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2005 football master schedule (Adobe required)
(No out-of-state team schedules are listed yet, and it has some mistakes. Those games
are noted on my weekly schedules. A VHSL master
WITH the out-of-state scheds. included should be released in a couple of weeks).
Group A, AA & AAA alignment for 2005-6 and
2006-7 /
football Divisions for 2005-6 and
2006-7
The May, 2004 Executive Committee motion to go to 4 classes somehow magically morphed into a
ridiculous plan to go to 8 Divisions for
football only (now called Model A), and it's being pushed to the Regions by the VHSL.
The timeline called for feedback at the December meeting, a vote next March, a year for
appeals, and implementation in the Fall of 2007. Take a look at it and at then check out
my analysis about how things would look and what
problems we could see, like a 10-0 team missing the playoffs in 2007 (and how TWO 0-10
teams could have made the playoffs in 2003).
But the R&R Committee decided to go ahead and put together two models for a 4A system.
Model B is even MORE out-there.
It has all 110 (or so) AAA teams moving up to 4A, then the remaining 185 (or so) teams
would split into the other 3 Groups. The bad thing is that each Group would only have
THREE Regions. How is that supposed to work ?!?!?
Model C is a straight
realignment of all schools into a 4A system, which is by far the best of the three options,
although I think a 5A system would be a lot better.
Now, here's the kicker. This is being talked about over the Summer, and it appears that
one of these models will be picked at the Sept. 15th meeting. So look at them, make up
your mind, and tell your local coach/AD what you think NOW!!!!
Phil Robbins, who's been the head coach at Powell Valley for over 20 years, was picked by
the National High School Athletic Coaches Association as their national
Coach of the Year
(in football), according to a July 22nd blurb from the
Bristol Herald-Courier.
Two other LPD coaches, Nick Colobro & Tom Turner, will be inducted into the VHSL Hall of Fame
on Oct. 11th, according to a May 19th article in the
Kingsport Times-News.
The Big Creek Owls will again play one final season at Mario Poletti Field, according
to a May 25th article in the
Bluefield
Daily Telegraph.
Green Run of Va. Beach is closing in on the record for futility. The Stallions haven't won
since beating Tallwood on 10/29/99, and are just 2 losses away from tying the 53-game skid
which Thomas Jefferson (Richmond) ended on 10/10/03.
Who's the "King" of Va. football? The regular season bragging rights are up for grabs on
Sept. 2nd, with the off-season title available on Nov. 11th, thanks to some GREAT
scheduling by King William.
Charlotte's
News 14 says Appy St.
had some fun with Adam Sandler's new line in "The Longest Yard".
The final word on Parkersburg wrestling vs. the WVSSAC ??? :
The transfer, Josh Neal, appealed to the WVSSAC, according to a News & Sentinel story from
Wed., 2/9.
A Fri., 2/11
story says the appeal failed, but the judge granted a stay in order to have more time to
review the material submittred by the WVSSAC. A story from the following
Sat., 2/19
says Judge Hill reversed the WVSSAC decision and Neal was allowed to wrestle in the Regionals,
eventually finishing 2nd at state.
The other wrestler, Jake Hays, had went into Feb. believing he would finish a fifth year on
the mats. But 3 days before the state tournamnet started, the Wood Co. judge pulled a rabbit
out of his hat and overturned his earlier decision, leaving Hays ineligible, according to
a Feb. 23rd story in both the Parkersburg
News & Sentinel
& the Charleston Daily Mail.
My two cents - Based solely on the stories and message board comments I've seen, I agreed
with the Judge right from the start on Neal, since "solely for athletic reasons" didn't seem
to be the case; but Hays should never have been allowed back on the mat to start with. It's
a shame this took so long to settle and the courts had to get involved (just like the Mitchell
case in KY).
Offbeat item : I was looking for an article that had a word mispelled, thinking it would
be easy to find. But a Yahoo search of "The Veiw" returned almost 20,000 results !!!
Finally, a joke. But since I don't re-publish newspaper articles, I'll send you to the
London (KY) Sentinel-Echo from last October 20th (bottom 2 paragraphs).
Sept. 8 : Twin Valley's game Saturday vs. Greater Beckley Christian will be played @
Hinton's Garten Stadium @ 1:30.
I heard from a fellow SW VA'ian recently who's at ETSU now and has a new website that will
be of interest to anyone looking for standings, socres, etc. from
Northeast Tenn..
Well, looks like we avoided any problems associated with Katrina, but how long will
our luck hold out? After all, it's been mid-Sept. "I" hurricanes that caused schedule
adjustments the past couple of years, and we're already up to "O".
Great news from Hampton Roads via the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. The state's 2nd longest
losing streak (51 games) came to an end last Thursday night as
Green Run
beat Bayside 26-16. Thomas Jefferson of Richmond will hold the record of 53 straight
losses for at least a couple more years.
Then, on Friday night, 2nd-year school King's Fork not only scored their first-ever points,
but also got their first-ever win as (former Radford asst.) Cecil Phillips'
Bulldogs beat
Norview 24-21.
Also on Fri. night, the longest (current) losing streak in Ky. ended at 25, as former Pike Co.
Central coach Johnny Painter guided Trimble Co. to a 41-12 at Nicholas Co.
I noticed a couple of incorrect scores last weekend, so here's what's right -
MaxPreps,
CalPreps & Va. Preps all had problems with Powell Valley's 48-0 win over Lee & Hurley's 32-6
win over Unaka (which almost all of Tenn., even the TSSAA, also had wrong).
Friday, Sept. 23 : Today's
Washington Examiner says the VHSL's R&R Committee has rejected the 8-Division realignment
format. A final decision is expected next Thursday when the Executive Committee meets.
Some big games tonight will help decide some District titles. In probably the biggest one,
Graham goes to Richlands. Not only are the G-Men trying to stop the Tornado from progressing
towards their 8-game season-opening unscored upon streak from 1989, but these are the top two
Div. 3 teams in the state, according to the
Freeman rankings at Calpreps.
