Eersfan 36 Report Share Posted September 14, 2019 The SWD is 2-10 this season against outside opponents. Through 3 weeks 4 of 6 teams are winless. Why has the SWD struggled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerman10 222 Report Share Posted September 14, 2019 Richlands is down, Marion is down, Va High is way down and Lebanon is essentially a 1a school playing AA Warriors_XO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted September 14, 2019 49 minutes ago, Tigerman10 said: Richlands is down, Marion is down, Va High is way down and Lebanon is essentially a 1a school playing AA Pretty much this. Talent is cyclical when the enrollments are as small as they are. Bulldogs52 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs52 482 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 When the coal industry was booming, the SWD was well alive! Tiger 2000 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eersfan 36 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 The neighboring districts have the same economic woes. And some have never had the coal boost that we had for a few years. It seems like a few surrounding 1A schools have much stronger programs than most of the SWD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CriticalNoise 182 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 I blame global warming cityofRaven, Bulldog05, Liam McPoyle and 2 others 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CinnamonToastCrunch 13 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 Lebanon should be in 1A. Tazewell is just now beginning to get out of a nearly decade long rebuild, Richlands is entering their down period which barring more WV miracles could be the new normal. Marion is good once a decade and VA High is two-three years from being good again. Mostly just bad luck. At least Graham is a consistent contender, replacing the Blues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerman10 222 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 55 minutes ago, Eersfan said: The neighboring districts have the same economic woes. And some have never had the coal boost that we had for a few years. It seems like a few surrounding 1A schools have much stronger programs than most of the SWD. Stronger programs is a relative term. Chilhowie and PH are in the middle of good cycles. Honaker has great tradition, but has been a little down recently due to the same economic issues. Burton probably the 1a standard now that Haysi and Clintwood are consolidated but it’s not like you can point to a 1a school that could finish 2nd in the SWD right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam McPoyle 1,863 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 It's either a down cycle of talent or Chris Akers. Hard nosed, Ol Dawg, Chappy and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eersfan 36 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 Right now Tazewell is in that 2 spot.i believe Chilhowie, PH and Holston could beat them. And I honestly think Richlands will finish SWD # 2 but Tazewell will have a better overall record Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldog05 69 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 3 hours ago, Eersfan said: Right now Tazewell is in that 2 spot.i believe Chilhowie, PH and Holston could beat them. And I honestly think Richlands will finish SWD # 2 but Tazewell will have a better overall record I agree with PH and Holston, but I believe Tazewell May put up a helluva fight with Richlands this year, especially if their passing game is weak. Tazewell has a decent, well decent defense especially against the run game. The only problem is tazewell has like 5 plays that they run the whole entire game and they don’t know how to switch things up. But overall I’m happy with Tazewells improvement and I think they will be on fire next year beings they’ll have a teams full of upperclassmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogs52 482 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 We just gotta keep Richlands from crossing the 50! 😂 Gridiron60 and Liam McPoyle 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerman10 222 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 9 hours ago, Eersfan said: Right now Tazewell is in that 2 spot.i believe Chilhowie, PH and Holston could beat them. And I honestly think Richlands will finish SWD # 2 but Tazewell will have a better overall record Tazewell, VHS, and Lebanon fit the 1a profile. 24-35 players with a lot of guys who play both ways. Richlands still a behemoth trying to figure a few things out-but their numbers matter, especially over a season. Marion has plenty of numbers too typically. Im not denying that the SWD is down, and I think PH or Chilhowie would be favored to beat Tazewell on any given night...but that’s a lot different than beating both Tazewell and Richlands and not taking any upsets (and not getting too banged up against Graham) Chilhowie last year could have done it for sure, but that was a terrific group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer pride 70 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 11 hours ago, CinnamonToastCrunch said: Lebanon should be in 1A. Tazewell is just now beginning to get out of a nearly decade long rebuild, Richlands is entering their down period which barring more WV miracles could be the new normal. Marion is good once a decade and VA High is two-three years from being good again. Mostly just bad luck. At least Graham is a consistent contender, replacing the Blues. Lebanon should definitely be 1A. We have 8th grade in high school