Road Warriors of various colors/school history

[BigWinners]

4 hours ago, JDHoss said:

Things I remember most about that trip and game...

* Northampton had maybe 200 or so fans show up in the tiny visitor side stands, while PV filled up the home side and lined the fence. 

* Stork Maddux "borrowing" a NHS flag/sign, and the Accomack Co sheriff's department is still looking for him to this day. 

* Keith Estep (IIRC) buried the big fullback for a 3 yard loss on the first play from scrimmage. After that first offensive series, those dudes knew this wasn't going to end well for them. 

* A PV assistant (maybe Jimmy Mitchell) losing his shoes in the mud. 

* I was taking a nap in my truck in the parking lot while waiting for the game to start, and some NHS fans shouted at me while shaking a 3 ft tall homemade Thomas Jones doll that was lynched. I waved and laughed at them. I'm pretty sure those dudes left at halftime. 

* On the way back to Kingsport the next day, I stopped to eat at a Bob Evans in Wytheville. The restroom had a sensor activated faucet, but I had never seen one before  and couldn't figure out how to turn it on. Maybe three minutes went by and I was about to give up when someone else stepped up to another sink and washed their hands, giving me a valuable lesson. 

I was very young, but I remember seeing maybe a handful of Northampton fans while the PV bleachers were totally full and plenty of folk were on the fence. I had to wear three pairs of socks the field was so wet and cold.  I remember after the first PV TD I knew the game was over, they had zero chance to consistently stop TJ. I think that PV team could have played with the D3 champ in both 95 and 97-98. 

[Beaverdad16]

On 10/21/2024 at 9:52 PM, redtiger said:

Just looking back at some info from fourseasonsfootball.com and a couple of things came to mind(both have been discussed on here before):

1) How far some teams traveled back in the day. For example:

Appalachia playing Marion, Elizabethton, Tennessee High, Dobyns Bennett, Johnson County TN, Corbin KY, and William Byrd.

William Fleming traveled to Appalachia. 

Haysi played Rich Valley, Damascus,  St Charles and Jonesville in Lee County.

JI Burton played Saltville, Virginia High, William Byrd, Richlands, a school from Knoxville.

Grundy played Fleming-Neon, Marion, Cumberland KY.

Marion played Clifton Forge, William Fleming.

These trips were undertaken before I-81 and when 23/460 weren't what they are now and several of the trips were early enough that they probably took a train. Just incredible to look back on.

 

2) Coaches just changing the school colors. Correct me if I'm wrong but Coach Carlock basically just decided the G-Men football team would be Cardinal and Gold instead of Maroon and Gray in 1973 and the school(more or less) followed suit. In 1978 Butch Kiser just decided to shift Haysi from Blue and White(Red may have been used as trim before, not 100% sure) to Red with a little Blue, which Coach Colley took over in 82 the Blue quickly went away in favor or all Red.

 

I'm sure there are MANY other examples if you guys would like to add on

Carlock was in the Marines and that was a reason for the color change. He was also a big redskins fan. He also played a huge part in the design of the G Star. 

[JDHoss]

It's not SWVA, but the closest away game for the Key West Conchs is 90 miles away in Tavernier against Coral Shores Academy. For some reason, they don't play Marathon, which is only around 50 miles away, but Key West is a much bigger school. They routinely play Miami area schools (165 miles) and venture up here (250 miles) sometimes. Seeing a game at Key West is on my bucket list in the next couple of years. 

[EH31]

In the late 2000’s & early 2010’s Bluefield made a few trips to Charlotte to play Charlotte Country Day & Charlotte Latin.

 

in one of those games against Charlotte Latin, Bluefield pulled the upset and even intercepted a future top 5 NFL draft pick three times. 

 

”The Beavers rolled up 408 yards on the ground and scored seven rushinig touchdowns to ease past previously unbeaten Charlotte Latin, N.C. Friday.

Montel Leggett rushed for 160 yards and two scores (82, 1), while D.J. Edwards (33, 85) and Johnny David (4, 5) added two touchdowns apiece.

Charlotte Latin quarterback Daniel Jones threw for 223 yards, but was picked off three times by the Beavers defense in the win.”

- The Register-Herald

[1inStripes]

6 hours ago, EH31 said:

In the late 2000’s & early 2010’s Bluefield made a few trips to Charlotte to play Charlotte Country Day & Charlotte Latin.

 

in one of those games against Charlotte Latin, Bluefield pulled the upset and even intercepted a future top 5 NFL draft pick three times. 

 

”The Beavers rolled up 408 yards on the ground and scored seven rushinig touchdowns to ease past previously unbeaten Charlotte Latin, N.C. Friday.

