2010 site & VHSL news

Wed., Dec. 8, 4:45 p.m. : Added some more info to the VHSL playoff pairings page (and I'll be adding more as I get around to it / find it). Also updated the weekly non-VHSL schedule page to add the Bowl games of the regional college teams.

    Gotta send a shout-out to 1988 Grundy alum Todd Newberry down in Greeneville, TN. The Greene Devils have been H-O-T, winning 24 of their last 25 games en route to becoming the first UE Tenn. team to win a state football title since Tenn. High back in 1972. The Devils set a state single-scoring record with 748 points, averaging just a hair under 50 PPG, as they crushed Memphis Trezevant 60-12 in the 4A finals. Of course, Trez isn't really all THAT bad... they just "let the referees dictate the way we played”. Yeah, riiiiiight.

    The VHSL Executive Committee met last week and voted on some changes. Not much to report, really. The attempt to eliminate the out-of-season practice rule was voted down. And guidelines were approved that allows a school to change Divisions in the middle of a 2-year cycle when enrollment drops due to the opening of a new school nearby, which is only fair.

    The WV Group AAA title game will be played Sat. night at Wheeling. The WV Supreme Court of Appeals has overruled a lower court, basically saying the courts have no authority to tell the WVSSAC how to enforce their own rules. The WVSSAC then ruled that South Charleston used ineligible players in their semi-final win over Brooke, so SC has to forfeit the win, and Brooke will face Martinsburg for the crown. My sympathies are with each and every HS athlete in the Mountain State, who have no say if they're done wrong.

    Honaker's Heath Miller sustained a concussion after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Ravens LB Jameel McClain Sunday and is listed as doubtful for this Sunday's game vs. the Bengals. Although McClain wasn't flagged, he WAS fined $40,000 by the league.

    Did you hear that the BCS changed their "final" ratings Monday night? Turned out the Colley Matrix Ratings was off because Mr. Colley forgot to include App. State's playoff win over Western Illinois in his system. While this caused Boise State to jump LSU for 10th overall, no one else was affected, and the bowl pairings didn't/won't change. While some people are already using this as the newest reason to get rid of the system (David Teel), at least they ADMITTED the mistake and made the proper correction, which is more than some folks have done in other football ratings systems in the past.

    OSU Prez E.G. Gee seems to be back in top form as his brain has returned from it's recent trip to the Moon and back. Gee Told The Columbus Dispatch recently that he should not only stay out of the sports side of things, but that he also had sent a donation to the Little Sisters of the Poor home in Oregon, Ohio.

    Not to be overshadowed, Big 10 commish Jim Delany says they have already sacrificed much for the good of college sports.

    Va. Tech will be going to the Orange Bowl in Miami again, thanks to a record-breaking season. The ACC did some research and determined that the Hokies are the first FBS school to win 11 straight games after starting the year 0-2. (And how long has the FBS been around? 13 seasons.)
    So Tech lost to Boise and a FCS team and goes to the Orange, and Boise lost to a ranked, 1-loss team and lands in the MAACO (Las Vegas) Bowl. Goyya love the BCS.
    To help you get ready for Tech's game against our state bird, here's a primer on Stanford.

    Have you ever wanted to see your home-boy Frank Beamer dance ? Glutton for punishment, are ya??

    The annual Capitol One All-America Mascot Challenge is down to it's last week, and a couple of state U's need some help. In the "main" contest for a $15,000 scholarship, ODU's Big Blue is in the finals against the Duck from Oregon. In the "write-in" contest for a $1,000 scholarship, Tech's Hokie Bird is in 2nd, trailing Oregon State's Beaver. The winners will be announced on ESPN on New Year's Day around 2:30 p.m. You can vote once a day until Monday at 9 a.m.

    I know that some people have called for Lee Corso's head in the past, but, seriously, who would actually WANT it ? Well, it wasn't Will Ferrell.

    Turn out the lights.... the party's over. The sports world has lost an icon, the "spirited" half of the magical MNF booth back in the day. RIP, Dandy Don.

Thur., Dec. 2, 8:30 p.m. : While all the focus the past few days has been on the South Charleston kids and their parents fight to get the WVSSAC to admit they made a mistake, there's a court case challenging the VHSL coming up in a few hours. There's a young man near Salem who had a learning disability as a child, started school late, and was held back in elementary school. He's now a Sr. and wanted to play sports this year, but was told that he was ineligible under the "age" rule... he turned 19 before Sept. 1st... but just a few hours before. He wants to play basketball, baseball, and football... specifically, East Mont's semi-final game against Clintwood, or at least the Group A title game should the Mustangs win. A Roanoke judge will hear the case Friday at 1:45 p.m.

