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8 hours ago, Union_Fan said:

Tom Turner could do more with less than just about anyone. 

Cept beat PV 😛

 

but even I, someone who isn't an Appalachia fan at all, has to admit that Turner was a master gameplanner and had as much gumption, more nerve and bigger balls than most any coach I've seen.  He was never afraid to take chances and that made him extremely successful. He always picked the optimal time to gamble.

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18 hours ago, BigWinners said:

Cept beat PV 😛

 

but even I, someone who isn't an Appalachia fan at all, has to admit that Turner was a master gameplanner and had as much gumption, more nerve and bigger balls than most any coach I've seen.  He was never afraid to take chances and that made him extremely successful. He always picked the optimal time to gamble.

You have to keep in mind that PV was more than double the size of Appy.

From 1986, after the 3 to 6 division split, to 2005, Tom Turner beat PV 4 times, if I counted correctly, and had several very close games. How many other D1 schools did that during the same time period?

Those players would walk through walls for him. I think Travis has that same respect from his.

I didn't attend Appy, but all of my family was from there and I watched a lot of games. It was amazing to watch those scrappy teams, short on numbers absolutely whip other teams with more enrollment and players. 

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5 hours ago, Union_Fan said:

You have to keep in mind that PV was more than double the size of Appy.

From 1986, after the 3 to 6 division split, to 2005, Tom Turner beat PV 4 times, if I counted correctly, and had several very close games. How many other D1 schools did that during the same time period?

Those players would walk through walls for him. I think Travis has that same respect from his.

I didn't attend Appy, but all of my family was from there and I watched a lot of games. It was amazing to watch those scrappy teams, short on numbers absolutely whip other teams with more enrollment and players. 

 

Four wins in 20 seasons, but yeah PV was for sure bigger and had more resources. Burton may have notched as.many or wins in that period but they're only other D1 school even in consideration.

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18 hours ago, Union_Fan said:

You have to keep in mind that PV was more than double the size of Appy.

From 1986, after the 3 to 6 division split, to 2005, Tom Turner beat PV 4 times, if I counted correctly, and had several very close games. How many other D1 schools did that during the same time period?

Those players would walk through walls for him. I think Travis has that same respect from his.

I didn't attend Appy, but all of my family was from there and I watched a lot of games. It was amazing to watch those scrappy teams, short on numbers absolutely whip other teams with more enrollment and players. 

Over the same period Haysi was .500 vs Powell Valley while only being marginally larger than Appalachia. During the divisional split Haysi was consistently one of the smallest D2 schools in the state.

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I'm not sure I could pick just one, but that '97 GC/Graham game would be hard to beat. It's the only time I can ever remember fans from opposite teams shaking hands and patting each other on the back after a game. It was incredible. There are many others, but that one will always stand out to me personally.

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2 hours ago, redtiger said:

Over the same period Haysi was .500 vs Powell Valley while only being marginally larger than Appalachia. During the divisional split Haysi was consistently one of the smallest D2 schools in the state.

There were a few small D2 schools then, on this side of the state at least. My cousin graduated from Appy in either '93 or '94 with a class of approximately 80, which was one of the larger ones. Around 300 in the whole school maybe?

The last classes of Appy were in the 40-50 student range.

I don't even know where to find enrollment numbers for schools back then, so that's why I went by division. 

But you are certainly right about Haysi. They were always competitive right up until closing. And even though some scoffed at me, I knew a good program would come from their consolidation with Clintwood and Ervinton.

I'm a little surprised though at how much enrollment has dropped at Ridgeview already. That may hurt their ability to compete with larger 2A schools. 

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Haysis enrollment was around 300 when Ervinton closed, those students bumped it up a little in the final years(Ervintons students split between Haysi and Clintwood). Clintwood back in the 70s had more students than RV does now, just Clintwood. A dozen years from now RV may well be a 1A school.

The enrollment drop in Dickenson County is staggering, upstaged only by Buchannon County.  Grundy had 1,000 students at the start of the 90s and played in Division 4, now theyre under 425,  Hurley was D2 into the mid 90s, now theyre under 200, Garden (for a time) was D2 and now Garden and Whitewood (Twin Valley) is under 200. Im not sure on the numbers for D1/D2 but D2 would have had to of been over 300 students. 

 

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One of the best for me was a Regional Championship game in Tazewell between Bulldogs and Blue Tornado, don't remember the date, but remember it was cold as heck, snowy and muddy, just good old fashion football.  Also the Richlands vs Stuart Draft was a barn burner.  One of the best beat downs came when Richlands had no chance against Brookville and got there a little late, got off the bus, and put a whoppin on Brookville.

