Altavista legit?

[KW23 10]

They were 1-9 last season and are 4-1 so far this year and beat Appotomax 56-16 last night.  I know Appotomax is down this year but for a 1a school that's impressive.  Is altavista legit?

[UnionGuy2017 182]

Absolutely! 

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

What's different from Altavista being 1-9 last year? Why the turn around?

Started tons of sophomores last year, but the biggest reason is a new Head Coach in Deloach. He was a former coordinator there and coached at Appomatox as an assistant under Smith in the past. He has modeled their program very similar to Appos. He is close to Doug Smith who has served as a mentor to him. 

2 Things to watch over the next 5 years.

You are going to see Gretna maybe become the new Class 2 Appomattox of that area with their new coach who is gobbling up local talent left and right and Altavista will become central Virginia's version of Essex (Eastern, Va) at the Class 1 level.

[SWVAgridiron 1,469]

53 minutes ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

What's different from Altavista being 1-9 last year? Why the turn around?

Started tons of sophomores last year, but the biggest reason is a new Head Coach in Deloach. He was a former coordinator there and coached at Appomatox as an assistant under Smith in the past. He has modeled their program very similar to Appos. He is close to Doug Smith who has served as a mentor to him. 

2 Things to watch over the next 5 years.

You are going to see Gretna maybe become the new Class 2 Appomattox of that area with their new coach who is gobbling up local talent left and right and Altavista will become central Virginia's version of Essex (Eastern, Va) at the Class 1 level.

Gretna’s problem over the years has never been talent.. it’s been coaching and discipline. When you have athletic kids and bring in a coach who can teach discipline that’s a recipe for a bright future. Not downing Appomattox’s program, they done something that may not be replicated in Class 2 for quite some time but I don’t think they’re going to be the face of 2C for a few years 

[S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE 239]

Nobody stays at the top forever,  but they won't be down long compared to how long they were the gold standard. 

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

2 hours ago, SWVAgridiron said:

Gretna’s problem over the years has never been talent.. it’s been coaching and discipline. When you have athletic kids and bring in a coach who can teach discipline that’s a recipe for a bright future. Not downing Appomattox’s program, they done something that may not be replicated in Class 2 for quite some time but I don’t think they’re going to be the face of 2C for a few years 

Yep, Gretna has always been a hotbed of talent and there are some schools that are kind of "one good coach away" from being very good and being very good very quickly.  Gretna is one of those schools, so is Altavista, Buckingham County, and believe it or not, Southampton and Central-Lunenburg.  Even Martinsville, but so many of the schools above struggled to get or keep a coach that can address those fundamental football issues, discipline issues, etc.  When one of these schools do land a coach that can do that (Gretna and Altavista) opponents have an instant problem. 

[S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE 239]

Seems like that whole stretch around old 58/piedmont region has always been like that.  Tons of athletes but a difficult place to stay/ live. When they're good they're great,  but when they're bad it's terrible watching it wasted with no direction. 

[nrv_football 81]

I think it is Altavista or Essex vs Honaker or Grayson Co. In the final.

[Gridiron60 2,555]

8 minutes ago, nrv_football said:

I think it is Altavista or Essex vs Honaker or Grayson Co. In the final.

I can’t see Grayson beating Honaker but I could be wrong. 

[IRISH-FAN18 323]

Galax is still in the mix.

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

3 hours ago, S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE said:

Seems like that whole stretch around old 58/piedmont region has always been like that.  Tons of athletes but a difficult place to stay/ live. When they're good they're great,  but when they're bad it's terrible watching it wasted with no direction. 

Yep

[sixcat 2,919]

2 hours ago, IRISH-FAN18 said:

Galax is still in the mix.

Only because Region 1C is a shell of its former self. By default, somebody has to win it even if they all appear to be trying not to. 

[Duke2015 451]

Is beating a 1-5 Appo team enough to say they’re legit?   Just wondering cause you guys know how kids are after a few losses they’re not gonna put the same effort if they’re 5-1.  I’ve not seen either so really just curious 

[RedPrideNation 82]

No.
 

Region B will be Sussex unless they fall flat on their face. Furthermore unless they continue to have the 4 players that were in street clothes against Essex game 1 and play a phenomenal game, whoever comes out of the west will face Essex in Salem. 
 

