2009 weekly schedules

Pick a Friday :   scrims       Aug. 21       Aug. 28       Sept. 4       Sept. 11       Sept. 18       Sept. 25

                          Oct. 2         Oct. 9       Oct. 16       Oct. 23       Oct. 30       Nov. 6       Nov. 13 +  

         - - - understanding my weekly schedule page lay-out - - - 

   I start by making the schedule for Region IV, then D, then III, then C.
So, if a Region C school plays a Region IV school (like Radford vs. Pulaski),
it will ONLY be listed in the Region IV section, since I did those first
(game location doesn't matter).       This is followed by games of other 
Va. teams (in CAPS) which give bonus points to a Region IV, D or C school, 
then the out-of-state schools (in CAPS) that give bonus points to teams in 
Regions C, D or IV, so some games have BOTH teams in CAPS (like PHELPS vs. 
EAST RIDGE).  Sometimes you'll see a game with no team in caps - these are 
other teams from my neighboring counties of McDowell (WV) & Pike (KY) 
that I keep up with for my game-night scoreboard.

   * means the team is a private school and doesn't count in the ratings.

   (1) means the game is "special" ... look for details down the page.

   Regional college games, "important" college games & NFL games in which 
former locals will be playing are listed at the bottom.


   I also note homecoming games and schedule changes as I find out about them
(since VA has a history of Fall weather wackiness), so the "down-the-road" 
pages are usually updated weekly, and the "current" week page is updated as 
needed (sometimes nightly). I also add state rankings whenever possible.


   ALWAYS check if you plan to attend a game.   I do NOT check with the schools 
for changes, but I do regularly check newspapers, msg. boards and a few school 
web sites.  (Ky. & Tenn. are notorious to move games to Thur. night when a 
teachers' in-service day is scheduled for a Friday.)


    Now, a note about the North Carolina teams : NC does 2 things that's a bit 
"foreign" to us.  First, when a large town / city has more than 1 school, 
they'll add the city before the school name, like (Greensboro) Grimsley and 
(Winston-Salem) Atkins.  2nd, when a school name is used more than once in 
the state, they'll add the city before the school name.  So A.C. Reynolds in 
Asheville usually becomes Asheville Reynolds & R.J. Reynolds in Winston-Salem 
usually becomes W.S. Reynolds.  Also, for some reason, John Morehead in Eden 
is commonly called (Eden) Morehead.



      - - -      interesting 2009 schedule tidbits      - - - 


   WOW - SW VA got shut-out of a couple of "gimmes" this year.

   For the first time in, well, I don't know how long, the season DOESN'T kick off
in SW VA (mainly because race night in Bristol is the weekend of the 21st).  
A pair of Northern Va. AAA teams, Battlefield and Potomac, will host games on 
Thursday the 27th.

   Almost all of the SW VA teams open on the 28th... Abingdon, Haysi, Glenvar 
and Salem don't open until Sept. 4th, and Pound opens on Saturday the 29th.

   (Race week in Bristol falls in the pre-season for Va. this year.
Martinsville is open on their race weekend, while Tunstall's at Bassett 
and Patrick Co. plays at Magna Vista after qualifying on Friday.)

   But I think even the Gate City-Richlands and Beaver-Graham games wll be 
overshadowed by some other marquee match-ups across the state.

   A series that's been on hold for THREE DECADES gets renewed in the NRV as 
Radford hosts neighboring Pulaski County.  The Cougars won the last meeting 
13-0 in Aug. 1979.  That game also served as the debut of new coach from WV... 
Joel Hicks.  Radford's last win was 13-0 in 1978.

   After years of trying (and lawsuit threatening), Lynchburg's Liberty Christian 
Academy will finally get to play a VHSL school, as the Bulldogs will host Gretna.

   But the opening night headliner took place in Chesapeake as AAA Oscar Smith hosts 
Venice High from Fla.   Oscar Smith has Alabama-bound Phillip Sims (no, not Simms), 
who threw for 334 yards and SIX TD's in the Div. 6 title game last year at Tech and
is Rivals.com's #1 rated QB in nation.  The Indians will counter with Florida-bound 
Trey Burton at QB.  This game was shown live on ESPNU at 7 p.m.


   Want another big surprise?  Thomas Walker plays ZERO out-of-state schools this year.
Hurley leads the way with FOUR O-o-S games (2 each from KY & WV). 
GW-Danville plays three OoS teams (all Div. 6 teams from NC), as does Sherando, 
James Wood and Bath Co. (all from WV), Lee (all from KY) and Twin Valley.

   Graham, Grundy, Ervinton, Pound and Clintwood all play 2 OoS teams.

