Surprises and Disappointments

[MavsRock 21]

This is something that ESPN does with the pros and college, so I thought I'd try it here, and see who surprised and dissappointed them.

 

Personnally, my surprise to this point has been Richlands. They've been descent the last few years, but this year if you take away the OT loss to a very powerfull Powell Valley team, their closest game has been a 2-score win. They've soundly beaten Grundy Graham and Tazewell, and are very hot with the playoffs approaching.

 

By far, my disappointment has been Woodrow Wilson. As has been said, the Beckley faithfull won't tolerate much more of this. Woodrow hasn't been over .500 since 2001, the excuse of playing a "youthfull team" isn't going to cut it anymore. Just to put it into perspective, they 2 less games (9) in 2001 than the last 3 years combined. Regardless of classification, I expect a lot more out of a team with that kind of potential.

[BigD4VT 11]

My biggest surprise would be Tazewell. Bobby Wyatt is doing a good job and they will be a force again.

 

Biggest disappointment is Graham. I wasn't all that surprised that they were a little down, but I never thought they would be winless in the SWD.

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

Biggest Surprise: Definitely Tazewell. I thought Wyatt could turn things around, but not as quickly as he has. The Bulldogs have gone from 1-9 to 6-4 with a playoff berth. Plus, they've been competitive in three of their four losses. The new coaching staff excelled where the old coaching staff failed horribly, at utilizing the players and talent they had/have.

 

Biggest Disappointment: Again, much like the biggest surprise, this is a definite choice and it's Beckley. Beckley was pretty bad last year, but young so I thought they'd be much improved with experience. However, they've been unable to find an offensive line or keep from turning the ball over. They did play a very tough schedule, which I can certainly appreciate. Nevertheless, a school of Beckley's size and talent pool should always be competitive with anyone in the state. If they find an offensive line over the summer they could be very good b/c the skill position players are there.

 

A close second in biggest disappointment would be Graham. I was pretty sure that Graham would struggle compared to the past few years. However, never did I imagine they would go winless in the SWD. I think the Bluefield game took more out of Graham mentally than we'll ever know.

[Lance 228]

Tazewell - biggest surprise - I knew they would be good going in to the season...and I said they should go 5-5. But, they are playing very good ball right now and have played a hard schedule this year. Coach Wyatt has done an excellent job and they should be a favorite in the district next year along with Grundy and Richlands...plus Graham should be reloaded unless Carlock decides to leave. Next years SWD should be a barn burner.

 

Blacksburg - Biggest disappointment overall.

 

If it's just SWD, Graham is the easy winner there...finally an off year for these guys...everyone else in the SWD should make the most of it while they can...won't last long...lol.

[old_school_blue 247]

Actually, the overtime loss was to Gate City. Which is still a very powerful team. I agree with BIGD, Tazewell has taken the first step in resurrecting their program. And the biggest disappointment has to be Graham. I cannot remember Graham ever going winless in the SWD. I would find it surprising if anybody could. But to their credit and to the credit of the SWD they are in a position for possible playoff contention. If I'm not mistaken, I believe every team in the SWD finished with a winning record.

[mavsgrad 28]

My biggest suprise was Richlands as well. I don't keep up with Virginia football that much but they have went from usually an average 6 or 7 game winning season to being a team to rekon with.

 

My biggest dissapointment locally would be Beckly because with all the football tradition they have had it has been several years since they had a good team. Overall my biggest dissapointment has been Poca. I know that after winning three state titles straight that you have to come down sooner or later but man talk about going from the penthouse to the outhouse.

[GC_Quincy 582]

On a personal level, my biggest surprise was Gate City. Losing 18 seniors to graduation from a state championship team and being 9-1 at this point heading into the playoffs is remarkable to me. I put Richlands and Tazewell up there as well.

 

Biggest Disappointment...Losing to Powell Valley.

[Beckley_WWHS 10]

Biggest Disappointment: Definitely Beckley. Beckley football has been on a steady decline since 2001. The combined record of the last three teams is 12-19. This season had to be an all time low, only winning 2 games and having 5 games in which they weren't even competitive. What makes it worse it that this year was hyped as being a top 10 team as was 2002. It has been very tough to watch. Everyone certainly expects much better.

 

Biggest Surprise: I'm gonna go with Westside. I thought they could very easily lose 4 or 5 games after watching them scrimmage Shady. I thought just sneaking in at the 15th or 16th seed would be a great accomplishment.

 

They finished 8-2 and are the 10th seed in the playoffs. This coming after losing 15 to 20 talented seniors off of last year's semi-final team. I would expect another good season out of them next year as most of this year's team will be returning. They seem to be developing a good program down there.

 

That being said, it would be nice to see them beef up their schedule a notch or two. Now that they are churning out 10-2, 8-2 teams, it is time to add a couple teams like Bluefield, James Monroe, and Mount View to the schedule and drop a couple teams like Summers County and Pikeview. Just my opinion though.