Wed., Dec. 1, 12:30 p.m. : The VHSL now says the Battlefield @ Lake Braddock game has been changed to a 3:30 kickoff time.

    Up in WV, the Group AAA title game might not kick off at all.

    A couple of weeks ago, an altercation with :14 left caused the officials to end a quarters game at that point. They later decided, apparently without the use of videotape, to "eject" some of the players involved, and filed the paperwork which goes with it. The parents got a temporary restraining order last week to let their "ejected" kids (which included the Sr. QB) play in the semis, where they beat Brooke. The judge heard testimony Monday that the officials didn't "eject" the players before they left the field, so the ejections were invalid, and, even if ejections DID occur, the "miss a game" part applies to the next "regularly scheduled contest", and playoff games don't fall into that catagory. The judge ruled yesterday that the kids were eligible to play.

    Meanwhile, the team that lost in the semis tried to get involved in the case, but were told "no". So, they went to court in their county and got their own temporary restraining order Tues. to delay the Group AAA finals until all legal matters are resolved..

    So, instead of the WVSSAC saying "we accept the court's decision that we were wrong here", they announced this morning that they will file an appeal, so the AAA title game may NEVER be played. Way to go, guys!

    Here's the PoV from Brooke's side .

    And the court testimony revealed that local LEO's ordered the officials to leave the field. I STILL haven't seen anything about the LEO's involvement. And I haven't seen anything about the player who a coach said was tasered.

    John Feinstein has penned a letter to the President of Ohio State U. that's worth reading.

Tues., Nov. 30, 11:15 a.m. : The VHSL now says the Richlands @ Brookville game will kick at 1:30. I did quite a bit of work to the VHSL playoff pairings page, adding map links for the "eastern" A & AA games and the finals locations and weather links for all A, AA & finals locations. Also updated the weekly non-VHSL schedule page and cleaned up the maps on the Radford-helper page.

Mon., Nov. 29, 12:05 p.m. : Updated the VHSL playoff pairings page, which has a bunch of info/tidbits on the teams, along with dates, times, more info on the finals, and directions to the SW VA stadiums which are hosting the semis. The weekly non-VHSL schedule page will be updated sometime this evening.

    Forget about painting the town red... football fans will be painting the (New River) Valley blue this Saturday. The Blue Streaks & the Blue Demons will be in Christiansburg, the Blue Devils will be in Radford, and the Blue Tornado will be in Lynchburg!

    Here's more Turkey Bowl stories from the Washington Post. First, new info says Ballou might have skirted the grade rule by having a player switch classes just before the end of the grading period. Part of Ballou's defense was that an eligibility challenge can't be made after mid-season.
    Then we have the ruling from the DCPS that said Ballou used an ineligible player and would forfeit their 35-31 semi-finals win over Dunbar.     And then came my favorite... the Ballou reaction. The head coach was ticked that somebody leaked the student's transcript and said "I can't coach in this city anymore". The principal said it "was not a grade-change issue", which a DCPS source contradicted.     And for the game itself... Dunbar lost to H.D. Woodson 44-12, and the local politicians all had an opinion.

    Here's a story that mentions all of the NC teams that missed the playoffs due to multiple ejections from Raleigh's News & Observer.

    Puck, Finn & Kurt... watch out! You've got some competition up in Indianapolis!

    On a more serious note, Garth Brooks was out near Richmond a while back shooting a movie, which included a Homecoming game on Varina's field. Unanswered Prayers will make it's debut tonight at 9 on Lifetime.

Tues., Nov. 23, 12:45 p.m. : Updated the weekly non-VHSL schedule page and the VHSL playoff pairings page, which has a bunch of info/tidbits on the teams, along with dates & times.

    Apparently, some players a few hours North of me that didn't read the poor sportsmanship story from last week... a WV AAA playoff game Friday night ended when an INT turned into a minor melee with :14 left. Security/LEO came ONTO the field, uaed pepper-spray, and possibly tazed a player. A couple of players were immediately ejected, then the officials asked for a tape to review and decided to eject some more players, whose parents have already filed an injunction because they say the NFHS doesn't allow tape to be used. A court upheld that appeal this morning.