Also, Honaker is at Haysi, Lebanon is at
George Wythe and Northwood is at Rural Retreat.
According to an article in Wednesday's
Richmond Times-Dispatch, George Wythe of Richmond finally gets to play some football at
home. The Richmond city school has had a lighted football stadium for years, but no
bleachers (remember Whitewood?). That is, until the city school board gave them $30,000 in
late August to rent bleachers and add fencing, meaning they'll actually get to host their
homecoming game (10/7 vs. L.C. Bird) for the 1st time. A request to add stadium-style seating, at a
cost of about a half-million dollars, might be presented in the Spring.
BTW, Roanoke's Victory Stadium is open for business this Fall, but only about 10 rows of
bleachers are open. The stadium's fate (remodel or replace) is still being
(cussed and) dicussed.
Lynchburg's WSET reports that
the Tunstall at Gretna game will be this coming played Mon. (9/26). The game was ppd. from
last Friday due to some health concerns among the Tunstall team.
ESPN has pulled Lee Corso & company out of Baton Rouge (due to the expected effects of
Hurricane Rita) for a 'safer' location, and GameDay will be broadcast from Blacksburg
(starting at 10:30 am Sat.) for the first time since the ill-fated 2000 opener, according to
Hokiesports.com.
Since Marcus wasn't on the cover of SI, I think everyone (and their cars) will be safe from
stray lightning bolts this time.
Late Thursday, it was announced that the Tenn. @
LSU game has been moved to Mon. night at 7:30 (ESPN).
Sunday, Sept. 25 : Due to the way the schedules are this year, Richlands & Va. High
have all but clinched their District titles and a playoff spot, less than 30 hours after the
arrival of Fall.
The Blue Tornado are doing a great imitation of another team about 2 hours away on 460,
with defense & special teams playing a big role. Richlands is holding opponents to about 50
yards of offense per game, and they scored 2 TD's Friday night on 1st & goal plays after long
punt returns.
And a big hand to the parents & boosters for getting an inflatable helmet for the pre-game
entrance.
Another big surprise from the weekend was Powell Valley's loss to J.I. Burton, which moved the
Raiders into 1st place in the LPD.
Friday, Sept. 30 : The print edition of this week's Dickenson Star says Pound
and Thomas Walker will be Div. 1 teams this year. Both schools took advantage of a new
enrollment-based rule that went into effect this year and petitioned the VHSL to be
re-classified, which was approved earlier this week.
Looks like everybody reported the wrong score of the Ervinton game Friday night. The Rebels
won at Jenkins by a score of 50-48, according to the
Coalfield Progress.
Speaking of, don't forget that I recap area scores Friday nights at 10:30 & 11:05 on 105.5 FM,
WGTH.
Sunday's Martinsville Bulletin says Magna
Vista head coach Joe Beckelheimer is serving a two-game suspension for "personnel issues."
In addition to Friday's night loss in Reidsville, N.C., Rick Ramey will be the head honcho
for the G.W.-Danville game in 2 weeks (since the Warriors are off this week).
We've seen female football players in the past, mainly kickers. And they've scored a few
points. But when will we see a female score a TD in a VHSL varsity game? Looking at
Harrisonburg's
Daily News-Record, I think it might be sooner than you'd think.
The
Beckley Register-Herald says Greater Beckley Christian has made arrangements to play the
rest of their (2) "home" games in Surveyor at the old Trap Hill H.S. field.
I'm a bit of a Steelers fan now, so the 4th quarter of Sunday's loss to the Patriots seemed
like it would never end. Well, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that was partly due to a clock error which extended the
quarter by nearly a minute. (See the
NFL Gamebook for the stat sheet.)
Changed the location of this Friday's Northwood game to Lebanon (it's their homecoming game).
Tuesday, Oct. 4 : Updated the standings and calculated my first ratings of the season
and found a few that don't match the 'official' numbers, so I've e-mailed C'ville about
correcting the totals for Grundy & Lee, along with some Ky. schools.
Also noticed that Pound & Thomas Walker are now counted as Div. 1 teams not only for playoff
purposes, but for bonus point purposes as well. So if you have a master schedule, go through
it and change them from D2 to D1 on all their opponents schedules.
Today's Roanoke Times has more
information on the recent suspension of Magna Vista coach Joe Beckelheimer.
When 2 teams play 2 games and score the same number of total points, what good does it do?
After years, even decades, of year-round bragging rights belonging to one school or another,
they'll be no talk in Bluefield for about 320 days, unless one team makes it to the state
finals. If ties are likened to kissing your sister, I'm not really surprised at the outcome
when I think about where the games were played.
(Hey - I had to lighten the mood a little after the previous items.)
Friday, Oct. 7 : Today's
Roanoke Times says Magna Vista coach Joe Beckelheimer had his coaching contract
terminated last night.
It's been a sad couple of weeks for young ladies down along the N.C. border.
A story in today's
Bristol Herald-Courier says Holston's Michelle Wolfe, the school's first female football
player, died Monday in an auto accident. With visitation scheduled for tonight, the game with
George Wythe has been moved to Sat. night at 7:30.
On Sat., 9/24, the David Crockett Homecoming Queen was killed when the car she was riding in
was rear-ended at a traffic light in Johnson City.
Weather concerns, officials schedules, homecoming dances & SAT tests are leading to lots of
schedule changes for tonight's games - primarily in NoVa, but some Roanoke area games have
also been altered so far. See the schedule as of 2 pm.
Sunday, Oct. 9 : Posted the revised schedule,
which still has a few games set for Monday night that will change the ratings, which will be
updated again Tuesday.
Tuesday, Oct. 11 : With Richlands & JI Burton open this Friday, I expect Hurley &
Chilhowie to join them at 7-0. The Warriors play winless John Battle & the Rebs head up to
Bob Brewer Stadium in Naugatuck to take on winless Tug Valley. Things have gotten kinda
rough for the Panthers lately, according to Sunday's
Charleston Gazette.
