Is Union going to win state?

[JDHoss 249]

Based solely on what people have said about Union's special teams play, I'll go with no. Even the team with a senior James Mitchell was undone by special teams play against Appomattox as it cost them 17 points in a 3 (IIRC) point loss. 

[goose111874 967]

1 hour ago, JDHoss said:

Based solely on what people have said about Union's special teams play, I'll go with no. Even the team with a senior James Mitchell was undone by special teams play against Appomattox as it cost them 17 points in a 3 (IIRC) point loss. 

Special teams is definitely a problem this season

[SwvaOG 601]

5 hours ago, crambone22 said:

I'm still curious what Ridgeview has.  Up till now they still haven't played a quality opponent.  Looks like Union is their first real test of the year.  This could hurt them to have not played in a competitive game, unless they are just "that" good.  

Good defense that is active and athletic but I'm not sure how they will do against a straightforward down-hill rushing attack like Union's.  On offense they still have, IMHO, the best QB in the region and a speedy slot WR.  They lost their one tall WR for the season and the remaining outside WRs aren't very big (5'8 - 5'11) and aren't going to win a lot of matchups against athletic DBs.  They lost their best RB for the year and that was a big set back, IMHO. They converted a WR to RB and he runs hard and is tough but is a step back from the injured starter.

Good kicker, O'Quinn does a good job punting and they are pretty good on punt/kick returns.  Their coverage is still a bit of a sore point. If I were Union, I'd put a OLB in the slot's face and re-route him and then get after the QB with some blitzes.  Union will have an answer for RV's little bubble screen game which no one has defended very well yet (with the exception of VHS).  Will RV have another wrinkle or two installed by then?  If not and Union has a healthy Chandler....could get ugly.  

[redtiger 1,740]

15 hours ago, Duke2015 said:

I live in bsg and haven’t heard 1 person talking titles especially in the spring

I work in BSG and heard rumblings of how great this team was going to be and how they could make a run at a state title... granted these are the same people who are upset when Union doesnt win the M7 every season

[appyvol 23]

7 hours ago, goose111874 said:

Special teams is definitely a problem this season

Special teams looked good Friday night 🤷

[SXSW 557]

No!

[BigWinners 1,643]

6 hours ago, appyvol said:

Special teams looked good Friday night 🤷

To who? GC? The Huff PR TD was nice but the kickoffs are still not sorted out and they missed or had blocked first two PATs. 

[Duke2015 451]

10 hours ago, redtiger said:

I work in BSG and heard rumblings of how great this team was going to be and how they could make a run at a state title... granted these are the same people who are upset when Union doesnt win the M7 every season

Probably same people who don’t know a thing about football u know the one’s claiming the refs cheat.  The ones who actually watch are completely shocked how well they’re playing.  The QB has improved so much is the main reason for the early success 

[Duke2015 451]

19 hours ago, appyvol said:

Special teams looked good Friday night 🤷. we missed 2 extra points and every kickoff the team got the ball at midfield.  Huff is literally the only bright spot we have.  

[Unchained 587]

On 9/23/2023 at 9:48 AM, SwvaOG said:

Chandler stays healthy, they have a chance.  If they lose him, they don't get past Graham or, maybe even Ridgeview.  He makes them two dimensional.  WIthout him, they are much easier to defend.  This is why RV losing Hackney was such a big blow to them and, basically, sunk their long term chances in the playoffs.  He gave RV the same thing Chandler gives Union.  The difference there is that Union's OL is better than RV's.  

I disagree with some of the fans that keep saying Union is young and the team has better chances next year or the next....their window is this year because of the Anderson kids.  Union will have a hard time replacing them next year.  One the reasons Bostic and Huff do well is because no one is keying on them.  Next year, they'll get much more attention and I don't think either of them plays with the edge the Anderson kids do.  Just my opinion.  Union's window is now and, if Turner is smart, he already knows this.  

 

Actually the Anderson coming back may be the best out of the bunch and Bostic getting some reps tells me we'll be fine at QB. He's becoming a great athlete. We'll see but I feel VERY confident there's not going to be a dropoff in BSG for MANY years to come:)

[Unchained 587]

On 9/23/2023 at 5:53 PM, Duke2015 said:

They ain’t no one in Appalachia or Big Stone thinking about state yet long way to go 

Exactly. Too many variables like injuries and a ton of football still ahead. Like my late buddy from GC Ole Tob used to say take 1 at a time and the rest will take care of itself.

[Unchained 587]

On 9/23/2023 at 4:25 PM, Union_Fan said:

According to Turner's quote in the KTN, he seems to think this defense is better.

I tend to agree. It seems like there's more team speed with this bunch.

[Duke2015 451]

10 hours ago, Duke2015 said:

 

[BearsFan88 117]

On 9/24/2023 at 9:51 PM, JDHoss said:

Based solely on what people have said about Union's special teams play, I'll go with no. Even the team with a senior James Mitchell was undone by special teams play against Appomattox as it cost them 17 points in a 3 (IIRC) point loss. 

Don’t forget 2012 against Stuarts Draft. How many onside or squibs did Stuarts Draft recover?

 

 

It is way too early to think about state anyway. 

[appyvol 23]

On 9/25/2023 at 1:05 PM, BigWinners said:

To who? GC? The Huff PR TD was nice but the kickoffs are still not sorted out and they missed or had blocked first two PATs. 