    There's a weird forfeit story developing up in DC. A playoff team was granted an extension on filing some paperwork last week, then won their game. The team that lost filed a protest and was granted the win by the same guy that granted the extension. THAT team has also filed an appeal, which will be heard at 1:00 today. Meanwhile, BOTH teams have been practicing for the Turkey Bowl. Here's story 1 and story 2 from The Washington Post.

    And here's an unusual forfeit story from NC... they have a rule that says if a school has three players ejected during the season, they aren't eligible for post-season play. Two Fayetteville area schools and Pamlico were eliminated back in September, and South Brunswick got the boot yesterday.

    Word from the west is that Harlan Co., KY has received a major gift to build a new stadium at their new school. The first phase of work at Needham Saylor Field / Coal Miner's Memorial Stadium is said to include the installation of artificial turf before the 2011 season. Too bad Wise Co. has been draagging their feet on consolidation.

    Remember the story last month about the pilot that TP'd a football field in NJ? Well, the FAA has given him the ol' roger-wilco, all-clear... it was just a practice run for a streamer drop. But he could still face state charges... after all, it IS New Jersey we're talk'n' 'bout here.

    I know you've seen that trick play by a Texas MS by now. While most "fans" like it, a bunch of officials have been a lot less kind, as I've read about 4 or 5 different penalties that could/should have been called. Anyway, the QB & the coach talked to Friday, he lost his battle with cancer.

Thur., Nov. 18, 7 p.m. : Updated the weekly non-VHSL schedule page and the VHSL playoff pairings page, which has a bunch of info/tidbits on the teams, along with dates & times.

    Incredible. A new team has been been added to the AA playoffs. The Newport News Daily Press reports that Lafayette, a Region I, Div. 4 qualifier, used an ineligible player against York and Jamestown and has forfeited those wins. The Rams fall to 5-5, Courtland moves up to the #3 seed, and Eastern View has unpacked their stuff because they'll be playing (at least) 1 more game.

    If it's the post-season, then somebody's feelings are going to get hurt. "Running up the score", "rubbing it in" and "what goes around comes around" have all been getting a workout recently. And that's just on the message boards. What's happening AT the games? Here's a taste, courtesy of WV's Charleston Daily Mail.

    Ever seen a goalpost that WASN'T "anchored" to the ground ?? Ahhhh... the "friendly confines" of Wrigley Field !!!

    And, for the record, the "running clock" is not supposed to be used in the playoffs, but, seriously, come on. Who's going to get mad over it?

Fri., Nov. 12, 3:45 p.m. : With so much going on this week, I didn't realize I hadn't updated the schedules yet, so here's the last weekly schedule page, which will be updated weekly for the next month, and the VHSL playoff pairings page, which will be updated every couple of days or so, as I find more tidbits about the teams & info on the games.

    The Amelia Monitor says Amelia had to forfeit two non-district games for using an ineligible player. Sure would've been nice if they had also said that Mathews and Nottoway were the teams gaining a win.

    Found an interesting forfeit story from Hawaii. One of the state's top teams, Kahuku, had to forfeit some regular season and playoff games for playing a "5th year" Senior, who had yet to complete 4 years of HS. The kid had been accidentally promoted to 9th grade in 2006 and sent back to 8th, but the local association (OIA) ruled that the 4-year eligibility clock started in '06, so the schools' appeal was denied. The HHSAA was NOT involved in the decision.

    Kentucky is having a problem with parents going to court to fight forfeits again. Pikeville's Appalachian News-Express (print edition) says the KHSAA ruled Pike Central's QB ineligible after getting evidence that the coach was driving him to school from a nearby county. But a court order has delayed any forfeits of the Hawks school-record 8 wins and allowed the QB to play in the Hawks playoff game last week, which Central thankfully lost.

    Ah, but there IS some good news out of Eastern Ky. The Hazard Herald says Hazard HS QB Jonathan Combs was named Kentucky's 2010 Wendy’s Heisman state winner.

    Virginis's newest "pro" football team is starting to gain an identity. The UFL announced their 6th team will be called the Virginia Destroyers, and their home games will be played at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. But why is the head coach a former CEO of TD Ameritrade???

    Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon rants on the BCS, Boise & TCU. If you think either of those teams will play for the national title, this is a must read.

Sun., Nov. 7, 7:30 a.m. : Here's the updated standings and ratings after Ervinton's win yesterday.

