2005 site & VHSL news

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2004



August 19 : Welcome to another season of high school football in (and around) Southwest Virginia. As always, I'll provide some good information, including updated standings, ratings and schedules, a load of comments, and anything else that I find (or think of) that other football fans will enjoy.


Graham will be without Glenn Carlock for the first time in over 30 years, as the coach passed away last week from a sudden illness.

Former Honaker standout Heath Miller signed a 5-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to a July 27th article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which reports the value at close to to $7 Million.


The VHSL has released a number of documents of interest this year :

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. 
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
So C'burg has the higher total and becomes the #3 seed.

I've posted corrected standings, ratings & pairings for Western Va.

 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.

Steelers Odds & Ends
:
"My name is Earl" : Heath is just a nickname. Remember the TV show "The Big Valley"? Bow Howdy!, me neither. His mom liked the character Heath Barkley, who ironically was played by a former h.s. football player down in Middlesboro in the mid-50's - Harvey Lee Yeary. "Lee" didn't think his name sounded like an actors name, so he "borrowed" the surname of his high school hero - UT All-American tailback Johnny Majors.
One of the people Lee beat out in the auditions for Heath was a former running back from Florida State - Buddy Reynolds (who had also modified his name slightly - to Burt).
Lee also played a former Grundy football player once - as the title character in the made-for-TV movie "The Francis Gary Powers Story..."

Both Hines Ward & Antwaan Randle El were also quarterbacks in high school.

Gate City's Tom Beasley helped the Steelers win Super Bowls XIII & XIV (1979 & 1980).

Pittsburgh's schedule : practice at home (South Side) T/F/S, off Sunday, fly to Detroit Monday, do Media Day on Tuesday, then practice at the Silverdome the rest of the week.

Even though they're designated as the "Home" team, the Steelers will wear their "Away" (white) jerseys. Seattle will wear metallic blue.

Game time : 6:00.     Television : ABC.     Radio : Steelers Network - 1170 WWVA (Wheeling, WV) ;
CBS/Westwood One Radio network - 910 WJCW (Johnson City), 101.9 WVOW (Logan), 1470 WTZE (Tazewell), 1050 WAMN & 1440 WHIS (Bluefield), 101.3 WZFM (Narrows), 1430 WKEX (B'burg), 960 WFIR (Roanoke), 900 WCBX (Bassett), 1160 WODY (Fieldale), 1400 WSIC (Statesville) ;     Sirius Sattelite (sorry, XL won't be on XM)

Odds - What's your poison? Winner? Yardage of Heath's 1st catch? Number of blown calls? Number of times the Silverdome is mentioned? That "machine" scores? That "the King" scores? That Mama Bettis gets more "face time" than 90% of the players? That you'll get a free pizza for an 85 yard+ TD pass? That Mick Jagger will have some sort of "equipment malfunction"? Or Candace Michelle does???

Tickets : $600; number made "available" to the public by the NFL - about 700.
Info on entering the lottery for tickets for Super Bowl XLI next year in Miami can be found here.



The OTHER big news is a new plan for redistricting Region D, according to recent articles in the Bristol Herald Courier and Kingsport Times News. It would send Coeburn to the Cumberland and split the rest of the LPD based on enrollment. Since it makes a ton of sense, and was approved somewhat unanimously by the schools, look for the VHSL to reject it.

A special R&R Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28th to "tweak" their proposal (based on information submitted to the VHSL) before passing it on to the Executive Committee, which will vote on it at their Wed., March 8th meeting. Appeals will be heard on April 4th.


It's a time of mixed emotions in the Roanoke Valley. While Salem & Salemite-led William Campbell are enjoying their state titles, a long-time staple has been "fired".

The Roanoke County school board terminated the coaching contract of Northside head coach Jim Hickam, who had been at the helm of the Viking ship for 32 years. The Big Creek native, former Hokie, and Homer's little brother had 184 wins since coming aboard in 1974, when he lost his position at Pulaski High (45 wins) due to consolidation. The Vikes had only won 7 games over the past 3 seasons after going undefeated in 2002.

But that's not the only position that's opened up. William Fleming's Keith Smith (a Welch native) and Lord Botetourt's Keith Robinson have both recently resigned.

