Cain Ringstaff Off. Player of the year??

[bigwave98 10]

Hey to all you football fans. I was just wondering how Cain Ringstaff got Off. Player of the year for the SWD? Seeing all the states between Garon Marcum and him, shouldn't Marcum have that award. Dont get me wrong Ringstaff is one heck of a player, I've seen him play and he is a good back. But from what I see Garon should be the one with the award. That's my personal opinion by looking at the stats and watching them both play. But how could Garon Marcum be 1st Team SWD RB, and not have Off. Player of the year? Somebody please get back to me on this.

[BigD4VT 11]

Both are great backs. Ringstaff had 1549 yards rushing and 23 TD's. Marcum had a better per carry average but didn't have nearly as many carries. I think Ringstaff won because of better total stats and the fact that his team won the district. Obviously only one can be offensive player of the year. Marcum will be the pre-season favorite for the award next year.

[jmarcum 10]

The voting was done after the end of the regular season. So that meant garon had the better stats. Probably same as the all state stuff in that seniors are the main priority and if you dont believe that look at his brothers numbers last year with 149 tackles, 99 solos. Second in the state behind Gresham at William Fleming and he played all the way to the state title game. But Aaron was only all state honorable mention. Winning is whats important but the fact that players with stats are constantly overlooked is a joke to me. Not just award wise but at the collegiate level as well.How much more evidence do you need than the stats, and on that note Garon had more yards than ringstaff to end the regular season on at least 50 less carries and a much smaller line and a greater ypc average plus he had to share the ball with another 1,000 yard back and still put up big numbers.

 

Ringstaff had a great year dont get me wrong but if you are gonna be completely fair about it why doesnt the person with the better stats at the end of the regular season win. Like I said senior status is priority number one.

 

I can only pray Garon stays healthy the rest of next year and he can finally gets every carry. Something that I and every other Grundy fan has wanted for years now. Then we will see what kind of numbers he can really put up. Will that happen? Only time will tell. Either way gonna be a long off season.

[BigD4VT 11]

Who does the voting anyway? Is it the coaches?

[Lance 228]

I think since Richlands won the District they had the "pull" in the vote as to who the POY was...Colby was POY on defense, so they are not going to have both POY from Grundy...political but just the way it works.

 

Marcum's stats don't lie, you can compare him against anyone you like...no need for me or anyone else to defend him here...just look at the stats and make up your own mind.

 

Doesn't matter who "should" have won anything...it's a done deal...nothing to argue or talk about.

 

Ringtaff is worthy of the honor...congrats to him for winning it...could have easily gone to Marcum...either one represents the SWD well.

[Cola 10]

I really thought Tater had defensive POY wrappped up. I know he got my vote.

[Lance 228]

Same thing...they wouldn't have POY both from Richlands or Grundy...just the way it works out...share the wealth I guess.

 

IMHO Colby was the one who stepped up for Grundy the most this year vs. last year...kinda came out of no where and was pretty dominate...Aaron Marcum had such a good year last year, that this year it was "expected" of him...which he produced well...could have gone to him as well.

[Cola 10]

I wished all the players could be recognized. I really enjoyed this year and was proud of the players. SWVA was given their money' worth this year to anyone that enjoyed football.

[BigBlue02 11]

By the way anyone have the SWD Awards?

[hamil76 10]

well stats are not the only thing they look at. they also look at strength of schedule it means alot. i am not downing marcum trust me he is a great back. but some of his big stats came when everyone on the team was putting up big numbers also and the ones who vote knows very little about the ky. teams grundy played. just set back and compare the overall def's each played against thats the factor.

[jmarcum 10]

so your saying that the playoff teams of shelby valley and paintsville were dismal when compared to LEE???? This argument is really old. Okay compare what ringstaff and garon did against common opponents. Also tell me how many carries ringstaff got and how many garon got against those opponents. Then tell me how many of Ringstaffs touchdowns were within the five yard line.

 

Exactly.

 

Like I said before seniors dominate these awards.

 

It just blows my mind that everyone keeps on trying to take any numbers garon had away because of Grundy playing three ky teams. Big deal. Two were playoff teams.He only got 5 carries the entire first game of the season against Sheldon Clark. Also he never played the fourth quarter against Sheldon Clark, Paintsville, Shelby Valley. He also never even touched the ball in the second half against Marion besides holding for extra points.Many games that happened. Also this wasnt Garons first year of running the ball. He averaged 7.8 ypc last year and around 9.8 this year. He is 300 yards away from being Grundys all time leading rusher and that being done sharing the ball with 2 other people as a freshman,and sharing it with Looney as a sophomore and junior. He will keep on doing what he has done ,and 2005 is his year to finally show people what he can do with all the carries the rest of the backs around the area get.He can put up numbers and score touchdowns but he cant schedule Grundy's opponents.

[BigD4VT 11]

I don't think who Grundy played has anything to do with it. I haven't seen Garon's stats against common opponents but I doubt there any different than his total stats. He had the stats to win the award but I think making him the first team running back, and Ringstaff the player of the year is a good way to recognize both. Especially in light of the fact Garon has another year. I predict next year Garon wins it and someone else is conplaining about their player not winning.

 

That said. Those KY teams being playoff teams doesn't mean much. Grundy beat them 100 times easier than any of their VA opponents. If you clone Lee half a dozen times (Sorry Lee) and put them in a district together, someone is going to win that district and make the playoffs. They made the playoffs because of their level of competition. Not because of their own talent.