Saturday, Oct. 15 : Posted updated standings and ratings.
As expected, SWVA now has 4 teams at 7-0 and another at 7-1. I'll start working on
playoff possibilities next Saturday.
Sunday, Oct. 16 : Posted updated ratings.
Monday, Oct. 17 : Posted updated ratings (actually, Bluestone lost, so
I have no changes from yesterday).
Tuesday, Oct. 18 : Posted updated ratings (after checking my totals against the VHSL
totals, I saw I'd forgotten to give Brookville a point for Turner Ashby's win).
Saturday, Oct. 22 : Posted updated standings and ratings.
Sunday, Oct. 23 : Posted updated standings and ratings, with all weekend game
results included.
I'm glad this week is finally over. It's been too strange. First, let's get the Kentucky
stuff out of the way.
The KHSAA currently has 5 Groups for their 282 high schools (which I think Va. should copy).
However, they don't seperate private/church schools from public schools, like Va. does.
But since 17 of the 31 state sports titles were won by private schools last year, there's been
a push to split them up in the post-season. The first step came Friday, with a motion at the
state convention that was approved 195-78.
See pre
& post
vote stories in the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Then, on Friday night, according to the
Courier-Journal, Kentucky's "Game of the Year" had a bizarre ending that included a
spectator running onto the field and hitting a player, time being added to the clock after the
game was thought to be over, and the refs ending the game during a play.
So, how could Va. top all of that? How about a bunch of lightning delays, leading to everything
from a post-midnight ending (in Holston) to games shortened by over 10 minutes (in Richlands)
to a 124 point shootout (in Saltville) that wasn't decided until the final minute?
Northwood's 66-58 win over John Battle goes into the record books as the 4th-highest combined
score all-time in a game involving at least 1 VHSL team. In games involving 2 VHSL teams, it's
the 2nd-highest total ever and is the highest-scoring game that didn't go into OT.
And finally, a Twin Valley bus, on it's way back from Montcalm, WV, was rear-ended by a car
around 7:30 last night at the edge of Doran. I'll post more on this tonight if I find out
anything.
Time to recognize some people "in the news".
Congrats to Patrick Henry-Richmond's coach Ray Long, Jr. on becoming the 28th Va. prep coach
to hit the 200 win mark, according to a recent story in the
Richmond Times Dispatch.
The late Agie Skeens from Grundy has been selected for inclusion in the Western Region of the
Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, according to stories in the
Roanoke Times and the
Vinton Messenger.
Sunday, Oct. 23 : I've worked on the numbers and decided that all of the District
races are too close right now to determine who the champion would be if the current leader
(where we have one) were to lose. Power point games over the last 2 weeks would have major
effects.
In Region 4, the only sure thing right now appears to be that Richlands is in.
In Region D, it looks like we have 5 teams going for 4 spots in both Divisions.
Here's what I found out about the Twin Valley bus "accident". The bus had it's lights
flashing and was slowing down to let somebody off when a guy ran up under the back of it.
Only injury apparently was to the driver of the car, who had some minor cuts (I'm guessing
from flying windshield glass).
Here's some more on the Ky. split I mentioned this morning. According to Lexington's
Herald-Leader,
after the school delegates approved the motion, it went to the KHSAA Board (kinda like the
VHSL's Exec. Committee), which voted 9-7 to NOT endorse the proposal, which now goes to the
Ky. BoE, which will also vote on whether or not to endorse it before sending it on to a
state legislative committee.
Here's an editorial writen by a sports columnist at the
Herald-Leader,
and a story on the 9-7 vote from the
Louisville Courier-Journal.
And here's a preview of the "Game of the Year" from the
Louisville Courier-Journal.
Monday, Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m. : Adjusted 4 teams ratings points : In Region III, I had
given Alleghany's "gimme points" for playing William Byrd to Appomattox. And we apparently
have our first forfeit of the year, which changed the
numbers slightly for Haysi & Thomas Walker.
Carson-Newman officially opened their newly-remodeled Burke-Tarr Stadium / Roy Harmon Field
Saturday, just in time for Homecoming. The Eagles were able to score the first points there
in just 11 seconds thanks to a safety following a mishandled opening kick.
And here's an interesting story I just found out about. According to
USA Today and a cached story from the
Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Northwestern College (Minn.) Eagles (Div. 3, like E&H),
made modern history a couple of weeks ago with a home-away double-header when they hosted
Trinity Bible at noon before going to Macalester for a night game. The Eagles won both
games by a combined score of 106-14.
Saturday, Oct. 29 : Posted updated standings & ratings, along with a preview of the
races in Regions D & IV, plus a note in Region C on the Hogo race.
I haven't seen anything official about the Ky. forfeit, but speculation on the Ky. message
boards is that one of the players was injured in the pre-season and didn't participate in
the mandated minimum of 10 practices before playing his first game.
Sunday, Oct. 30 : Posted updated previews of the races in Regions D & IV after
running over them a couple of times yesterday at work. Added breakdowns of each race.
Ratings remain the same from yesterday, but I noted more teams being out.
Did you rem. to set your clocks back an hour last night?
Monday, Oct. 31 : Posted corrected ratings, none of which changed the playoff
previews for Regions D or IV.
What a wild night of games across western Va. Friday. The top 2 AA teams (and their fans)
held their breath after last-minute TD's by their ranked opponents, but Carroll County's
XP kick with :25 remaining was wide left & Cave Spring's 2 pt. run with :11 left came up
a foot short.
In Group A, the #3 team also won a squeaker as Chatham's 2 pt. run with 4:36 left also came
up just short.
Wed. Nov. 2 : AAA Oakton may have to forfeit
4 games for using in ineligible player.
Thur. Nov. 3 : : Another coaching legend has passed away. The Lexington
News-Gazette, the Rockbridge Weekly &
Roanoke's WDBJ are all
reporting that former Parry McCluer head coach Robert (Bob/Bobby) Williams has died. Williams
led the Fightin' Blues to a 198-54-4 record in 21 seasons before retiring after the 1994
season. The Blues were 36-9 in the post-season under Williams, claiming 12 Region C crowns
and 5 state titles ('77, '79, '83, '86 & '87) in 6 appearances.