Montel Leggett rushed for 160 yards and two scores (82, 1), while D.J. Edwards (33, 85) and Johnny David (4, 5) added two touchdowns apiece.

Charlotte Latin quarterback Daniel Jones threw for 223 yards, but was picked off three times by the Beavers defense in the win.”

- The Register-Herald

So throwing multiple interceptions in a game started at a young age for Daniel Jones.

[GilesBandanaMan]

10 hours ago, BigWinners said:

 I think that PV team could have played with the D3 champ in both 95 and 97-98. 

Well in 97, they did play with the D3 champ. They beat em in regular season (Gate City). Appy would have also played with the D3 champ in 1997, as they beat GC also.

I think Graham won the title in 95 over King George in D3, might have been 1996. Can't remember

[1inStripes]

1 minute ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

Well in 97, they did play with the D3 champ. They beat em in regular season (Gate City). Appy would have also played with the D3 champ in 1997, as they beat GC also.

I think Graham won the title in 95 over King George in D3, might have been 1996. Can't remember

I believe that was 95 for Graham as 96 I believe was GC losing to Brookeville in a mess in the semis.

[tornado99]

5 minutes ago, 1inStripes said:

I believe that was 95 for Graham as 96 I believe was GC losing to Brookeville in a mess in the semis.

I can’t remember the actual specific, but that 1995 Graham team threw an obscenely low number of passes throughout the playoffs. I remember a game with only one pass. Graham held onto running the wishbone longer than most.

[JGray]

12 minutes ago, tornado99 said:

I can’t remember the actual specific, but that 1995 Graham team threw an obscenely low number of passes throughout the playoffs. I remember a game with only one pass. Graham held onto running the wishbone longer than most.

If I'm not mistaken, that obscenely low number was for the year. 4 of 14 on the season if I remember correctly. Brandon, Milton and Tony each rushed for over 1000 yards.

[GilesBandanaMan]

12 minutes ago, tornado99 said:

I can’t remember the actual specific, but that 1995 Graham team threw an obscenely low number of passes throughout the playoffs. I remember a game with only one pass. Graham held onto running the wishbone longer than most.

I never saw the Graham of 95 but was told that was a stellar defensive team. I did see PV of 1997 and they were incredible. I watched Julius play down at Darling Stadium in Hampton in the All Star Game. I remember someone telling me or maybe reading on here over the years that the 95 Graham team never attempted a pass in the state playoffs (all 4 games)? WTH?

[tornado99]

1 hour ago, JGray said:

If I'm not mistaken, that obscenely low number was for the year. 4 of 14 on the season if I remember correctly. Brandon, Milton and Tony each rushed for over 1000 yards.

I saw this team 2-3 times, including beating what I remember being a very good Richlands team, 16-6. I can’t remember if this was the same team that I watched beat William Campbell at Mitchell Stadium something like 7-6 or 10-6, an extremely low scoring game with 0 or 1 pass that may have been a screen. This time and era probably shaped many of my views that I share today, along with 1992 Richlands. During that G-men victory, I was mesmerized by the speed of the G-men compared to what I perceived as a very physical Richlands team. (That’s why, pre-Mance and even now, I surmise that we typically don’t have the breakaway speed even when physical.) Also, the QB running the offense seemed to always pitch or keep at the right time, and Banks and Byard would be gone. They made the wishbone look more fun, but could also grind it out with FB dives and lead off-tackles and sweeps. As this poster said, it was an older version of spreading the ball around rather than using the receivers today, evident from each backs yardage.

Edited October 23, 2024 by tornado99
Correction

[Hokiebird7]

3 hours ago, tornado99 said:

I saw this team 2-3 times, including beating what I remember being a very good Richlands team, 16-6. I can’t remember if this was the same team that I watched beat William Campbell at Mitchell Stadium something like 7-6 or 10-6, an extremely low scoring game with 0 or 1 pass that may have been a screen. This time and era probably shaped many of my views that I share today, along with 1992 Richlands. During that G-men victory, I was mesmerized by the speed of the G-men compared to what I perceived as a very physical Richlands team. (That’s why, pre-Mance and even now, I surmise that we typically don’t have the breakaway speed even when physical.) Also, the QB running the offense seemed to always pitch or keep at the right time, and Banks and Byard would be gone. They made the wishbone look more fun, but could also grind it out with FB dives and lead off-tackles and sweeps. As this poster said, it was an older version of spreading the ball around rather than using the receivers today, evident from each backs yardage.

Cause mance got all his speed from another state lol ....just kidding

[tornado99]

3 hours ago, Hokiebird7 said:

Cause mance got all his speed from another state lol ....just kidding

No offense taken, but some truths revealed here. 
1. Some geographical areas simply have more speed, which is a somewhat inherent advantage.

