a losing season. Big Creek, which has been the home of such great coaches as Glynn Carlock, Joel Hicks, Merrill Gainer, and Mario Poletti, reached the Class A state championship game in 1997, losing to Moorefield in the last 34 seconds.( I HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE IF ANYONE WAS AT THAT STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME IN 1997 THEY KNOW HOW WE GOT CHEATED IN THE FINAL MINUTE OF THE GAME BUT THATS IN THE PAST NOW}

 

Located in a rugged section of McDowell County, neither Iaeger nor Big Creek is an easy place to find. Vallo isn't sure that scheduling to going to be any easier in Bradshaw, which is located about halfway between the two schools.

 

"It's going to be tough to get people to drive down to Bradshaw; it's tough enough to get games right now," Vallo said. "Iaeger has trouble and we have trouble because of those two-lane roads in McDowell County and it's just going to continue because now you're putting them down there even worse.

 

"It's not that the place is that bad. It's the terrain and trying to get there, two-lane roads and curvy roads that are not very wide."

 

The inevitability of closure will be especially clear this year at Big Creek. Mario Poletti Field {MY Grandpa} the football stadium that's been there since the school opened, will be destroyed, making way for a new middle school. The Owls' final regular season home game is slated to be Nov. 4 against Mount View.

 

"There is a lot of history here with some of these characters that have been here over the years," Vallo said. "The community remembers all that stuff. They still think about Big Creek and people like Coach Poletti .

"He was always known for hard-hitting defense, very scrappy against everybody. If you came to Big Creek, even against Bluefield years ago, it was a knock-down drag-out. You knew you were going to have a ball game."

 

There won't be many more games played at Big Creek or Iaeger. Still, Estep thinks the future could be brighter than the past.

 

"Athletically, it might pep you up a little bit. You get a good group of kids, put them together and who knows what might happen," Estep said. "We're glad to still be Iaeger High School, but we see no problem with a consolidation with Big Creek."

 

Brian Woodson is sports editor of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Contact him at bwoodson @bdtonline.com.

 

 

http://www.bdtonline.com/articles/2005/08/18/sports/06thuwoodson.txt

 

 

 

 

 

Well what do you all think about the combining of both schools?? Me personally I don't like it because the students that go to Big Creek will now have to drive 20 minutes every single day just to get to school and home from school...And I really don't see why they are gonna tear Big Creek High School down just to build a new middle school considering its still in really good shape...And of Course im just dissapointed because I grew up around football down there with my Grandpa being the Coach and stuff!! I just wish we could have won it in 1997, it was his last season of coaching..Would have been a perfect way to end his Career...Plus my 2 favorite teams would have one lol (Big Creek and of course my Bluefield beavers won it in 1997)!!! Well what do you all think about the combining of school??

[EH31 2,533]

i dont think that they should tear down the school, alot of historical stuff happened there.. cough* rocket boys * cough .. my dad grew up there he always told me stories about how everyone in the whole town would come to see the football games.. and how him and his friends would climb the big green wall from the train tracks. and the school is still in good condition... i think it should be a historic landmark or something

[RichlandsAlum 678]

[ QUOTE ]

Well what do you all think about the combining of school??

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

Generally opposed to that sort of thing, but given the economy in McDowell County it could be worse. Kids from the two schools could've just been shipped over to Mount View in the interests of "cost saving."

 

I'm waiting to see how this shakes out on the Virginia side. I'd love to be wrong, but I predict that all high schools in Buchanan and Tazewell counties will be Class A within 10 years.

[beaverbaseball 10]

Well I just think they should keep the high school and make it the middle school instead of tearing it down to build a new one..I was in there about a year ago and it look fine to me..The middle school could have there own football field, track, gym, weightlifting area, softball field, tennis courts..Now I don't see to many MIDDLE SCHOOLS with all that stuff

[RichlandsAlum 678]

[ QUOTE ]

Well I just think they should keep the high school and make it the middle school instead of tearing it down to build a new one..I was in there about a year ago and it look fine to me..The middle school could have there own football field, track, gym, weightlifting area, softball field, tennis courts..Now I don't see to many MIDDLE SCHOOLS with all that stuff

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

I tend to agree with you. There probably isn't any good reason why the current BCHS facilities couldn't continue to serve a useful purpose.

 

Anyone who is interested and has time on their hands should contact the National Trust for Historic Preservation ( click here) . They could probably find some way to help.

[beaverbaseball 10]

I sent them a email and told them the story and stuff but most likely they won't do anything considering its such a small town and stuff but theres always a chance!