(added @ 9 p.m. -) His teams went 110-15-2 (87.4%) in the Pioneer District & won 9 crowns.
The 6 Region D teams he beat in the state semis were : Honaker-1977, defending state champ
Clintwood-1979, defending state champ Powell Valley-1983, Appalachia-1986, Jonesville-1987
& Appalachia-1991 (Appy had beaten Pound 78-0 two weeks earlier).
He also lost in the semis to 1976 runner-up Pennington, 1978 state champ Clintwood, 1981 state
champ JJ Kelly, 1982 state champ Powell Valley, 1990 runner-up JI Burton & 1992 state champ
Appalachia.
When Camden Field was replaced 3 years ago, the new field was named for him.
Funeral arrangements are currently incomplete.
I'll have updates on the Region D & IV playoff pictures posted by midnight Friday, Region III
early Sat. morning, and Region C late Sat. night (after Tech beats Miami). Region C will be
updated again on Tuesday since the Parry McCluer at Covington game has been moved to Monday
night, according to a post on Va. Preps.
Ring-a-Ding-Ding. Frank Beamer now says he's in favor of Kirk Herbstreit's "Plus One" BCS
idea after the talking with the ESPN analyst recently, according to an article in the Newport News
Daily Press. What gets me is the fact that a "Plus One" bowl already exists - the Fiesta
was a mid-teir Bowl until the BCS was created. I'm sure we'll hear more about all of this
over the next few days since ESPN's College GameDay will be in Blacksburg Sat. morning at 10:30
for the Miami game, and Cold Pizza will be in town for their Friday morning show.
Wednesday's
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot had an interesting story on the state's top prep player. Seems
that Percy Harvin was ejected from a game recently for doing some things he shouldn't have.
Coach Beatty said they'd appeal the suspension to the VHSL, but the principal, who has the
final say, decided it would be bumped up to 2 games, leaving Harvin just short of the 1,000
yard mark in receiving, and 15 points away from being the all-time leading scorer in the
South Hampton Roads area.
If you think things are screwed up in VA., well, take pity on the North Carolina h.s. fans,
players & coaches. Their 4-A system is also divided into halves for football post-season
play (yes, then have 8 state champions), but they wait until the last-minute to do it. Each
Group is divided in half based on the enrollment from the first 20 days of the school year,
and the numbers were just released yesterday by the
NCHSAA. Next, the 64 playoff spots in each Group will be filled, based on Conference
record. Then those teams will be divided into "big" & "little" divisions. Those 32 teams
will then be divided into East & West, based on actual geography. Finally, those teams are
seeded, with 1 playing 16, 2 playing 15, etc., like in the NCAA basketball tournament. (Info.
from the NCHSAA Football page.)
If VA. did this, imagine what a mid-sized AA school near Lynchburg might go through. The
median enrollment in AA this year is 1050, so the median of the playoff schools could be in
the 1000-1100 range. Liberty and Heritage wouldn't have known until this week if they were
Div. 3 or 4, and wouldn't know until NEXT WEEK if they were playing in the East or the West
bracket.
And Heritage could be in Div. 3 - East this year and Div. 4 - West next year.
(All of this info came about from an article I read in my sister's hometown paper this
morning. The
Fayetteville Observer said, among other things, that the coach at Jack Britt didn't know
if he would be East or West this year. My goodness, Fayetteville is 346 miles from Fontana,
which is on the Tenn. border!
An older story
I found in the Observer says a local player was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in a game
last month when he kneeled in the end zone and raised his hand skyward after scoring a TD,
while the other team (also from Fayetteville) wasn't flagged for a post-TD chest-bump.
Although I like to criticize the VHSL from time to time, I always have to remember -
IT COULD BE WORSE!
Sat. Nov. 5 : Posted updated standings & ratings, and an updated
preview of the playoff races.
Here's stories on the passing of former PM coach Bob Williams from Friday's
Roanoke Times and Lexington
News-Gazette.
Okay, I'm done with NC, so let's head north and knock Maryland a little bit.
After the 3rd football-game related incident in central Md. this season, the Anne Arundel
County higher-ups decided a few days ago to move the start times for the rest of the Friday
night games this season to 5:15, according to an article in Thursday's
Washington Post.
Sun. Nov. 6, 11:45 p.m. : Posted updated previews for Regions C, D, III & IV, which
now include ALL tie-breakers.
Tues. Nov. 8 Posted updated standings, ratings and previews for Region C, since they
had a game last night and the VHSL made a change to Bath County's points.
Apparently the Carolina Panthers are looking to fill 2 openings on their cheerleader squad
because a couple of the cheerleaders were doing the same thing. See these Charlotte Observer
stories (yeah, only 6 so far) :
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
The West Va. playoffs get underway this weekend - with some surprises. According to an
article in Monday's Charleston
Daily Mail, all 3 of the 2003 state champs missed the cut this year.
The Charleston Gazette says
Nitro's game might be moved because of poor field conditions. But what's surprising is a
statement that appeared in the
Daily Mail's story - the state's Executive Director said a "homer" on the PA may cause
a school to not be approved to host a playoff game!
Have you heard Hokie Top yet?
Sat. Nov. 12, 2:30 a.m. : Posted updated standings & ratings.
According to a recent article in the
Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot, the VHSL has given Landstown (Va. Beach) a "warning" about their
unsportsmanlike behavior. Future problems could cause the currently undefeated and
defending state champion Eagles to be barred from post-season play.
And here could be the straw that broke the camel's back. The
Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot and WAVY-TV
reported Thursday that Landstown has used an ineligible player and has forfeited 4 games.
Their appeal will be heard by the VHSL Monday afternoon. (A similar thing happened 2 years
ago to William Fleming, and their self-imposed forfeits were re-instated, according to the
Roanoke Times.)
