RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Group II... AA? Not exactly. Prior to the 1970 reclassification, high school sports in Virginia was organized in a manner similar to college football. The largest schools (or at least those who were committed to the most stringent competitive standards) were considered to be Group I. There were basically about seven districts which competed at this level, and the Southwest District happened to be one of them. Enrollment was not the most obvious criterion for inclusion at this level, although schools from the more populous areas of the Commonwealth tended to be most successful. Beyond that there were other Groups that competed based on a different set of competitive guidelines. Some (like Group II A) were actually more regional in terms of geographic coverage. But they functioned a bit like Division II or the NAIA as compared to NCAA Division I. Whereas Class AAA did correspond pretty closely to Group I under the provisions of the 1970 realignment (and those championships are still recorded by the VHSL in that manner), there does not appear to be any similar logical relationship to Classes AA and A. Probably not a great explanation because I honestly don't have a firm understanding of the old system myself. And there is quite a bit of nuance involved (such as the fact that the SWD included several -- but maybe not all -- of the members of old District VII). But hopefully this sheds a little light on the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Divisional alignment from 1986 onward is also a bit complicated because those determinations were made on a regional basis. For example, in Class AA Region IV was literally split in half every two years based on enrollment. The larger 18 or so schools were classified Division 4 while the smaller ones were Division 3. Some schools who were close to the median actually had the potential to bounce back and forth between Divisions until the implementation of the current system. Not at all positive, but Virginia High may have had that type of classification experience as opposed to Richlands, which started out solidly within Division 4 and then steadily declined enrollment-wise into Division 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup_rbeast 296 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 I may be mistaken but I think Ervinton was in the CVD as well.Ervinton was LPD in the early to mid 80s...not sure how long before that tho. For all I know, they could have been LPD the whole time until they left around '84-'85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigers_07 72 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 didn't honaker used to be in the hogoheegee district before they went to the clinch valley, then to the black diamond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhstigers7327 217 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 didn't honaker used to be in the hogoheegee district before they went to the clinch valley, then to the black diamond Yes they were in the hogo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beamerball 566 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Good luck on flatwoods, I am highly curious on that one seeing as how it's in my backyard There's not really much anything on Flatwoods on this site, but I like reading up on some of the older Lee Co. teams, including some bits on the first football teams in Lee, championship teams, pics, and so forth. http://leecountylegend.net/home.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West12aaa 99 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 There's not really much anything on Flatwoods on this site, but I like reading up on some of the older Lee Co. teams, including some bits on the first football teams in Lee, championship teams, pics, and so forth. http://leecountylegend.net/home.html did I miss something or is the '72 walker team absence from this site. T.D. has talked many times in practice about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwood78 161 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Man...i was gonna reply..i guess I'm getting old LOL.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big ugly vol 92 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I knew Haysi was in the LPD in the '60s because they won a district title in basketball. Not sure how that worked with football. They did have a team at that time though. Didn't realize there was a district between LPD and BDD though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtiger 1,740 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Ervinton was LPD until the closing of the smaller schools in Lee Co, then to keep the Cumberland well stocked and to move EHS into a more competitive district they went to the CD. I know Honaker was Hogo. I think they started in the Hogo, then CVD, then BDD. The CVD was dismantled around the time Lebanon moved up to AA the first time(I think). Then the majority formed the BDD(idk why they didnt keep the name other than the fact that a lot of the schools arent in the Clinch Valley), some went to the Cumberland. Lebanon has moved around A LOT - A/AA - SWD, Hogo, CVD, CMD, MD and I have only a rough idea on what order those are in and I think they were in the Hogo twice. Thanks for the info RichlandsAlum. I actually understand the old divisional setup but the original system is a complete mystery to me. From what I understand geography played a huge part in what district and group schools were placed in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 The 1970 realignment was a huge step forward in a lot of ways. For one, it gave every single school a clear path to a potential state championship whereas no fully integrated system existed before. I just finished reading Ron Bales' book about his coaching days in Chilhowie and he does a good job of making that point. The system from 1970 to 1985 had some shortcomings. For one, it was uber competitive. Originally -- at least in Region IV at the Group AA level -- playoff eligibility was limited exclusively to district champions. And I think that a one-loss Virginia High team missed the playoffs. Even after the regional playoffs were expanded to include the SWD and New River runners-up, it was still pretty common for 8-2 teams to sit at home. But personally, I kind of liked that setup. (Even though Richlands only qualified for the playoffs once and came close one other time during that era.