V-Cats 472 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Heading into Friday's game against Amherst County, the Minutemen sit on the precipice of history -- they have a very real shot at becoming the first team in decades to go through an entire season without scoring If anyone wants to do the research, I'm sure we could find out just how long it's been since a team failed to score in all 10 games I just wonder what has happened in the Bedford program & how does a team manage to not find the end zone for an entire season? Kudos to those kids for not quitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unchained 587 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Didn't Liberty used to be a tough out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam McPoyle 1,863 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Richlands Alum has the best insight into Liberty-Bedford football, but I'll share what I know which includes: 1. L-B is the only Class 2 member of the always brutal Seminole District. The school was denied entry to the Dogwood District, which consists of Class 1 and 2 teams. Seminole District Team, VHSL Class, Enrollment Amherst County, Class 4, 931 Brookville, Class 3, 719 E.C. Glass, Class 4, 1020 Heritage (Lynchburg), Class 3, 813 Jefferson Forest, Class 4, 952 Liberty (Bedford), Class 2, 551 Liberty Christian Academy, Class 3, 450 Rustburg, Class 3, 595 2. In addition to their district schedule, the team played three difficult out-of-district opponents this season (i.e. William Byrd, Glenvar, Staunton River) 3. The team hasn't won a game since Week 3 of 2021, which, of course, impacts the quality and quantity of participants. 4. The school did produce quality teams in the 00s, but has been unable to replicate the success for the past dozen or so years. sixcat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefield researcher 1,195 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 I am not aware of any team that has gone thru a 10-game schedule without scoring. V-Cats 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridiron60 2,555 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 9 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said: Richlands Alum has the best insight into Liberty-Bedford football, but I'll share what I know which includes: 1. L-B is the only Class 2 member of the always brutal Seminole District. The school was denied entry to the Dogwood District, which consists of Class 1 and 2 teams. Seminole District Team, VHSL Class, Enrollment Amherst County, Class 4, 931 Brookville, Class 3, 719 E.C. Glass, Class 4, 1020 Heritage (Lynchburg), Class 3, 813 Jefferson Forest, Class 4, 952 Liberty (Bedford), Class 2, 551 Liberty Christian Academy, Class 3, 450 Rustburg, Class 3, 595 2. In addition to their district schedule, the team played three difficult out-of-district opponents this season (i.e. William Byrd, Glenvar, Staunton River) 3. The team hasn't won a game since Week 3 of 2021, which, of course, impacts the quality and quantity of participants. 4. The school did produce quality teams in the 00s, but has been unable to replicate the success for the past dozen or so years. VHSL league denies them but kisses Grayson’s butt. 🙄 redtiger and Liam McPoyle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDHoss 249 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 It's one thing to go 0-10, but to not score a single point while getting crushed every single night out is just mind boggling. 😱Their MaxPreps page says they have 47.players on the roster, but MaxPreps can be wildly inaccurate sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 20 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said: Richlands Alum has the best insight into Liberty-Bedford football, but I'll share what I know which includes: 1. L-B is the only Class 2 member of the always brutal Seminole District. The school was denied entry to the Dogwood District, which consists of Class 1 and 2 teams. Seminole District Team, VHSL Class, Enrollment Amherst County, Class 4, 931 Brookville, Class 3, 719 E.C. Glass, Class 4, 1020 Heritage (Lynchburg), Class 3, 813 Jefferson Forest, Class 4, 952 Liberty (Bedford), Class 2, 551 Liberty Christian Academy, Class 3, 450 Rustburg, Class 3, 595 2. In addition to their district schedule, the team played three difficult out-of-district opponents this season (i.e. William Byrd, Glenvar, Staunton River) 3. The team hasn't won a game since Week 3 of 2021, which, of course, impacts the quality and quantity of participants. 4. The school did produce quality teams in the 00s, but has been unable to replicate the success for the past dozen or so years. Add one more to the insane schedule for the small Class 2 school in a wicked district who hasn't won a game in 2 years and have taken severe losses......to their credit..........they are Playing Friday night. They didn't forfeit or quit. Liam McPoyle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixcat 2,919 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 According to the district website, Library-Bedford has 43 players on the varsity roster. Only 5 seniors and 10 juniors. With 28 sophomores and freshman, hopefully they are building for the future. JDHoss and Gridiron60 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtiger 1,740 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 44 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said: VHSL league denies them but kisses Grayson’s butt. 