tornado99 345 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 To those who made the trip, how do the teams here match up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWVAgridiron 1,469 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Definitely impressed by that score. I would love to see them play Richlands, and it looks like it might happen. Winner of that game more than likely takes it all. Just my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldblue51 24 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Maybe Ryan will give more insight today. I know that he went and said that Amherst looked small. The Appomattox fans around him said that was one of the bigger teams they had saw. When told that Richlands and Union looks much bigger there reply was "oh hell". He said they have a big nose guard but not very mobile, Other D-line may average 250. He said RB and receivers were fast. Better wrap up the RB or he will break tackles and fly.Said the receivers looked to be around 6'2. Quarterback decent speed good on reeds not real accurate last night Ryan4VT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado99 345 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks oldblue. Looking forward to what Ryan has to say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigrhsfan 884 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks for that quick look at Appo oldblue51, Ryan said he would give us his view on them, but I would say he is still resting from his trip out there. Looking forward to what he has to say. Has anybody on here seen or know anything about Buckingham ? Not looking past Grayson or whoever we play in the 1st round, but we know a little about them, just interested in teams we don't see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union_Fan 2,155 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks oldblue. Looking forward to what Ryan has to say Me too! Hard to assess and judge a team that has no common opponents with your team or has even played a team you've seen before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldblue51 24 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Very hard to judge indeed. Ryan is up an will be giving his view soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan4VT 4,557 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Mornin' y'all. Alright, I'll cover my thoughts in a sequential matter. 1. Parking. The school is a nice size, but parking will be a factor if/when Richlands travels to Appomattox. I got there about 10 minutes prior to kickoff and had to park about half a mile away. Now, they knew it would be a big crowd with Appo going for 10-0 and Amherst is a team from close by that needed a win to get into the playoffs (or so one of their fans told me). So they had a shuttle running from Appo Elementary school. But they'll need more than that if this matchup is to happen. 2. Facilities. Their home side stand reminds me of a metal Union home side. Really long but only about 10-15 rows high. There were a LOT of people who stood on the track around the fence to watch this game (myself included). The visitor stands are reminiscent of Grundy.....maybe smaller. One of the Appo fans I talked to asked me if I thought we would fill up the away stands or not and I told him that we will fill that up within 30 minutes of the gates opening and that in all honesty we could fill up the home side as well. He was more than a little worried about that fact. Much like GC and Giles, they have a train horn that they blow every time they scored. Also, they have a small cannon that fires off every time they score. It's a small one (you could carry it in both your hands) but it's loud......I can attest to that. Also, neither team has a place to go inside at halftime. Appo goes down the hill behind the concession stand and Amherst went to the football practice field and sat down up there. 3. Crowd. It was packed last night, but all 4 of the Appomattox people I spoke with said that it was way over what they normally would see. Also, they were not very loud, or at least not compared Richlands vs Union loud. That said, Amherst didn't have a vocal crowd either. Now on to the team..... 4. To me, Amherst looked VERY small for a 4A school. And Appomattox didn't look a whole lot bigger in a lot of elements. They had a really big NT on defense. Probably up around 300-320 range. But he didn't have much explosiveness off the ball. If you run away from him, he didn't seem to be a factor. Their LBs had decent size. Reminded me a lot of a Bryce Wade for Richlands. DB's looked to range in the 6'0 to 6'1 range but sometimes its hard to tell. Amherst didn't pass the ball much, so Appo had 10 guys within 7 yards of the LOS. Had Amherst been able to connect on their passes, they could have scored it seemed. The run defense is good for Appomattox, very quick laterally and with that big NT, very good up the middle. Too hard to get a real read on the pass defense though. 5. On offense, they run the split back veer. After the snap, QB was reading the interior line key and deciding weather to give to the dive back or not. If not, he would keep and read the crash DE and decided to keep it himself with a 1-on-1 with a safety or CB, or pitch to the wide man. They were very good at changing up the look and running some misdirection out of it as well. One of their long passes was a play where Amherst got sucked in on a nice play fake and the WR was gone. Ball was under thrown a bit though and the Amherst DB had time to catch him to stop the TD on that play. One of their TDs was a QB keeper up the middle for 70 yards. Page is fast. And both RBs that I saw were very quick as well. For any team who plays them, you have to stay home and maintain your gaps and wrap up. If they slip a tackle, they are most likely gone. QB didn't stay in pocket on his throws much. Liked to bootleg or roll out and throw. He had some accurate throws, and he also had some head scratchers. One his lone TD throw in my end zone, he threw a fade, but it didn't make it to the back corner of the end zone. Instead, it was a jump ball about 5 deep in the end zone and the DB playing face guarding technique mistimed putting his hands up to block it. Overall, I think Richlands has the team to win at Appomattox if they get by Grayson and Buckingham. Our ability to pass and run when we need it is likely to cause problems for most teams. I believe it will be a good game should these two meet. Had a lot of fun talking to some of their fans and even a fan from Buckingham County who was at this game. Hope this helps you guys! BlueRazor, redtiger and Dawgs4Life 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldblue51 24 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks Ryan, did the fan from Buckingham give any views Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan4VT 4,557 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks Ryan, did the fan from Buckingham give any views A little. All you need to know there is Leon Ragland. Stop him, you stop that team. Or at least thats what pretty much everyone I've talked to and seen on boards say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixcat 2,937 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 He was the one on this website, or at least someone pretending to be him , making some rediculous comments last year leading up to the Gate City game. Probably some 14 year old causing a ruckus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GC_Quincy 582 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 He is a lot of talk on and off the field. Richlands should be able to eat him up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigrhsfan 884 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks Ryan, good info, if we are blessed enough to make it to the Appo.game, I sure hope they add a few more stands ! Also, how long of a drive is it from Richlands ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan4VT 4,557 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks Ryan, good info, if we are blessed enough to make it to the Appo.game, I sure hope they add a few more stands ! Also, how long of a drive is it from Richlands ? It was 2 hours and 5 minutes from Blacksburg. Apple Maps has it at 3 hours 48 minutes and 220 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GC_Quincy 582 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 That's a nice trip if you're a civil war buff. Ryan4VT, Bigrhsfan and V-Cats 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado99 345 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 How does their speed compare to Bluefield in the backfield? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan4VT 4,557 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 How does their speed compare to Bluefield in the backfield? It's comparable. They have several state champion track athletes on the team according to one of their fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 It's comparable. They have several state champion track athletes on the team according to one of their fans. Appomattox won the 2015 indoor 800M medley. That's it. There are no individual titles for Appomattox. In terms of strictly track athletes, John Battle has more titles. barondawg77 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan4VT 4,557 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Appomattox won the 2015 indoor 800M medley. That's it. There are no individual titles for Appomattox. In terms of strictly track athletes, John Battle has more titles. I see someone was trying to inflate the speed a bit. Bigrhsfan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigrhsfan 884 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 It would be tough for many if any teams to have as much or more speed in the backfield than Bluefield has, not saying they don't, but , that's a lot of speed. Appo will be a tough game for anybody that's for sure, but I just want to see us get by the first 2 games first, and then see how we match up against them. A lot of things can happen in the playoffs ! Ryan4VT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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