Meanwhile, the debate over Roanoke's Victory Stadium continues. The school board is pushing a plan that would put a stadium at Patrick Henry H.S. by the 2007 season, with William Fleming using it until their stadium is built 3 years later. This ties in to the current construction set for both schools. The "new" PH just opened for classes after break and Fleming's construction will start next year. However, some problems exist. The PH stadium is in an area that would have to be re-zoned, and NIMBY's are raising a fuss over things like noise, lights, declining property values, and increased neighborhood traffic, littering & loitering.


The all-state football teams saw AP Coach of the Year honors go to Salem's Stephen Magenbauer in Group AA & to Steve Ragsdale of Giles in Group A.
The Group AA Player of the Year was William Fleming's Dwayne Priest. No SWVA player made the 1st team on offense, but Richlands seniors Travis Payne and Brandon Gayheart make up half of the 1st team Defensive Line.

The VHSCA (coaches) 1st team had 2 from Richlands - Gayheart at Def. End & Garrett Arms at Off. Tackle, and 2 from Graham - TE Jonathan Bovenizer & RB Robert Henry.

In Group A, area players who garnered 1st team honors from both the AP & VHSCA are :
Powell Valley Jr. Jason Neeley at Center, George Wythe Sr. Trey Smith at LB, and Giles Seniors Michael Robertson on the D-line & Ricky Cook at DB.

Region D players who made 1st team on just one list include :
TE Brian Baber of Appalachia, T Aaron Stevens of Rural Retreat, G Ryan Turner of Narrows, RB Ricky Cook of Giles, and JI Burton's Ricky Harris on the D-line and Lorenzo Miles as the Utility player on the AP list.
Narrows OL Ryan Turner, Rural Retreat's Jonathan Hawkins and JI Burton's Lorenzo Miles at WR, Craig Co. RB Casey Hancock, George Wythe's Derrick Davis as Kick Returner, Linebackers Ryan Jones of Haysi, Chad Lane of Powell Valley and Trey Smith from George Wythe, Haysi's Josh Yates on the D-line, and D-backs Ricky Cook of Giles and Jordan Thacker of J.I. Burton from the VHSCA list.


Here's a bit of tragic news from up NoVa way. According to recent stories in Fredericksburg's Free Lance-Star, a 16-year-old football player from Courtland was stabbed to death at a CD release party last weekend, and 5 of the 6 kids who face charges associated with the attack played for Battlefield District rival James Monroe (one was a first team All-State selection and another was the leading RB - both are Sophomores. The victim, Jr. Baron Braswell, was a reserve.) The 17-year-old who is charged with murder attended neither school.


But those NoVa guys sure know a thing or two about money (must be since they're so close to D.C.). This is from a Falls Church News-Press story about George Mason H.S. getting FieldTurf (I added the italics) :
"It was noted that $150,000 of the funds for the improvement will come from the schools' capital fund, which has a surplus due to the construction of the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School coming in $1 under budget."
Now, if we mountain folks could figure out how that works, we'll never have a post-season gripe about mud again!



On the college scene, "Bowl Season" ended not a minute too soon.

First, we knew the Gator Bowl was going to be a tough game for Tech. Sr. TB Mike Imoh underwent season-ending surgery on his left ankle and knee before Christmas and Sr. OT Jimmy Martin had his right knee injured during the last practice in Jacksonville three days before the game. And Martin's back-up, Jr. Brandon Frye, would be making his first collegiate start against an All-American, Elvis Dumervil.

Then we had just horrible officiating in the 1st half. The Big 12 crew didn't know their pass (interference) from a hole in the ground, let alone how to say "Lou-uh-vul". (Unfortunately, I also noticed that the Bristol sports guys pronounce "Dumervil" as if that's where Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels might live.) They obviously were also unaware of a number of key background items : (1) the Hokies were facing a team from their former conference, (2) Tech doesn't let-up until after the whistle blows because (3) they play old-fashioned, smash-mouth football, (4) which led Coach Petrino to say it was important that his offensive "be just as physical as the Virginia Tech defenders" ; (5) Cards Freshman WR Mario Urrutia had stated that the Tech defense was "mostly hype" , (6) to which Darryl Tapp responded by saying "Our coaches tell us to find the ball and kill it. We attack.".

According to crew-leader Steve Usecheck, "Virginia Tech was brutal". Welcome to REAL football, dude. And shouldn't an official be called on the carpet for saying "I would have thrown his *ss out" !