IMO there really isn’t a lot of suspense on who will likely be playing in Salem. But I have been wrong more than right about football so what do I know……….

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

1 hour ago, Duke2015 said:

Is beating a 1-5 Appo team enough to say they’re legit?   Just wondering cause you guys know how kids are after a few losses they’re not gonna put the same effort if they’re 5-1.  I’ve not seen either so really just curious 

Yes, because they didn't win 17-16.  They gave Appomattox its worst loss since 2008 and they beat Appomattox far worse than Rustburg, Heritage, and Gretna did.  They beat them about as bad score wise as all 3 of those teams above Combined.  

At Appo, what's going on?  Doug Smith is pretty sick.  That's no secret.  He's traveling to Carolina for treatments in the week and he's spent lots of time away from the team.   Some of Appo's issues is that they are very young, but Smith for the most part, is not there with the day to day activities of the program.  He's still heavily involved when he can be, but his illness has required him to be away from the program for stretches and it shows.  If CCC is elite to Class 2 and flips Riverheads to another gear when playing, or the same for Clarke, the Radford QB, Doug Smith is that at Appomattox at the coaching level.   

[BearsFan88 117]

I can say Altavista is a good team. Blowing Appo out like that is no small feat. 
 

But Appo’s record now is 1-5, I am not sure how much that’s really saying in the grand scheme of things. 
 

On the other hand, given Appo’s reputation the last 8 years, that says a ton! 
 

Very good accomplishment for the Colonels. 

[Union_Fan 2,155]

After reading the article about the game and looking at the stats, I'm not sure that the score was indicative of an Altavista "thumping" of Appo. Appo had 6 turnovers to Altavista's 0. HS football is a game of momentum, and it seems once the game starts going bad it's hard to right the ship. Things seem to snowball out of control after that.

Credit to the Colonels for getting the TOs and making the plays Appo didn't, but not certain I'd crown them champions just yet.

https://newsadvance.com/sports/high-school/football/altavista-overwhelms-appomattox-ending-nine-game-losing-streak-in-series/article_1ddaf7a0-5f3e-11ee-b4a9-e7a9228e66ed.html

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

29 minutes ago, Union_Fan said:

After reading the article about the game and looking at the stats, I'm not sure that the score was indicative of an Altavista "thumping" of Appo. Appo had 6 turnovers to Altavista's 0. HS football is a game of momentum, and it seems once the game starts going bad it's hard to right the ship. Things seem to snowball out of control after that.

Credit to the Colonels for getting the TOs and making the plays Appo didn't, but not certain I'd crown them champions just yet.

https://newsadvance.com/sports/high-school/football/altavista-overwhelms-appomattox-ending-nine-game-losing-streak-in-series/article_1ddaf7a0-5f3e-11ee-b4a9-e7a9228e66ed.html

6 TO's is a whole lot of dang turnovers.  An opponent can put up points in a hurry when a team turns over that many times.  Good lord, how many possessions do you get in a HS football game?  10ish?  That's crazy. 

[Duke2015 451]

2 hours ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

6 TO's is a whole lot of dang turnovers.  An opponent can put up points in a hurry when a team turns over that many times.  Good lord, how many possessions do you get in a HS football game?  10ish?  That's crazy. 

And like I mentioned earlier when high school kids get down a few scores sometimes they don’t put in as much effort and the scores get really out of hand, especially a 1-5 team.

[Pickett 28]

Region C is certainly way down

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

2 hours ago, Pickett said:

Region C is certainly way down

I think Region C is way down at the top Pickett, but I'm not sure it's down at the bottom.  Grayson is good.  But, the teams at the bottom are better than the other regions bottom in my opinion.  For example, you got GW who is down, Galax still tough-not the normal Galax, but still not a pushover, but teams like Narrows, Parry McCluer, Fort Chiswell, and even Bath County are not bad Class A teams.  I don't know what the "bottom" is, but if it's the usual McCluer, Fort Chiswell, Giles, Narrows, Bath County as 4 -8, those aren't bad 4 through 8's.  They ain't worldbeaters, but if you look at the other regions 5-8, Region C all of a sudden doesn't look that bad.   The problem is, it doesn't appear to have an Essex, Sussex, or Honaker this year, other than maybe....maybe Grayson County. Just my opinions....could be wrong though.