 

I'm not sure what you mean about how many of Ringstaff's TD's were inside the five yard line. I'm sure many of them were but that's what you want. When Richlands gets down there we know they're going to score. Anyway, Ringstaff had plenty of long runs.

[Lance 228]

7 games played against common opponents.

1 game played against a KY team he only touched the ball 5 times.

 

that leaves 2 games, both against teams that made the playoffs in KY...both of which Graon didn't even touch the ball in the second half of either more than a combine 3 times.

 

You can try to discount it all you want....Marcum gets the ball out i the open and he's gone...period...doesn't matter who it's against, he did it all year...even against Richlands...still had over 100 yards and was able to break the big one against that defense...which was probably one of the best in this part of the state. He had big runs in every game this year...so say what you want about the KY teams he played about 5 quarters of football against total.

 

Like i said, nobody has to defend what he put up this year and he's already working hard in the offseason for next year, so it will be fun to see what he can do next year.

 

As for Ringstaff...great kid...wish him the best with whatever he does...he had a great season and is deserving of any hardware he receives as a result.

[BigD4VT 11]

I wasn't trying to discount his stats. I said I didn't think playing the KY teams made any difference. If he had won the award I wouldn't question it at all. All I'm saying about the KY teams is the fact that they made the playoffs doesn't mean anything. If they were as good as your VA opponents you either would not have beaten them as bad as you did, or you would have beaten the VA teams worse than you did. Sure they made the playoffs but if you put a turtle in a race with a bunch of turtles... one of them has to win.

[Lance 228]

wasn't saying that as you in particular, just in general.

 

2004 Schedule

 

Date Opponent Result

8/28 at Sheldon Clark, KY 49-7

9/3 Shelby Valley, KY 62-6

9/10 Richlands 14-39

9/17 Paintsville, KY 62-6

9/24 OPEN

10/1 Marion 34-0

10/8 at Graham 33-6

10/15 Abingdon 54-13

10/22 Carroll Co. 23-7

10/29 at Tazewell 35-14

11/5 Virginia 28-13

 

 

Thats still pretty consistant...and with the exception of the loss to Richlands, beating the SWD teams like they did was not an easy task. One thing you have to consider is that Grundy lost it's biggest linemen in the Richlands game and then as the year goes on and the field conditions get worse, your scoring usually drops off a little...I would say that two of those KY teams would have easily won the Highlands and could probably have given Graham and Tazewell a good game early on in the year (and by that I mean stay wihtin a couple of TD's)...true they are not as good as SWD teams, but they were at least Highland caliber or probably better.

 

Again, I'd love to see Grundy playing some of these other teams that are better, but if they won't schedule you, you have to go out and find teams that are willing to travel to Grundy and play...not an easy task...so they have to schedule someone.

[rhsfan88 22]

I have to disagree with ya Lance. Im not discounting anything Garon did this year, b/c he is a great back. I played againist and he is tough. Buy you can ask any of our players this, but when we were watching film for the Grundy game we had those first two KY teams games with Grundy and they were awful. The linemen didn't block, backs didn't run, it was just a big cluster. It doesn't even look like they practice. Just ask any of the other players and they will tell you this.

But either way, I think that if Grundy had beaten us and won the SWD, Garon would have probally won the award.

He is definatly the front runner for it next year.

[Lance 228]

Sheldon Clark was the first team...they were bad...really bad...they finished up 2-8 like most of the Highlands...Paintsville was not bad and Shelby Valley not that bad either...Grundy still had Charlie Osborne on the line which they lost against Richlands...that hurt he was our biggest lineman.

 

Also if you saw the film you know Garon only had like 5 touches in that first game. IF they wanted to pad his stats, you give him about 25 carries and he would have had 700+ yards and about 13 TD's in that game.

[wavefan64 10]

Garon cracked his ribs in the first or second quarter against Burton. Against Sheldon Clark, he scored at will. 5 or 6 carries, and all of them were big gainers. Against Shelby Valley, same deal. Paintsville, once again, not that many carries and a ton of yards.

 

But in my mind, Garon's best game was against Marion. He scored almost every time he touched the ball, and all of them were broke for about 60 or 70 yards.

 

Garon is the best back I have ever seen that can make something out of nothing. You can give him the ball an entire series, you might hit him for a loss the first play, he might get 5 yards the next, but on that very next play, he will bust one on you. He has more desire and determination to win right now than I have ever seen in him. Next year will be truly special.

[bigwave98 10]

So basically all that has been written has proven that seniors do dominate this award. Garon has the better stat's and everything. So why did Cain get this award, I'll tell you why, the coaches felt sorry for him because he didn't get 1st team SWD. I'm sure if garon had as many carries as ringstaff had he would have been in the record books at grundy the 7th game in the season. There is no doubt that garon should have had this award. So this is what I say Cain Ringstaff, you take your award but I just want you to know you aren't the real SWD player of the year off. Your the second best back in the SWD.

[Lance 228]

I talked to Garon...he's not upset over anything...let it go man...doesn't matter now anyway? Right?

 

Besides Garon i don't think anyone else in the SWD would have a legit gripe...and he's just concentrated on next year right now...so...just let it go...Ringstaff had a great year, he deserves whatever he gets as a result.