One of the bad calls saw Sr. Cornerback Jimmy Williams (Tech's 4th unanimous All-American) ejected in the 1st Quarter after spinning away from a ref who came up behind him and "pushed" him towards the sideline after a Cardinal TD (see related stories in the Roanoke Times, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot and the Florida Times-Union). Williams announced after the game that he wasn't returning to school for the Spring semester. Did You Know .... that Williams had earlier told the press that he "wanted to get kicked out of the game" ?

Then, just before the half, Marcus decided to 'spike' the guy who tackled him after a run. At the time, I thought he would be ejected; but when no flag came out, I figured it was a "make-up no-call" to even out the Williams ejection. Then when I saw that it was Dumervil who was on the ground, I figured Vick would get his clock cleaned over the next few plays. When that didn't happen, my thoughts were that the Cards would take it out on Tech in the 2nd half and it would be another blowout loss.

Looking back on it, I'm surprised that the coaches decided not to immediately punish Vick, especially knowing that QB Coach Kevin Rogers saw the play happen right in front of him. At the time, I thought they'd just wait until after the game, review the film, and make the appropriate decision (like maybe a 1 game suspension next Fall). After I saw the replay a few times, I believe Vick just wanted to let Elvis know that he didn't like being tackled by the face-mask (or, as a Louisville columnist called it, "a clean, sliding tackle").

Then we had the "additional circumstances". First, Vick said he apologized to Dumervil after the game. After Dumervil said that wasn't true, Vick changed his story, saying that he waited outside the Cards' locker room, but never saw nor spoke to Dumervil. Then Dumervil said he was expecting Vick inside the locker room. Later we found out a U of L official told them Dumervil wasn't interested in seeing them. (An explaination of the 'confusion' can be found, oddly enough, in a weekly Tri-Cities entertainment magazine, The Loafer.)

And before all of this could be handled, the Washington Post said Marcus was pulled over in Hampton a week before Christmas for speeding. He was also written up for driving with a suspended or revoked license. Apparently he had let a friend drive his car, but no one had paid the insurance on it. Vick straightened this out & told Beamer a couple of days later, but failed to mention the speeding ticket (for going 38 in a 25 zone). These events led to Tech dismissing Vick from the team, since university president Charles Steger said, back in August of 2004, “If there is any more trouble, his Virginia Tech career is effectively ended".

So Marcus declared himself eligible for the NFL draft in April. But the next evening, he went out with his girlfriend for a bite at a McDonald's in Suffolk. Police were called there when witnesses reported that Marcus had brandished a firearm at three teens. Marcus told the police later that night that the teens had been in an argument with his girlfriend, and he denied having a gun, according to a story in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. Arrest warrents were issued shortly thereafter. Vick turned himself in the next day and was released on bond. The trial will be on March 13th.


Besides finding a new QB, the Hokies also need a new QB coach. Kevin Rogers has acccepted that same position with the Minnesota Vikings. The leading candidate appears to be JMU asst. Curt Newsome, a 1982 E&H grad.

Of course, we can blame all of this on Rickey Bustle. For it was his departure in Dec. of 2001 for La.-Lafayette that led to the hiring of Rogers (who coached Mike's idol, Donovan McNabb, at Syracuse), that led Marcus to Tech.


Other Tech notes :
Louisville should have known they were doomed from the start. Teams which have practiced for bowl games at North Florida (which doesn't have a football team) are 0-5 in bowl games.
Jr. Brandon Pace broke Shayne Graham's record for most points in a season by a kicker with 108.
(Graham had 131 points this season in Cincinnati to lead the AFC).
Sr. Jeff King (from Pulaski) set the school record for career TD catches by a TE with 12. (I think Heath Miller opened the door for Jeff to make it to the pros next season.)
All three of Tech's 11-win seasons have been with a Vick at QB.
Besides Imoh, Williams and King, it was the final collegiate games for Darryl Tapp, Jonathan Lewis, Cedric Humes, Justin Hamilton and about a dozen others.
Tapp, Lewis and Humes will play in the Senior Bowl tomorrow at 4 (ESPN).
Tech finished #1 in the country in total defense, #2 in scoring defense, #3 in pass defense and #7 in both final polls.

