Richlands Play Calling vs Cave Spring

[blueinbama 259]

I'm not going to presume I know more about the Richlands football team than the coaches, but what was up with the Blues play calling last night? Richlands has been mixing the run and the pass all year, and for that matter for several years. Reece has been lighting it up through the air all season long. Then last night the passing game was abandoned, especially in the second half when I think at one point in the fourth quarter Richlands had thrown the ball one time, and that was a screen pass to Devon Johnson for a loss. Earlier in the game Reece threw to Devon for a 40 + yard TD that brought the Blues to within 7 with about 20 seconds left in the half. The Richlands coaching staff decided to pound the ball up the middle almost the entire second half with limited success. I don't know if Reece was injured or not, but this was a strange game for Richlands as far as the offense was concerned. Thoughts?

[brplaymaker95 10]

who knows, it may have been the turnovers and being out played?????

mance had no answer for Wright

[Lance 228]

play calling was good for Richlands I thought, Cave Spring had smaller but faster kids on the line and fast kids at DB's...they had pretty good pass coverage all night and it was taking Strong a long time to get the ball off...especially at the end of the game when CS started sending the house at him...Strong did a great job of running around and buying time just to keep from getting sacked. The turnovers really hurt, but when you have a kid that gets 5 TDs and 300+ yards against you it's going to be hard to win.

[blueinbama 259]

play calling was good for Richlands I thought, Cave Spring had smaller but faster kids on the line and fast kids at DB's...they had pretty good pass coverage all night and it was taking Strong a long time to get the ball off...especially at the end of the game when CS started sending the house at him...Strong did a great job of running around and buying time just to keep from getting sacked. The turnovers really hurt, but when you have a kid that gets 5 TDs and 300+ yards against you it's going to be hard to win.

 

I wasn't at the game, so all I can go by is what I heard on the broadcast, and they were also left scratching their heads at the conservative play calling, especially late in the third quarter after the Blues made a crucial stop on fourth down, and again in the fourth quarter after a fourth down stop. Richlands was two TD's down, and running the ball up the gut, almost as if they were playing not to get blown out. Sam Wright obviously is an awesome player, and in the first half and on the opening drive of the second half he was unstoppable. Then the Blues' defense stepped up and didn't allow another score. I felt like they had chances in the second half to close the gap, but just couldn't get it done by running the ball. Maybe you're right, Lance. Maybe they didn't pass because they couldn't pass.

[tjhokies 47]

play calling was good for Richlands I thought, Cave Spring had smaller but faster kids on the line and fast kids at DB's...they had pretty good pass coverage all night and it was taking Strong a long time to get the ball off...especially at the end of the game when CS started sending the house at him...Strong did a great job of running around and buying time just to keep from getting sacked. The turnovers really hurt, but when you have a kid that gets 5 TDs and 300+ yards against you it's going to be hard to win.

 

The last sentence says it all!

[blueinbama 259]

The last sentence says it all!

 

I agree with that, but I was addressing Richland's offense and lack of aggressiveness. I'm not even saying it would have made a difference, because I don't believe it would have. Sam Wright was by far the best running back the blues have faced in years. I'm just perplexed that the Blue's coaching staff gave up on what got them to the playoffs in the first place. It was a total change of pace from the previous ten games this season.

[BigD4VT 11]

Losing McGlothlin hurt the passing game (as well as the run defense). Would've been a different game with him in it.

[Lance 228]

I wasn't at the game, so all I can go by is what I heard on the broadcast, and they were also left scratching their heads at the conservative play calling, especially late in the third quarter after the Blues made a crucial stop on fourth down, and again in the fourth quarter after a fourth down stop. Richlands was two TD's down, and running the ball up the gut, almost as if they were playing not to get blown out. Sam Wright obviously is an awesome player, and in the first half and on the opening drive of the second half he was unstoppable. Then the Blues' defense stepped up and didn't allow another score. I felt like they had chances in the second half to close the gap, but just couldn't get it done by running the ball. Maybe you're right, Lance. Maybe they didn't pass because they couldn't pass.

 

they didn't have a lot of success passing late...CS was after Strong on every play and he was running all over the place just to get a pass off...usually when you do that you get off balance throws and that doesn't usually work out very well...CS is not the type of team you want to just throw a jump ball up to.

 

refs were pretty generous on the contact they were allowing also..some of these are blurry pics, but you get the point...

 

this was not flagged, DB never looked back and ran right through the receiver before the ball got there:

 

Devon slipped on this one, but look at the coverage here...this kid got way up in the air and was still able to swat the ball away.

 

another look at what Strong was throwing in to:

 

and he was running around trying to avoid pressure and throwing off balance a lot...like this sort of thing:

 

 

Pass just wasn't' happening...when they did complete it down field they put the ball on the ground and turned it over inside the 20 i think...Richlands was just on the other end of what they usually dish out, wasn't the play calling...they just got beat by a better team....better on last night anyway.

