Who are the biggest surprises so far? Good and Bad!

[TnT+h]

Which teams are playing above pre season rankings? Below expectations?

[UnionGuy2017]

I’d say Tazewell has been the biggest disappointment for me. They had us beat in the playoffs last season and I didn’t think they lost too much. 
 

Best surprise for me has been Eastside. Rolling well and a year away from being very solid!

[tornado99]

Biggest surprise: Lebanon. What a difference a year makes!

Biggest disappointments: Richlands and Tazewell for different reasons. For Richlands, as a fan, the consecutive losses and lack of production is just heartbreaking. 
For Tazewell, the record is pretty close, but I would have predicted a more dominant win over Grundy and victory over Virginia High. 
Patrick Henry: Too many key injuries.

Jury is still out: Honaker and Eastside.

I knew both would be good, but a little disappointed in Honaker so far with blowout losses to Lebanon and Grundy. If they win out win percentage is closer to expectations. Eastside had been slightly better than expected, but I felt like Rye Cove would be and had proven to be the best. I’m not confident that the Spartans are consistently better than Grundy and Honaker or how they compare to Holston or Rural Retreat.

[Bulldogs52]

1 hour ago, UnionGuy2017 said:

I’d say Tazewell has been the biggest disappointment for me. They had us beat in the playoffs last season and I didn’t think they lost too much. 
 

Best surprise for me has been Eastside. Rolling well and a year away from being very solid!

Lost more to graduation than you think 

[tornado99]

55 minutes ago, Bulldogs52 said:

Lost more to graduation than you think 

Apparently, so. I think some of us keep watching expecting to see Tazewell take that next step forward, only to be disappointed.

[Liam McPoyle]

The Good: Eastside and Lebanon (Layne Jessee factor)

The Bad: Galax

[SwvaOG]

I'm going Virginia High and Lebanon.  I remember people talking Eastside up preseason and they just got molly-whopped by Rye Cove so I'm gonna drop them.  

[Beaverdad16]

Bluefield hasn’t been Bluefield not only this year but the previous two years as well. Kids transferring to Graham and Princeton, along with a very young team has made this year extremely difficult.

Offensive coaching this year has been abysmal.  

As a Graham grad, and now the parent of a Beaver I am still new to this side of the field. But one thing I’ve learned is the fans won’t tolerate much more. 

[redtiger]

Good - Virginia High, Lebanon 

Bad - Galax, Tazewell 

[Wildcat/Chanticleer]

20 hours ago, UnionGuy2017 said:

I’d say Tazewell has been the biggest disappointment for me. They had us beat in the playoffs last season and I didn’t think they lost too much. 
 

Best surprise for me has been Eastside. Rolling well and a year away from being very solid!

 I don’t think it’s necessarily the quantity of seniors they lost but the quality . It’s hard to replace LEADERSHIP,HEART , DESIRE and never giving anything but 150% all the time . We lost,I  believe 8 seniors from that team . Which 5 players had the opportunity to play college football. Of the 5 , 3 are still on teams . Brody at VMI , Brock and Kaizon at Ferrum . I’m not sure about Brody but Brock and Kaizon  have logged time on the field. 
 I have  not been around the team this year , I’m only going on what I know they lost from the young men that left last year  . I’m sure there are still several that fall in to the description I stated above , in my opinion which doesn’t really matter , I believe it’s more than a player issue .

. 
 

[jeffro]

Disappointment-   Tazewell- lot of hype early on thinking might be the year to topple graham ..or at least make it competitive.
Suprise-Lebanon but i believe the wheels start come off the bus starting this weekend

[Ryan4VT]

16 hours ago, redtiger said:

Good - Virginia High, Lebanon 

Bad - Galax, Tazewell 

In texting with sixcat before the season, he said Galax would be lucky to win a game, and he's been spot-on so far. That Richlands/Galax game next week will be something else lol. 

[Union_Fan]

35 minutes ago, Ryan4VT said:

In texting with sixcat before the season, he said Galax would be lucky to win a game, and he's been spot-on so far. That Richlands/Galax game next week will be something else lol. 