How about some good news for Hokie fans? The UVA game returns to Thanksgiving weekend. Check out the 2006 ACC football schedule. The bad news - Tech has 8 home games, meaning season ticket prices will once again be sky(box) high.
(I also noticed that : N.C. State doesn't play Tech or Miami, but they open with Div. 1-AA champion Appy St.; UVA has a KILLER schedule in Nov.; and Miami opens AND closes on a Holiday.)


The Gator wasn't the only Bowl where the refs got their share of the limelight. C-USA refs called a bogus offsides penalty on an onsides kick with under 2:00 left that hurt Iowa in the Outback Bowl, and the Sun Belt crew at the Alamo Bowl didn't deserve to be there.

Finally, the season came to a close with another game that somehow managed to exceed it's hype - Vince Young (who wasn't compared to Michael Vick a single time) led #2 Texas to an exciting 41-38 win over #1 USC. Whoooooaaaaa Nelly !!! USC got burned TWICE early in the 2nd quarter - a no-call on what should have been defensive pass interference on the play before Bush's ill-advised pitch, followed by Young's pitch-for-a-TD after his knee was down.

In the final AP poll, WVU was ranked 5th, Va. Tech 7th, Miami 17th, BC 18th, Louisville 19th, Clemson 21st & FSU 23rd.

On a more somber note, the Coalield Progress recently reported the death of UVa-Wise benefactor Carl Smith.


Doug Flutie cemented his place in football history by making the first drop-kill in the NFL since 1941 in the Pats' loss to Miami yesterday. The former Heisman Trophy winner already had one of the most memorable plays in NCAA history ("The Pass") - a 48 yard, last-second heave that gave Boston College a day-after-Thanksgiving win at Miami in 1984 (actually, the play was called "Flood Tip", and the ball flew 63 yards).


How about that Atiim Kiambu Barber ?!?!? The 1993 Cave Spring grad, better known as Tiki, had an absolutely outstanding year with the NY Giants. He set all kinds of team records, including the longest TD run in franchise history (a 95 yard jaunt Saturday), was the league's total yardage leader again (2,390), and will be returning to the Pro Bowl.
His 41 yard TD run against KC has been shown more times than Janet's wardrobe malfunction.
He became the 13th player in NFL history of the NFL to have TWO 200 yard rushing games in a single season and just the third to have THREE (joining O.J. Simpson, who had 3 of his NFL record 6 in 1973, and Earl Campbell, who had FOUR in 1980, but no others).

Tiki will be joined in Hawaii by twin brother Ronde, Mike Vick, and former Pulaski & Tech K Shayne Graham.

The Jones boys also did pretty good.
Thomas had 1335 yards rushing for Chicago - more than any other Bear except Walter Payton.
Brother Julius led the Cowboys with 993 yards rushing.

Can't let the NFL refs off without a mention, since they've had their share of post-season flubs, too. Troy Polamalu made the interception (and Steeler fans everywhere owe a BIG thank you to Nick Harper, who couldn't wind his way around Big Ben, who was even running in reverse), but what did you expect when Pop Warner League rules are used? C'mon, a "do-over" ?!? Geez! And Thomas Jones caught a break the week before, but only due to a penalty. Too bad they couldn't review the play clock violation. And Champ Bailey? Why have replay if you still can't get'em right????

(After reading what happened in a C-USA basketball game last weekend, I wondered 2 things ... (1) were those the same guys that called the Outback Bowl, and (2) if Bill Cowher had keeled over from a heart attack after the Bettis fumble, would the refs have called a "delay of game" penalty?)

The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot ran a story recently which lists all of the current NFL players that went to high school in Va.


Finally, "Turn out the lights, the party's over."
The venerable institution that was MNF on ABC is now just a part of history.
Next season, Monday Night Football will be moving to sister-network ESPN, whose Sunday night package switches to NBC. The last game was almost a duplicate of the first one 35 years ago - the Jets lost 31-21.

Enjoy the Super Bowl, for it will be a long 6+ months before we get to see live football again.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I hear a cute little girl knockin' on the door.



Thur, Apr. 6, 7 a.m. : The new VHSL realignment plan has been finalized.

The general idea was to balance the number of schools in the Regions, but the AA plan created some "problems" involving schools/Districts that would move into or out of Region III, namely, those in the Valley, River Ridge and Blue Ridge Districts.

The first round of appeals were heard in March by the R&R Committee, which tossed out almost all of the appeals from the AA schools in the Roanoke & Shenandoah valleys.