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Don't know why but I've always had a soft spot for defensive struggles.  Among the very best games involving Richlands that I ever witnessed was the 1987 game against Gate City.  Our starting quarterback (Adam Lallande) had been injured the week before in a really goofy loss to Virginia High.  Donnie Hess took over and kept our playoff drive going that year with a 7-0 victory over the Blue Devils.

I was also present for the 1981 Region IV championship game between Graham and Tazewell.  The G-Men won 6-3 in a classic game played in the snow at Mitchell Stadium.

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union vs richlands 2014. the bears rolled into richlands with high hopes for the season. they quickly fell down 21-7 and found themselves down 28-7 at the start of the 4th i believe. may have been late 3rd. however, what transpired to end that game was magical. the bears put up a touchdown to make it 28-14 and show life. late in the fourth they scored again to make it 28-20. then, on the extra point, there was a bad snap and quarterback tanner hall pulled it down and ran in for two. 28-22. they finally got the ball back and drove down the field, converting multiple fourth downs, including a ten yard out the bryce spears on 4th an 8, his first varsity reception i believe. on the final play of the game, union was deep into blue tornado territory. hall got the snap, rolled to his left, and fire a dart to the end zone that hit bryce spears for yet another big catch. this tied the game, and kicker simon came up, booted the extra point through and union fans rejoiced. 

 

another one that comes to mind is 2014 union v lee. “the catch?” a great game from start to finish that saw the generals poised to get their first win ever over the bears. union was down by 4 i believe, it was a one possession game. another one that comes to the last play. 1.8 seconds remained after union called their final timeout. they lined up with four receivers to the left, one to the right. qb hall got the snap. rolled around for a little bit, got flushed to his left, and threw a prayer to the right side of the field, where austin jesse, the shortest wr on the field for the bears, made the game winning grab. it is still debated to this day if he caught it or not, and we will never know for certain, but one thing is sure, the ref put his hands up for a touchdown and union won the ballgame. 

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1 hour ago, swvafan3245 said:

union vs richlands 2014. the bears rolled into richlands with high hopes for the season. they quickly fell down 21-7 and found themselves down 28-7 at the start of the 4th i believe. may have been late 3rd. however, what transpired to end that game was magical. the bears put up a touchdown to make it 28-14 and show life. late in the fourth they scored again to make it 28-20. then, on the extra point, there was a bad snap and quarterback tanner hall pulled it down and ran in for two. 28-22. they finally got the ball back and drove down the field, converting multiple fourth downs, including a ten yard out the bryce spears on 4th an 8, his first varsity reception i believe. on the final play of the game, union was deep into blue tornado territory. hall got the snap, rolled to his left, and fire a dart to the end zone that hit bryce spears for yet another big catch. this tied the game, and kicker simon came up, booted the extra point through and union fans rejoiced. 

 

another one that comes to mind is 2014 union v lee. “the catch?” a great game from start to finish that saw the generals poised to get their first win ever over the bears. union was down by 4 i believe, it was a one possession game. another one that comes to the last play. 1.8 seconds remained after union called their final timeout. they lined up with four receivers to the left, one to the right. qb hall got the snap. rolled around for a little bit, got flushed to his left, and threw a prayer to the right side of the field, where austin jesse, the shortest wr on the field for the bears, made the game winning grab. it is still debated to this day if he caught it or not, and we will never know for certain, but one thing is sure, the ref put his hands up for a touchdown and union won the ballgame. 

I

2014 was the berth of the 'Bear magic', Union finding ways to steal close games at the end, esp at home.

 

and from a Union guy, I'm 99% sure it wasn't a catch, but thankfully HSFB hasn't introduced replay yet lol

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On 5/4/2020 at 8:02 PM, Liam McPoyle said:

Not only did PV-Appy '97 give us one of the best games in SWVA history, it also gave us "The Running Man" 

 

 

Lol  almost knocked that poor lady down  Blanket stash and roll trick .......

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On 5/4/2020 at 4:43 PM, RichlandsAlum said:

Don't know why but I've always had a soft spot for defensive struggles.  Among the very best games involving Richlands that I ever witnessed was the 1987 game against Gate City.  Our starting quarterback (Adam Lallande) had been injured the week before in a really goofy loss to Virginia High.  Donnie Hess took over and kept our playoff drive going that year with a 7-0 victory over the Blue Devils.