[BigD4VT 11]

I shot the first one from the other side. No doubt it should've been pass inteference. Anothe photographer has a shot showing the Cave Spring runner down before his fumble was picked up and ran for a TD.... Not the best crew we've seen this year.

[blueinbama 259]

Thanks for the pics Lance. I'm beginning to see what the Blues were up against. Sometimes listening online doesn't always translate the game to the listener very well, although I think the local guys do a great job.

[Blues Man 48]

Lance your right caves off. out played the blues d most of the night. When the blues had the ball and trying to throw cave was doing a lot holding on the rec. going down the middle of the field. I counted 4 different plays were the rec was held even when the ball was in the air but I dont kmow if would have helped or not because the richlands d had no answer for wright.

[Lance 228]

I shot the first one from the other side. No doubt it should've been pass inteference. Anothe photographer has a shot showing the Cave Spring runner down before his fumble was picked up and ran for a TD.... Not the best crew we've seen this year.

 

the first play in the game that was close, the CS kid made a good break on it and it was a clean swat...but, i thought to myself as soon as i saw that...they are going to allow a lot of contact if they call it like that...because it was a close play...they made the right call on it, but it was exactly the type of bang-bang play you see get flagged a lot in high school. (In fact Grundy got flagged for this exact type play in the Honaker game) When the refs are letting you play that tight, you have to run the ball...and to me, that's where the success they had with Wright made the difference.

 

[Bigrhsfan 884]

Coach Mance was ask on the radio about the play calling and why they didn't pass as much as they had all season and his response was, ( not word for word but as best as I can remember ), the cave d-backs and LB's are faster then any we have faced all season and the loss of McGlothlin really hurt and was our best receiver and limited what they wanted to do. he also thought they might be able to pound the ball against them.

Not saying what he said or thought is right, just passing on what he said on the radio after the game.

[Hillbilly 14]

Congrats to the Blues they have a tremendous program and I am sorry to see their season end earlier than they would have liked. I would, however. like to offer a independent observation from an outsider looking in.

 

I did not see the game nor did I even see Richlands play all year other than in a preseason scrimmage, but it seems to me that they need to beef up their schedule and face teams that have speed and talent in the regular season. Trying to cope with this when you only get to see it in the playoffs is very difficult at best. Virginia is a big state and you ARE going to encounter it some time if you play long enough so why not do it early when you have a chance to make some adjustments. Just my opinion for what it is worth.

[Lance 228]

Congrats to the Blues they have a tremendous program and I am sorry to see their season end earlier than they would have liked. I would, however. like to offer a independent observation from an outsider looking in.

 

I did not see the game nor did I even see Richlands play all year other than in a preseason scrimmage, but it seems to me that they need to beef up their schedule and face teams that have speed and talent in the regular season. Trying to cope with this when you only get to see it in the playoffs is very difficult at best. Virginia is a big state and you ARE going to encounter it some time if you play long enough so why not do it early when you have a chance to make some adjustments. Just my opinion for what it is worth.

 

who else are they going to play that will actually schedule them? Clintwood? Bluefield? Both usually have good programs but if Richlands played either of them in the first few weeks it would have been a slaughter. They would have to start scheduling off district games with RR district teams, and that's not going to happen because those teams are not going to want to risk getting beat by Richlands nor will they want to travel to do so....around here you wont find many teams that will play them.

[Ditto 10]

So tired of this schedule BS, you know what beat Richlands last night?? 300 yards and 4 or 5 touchdowns, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with who you played before Cave, you can't give that up and expect to win many games, plain and simple.

[GMan 3,569]

I'm not going to presume I know more about the Richlands football team than the coaches, but what was up with the Blues play calling last night? Richlands has been mixing the run and the pass all year, and for that matter for several years. Reece has been lighting it up through the air all season long. Then last night the passing game was abandoned, especially in the second half when I think at one point in the fourth quarter Richlands had thrown the ball one time, and that was a screen pass to Devon Johnson for a loss. Earlier in the game Reece threw to Devon for a 40 + yard TD that brought the Blues to within 7 with about 20 seconds left in the half. The Richlands coaching staff decided to pound the ball up the middle almost the entire second half with limited success. I don't know if Reece was injured or not, but this was a strange game for Richlands as far as the offense was concerned. Thoughts?

 

Sometimes coaches choke under pressure...see the Graham coaching staff circa 2001 State Championship...

[tjhokies 47]

So tired of this schedule BS, you know what beat Richlands last night?? 300 yards and 4 or 5 touchdowns, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with who you played before Cave, you can't give that up and expect to win many games, plain and simple.

 

Thats right. I think alot of people cant wait till we lose, but then when we do, they have nothing else to talk about. We could play Christiansburg, Pheobus, Hampton, Northside, the Green Bay Packers, etc, and people would still have something to say. We had 3 turnovers, and an injury to one of our most important players early in the 1st qtr. and Emmitt Smith ran all over us! Tazewell, Graham, Abingdon, Marion had nothing to do with last night. Congrats Cave Spring. Blues finish 11-1, and i'm very proud of this team!