that is counted as part of the enrollment. Essentially Lebanon has about 500 students grades 9-12. In most sports we are competitive at the 2A level, but with football its another story. Lebanon is going to come around in the next year or so. We currently have 19 freshman and they recently expanded thr local youth league. I Feel like the youth league has been the major problem it just wasn't strong enough to appropriately feed the high school at the level it needed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50kw 140 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 Youth leagues are the problem area wide. Football does not work locally on the travel baseball model. Get back to the small hometown leagues that allow kids to compete first against each other and develop a love for the game. Hard nosed, redtiger, Chappy and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH31 2,517 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 16 minutes ago, Pioneer pride said: Lebanon should definitely be 1A. We have 8th grade in high school that is counted as part of the enrollment. Essentially Lebanon has about 500 students grades 9-12. In most sports we are competitive at the 2A level, but with football its another story. Lebanon is going to come around in the next year or so. We currently have 19 freshman and they recently expanded thr local youth league. I Feel like the youth league has been the major problem it just wasn't strong enough to appropriately feed the high school at the level it needed to. 500 kids is still too many for 1A. Riverheads is the biggest 1A school with 474.5... Chappy, 1inStripes and Deleted Account 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer pride 70 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 8 minutes ago, EH31 said: 500 kids is still too many for 1A. Riverheads is the biggest 1A school with 474.5... That was an estimate not 100 percent factual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 53 minutes ago, Pioneer pride said: Lebanon should definitely be 1A. We have 8th grade in high school that is counted as part of the enrollment. Essentially Lebanon has about 500 students grades 9-12. In most sports we are competitive at the 2A level, but with football its another story. Lebanon is going to come around in the next year or so. We currently have 19 freshman and they recently expanded thr local youth league. I Feel like the youth league has been the major problem it just wasn't strong enough to appropriately feed the high school at the level it needed to. There has to be a cutoff somewhere to change classifications. Lebanon is the 5th smallest school in 2A, but has 2A enrollment. Fort Chiswell is smaller but I’ve heard no griping from Max Meadows on that topic... swva_havok_fan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Pioneer pride said: We have 8th grade in high school that is counted as part of the enrollment. W R O N G !!!! And wrong. A. "enrollment" has nothing to do with Classification. B. Class. is done on ADM's for grades 9-12. Just ask Gate City. cityofRaven and Deleted Account 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridiron60 2,554 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 I don't believe we can pinpoint one thing as the cause. IMO, dwindling population in SWVA which has lead to lower enrollments and smaller talent pool, feeder programs are not producing lots of numbers in some places or lacking in good foundational teaching/playimg, fear of injury, focused on a single sport , etc. I've spoken to several boys and asked why they don't play. I overwhelming get one of two answers, I play travel ball (baseball, basjetball) or I don't want to get hurt. Tiger 2000 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigerman10 222 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 1 hour ago, UVAObserver said: There has to be a cutoff somewhere to change classifications. Lebanon is the 5th smallest school in 2A, but has 2A enrollment. Fort Chiswell is smaller but I’ve heard no griping from Max Meadows on that topic... This is false-Lebanon was at 460 first day of school last year 9-12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBelcher 2 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 14 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said: It's either a down cycle of talent or Chris Akers. #akerseffect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union_Fan 2,154 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Tigerman10 said: This is false-Lebanon was at 460 first day of school last year 9-12. VHSL has them at 503 as of March 2018. That's the number they go by for this cycle's classification. If they had an unexpected loss in enrollment they can always petition the VHSL to drop down, like Grayson Co did. Deleted Account 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eersfan 36 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 I’ve seen Lebanon play, they have good numbers. I saw at least 45 kids. I grew up with less than 400 kids in our school in class AA in WV. We still competed well against schools with 1000 students. I think it’s more to do with offensive and defensive strategy. Everyone tries to copy everyone else but only the teams with speed seem to excel at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 4 hours ago, Tigerman10 said: This is false-Lebanon was at 460 first day of school last year 9-12. The governing body known as the Virginia High School League does not agree with you... GMan, FoxTrot, Ryan4VT and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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