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup_rbeast 296 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 From 1970-1985 only district champions qualified for the playoffs in Region D football too. If there were co-champs, the higher rated team went and the other stayed home (ala Clintwood/Appalachia in 1984) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beamerball 566 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 did I miss something or is the '72 walker team absence from this site. T.D. has talked many times in practice about this. TW boys basketball team were runner-ups in '66, '67, '71, and '79, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegendatLegion 109 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 There were several one loss teams that didn't make the playoffs, not just Va High. In 1984 The SWD was loaded. Tazewell was 9-1(lost to GC 7-2), I think Abingdon and Graham both were 9-1, and Gate City was 8-2 (lost to Graham and Abingdon). VaHigh was pretty good too. A lot of those years from 1970 to 1986 had some good teams who didn't get in the playoffs. I may be wrong, but I think in 1970 Richlands may have been 10-0 or 9-1. I would have to do a ton of digging to find a lot of my old paperwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappy 72 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 http://www.hogoheegee.com/hogo-history.html This has info on district members from 1970-2010. This site has a lot of good stuff on it, including the helmet avitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtiger 1,740 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Im a HUGE fan of Hogoheegee.com. Im gonna expand the hogo info on this thread, just haven't gotten there yet Chappy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHampshireRed 94 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Ervington may have. This is correct as of 1977 (the year book I have) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigers_07 72 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 ok, so according the hogoheegee website, from 1978-88 Honaker was in the hogoheegee district before they left for the black diamond district in 1988, so what years was Honaker in the clinch valley district and was there any other districts Honaker was in or is it just the three mention Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigers_07 72 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 so far here is Honaker's history of the districts they have been in Clinch Valley: ?-? Hogoheegee: 1978-1988 Black Diamond: 1988-2010 Group A Division 2 2011-current Group 1A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaysiHigh1969 8 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Redtiger I believe that Haysi was in the LPD when they started their football program back up in 1959 until 1971 or 72, then to the Clinch Valley District Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 There were several one loss teams that didn't make the playoffs, not just Va High. In 1984 The SWD was loaded. Tazewell was 9-1(lost to GC 7-2), I think Abingdon and Graham both were 9-1, and Gate City was 8-2 (lost to Graham and Abingdon). VaHigh was pretty good too. A lot of those years from 1970 to 1986 had some good teams who didn't get in the playoffs. I may be wrong, but I think in 1970 Richlands may have been 10-0 or 9-1. I would have to do a ton of digging to find a lot of my old paperwork. You're probably thinking of the 1975 Richlands team that started the season 8-0 but stayed home after losing the final two games against Gate City and Marion. Richlands had losing seasons in 1970 and 1971 before winning the SWD in 1972 with a 9-1 regular season record (they lost to GC that year too, but apparently the Blue Devils either had two other losses or Richlands had a higher rating). Richlands came close again in 1983. The Blues finished 7-3. One of the losses came against Bluefield, WV and did not count against us in terms of playoff eligibility. The other two losses were to Tazewell and Abingdon -- who represented the SWD in the playoffs that year. Interestingly enough, Richlands did not play Gate City that year -- and I'm going to assume that the Blue Devils were the other district team that came close but stayed home. The addition of Lebanon in 1980 was a major albatross for the SWD -- or more specifically the fact that members did not play every team in the district. That created a real logjam at the top of the type Legend describes, with the 1984 season serving as a perfect example. Tazewell actually finished 8-2. Richlands also defeated Tazewell that season (which would turn out to be our only victory in the series during that particular decade). So we kind of like to take "credit" for knocking the Bulldogs out of the playoffs on that occasion. Otherwise there would have been a real mess with three 9-1 teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHampshireRed 94 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Honaker was in the clinch mountain up until 1977, don't know anything prior to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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