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

So tired of this schedule BS, you know what beat Richlands last night?? 300 yards and 4 or 5 touchdowns, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with who you played before Cave, you can't give that up and expect to win many games, plain and simple.

 

We only have to hear it for one more year....Thank God. I'm almost as tired of hearing the schedule as I am hearing about recruiting. I would actually rather hear people throw cleats in my face than the schedule that we really have no control over. We went out and got two more AA teams. Pulaski is usually a pretty good team. We can't help if Cburg or Bburg won't play us...

[Bulldogs52 483]

We only have to hear it for one more year....Thank God. I'm almost as tired of hearing the schedule as I am hearing about recruiting. I would actually rather hear people throw cleats in my face than the schedule that we really have no control over. We went out and got two more AA teams. Pulaski is usually a pretty good team. We can't help if Cburg or Bburg won't play us...

 

If we lose check the shoes! That make you feel better? :)

[sportsfan 21]

Congrats to the Blues they have a tremendous program and I am sorry to see their season end earlier than they would have liked. I would, however. like to offer a independent observation from an outsider looking in.

 

I did not see the game nor did I even see Richlands play all year other than in a preseason scrimmage, but it seems to me that they need to beef up their schedule and face teams that have speed and talent in the regular season. Trying to cope with this when you only get to see it in the playoffs is very difficult at best. Virginia is a big state and you ARE going to encounter it some time if you play long enough so why not do it early when you have a chance to make some adjustments. Just my opinion for what it is worth.

 

Sensitive subject here on this forum. In my local area the better teams schedule out of state teams to come in and play and schedule larger schools early in the season for this very reason. Coaches have time to evaluate and it prepares their kids for the playoffs. I'll probably be sorry for mentioning it but you have the right concept Hillbilly.

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

Sensitive subject here on this forum. In my local area the better teams schedule out of state teams to come in and play and schedule larger schools early in the season for this very reason. Coaches have time to evaluate and it prepares their kids for the playoffs. I'll probably be sorry for mentioning it but you have the right concept Hillbilly.

 

That's way more easily said than done.

[CPF 411]

I'm not going to presume I know more about the Richlands football team than the coaches, but what was up with the Blues play calling last night? Richlands has been mixing the run and the pass all year, and for that matter for several years. Reece has been lighting it up through the air all season long. Then last night the passing game was abandoned, especially in the second half when I think at one point in the fourth quarter Richlands had thrown the ball one time, and that was a screen pass to Devon Johnson for a loss. Earlier in the game Reece threw to Devon for a 40 + yard TD that brought the Blues to within 7 with about 20 seconds left in the half. The Richlands coaching staff decided to pound the ball up the middle almost the entire second half with limited success. I don't know if Reece was injured or not, but this was a strange game for Richlands as far as the offense was concerned. Thoughts?

 

 

 

It's very simple, the team you played last night was 10 times better than any other team you played this season. That is why you got beat. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. But 11-1 is a pretty darn good season, wish we could do that every year. Maybe now you know how other teams feel when they have to do that against you because they can't do anything else.

[redtiger 1,742]

I think everyone agrees that Richlands needs to beef up their schedule, thats a given. But the fact remains that they have tried and done so to an extent but if teams wont play you then they wont play you.

 

Grundy and Haysi face similar issues. Im not saying either are even close to being on Richlands level but both are geographically isolated from quality competition w similar enrollment.

[Lance 228]

I think everyone agrees that Richlands needs to beef up their schedule, thats a given. But the fact remains that they have tried and done so to an extent but if teams wont play you then they wont play you.

 

Grundy and Haysi face similar issues. Im not saying either are even close to being on Richlands level but both are geographically isolated from quality competition w similar enrollment.

 

Grundy had to get 2 wv teams at the last second to get a full schedule.

 

they probably could have played Bluefield, but to be honest they dont really need to play a team like Bluefield this year, even though Bluefield might have been down from the usual...Grundy had a lot of change and I wouldn't want to schedule a team knowing I will probably be taking my kids in to a meat grinder.

 

The problem is not really getting the schedule, its getting a schedule that you match up well with...not saying teams you beat by 21, just teams you can compete with...Richlands is not one of them...would do Grundy nor Richlands any good to play each other this year...tazewell and graham might have been good match ups though, and i'd like to have seen Abingdon and marion still on the schedule...they both played good games with Grundy last year. John Battle would have been another good one.

 

Richlands would have to schedule teams down in TN and out past Cburg to get a tuff non district schedule, and it's just hard to get those schools to play you because of the travel and for the most part those schools play in a lot tougher district so they have to really watch who they schedule for non district games or they will screw around and not make the playoffs....its just a fact.