The Tenn. playoffs started with a bang last week as defending 2A state champ Alcoa
racked up a 70-0 halftime lead en route to a
91-7 win.
The biggest score in Ky. was only 71, as Paintsville beat Evarts by 31, according to the
Harlan Daily Enterprise.
This week, the KY & TENN scores weren't so bad, since they're both in the 2nd round (Alcoa was
held to 49). But in WV, James Monroe won 61-7 and Wayne beat Liberty (Raleigh) 83-42.
Sat. Nov. 12, 6 a.m. : Horror of horrors! After checking the
Roanoke Times, I find that a
Roanoke area game was reported incorrectly last night - Lord Boteourt did NOT beat William
Byrd.
This creates a slight change in the Region III playoff picture from what I had posted a few
hours ago. Hidden Valley is now out of the playoffs & Brookville takes their place as the
#4 seed, losing the tie-breaker with C'burg.
Christiansburg & Brookville tied for the #3 spot in Region III, Div. 3 with 178 points. Since they didn't play each other, the next tie-breaker is to create a "2nd-level" set of ratings, using only points earned from defeated opponents.So C'burg has the higher total and becomes the #3 seed.
C'burg : (Rad, N'side, Bote., Floyd, Pul, B'burg) : 12 + 15 + 15 + 12 + 16 + 16 + 10 + 8 + 2 + 6 + 10 + 4 = 86 + 40 = 126 Brook. : (Byrd, Rust., Appo., Amherst, St. River) : 16 + 15 + 15 + 16 + 16 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 18 + 8 = 78 + 36 = 114
NOTE : These pairings, just like my ratings, are UNOFFICIAL, but very accurate. The VHSL will release the official pairings Sunday afternoon. I will be in NC for a wedding (and Appy. St. game) from Sat. morning to sometime Sunday night; therefore, I can't confirm these pairings until very late Sunday.
Mon. Nov. 14 : AGAIN, Horror of horrors!
When I did the Region III tie-breaker Fri. night, I misunderstood Sec. 68-8-4 (1C) of the
VHSL Handbook. When doing the "2nd-level" ratings, it apparently implies to divide by the
number of games used in getting the ratings, instead of all 10 games played. Therefore,
the ratings average for the tiebreaker is :
Brookville : 114 / 5 = 22.8
Christiansburg : 126 / 6 = 21
Which gives Brookville the #3 seed & C'burg #4.
Posted updated ratings & the post-season
pairings.
Wed. Nov. 16, 8 p.m. : It's time for "the news behind the news". Besides the
re-match information (and updated times/dates) I've added on the
pairings page, here's many more playoff tidbits :
Congratulations to the Craig Co. Rockets. The boys from New Castle not only became the first
team in the 17 year history of the school to win a District title, but also the first to make
the playoffs AND the first to finish with a winning record. Great job guys!!!
I also have to say "great job" to Glenvar, which is back in the playoffs for the first time
since 1992.
(The longest drought in Western Va. still belongs to Fort Chiswell. The Pioneers haven't
had a playoff spot [or a winning record] since 1990.)
And a "way to go" to the guys in Goochland, who went 10-0 for the first time ever (really
amazing considering they went 0-10 just 5 years ago).
I mentioned on the changes page back in August that
we may see a District champ miss the playoffs this year. Guess what? It happened!!!
Nandua (AA) & Northampton (A) tied for first with 3-1 records in the Eastern Shore District,
and Nandua had a better ratings avg. (15.3 to 11.8). But since Region I made a new rule during
the off-season that said a AA champ could only make the playoffs based on ratings, Nandua
needed a 16.3 to tie Nottoway for the final wild-card spot. They came up short, so we have a
District champion missing the playoffs for the first time since the early 70's.
Defending Div. 6 champ Landstown (Va. Beach) made it into the playoffs despite forfeiting 4
games last Thursday. How? Check the forfeits page.
Another #1 seed, Oakton, had forfeit rumors swirling around earlier this month.
At least 2 new state champs will be crowned.
Div. 3 champ Gretna dropped to Div. 2, and could meet the defending champs (Manassas
Park) in the 2nd round, & Div. 5 champ Meadowbrook is now in Div. 6.
Every Regional champ from 2004 made the playoffs again this year with the exception of Div. 5,
where Hampton is the only team back from last year (since Meadowbrook is now Div. 6).
Northwest Regional champ (and state runner-up) North Stafford is also Div. 6 now, but missed
the playoffs at 7-3.
Northern Region champ W.T. Woodson also moved up to Div. 6, but only went 3-7 this season.
The best combined record belongs to the Group A, Region B, Div. 2 teams, who went 39-1.
Only one 9-1 team failed to make the playoffs this year - Varina (Div. 6, Central Region). The
Blue Devils are also the only team in the AP top 10 that's watching from the stands.
Of the 14 teams that finished 10-0, the only one whose opponents won more than half of their
games was Richlands (53-47), and 6 of their opponents made the playoffs.
Second best was Salem (48-52) with 5 in.
SEVEN teams had 6 of their opponents make the playoffs :
Richlands, Graham, Tazewell, Bassett, Magna Vista, Martinsville & Pulaski Co.
Only 2 teams with a losing record made the post-season (last year 4 did), & both are from
Region IV. WHY? Simple. Only 6 teams in our Region finished above .500! Even Region A
(usually considered the weakest in the state) had more. Martinsville & Highlands champion
Va. High both went 4-6 (the same record the 'Cats had last year).
Tazewell and Graham will meet for the 4th time in 13 months. How even are they? In those
previous 3 meetings, both teams have scored a total of 43 points.
Powell Valley & Gate City are also meeting for the 4th time since last October. The Vikings
have won all 3, but the margins have been decreasing - 7 to 6 to 3.
Other 4th-time meetings are Poquoson @ York & Woodbridge @ C.D. Hylton.
Va. High was one of four #4 seeds to win a playoff game last year. The other three, Rural
Retreat, John Handley & L.C. Bird, made it to the state semis before losing.