   The Clintwood cheerleaders will be working extra hard at finding words that rhyme with 
"Valley", as the Greenwave play Happy, Powell and Shelby in a span of less than a month.

   AA's Dulles District has 8 O-o-S games and the Nortwestern District has 6.

   A's Black Diamond District has 8 O-o-S games, the Clinch Mtn. has 7, and the 
Lonesome Pine has 5.


   The first district games in SW VA this year will be Sept. 4th, with five contests 
scheduled in Region D.  Region C doesn't have a district game until Oct. 9th.


   Ervinton is the first team in the state that will finish district play, 
wrapping it up on Oct. 23rd.  That's the same night that Haysi and Hurley 
play their FIRST district game, which happens to be the latest district opener.

   Bland Co. & Tunstall replace Castlewood as the first teams to wrap-up 
regular-season play this season.  Their last game kicks off at 7:00 on Oct. 30th.  
Tazewell & Gate City also finish up that night with 7:30 games.

   All three SW VA Regions wrap up regular-season play on Nov. 6th, with one 
exception - Thomas Walker @ Lee will be the only regular-season contest played 
west of Lynchburg that night (unless a make-up game is needed).   It's also the 
first time TW has played an in-county rival in 20 years (because of Lee's size).

   Unfortunately, a few teams ended up with only 9 games this year... 
AAA's George Wythe-Richmond (which plays Group A Amelia Co.) & Roanoke's 
William Fleming (which plays E.C. Glass twice) and A's Charles City 
(which was dropped in August by an over-booked Northumberland).

   There are currently 126 AAA teams, 91 AA teams & 87 A teams for a total of 
304 teams.

    Overall, there are 452 District games in AAA, 268 in AA and 199 in A for 
a total of 919 District contests.  There are 554 non-district games, 65 games 
against OoS teams and 7 games against non-VHSL schools, for a grand total of ....
1,545 games this season.



              other interesting tidbits from the VHSL master schedule


                                Group AA

E.C. Glass is the only school that plays FOUR games vs. AAA teams.

Magna Vista plays three AAA schools, plus a Div. 1 team. in consecutive weeks.

Dominion only has ONE game vs. a school that's not in a LARGER Division (Park View).

Abingdon only has ONE game vs. a school that's not in a SMALLER Division (Carroll Co.).

Richlands, Tazewell and Marion play all four non-district games vs. Group A teams.

Wilson Memorial plays FIVE A schools, and they're all Div. 1.

Prince Edward, Spotsylvania & Culpeper Co. (all from Region I) are the only AA schools 
with consecutive bye weeks within the season.

James Wood doesn't play a VA school until Sept. 25th.

Blacksburg doesn't have a home game until Sept. 25th.



                                   Group A

      Div. 1 Eastern Montgomery opens with five Div. 1 teams before playing
five Div. 2 (district) games.

     A pair of brothers will square off on Sept. 25th.  Matthew Saunders 
will lead his Bobcats from Radford to Gretna to face the Hawks, who hired
his brother Kevin a few months ago.       Has this happened before?  
Well, Ralph Cummins never played any of Brownie's Grundy teams and 
the McPherson's haven't met since leaving East. Mont. in 2004.
But up in NoVa, the Bendorfs have a bit of a history.  
According to research done by "Great State", ...  "Pete was HC at Oakton 
from 1992 to 2002 & Mark has been HC at Robinson since 1997.  Mark holds 
a 4-2 advantage", which includes a win in their first meeting in 1997.

      Clarke Co. is the only A school that plays both a Div. 6 AND a 
Div. 1 school (and they do that in consecutive weeks).

George Mason plays a Div. 5 and a Div. 1 in consecutive weeks.

      Amelia Co. (Div. 1) plays Div. 5 George Wythe of Richmond on 10/2 and 
they must be expecting a battle. Their open weeks are before and after that game. 

      Luray and Page are the only schools east of the greater Richmond area 
that don't open until Sept. 11th.

      Page doesn't have a home game until Oct. 2nd.

      Nandua and Randolph-Henry are the only A schools with consecutive 
bye weeks within the season.

     Castlewood, Hurley, Bath County, Covington and a handful of Region A 
schools play SEVEN games vs. Div. 1 teams.  Craig Co. has EIGHT of 'em.
Leading the way with NINE are Ervinton (they play at Coeburn on 9/4) and
St. Paul (also at Coeburn, on 10/23)

      Lee and Hurley both go 6 weeks without playing a Va. opponent.


      And I gotta give a shout-out to Coach Palmer down at St. Paul.
He agreed in mid-August to move the Twin Valley game to Oct. 16th, 
which allowed the Panthers to re-schedule Phelps as a 10th game.
But I wonder why he wants to play TWO Thursday night games???