I miss his posts. Wish he'd come back to the board.

[Hokiebird7]

6 hours ago, Ryan4VT said:

In texting with sixcat before the season, he said Galax would be lucky to win a game, and he's been spot-on so far. That Richlands/Galax game next week will be something else lol. 

Giles Galax this week should be something too

[nrv_football]

1 hour ago, Hokiebird7 said:

Giles Galax this week should be something too

From what I have seen Giles should win by a few touchdowns. Watched Galax play a few weeks against GW and they just look completely lost out there. It wasn't even close and Giles played GW well.

[Hokiebird7]

35 minutes ago, nrv_football said:

From what I have seen Giles should win by a few touchdowns. Watched Galax play a few weeks against GW and they just look completely lost out there. It wasn't even close and Giles played GW well.

Hope you're right but I'll have to see it to believe it

[GilesBandanaMan]

Absolutely ironic with our struggles over the past years and Galax whipping us, and this year in 2024, we are fighting for 2 or 3 wins and just crazy to think one of those would be Galax considering how good they have been and literally just won a state title. Just crazy in my opinion. 

[nrv_football]

2 hours ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

Absolutely ironic with our struggles over the past years and Galax whipping us, and this year in 2024, we are fighting for 2 or 3 wins and just crazy to think one of those would be Galax considering how good they have been and literally just won a state title. Just crazy in my opinion. 

Very crazy. Galax typically just reloads but something is way off this year. They looked absolutely terrible against GW and well pretty much everyone they have played. I think East Mont or Bland could hang with them maybe even beat them.

[GilesBandanaMan]

10 hours ago, nrv_football said:

Very crazy. Galax typically just reloads but something is way off this year. They looked absolutely terrible against GW and well pretty much everyone they have played. I think East Mont or Bland could hang with them maybe even beat them.

I think what we are seeing with Galax just shows how fragile Class 1 schools are regarding injuries,and/or loss of a few key seniors to graduation, etc. Galax is a very small Class 1 school and they just got hit with key seniors lost (very good seniors) that graduated and the difference in last year and this year can happen. Patrick Henry is the perfect example. I watched that team early in the year and they were Good. They would have played with Rye Cove, but a couple key injuries to a Class 1 school and the falloff can be monstrous.

[Bulldogs52]

On 10/14/2024 at 11:40 PM, tornado99 said:

Apparently, so. I think some of us keep watching expecting to see Tazewell take that next step forward, only to be disappointed.

You and me both!

[Real Sasquatch]

On 10/16/2024 at 8:52 AM, Union_Fan said:

I miss his posts. Wish he'd come back to the board.

Has anybody heard from Gridiron 60?  He has been absent all season too.

[Union_Fan]

12 minutes ago, Real Sasquatch said:

Has anybody heard from Gridiron 60?  He has been absent all season too.

I have not, but have also been wondering.

[Gridiron60]

29 minutes ago, Real Sasquatch said:

Has anybody heard from Gridiron 60?  He has been absent all season too.

Speak of the devil 😂. Long story. Check your messages. 

[NorthGreeneHuskies88]

Good: Lebanon, Eastside

Lebanon being undefeated, taking a huge leap forward from a 3-7 season. Eastside, being undefeated until losing to Rye Cove.

Bad: Galax. I know they lost a lot of players but I didn’t expect them to be winless so far. 
 

Out of the coverage area: 

Good: Craig County. I know they haven’t had a hard schedule. But the teams they are blowing out have traditionally been the teams blowing them out. I’m not saying they are going to be 20 miles away in Salem come December but they have come a very long way. I have former students playing for them and couldn’t be more proud. 

[Dodgers]

Holston has been solid after being picked to finish 5th in the 6 team Hogoheegee district. They are one of the smallest schools in the state of Virginia however they have been fairly consistant over the past 20 years. I also respect that they don't go hunting a creampuff schedule as they play some good teams outside of their district.