In 3 of the 12 Regions, the playoff teams in the smaller Division has a better combined record
than the larger teams. In AAA, the Northern Region Div. 5 teams went 34-6, while the Div. 6
teams went 33-7. In the Eastern Region, Div. 5 teams went 37-3, while the Div. 6 teams went
34-6. In AA, the Region IV, Div. 3 teams went 28-12, while the Div. 4 teams went 24-16.
Each Group has 1 game this weekend matching teams with the same nicknames :
Eagles (AAA-NW), Indians (AA-I) & Tigers (A-D).
Finally, I hope you like re-matches. In the 1st round, we have 4 games that are repeats of
1st round games last year, and an amazing 20 games (out of 48) between teams that met during
the regular season, 4 of which were last week.
Here's another couple of items about NC. According to an article in last Friday's
Asheville Citizen-Times, Pisgah, whose 8 victims this year included the #1 seeded playoff
team and a then-#1 ranked team, opened on the road against a 7 loss team (Forbush).
And Cherryville made the 2001 playoffs with an 0-11 record.
And from the
Winston-Salem Journal : in NC, a player can be "ejected" from a game (which means they
also miss the next game), or they can just be "disqualified" for the rest of that particular
game - it depends on what they did.
Mon. Nov. 21 : What a weekend! After 1 round of post-season play,
TWO undefeated & #1 seeded defending state champions have been eliminated!
Div. 3 winner Gretna (now in Div. 2) saw their 38 game winning streak come to an end with a
loss to Chatham, and Franklin (Div. 1) fell to Sussex Central.
Two other #1 seeds fell - both in Group A. Riverheads upended Stonewall Jackson and
Gate City was toppled by Powell Valley.
Horror of Horrors - Part 3! - Here's ANOTHER incorrect score.
According to the folks on the
LPD
messageboard, the Gate City scoreboard gave the Devils an extra point somewhere along the
way Saturday afternoon, and the coaches and media all bought into it when they called in the
score. But the Bristol Herald Courier, bless their souls, puts the box score and scoring
summary in their online stories, so us "hobby-starved" souls can delve that much deeper :
Gate City only scores 19.
Here's the updated pairings page.
In the WV playoffs Saturday, Bluefield and James Monroe both won and will meet in the AA
semi-finals Sat. afternoon in Lindside (just north of Narrows).
There's a real Cinderella story in WV Group A. According to an article in Sunday's
Charleston Gazette, Group A
semi-finalist Tygerts Valley, now 10-2, only won 3 games TOTAL in the past 3 seasons!
And what a Saturday in college football. Tech's blowout in 'Hoo-ville left me hungry for
some REAL contests (but not thirsty, since I was sick of
"T" by then), so, luckily, I decided to watch the last half of the Miami game. Who
would'a thunk it??? The 'Jackets survived the Hurricanes and Tech is now back in the hunt
for the ACC crown and a BCS bowl. So, I figured, why not check out #1 USC against another
ranked team? After all, I've not seen the Trojans play this year. After a close first half,
USC's 3 quick TD's almost tuned me out, but I thought I should go ahead and finish it off.
Fresno mounted a great comeback, but Reggie Bush's effort (500+ all-purpose yards) was just
a bit to much for the Bulldogs to overcome. For more details, see
SI.com.
This coming Saturday, both Tech & UVA will again be on the tube - the 'Hoos game in Miami
will be on ABC at 3:30 and the Hokies will host UNC at 7:45 on ESPN (I know a LOT of football
fans, a lot of schools and the VHSL are quite happy about that).
Wed. Nov. 23 : The Appy @ JI Burton game will be played at UVA-Wise's Carl Smith
Stadium Sat. aft.
I think I forgot to mention that the 4th-longest winning streak in Va. has ended. With
Gretna's 1st-round loss to Chatham, the Hawks will go into the record book with 38 straight
wins, just 2 short of Hampton's record of 40. The current best is 25 (A-Manassas Park &
AAA-Landstown).
MP also sits atop the current regular-season winning streak list with 34, while Landstown
is breathing down their necks at 32. The all-time record is 69, set by Southampton in the
70's.
Speaking of the Crabbers, they helped Matt Gilliam hit a tri-fecta for the 2nd round.
According to
Gilliam's Ratings, the top 2 teams in Divisions 5, 4 & 3 will play each other this
weekend - Hampton @ #1 Phoebus, Amherst @ #1 Salem & Graham @ #1 Richlands.
Other barn-burners should include a couple of #4 vs. #5 matchups : in Div. 3 (Cave Spring @
Libery-Bedford) and Div. 2 (Powell Valley @ Haysi), and a 1-4 matchup in Div. 1 (Riverheads
@ William Campbell).
Sat. Nov. 26 : Updated the pairings page.
Have room for some more turkey? A couple of interesting stories ran Thursday in the
Richmond Times-Dispatch, saying that the VHSL will be looking at a proposal to eliminate
M/T/W sporting events, and another that would "tweak" the football playoff qualifiers,
possibly by adding another round (lets see, that means every Region IV team would qualify for
the playoffs, and all but 2 or 3 Region D teams).
Sun. Nov. 27, 6:30 p.m. : Added a directions page to Haysi for the
Giles fans, and made a few tweaks on the directions
page to Richlands for the Liberty fans.
Mon. Nov. 28 : : Updated the pairings page to include times for the state finals and
some notes about the past.
Fri. Dec. 2 : Things are winding down in the Old Dominion as we've already played our
last Friday night football game of the 2005 season. All 12 semi-final games will be tomorrow
afternoon, with 4 being played in SW VA (at Haysi, Rural Retreat, Richlands & Salem). Two
games are re-matches from last year's semis and one is a re-match from 12 years ago!
Since it's championship weekend in most of the neighboring states, here's a run-down of what's
going on across the borders -
In WV, Bluefield will face 12-1 Weir Friday night at 7:30 at Wheeling Island Stadium.
The Beavers, who only won 5 regular-season games, are making their 4th straight trip to the
finals and are looking to repeat.