🙄 And their request was much more reasonable Gridiron60 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 The situation at Liberty is a result of several factors combining to produce kind of a "perfect storm" this season. Chris Watts left as the all-time leader in head coaching wins a few years ago. For the duration of his tenure the Minutemen were somewhat competitive in the Seminole District, which translated into some success at the regional level (including a state title in 2002 and a state semifinal loss to Richlands in 2005 that could have gone either way). But for the last five years or so of Chris' tenure he was struggling to plug some holes. Enrollment at LHS has declined for years despite some growth in the Bedford area and a steady increase in school age population. Big contributor there is local perceptions of relative school values, a very liberal zone transfer policy maintained by the County school system, and some active recruiting activity on the part of private schools in the area (including, but not limited to, LCA). Not sure if this is accurate, but I was told that 5 current starters for Jefferson Forest are kids who live in Bedford but transferred from Liberty. The recreation system that used to sustain the program got blown up ten years ago with the City of Bedford's reversion to Town status. The biggest travesty there is that nobody realized it (including Coach Watts) until it was too late. Compounding this is the shocking level of ignorance about that issue that still exists -- with the current coach griping about a Town recreation program that hasn't existed since 2013. There was a huge vacuum in leadership of the athletic department when some very crucial decisions were being made (such as hiring the replacement for Watts and representing the school's interests in the realignment discussion). Being forced to remain in the Seminole definitely doesn't help (and somebody needs to jerk a knot in several tails associated with the VHSL). But this team would still probably be struggling even if the logical move to the Dogwood would have been approved -- basing that on a 19-0 scrimmage loss to Altavista this year. Rumor I heard is that the Three Rivers District has agreed to accept us -- but I don't think it's possible for that to benefit the football team in any way prior to 2025 One silver lining should be that there is a harsh glare cast on the fact that some changes absolutely need to be made. That's noteworthy because the community is typically very slow to react to changes (or even acknowledge them ) -- see my comment above about the Rec program. Another positive is the fact that the kids are demonstrating some amazing resilience. We had to do away with JV because of numbers and there have been quite a few injuries. But LHS still shows up to play and the hometown crowd still shows up to support them. I'm not really aware of any kids who have quit the team. We also have received a lot of social media attention from opposing fans who have noted that. So in a really weird and pyrrhic sort of way we are still proud of our guys. I estimate that we have about 30 kids who are able to play right now -- unlikely that we ever had anything close to 47. Not that it matters -- and I'm honestly not looking to justify the situation in any way -- but other LHS programs are still performing well. The cross country team just won the Region 2C championship. The volleyball team easily qualified for regional play. And I'm not joking or exaggerating about the band/music program, which is really coming along. Looking ahead, pretty much all of the winter and spring teams are poised to be competitive in the Seminole, easily qualify for the regional playoffs, and a couple have a chance to wreak some serious havoc at the Division 2 state level. Long story short, this is a blip. A painful one to be sure. But Liberty won't stay down. And once the Minutemen are allowed to play against reasonably comparable district opponents, I think all programs (including football) will be just fine. Liam McPoyle, Unchained, V-Cats and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird 17 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Rocktown is a new high school in Harrisonburg maybe they can get rocktown on the schedule next year I stead of glass or lca. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPF 409 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Is Eddie Sloss on the staff? SWVAgridiron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichlandsAlum 678 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Since football scheduling is typically based on two year contracts, I'm not expecting any possibility of "relief" until the current alignment cycle expires. And I'd expect Liberty to continue to play our county neighbors Staunton River and Jefferson Forest regardless of where we land in that process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBHoops_18 206 Report Share Posted November 3, 2023 15 hours ago, Unchained said: Didn't Liberty used to be a tough out? Yeah I can remember Graham playing them in the early 2000s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted November 3, 2023 On 11/2/2023 at 5:27 PM, V-Cats said: Heading into Friday's game against Amherst County, the Minutemen sit on the precipice of history -- they have a very real shot at becoming the first team in decades to go through an entire season without scoring If anyone wants to do the research, I'm sure we could find out just how long it's been since a team failed to score in all 10 games 2004, when King's Fork opened in Suffolk. They won their '05 opener. Even Council scored 5 TD's their 1st season. - - - Liberty scored 12 to close out last season vs. JF. V-Cats 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VHSLhelper 571 Report Share Posted November 3, 2023 On 11/2/2023 at 6:14 PM, Unchained said: Didn't Liberty used to be a tough out? They won state in '02 - beat Grundy in the semis a few days after a BIG snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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