I was also present for the 1981 Region IV championship game between Graham and Tazewell.  The G-Men won 6-3 in a classic game played in the snow at Mitchell Stadium.

I played in that game.  It was a battle.  Compton was on the field, but I thought LaLande graduated the year prior.

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Just now, used2blarge said:

I played in that game.  It was a battle.  Compton was on the field, but I thought LaLande graduated the year prior.

Adam and Mike were both in the RHS Class of '88.  Since he was also getting quite a bit of attention from Division 1 recruiters at the time, I think the decision to hold Lallande out of that particular game was a "better safe than sorry" kind of decision.  Richlands defense was pretty impressive that year (recording 7 shutouts overall) which probably factored into the game plan as well.

Observing the recruiting process around Compton in particular was fun that year.  A log of big name coaches found their way into the guidance office at RHS at various times.  I've also heard some amusing anecdotes related to some of the official visits he took.

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8 minutes ago, RichlandsAlum said:

Adam and Mike were both in the RHS Class of '88.  Since he was also getting quite a bit of attention from Division 1 recruiters at the time, I think the decision to hold Lallande out of that particular game was a "better safe than sorry" kind of decision.  Richlands defense was pretty impressive that year (recording 7 shutouts overall) which probably factored into the game plan as well.

Observing the recruiting process around Compton in particular was fun that year.  A log of big name coaches found their way into the guidance office at RHS at various times.  I've also heard some amusing anecdotes related to some of the official visits he took.

Ah.  My mistake.  Both were great players.  

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On 5/7/2020 at 11:00 AM, RichlandsAlum said:

Adam and Mike were both in the RHS Class of '88.  Since he was also getting quite a bit of attention from Division 1 recruiters at the time, I think the decision to hold Lallande out of that particular game was a "better safe than sorry" kind of decision.  Richlands defense was pretty impressive that year (recording 7 shutouts overall) which probably factored into the game plan as well.

Observing the recruiting process around Compton in particular was fun that year.  A log of big name coaches found their way into the guidance office at RHS at various times.  I've also heard some amusing anecdotes related to some of the official visits he took.

That '87 team was probably on the short list of great Richlands teams to not make a long playoff run. 

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1 hour ago, cityofRaven said:

That '87 team was probably on the short list of great Richlands teams to not make a long playoff run. 

Arguably THE best under that criteria.  If the officiating crew hadn't blown the call on Chad King's touchdown reception in overtime against Virginia High, it's reasonable to think that we would have at least made it to the state semifinals.

Of course the Bearcats really had our number that school year.  They knocked us out of the regional playoffs in the first round in football, basketball, and baseball.  I eventually started speaking to a lot of my Bristol-based friends again by the mid 1990s.

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Would anyone here agree that at one point when Powell Valley and Honaker played each other in playoffs, it sorta turn into a rivalry just a little bit. The one game that comes to my mind is 2002 "The Mud Bowl" game between Powell Valley and Honaker

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1 hour ago, Tigers_07 said:

Would anyone here agree that at one point when Powell Valley and Honaker played each other in playoffs, it sorta turn into a rivalry just a little bit. The one game that comes to my mind is 2002 "The Mud Bowl" game between Powell Valley and Honaker

 

I remember that game very well. 12-8 Honaker won, it was the absolute  muddiest field I can ever remember stepping foot on. A pretty good PV offense was just completely held in check by the Tiger D and the weather. We thought we had a shot bc we had beaten Appalachia whereas Honakers only loss was to the Bulldogs. But the Tiger D was very good and never allowed PV to find a rhythm. PV also had a big special teams blunder IIRC. 

Honaker has the distinction of being the last team to ever beat PV in a playoff game (2010) and the last team PV beat in the playoffs (2007). The last four years of PV football were some rougher times. 

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The Appalachia and Gate City game in 93 was also a good one not many talk about.  Appy wins on a hook and ladder late in 4th.  Lots of big time players on those teams in mid 90s.  Probably the best decade for talent in swva football in any decade ever.

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On 5/10/2020 at 1:01 AM, goose111874 said:

The Appalachia and Gate City game in 93 was also a good one not many talk about.  Appy wins on a hook and ladder late in 4th.  Lots of big time players on those teams in mid 90s.  Probably the best decade for talent in swva football in any decade ever.

Look at just about any game played in the 90s for any team in SWVA and you will see those programs best players. A Golden Age for SWVA football if you will

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