In KY, Belfry won't get the chance to three-peat, as they fell to Russell last week in the
Semis. Class 3A finalist Bowling Green has given up just 54 points in 14 games, with 8
shutouts. And it's possible that the titles in all 4 Classes could be won by Catholic schools,
which should increase the push behind the recent proposal of seperate playoffs.
In NC, Reidsville (which beat Magna Vista back in Sept.) will host Bunn in the Class 2AA
semis (or East finals) tonight.
In TN, well, they're playing basketball now.
At least it's not like Oklahoma, where the Class 5-A playoffs have been delayed 2 weeks
because of "pitiful officiating".
Briefly : winning team QB takes a knee on the last play.
Defender "helmet-tackles" him and gets kicked.
Defender's coaches come onto the field to talk to the refs.
Only the QB gets ejected, which is a 2-game suspension.
Kinda like last year in KY, multiple courts are involved.
For more, go to the Shawnee News-Star, do a search
on "OSSAA, Tucker", and read the recent stories in this order: Shawnee, OSSAA upholds,
Judge, Tucker, Wolves, OSSAA: No Tucker, High Court.
And let's not forget the BIG championship game Sat. night down in Jacksonville, FL. The
Hokies will take on Florida St. for the ACC crown & a BCS berth. I look for Bobby Bowden's
13-game winning streak against Tech to come to an end.
And if Beamer, who's currently ranked 3rd on the list of most wins by an active coach
(with 187), beats Bowden (1st, with 358), he'll likely face #2 Joe Paterno (353) in the
Orange Bowl on Tuesday, Jan. 3rd.
And speaking of Tech, Athlon Sports is having their annual cheerleader contest.
The current top 3 are from VA, WV & KY, so head over there,
check them out, and vote -
once a day until Jan. 4th.
And the Div. 1-AA playoffs are in their 2nd round - #5 Appy St. will host Southern Illinois
down in Boone at 2:30 and #12 Richmond will host #9 Furman at 6:00.
Sun. Dec. 4 : Updated the pairings page.
Mon. Dec. 5 : Since it's "Championship Week" in Va., a number of VHSL committees will
be having their quarterly get-togethers up in Charlottesville. As usual, the ones that will
get the most attention are the Executive & the R&R Committees, who will be working on more
"tweaks" to the system, since they won't do a much-needed statewide realignment.
The
Coalfield Progress says the initial proposal for 2007 would add 4 schools to the LPD
(Lee, Va. High, Lebanon & John Battle), which would then split in half. Marion & Abingdon
would rejoin the SWD. The
Lynchburg News Advance says Region IV would then pick up a bunch of schools currently in
Region III (basically by creating a new New River District).
This appears to be a very good idea and works in avoiding the move to a 4 or 5 Group plan.
But not only does it fail miserably in fixing the enrollment disparity we currently have,
it actually makes it worse - by having a 800+ student school (Lee) in the same District as
a school that's 1/4 it's size (J.I. Burton - 204). This is another proposal that deserves
to fail - therefore, I expect to see it approved.
Check out the VHSL's 2007
alignment plan.
Across the borders -
In the WV state finals Fri. night, defending state champion Bluefield got hammered by
Wayne 40-0.
Over in KY, top-ranked St. Xavier was
upset by Trinity in a battle of Louisville schools. St. X had won their regular-season
matchup 48-16 and was riding a 25-game winning streak. Attendance was "ONLY" about 21,000 -
or about half the number that saw their regular-season contest.
The state's best scoring-defense team, Bowling Green, lost the 3A title game 49-21 to
Lexington Catholic (which was averaging 48.3 ppg). The Purples had given up just 54 points
this season (3.9 ppg) and had 8 shutouts. Both teams came in with just 1 loss on the season
- August games against St. X. It's the first title by a Lex. school since 1981.
Newport Central Cath. (Class A) won their first title in 21 years, which is a bit of a
surprise, since Bob Schneider sits atop Kentucky's all-time wins list with 302 of'em in
his 40 years at the school.
And thank goodness for Russell. The Red Devils (from just outside of Ashland) prevented a
Catholic schoool sweep of the crowns by beating Owensboro Cath. 28-14 in the AA game. While
it was the 500th win in school history, it was just their 2nd title. Ivan McGlone, who has
won 252 of those, was the Devils coach for that game, too - 27 years ago.
For more info. on the public-private debate in KY, start
here.
Here's a couple of NC items of interest from the Greensboro News-Record :
Reidsville (which beat Magna Vista back in Sept.) has made it's way back to the state
finals for the 3rd time 4 years in Group 2-AA (basically our Div. 4, except NC goes up to 8).
And Grimsley (Greensboro) advanced to the 4-A finals (basically Div. 7) without playing in
the semis, thanks to a forfeit (
1,
2,
3.
And I didn't know that the teams in the finals will be playing their 16th game of the season!
Speaking of NC, Appy. St. has made it to the semi-finals of the 1-AA playoffs and will be
hosting the Furman Paladins at Kidd Brewer Stadium at noon Saturday. Furman handed the
Mountaineers their only loss of the season - a 34-31 set-back in SC on Oct. 8th.
And Tech fans are stuck with the "Burnt" instead of the "Orange" Bowl this year.
Thur. Dec. 8, 8:45 a.m. : VHSL moves AAA title games!!! See the
VHSL Press Release & stories in the
Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot and the
Washington Post.
Fri. Dec. 9, 5 a.m. : VHSL "adjusts" AAA title game!!!
Since Hampton has a parade at 4 p.m. Saturday, the Div. 6 title game has been moved to a
12:30 kickoff, according to the VHSL, the
Washington Examiner and the
Washington Post.
Best of luck to my adopted team, the Richlands Blue Tornado, at the state finals in Lynchburg.
I'll have the game on 105.5 FM & 540 AM WGTH; pre-game starts at 3 p.m. Saturday.
You can also listen online (get there early if you
don't already have Winamp on your computer - it takes a while to download).