The next round of appeals, heard by the VHSL Executive Committee on April 4th, granted all of the requests, which means far fewer changes than what had been proposed, and less confusion for fans in the Fall of 2007.

In Group A, things were looking up, as the modified plan submitted by Region D was approved in March. But both Lebanon & John Battle changed their tune and asked to stay in the Hogo instead of moving into Region D, leading to a split of the Lonesome Pine. However, the Executive Committee said "tough", so now all 4 Group A Regions will have 4 Districts.

Here's how things will look in 2007 for SW VA :

Coeburn moves from the Lonesome Pine to the Cumberland District.
Gate City moves from the Lonesome Pine to the new district in Region D (which I'll refer to as "Highlands-lite" until it's officially named - old-timers will see why in a minute).
Lebanon & John Battle move from the Hogo in Region C to "Highlands-lite".
Va. High drops from Group AA (Highlands) to Group A ("Highlands-lite") due to their enrollment numbers.
Lee drops from Group AA (Highlands) to Group A ("Highlands-lite") due to a special "geographic hardship" exemption from the VHSL.
Abingdon & Marion move from Highlands to the Southwest District.
Dan River drops from Group AA (Piedmont) to Group A (Dogwood) due to their enrollment numbers.
The River Ridge District moves from Region III to Region IV.
William Fleming moves from Group AA (Blue Ridge) to Group AAA (Western Valley).
Appomattox drops from Group AA (Seminole) to Group A (Dogwood) due to their enrollment numbers.
The Valley District moves from Region II to Region III and might split in half (since they're back in the same Region, a split isn't necessary now, put will probably be necessary if 2 schools that are currently in Group A move to AA in 2009).

Again, all of these changes will occur over the Summer of 2007. The final vote will be on May 3rd.

Another possible change could see Grundy deciding to go to Group A, which they've been eligible to do for some time.


In other action, a plan was introduced which would allow any Region the option of expanding their football playoffs by 1 round (which would be held the weekend now used as the last regular-season play date). This proposal will be voted on by the Executive Committee on May 3rd.

Here's the odd thing. This was introduced as "emergency legislation". While normal changes are voted on twice, with a two-thirds majority required each time, an emergency vote requires a three-fourths majority approval just once and goes into effect immediately. However, for some odd reason, this rule is slated to start with the 2007 season.

Another kicker is the seeding process. While the "new" first round games will count as playoff games (meaning the VHSL will get a cut of the gate), it should be called the "Regional elimination round", as the winners will be re-seeded for the Regional semi-finals, since the state rules are set up for 4 teams. So if the #8 team upsets the #1, they'll face the highest remaining seed (probably the #2, maybe the #3) the following week.


The VHSL is also looking at expanding Divisions to sports other than football, meaning we could see 6 state champs in basketball before too long.


So, I don't get it. If they think the enrollment disparities are large enough to look at 6 Divisions in sports other than football, and since the number of football playoff teams will double in some Regions, and since the new realignment plan is so far from perfect, why can't they just realize that it's time to scrap the 35-year-old 3 Group system and try something new, like 5A?


One note about the schedules for this Fall - basically take last year's schedule and flip the locations. I only expect a couple of other changes - for example, Grundy has been dropped by Shelby Valley, so they may pick up a replacement game.


In some NFL news, opening weekend will be longest in history.
The season opener has been set for Thursday, Sept. 7, when Miami travels to Pittsburgh for an 8:30 game on NBC. Then, ESPN will have a Monday night DOUBLE-HEADER with a 7:00 game in D.C., followed by a 10:15 game in Oakland.


See ya in May.



Fri, May. 6, 9:30 p.m. : The VHSL Exec. Committee met this week. Here's some of what happened :

Approved an immediate change that allows a school to play in 2 pre-season jamborees (the jam. must replace a scrimmage or benefit game).

Approved the R&R committee's new set-up for 2007.

Starting in 2007, any Region can add one playoff round in what would be the 12th week of the regular season. If done, the highest remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed in the Regional semis (basically they re-seed).

Changed the rating points scale (also starting in 2007) so teams in the same Group will be worth the same number of points no matter what Division they're in. A game vs. a Group A team will be worth 4 points, 8 for AA and 12 for AAA. A win will be worth 12 points.

That's a wrap, folks. Time to close up shop for a couple of months and get things together for the Fall. See ya in late July.