The punt return was very nice. Kickoff was better. The don't have the ability to kick it deep, so the pooch with no return works well for them. They recovered one of the kickoffs, and I don't recall a huge return all night. The punt team has done well covering some very deep punts from Chandler. PATs are killing them, but other than that special teams played well Friday. 

[redtiger 1,740]

On 9/25/2023 at 3:34 PM, Duke2015 said:

Probably same people who don’t know a thing about football u know the one’s claiming the refs cheat.  The ones who actually watch are completely shocked how well they’re playing.  The QB has improved so much is the main reason for the early success 

Oh for sure, the problem with that kind of talk is the kids hear it and they dont know those guys are dumb.

Anderson has improved tremendously as a QB and hes a fantastic athlete to begin with. 

[Wolf1207 239]

I think for the first time since consolidation RV and Union are going to be on an even footing. Every year up to this point I’ve thought that one team or the other had the decided advantage.  Union is a favorite but I’m not so sure they have a decided advantage this year. 

[Duke2015 451]

6 hours ago, Wolf1207 said:

I think for the first time since consolidation RV and Union are going to be on an even footing. Every year up to this point I’ve thought that one team or the other had the decided advantage.  Union is a favorite but I’m not so sure they have a decided advantage this year. 

Hopefully by then Union will have remedied the butter fingers issue from last week 

[BigWinners 1,643]

On 9/27/2023 at 2:29 PM, appyvol said:

The punt return was very nice. Kickoff was better. The don't have the ability to kick it deep, so the pooch with no return works well for them. They recovered one of the kickoffs, and I don't recall a huge return all night. The punt team has done well covering some very deep punts from Chandler. PATs are killing them, but other than that special teams played well Friday. 

I guess that’s true, I was letting the PAT woes cloud my judgment. I hate the fact they can’t kick it deep but if you can at least pooch it to the 30 it works. If you can’t, kick it out of bounds every time. 
 

But not being able to kick PATs or FGs in a close game could prove disastrous and hopefully they can sort something out. If you can’t make it consistently, gotta just go for it every time. 

[Duke2015 451]

2 hours ago, BigWinners said:

I guess that’s true, I was letting the PAT woes cloud my judgment. I hate the fact they can’t kick it deep but if you can at least pooch it to the 30 it works. If you can’t, kick it out of bounds every time. 
 

But not being able to kick PATs or FGs in a close game could prove disastrous and hopefully they can sort something out. If you can’t make it consistently, gotta just go for it every time. 

Only problem with pooch kicking to the 30 is they run it back to midfield half the time.  Gate City had great field position first half but couldn’t do anything with it 

[SwvaOG 601]

23 hours ago, Wolf1207 said:

I think for the first time since consolidation RV and Union are going to be on an even footing. Every year up to this point I’ve thought that one team or the other had the decided advantage.  Union is a favorite but I’m not so sure they have a decided advantage this year. 

I felt it was even footing until the season-ending injuries for RV.  Those coupled with that infamous Big Stone Gap "homefield advantage" and I think this tips toward Union's favor. 

If you break it down.....RV doesn't really have a decided advantage (perhaps, kicking).   I would even argue that QB is advantage to RV but not decided as some would think as Anderson is absolutely an equal runner (and faster) but not O'Quin's equal in the passing department.

Rushing attack: Union

Passing attack: Even, slight tilt toward RV

Rushing defense: Even, tilting toward Union

Passing defense: Union  

Special Teams: RV

Coaching: Union

Intangibles: Union (Look, in a big game in BSG, crucial calls are going to go Union's way, period. But, RV brings an equally loud and rowdy crowd on the road).

[Gridiron60 2,555]

53 minutes ago, SwvaOG said:

I felt it was even footing until the season-ending injuries for RV.  Those coupled with that infamous Big Stone Gap "homefield advantage" and I think this tips toward Union's favor. 

If you break it down.....RV doesn't really have a decided advantage (perhaps, kicking).   I would even argue that QB is advantage to RV but not decided as some would think as Anderson is absolutely an equal runner (and faster) but not O'Quin's equal in the passing department.

Rushing attack: Union

Passing attack: Even, slight tilt toward RV

Rushing defense: Even, tilting toward Union

Passing defense: Union  

Special Teams: RV

Coaching: Union

Intangibles: Union (Look, in a big game in BSG, crucial calls are going to go Union's way, period. But, RV brings an equally loud and rowdy crowd on the road).

I’m anxious to see these two play this year. I hope it goes down to the wire with these two top tier teams! 

[SwvaOG 601]

41 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

I’m anxious to see these two play this year. I hope it goes down to the wire with these two top tier teams! 

The last four matchups have been fairly tight:

2018: RV 27, Union 14

2019: Union 32, RV 26 (The infamous phantom holding call on the first play of the game that wiped out a Trenton Adkins TD along with failing to receive one last play at the clock ran out when Adkins went down out of bounds with 1 second left.  Hard to catch that without review though but the phantom holding call was egregious. Go watch the WCYB film). 

2021: Union 28, RV 21

2022: RV 20, Union 9 

NOTE:  Ridgeview has started horribly the last two times they played at Union.  Both times Union jumped out big and RV fought back but ran out of time.  Something to keep an eye on.