Here'a a run-down of what came out of the VHSL Executive Committee meeting this week -
Not Approved - Limiting contests to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays;
Reducing the # of regular season contests by 20% (but this will be studied further)
Approved - a change to transfer eligibility, which will probably be called the
"Landstown Rule" (28-6-2, [1]), concerning a student's submission of false information
when enrolling.
Approved - a change in calculating enrollment. Instead of using the end-of-March ADM,
enrollment will be the "membership" on Sept. 30th of odd-numbered years, and "ungraded
students" will NOT be included. This means : (a) the R&R Committee will have more time
to make adjustments, and, (b) the 2007/8 & 2008/9 realignment/adjustment process has begun,
since the numbers are already known.
Also, appeals will now be made to the R&R Committee, and the Executive Committee will review
any 2nd round appeals.
"Semi-approved" - A Region may come up with it's own way of determining how to divide schools
into Divisions for football. Rule 68-8-3 (5) will have a final vote in March.
They also "endorsed" the new R&R plan, which will be presented for a vote at the meetings of
March 8th - 10th.
Here's the meeting's highlights and the
new alignment proposed for
2007.
Mon. Dec. 12 : Updated the pairings/results
page for the last time.
Here's a brief overview of Saturday's title games :
In Div. 1, J.I. Burton was shut out in the title game for the 2nd straight year, as former
Grundy waterboy Brad Bradley may have become the first coach to win a state title on the
same day his alma mater (Salem) also won.
In Div. 2, Giles blocked the game-tying extra point kick in the 4th quarter to end Manassas
Park's 27 game winning streak. All 5 Spartan TD's came on plays of 32 yards or longer.
In Div. 3, Turner Ashby handed Richlands their first set-back of the season as the Knights
continued their school's 50th anniversary celebration by picking up their 1st football state
title. The Blues ended up with just 98 points allowed this year for an average of 7 per
game.
In Div. 4, Salem overcame 6 first-half turnovers to become the only 2004 champion to repeat.
Coach Stephen Magenbauer improved his record at his alma mater to 27-1. The Spartans were
also the only team to finish the year undefeated and now have the state's longest winning
streak - 22 games.
In Div. 5, Hampton won their 17th AAA title & first since 1998.
In Div. 6, Oakton shut down Percy Harvin and ended Landstown's 27 game winning streak.
Wed. Dec. 14 : In N.C. last weekend, Reidsville (which beat Magna Vista back in Sept.)
lost in the 2-AA finals.
In the 4-AA finals, Independence won their sixth straight state title (a NC record) and
extended their winning streak to 92 games (which appears to be the longest ever by a public
school and 2nd-longest ever in US history - behind Concord California's De La Salle's run of
151, which ended in Sept. of 2004.)
Also winnning state titles were Western NC teams Elkin (1-A), which won the title for the
3rd time in 4 years, and Asheville (3-A), which claimed it's first title since 1922
(according to stories in the
Charlotte Observer).
Speaking of NC,
Appy St. plays for the NCAA Div. 1-AA national title against the Northern Iowa Panthers in
a battle of title-game newcomers in Chattanooga Friday night at 8 p.m. (ESPN2). Mountaineer
starting QB Richie Williams, who sat out most of Saturday's win over Furman with an ankle
injury, is listed as day-to-day.
And Salem will once again host the Div. 3 title game. The undefeated Wisconsin-Whitewater
Warhawks (who have probably never, ever set foot in Va.) will take on the always-in-Salem,
13-1, Mount Union Purple Raiders (which beat Rowan 19-7 on Sat. in the semis). ESPN2 will
show the game at 1:00, and a live audio feed
from D3football.com will begin with a pre-game show at 11 a.m.
A final h.s. note from just this side of Knoxville - four former Jefferson Co. players (more
specifically - their parents) have filed suit against coach Marty Euverard (and the principal
& the AD) because the boys were kicked off the team in October, according to stories #
1 &
2
from Saturday's Knoxville News-Sentinal and a report from
WBIR.
While on the subject of courts, the Oklahoma Supreme court
ruled
that Shawnee H.S. QB Tucker Brown would miss the state semi-finals after kicking an opposing
player in the previous game.
Here's links to a couple of related stories :
why the case went so far and
a "childish" editorial.
Shawnee then lost 34-0 in the semis in what had been predicted to be a close game.
Wow - a Heisman winner next-door for 2 straight years. In the Nov. 4th edition of Pikeville's
Appalachian
News-Express, it says that East Ridge (between Feds Creek & Elkhorn City) scheduled an
assembly to introduce the state's boy's H.S. Heisman winner, which would be Kyle Fletcher.
Then, in their
Nov 9th edition, it says Fletcher is a national semi-finalist, as was last year's state
winner from East Ridge, Aaron Branham. The National winner, announced this past Monday in
New York, is Virginian Will Jacobs, from Fredericksburg's James Monroe H.S.
While in the Bluegrass state, I'll say congrats to Bell Co. (KY) head Coach Dudley Hilton, who
has moved up to #3 on the list of all-time winningest coaches in the Bluegrass state. Hilton
took the 4th spot from former Prestonsburg coach Water Baugh (280) back in Oct.
Finally, NFL.com says Bud Carson, who
created Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" defense, and reportedly introduced the "cover-2" to
the NFL, passed away last week in Florida. He was 75.
Sat., Jan. 28 : Well, it's been a while, and there's a lot to get caught up on.
The first item of business is to congratulate former Honaker QB Heath Miller (
pic 1,
pic 2). The Pittsburgh Steelers 1st round draft pick from last year will play in
his 1st Super Bowl a week from Sunday against the
Seattle Seahawks in Jerome Bettis' (& Larry Foote's) hometown of Detroit.
Look's like I'm not the only one who noticed.
Chad Hermann had this on his blog:
It seems like every time Heath Miller catches a pass, the Steelers score on the drive.
It seems like every time Heath Miller catches a pass and the Steelers score on a drive, they
don’t ever pass to him again.