2. With the power based offenses at the time, occasionally 1-3 fast kids could lead to promising results, typically a running back, and sometimes another skill position player, like a receiver or quarterback who doubled as a defensive back. 
 

3. Mance was an excellent motivator and strategist. He was ahead of the game in learning and improving the spread.

4. His early success, without the aid of transfers had speed, particularly greater than usual in the form of Fuller and Jennings. The other receivers were no slouches either. You would often have a quick slot, and a tall possession receiver during that era. 
 

5. As you pointed out, the special speed would come in spots from other areas. The teams would have been very good without the transfers, but would not have gone as far. Richlands would be a consistent winner thanks to the other part of the culture and Mances coaching. It’s ironic that the only state champion and 2x runner up came during the homegrown run, rather than the 2009 and later era with the 2 runner ups (2010 and 2016.) 

6. Points 3-5, are the basis of my opinions of Greg Mance being one of the best coaches in the area of all time, despite the number of championships. Based on history and next level talent, he simply had to do more with less talent/speed at his disposal compared to Palmer (currently), Carlock (RIP), Simons, and Robbins. All of which were good coaches themselves. They just had the embarrassment of riches in speed (Division 1 and NFL talent) that put them over the top.

*Credit the assistant coaches working with him as well.

Edited October 23, 2024 by tornado99
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[BigWinners]

13 hours ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:

Well in 97, they did play with the D3 champ. They beat em in regular season (Gate City). Appy would have also played with the D3 champ in 1997, as they beat GC also.

I think Graham won the title in 95 over King George in D3, might have been 1996. Can't remember

In 1995, I like PVs chances for a couple reasons:

 

One, PV would have the best player on the field, full stop. Graham for sure had a bunch of studs during that time but none were TJ. PV was also big and physical at the LOS so they would have a harder time hitting TJ before he got started. 
 

And two, Barry Jones and Phil had a lot of success against the wishbone offense as a defense. They were used to playing run first offenses and had a lot of success against teams like Giles and Appalachia that ran a single wing or wishbone attack with a running QB. PV was 2-1 vs some very good Giles teams in that frame; the one loss was a 14-7 loss at Giles in 1996 while the wins were 28-6 at PV in 95 and 42-0 at Giles in 98. 

[ImFromOutEast]

Don't forget Clintwood's journey to Onancock in 1978 was a similar distance to Powell Valley's trip to Onley in 1995.

[Queue]

25 minutes ago, ImFromOutEast said:

journey to Onancock

 

 

Sweet God -- why is there a town with that name?? 🤔🤔

 

 

 

[gwloyal]

7 minutes ago, Queue said:

 

 

Sweet God -- why is there a town with that name?? 🤔🤔

 

 

 

I'm glad someone said this so I didn't have to. 

[Liam McPoyle]

1 hour ago, Queue said:

 

 

Sweet God -- why is there a town with that name?? 🤔🤔

 

 

 

Onancock seems like a suitable name.

[Queue]

3 hours ago, ImFromOutEast said:

journey to Onancock

 

 

Think that was a Jules Verne/C.S. Lewis collab.

 

 

 

[BigWinners]

14 hours ago, Queue said:

 

 

Think that was a Jules Verne/C.S. Lewis collab.

 

 

 

Seems for fitting of a Truman Capote or an Oscar Wilde name if you ask me lololol

[JDHoss]

21 hours ago, Queue said:

 

 

Sweet God -- why is there a town with that name?? 🤔🤔

 

 

 

In 2010 we took a ferry over to Tangier Island for the day from Onancock. It’s a nice little town, and Tangier was interesting to say the least. 

[Unchained]

21 hours ago, Queue said:

 

Pales in comparison to the town about 45 minutes from my older and youngest brother's homes, Central New York's   town of Coxsackie. The first time we drove by it and I saw the signs I horse laughed. Surely to God the mascot/team name is the Fighting Cocks. If not, somebody REALLY drooped the s
ack..errr.ball.

Sweet God -- why is there a town with that name?? 🤔🤔

Pales in comparison to the town about 45 minutes from my older and youngest brother's homes, Central New York's   town of Coxsackie. The first time we drove by it and I saw the signs I horse laughed. Surely to God the mascot/team name is the Fighting Cocks. If not, somebody REALLY drooped the s
ack..errr.ball.

 

 

[NorthGreeneHuskies88]

20 hours ago, Unchained said:

 

In Tennessee there’s the Cocke County Fighting Cocks

[Liam McPoyle]

2 hours ago, BearsFan88 said:

In Tennessee there’s the Cocke County Fighting Cocks

In Ohio, there's the Beaver Beavers. If ever two teams should play each other...