    There were a couple of games from WV this weekend that drew my interest ... on Friday night, Bluefield went up to Wayne for a rematch of last year's AA title game, and the Beavers won 41-6. Last night in Welch, River View hosted Westside in a game that might've rivaled the one down in Texas last week, except for 1 thing... they stopped playing. WV has this rule that few ppl. know about... a regular season game can't go longer than 3 OT's. So, after 11 weeks and just over 600 games, the WV's regular season ended in a draw. The kicker... the game had BIG implications in the AA ratings/seedings, and it threw of a bunch of ppl. who didn't know how a tie was treated.
    Oh, and the first-year Raiders not only made the playoffs, they get a "home" game.

    This is so funny. When I did my Sat. morning scoreboard show, I said that "deuces were wild at Nelson Memorial Field last night", due to 4 Blues having 2 TD's apiece. Little did I know that "Rich-lunds" also got credit for 2 wins, until I watched the highlight show this morning from Beckley's WVNS.

    Graham had 1 "L" point deducted from their ratings because the WVSSAC changed a Princeton win to a loss on Friday. Nothing has been

    Are you a country music fan? Former Tazewell QB Billy Wagner (better known as one of baseball's best relievers) has helped put together quite a little shindig which will feature Montgomery Gentry at at the home of one of his rivals, Mitchell Stadium, next July.

Sat., Nov. 6, 9 a.m. : Here's the updated standings and ratings, adjusted to reflect ANOTHER forfeit in WV... Princeton's win over Greenbrier East on 10/22.

Sat., Nov. 6, 12:45 a.m. : I've crunched the numbers, and this is what I came up with ...


Region D - 1 regular season game & NO playoff games on 11/12

         Division 2

#4 Coeburn @ #1 Gate City; #3 Honaker @ #2 Powell Valley

         Division 1

#4 ??? @ #1 Clintwood; #3 Hurley @ #2 JI Burton

#4 will be - Thomas Walker if they beat Lee Friday,
           - Twin Springs if Walker loses

 - - - - - - -

Region C - top 2 seeds get byes on 11/12

         Division 2

#1 Radford, #2 Chilhowie - byes

#6 Floyd County @ #3 Fort Chiswell; #5 Grayson County @ #4 George Wythe 

         Division 1

#1 Eastern Montgomery, #2 Bath County - byes

#6 Rural Retreat @ #3 Galax; #5 Covington @ #4 Craig County

 - - - - - - -

Region IV - top 2 seeds get byes on 11/12

         Division 4

#1 Christiansburg, #2 Salem - byes

#6 Abingdon @ #3 Magna Vista; #5 Bassett @ #4 Carroll County

         Division 3

#1 Richlands, #2 Cave Spring - byes

#6 Tunstall @ #3 Grundy; #5 Marion @ #4 Martinsville


OFFICIAL pairings for C & IV will be released Monday by the VHSL.

Thur., Nov. 4, 10:30 p.m. : Hurley beat Twin Valley 48-6. Here's the updated standings and ratings, along with the updated cheat sheets for Region IV and Region D along with the Region IV "tightened" and Region D "tightened" sheets. All of these include Hurley's win AND William Fleming's forfeit. which shows what seeds some times have already locked up. I'll work on Region

Thur., Nov. 4, 8 p.m. : Weather update... looks like some parts of SW VA could get up to 1" of snow tonight, woth another inch possible Friday night, so bundle up, fill up those thermoses (hot chocolate only, please) and be careful... who knows WHAT changes VDOT made over the Summer. Here's the state forecast page from the National Weather Service (NOAA) (Grundy & Haysi gets their forecast from the Charleston office, so change the va to wv in the address).

    I'd like to say hello to the Grundy & Galax fans who found me through mentions from Lloyd & Craig this week. (Oh, and the answer is both!)

    Found more info on the William Fleming forfeit... Robert says the coach misunderstood what an official told him the week before.

    This has GOT to be the CRAZIEST game in the HISTORY of high school football.
Intentionally taking a knee on an XPA???
Intentionally letting your opponent score... in OT???
ANYBODY who has ever wondered why margin of victory isn't used as a tie-breaker HAS to read these stories of a 12 ot game in Texas last week (doesn't matter which one you pick first... they both cover the important details but also has stuff the other doesn't)... The Daily Sentinel -Nacogdoches and The Daily Progress - Jacksonville.

    Need a laugh? Or maybe a groan? Then by all means, check this out (but not while you're hungry).

    Time for an observation. North Carolina. Wow. Just wow. Weird stuff down there this year. Over the Summer, they changed their post-season format from a 16-team, seeded, half-state 1st round to two, 8-team regional "pods" to reduce travel, and fans are going crazy over how bad it is and how many rematches will happen in the 1st round... and the seeding hasn't even been done yet! But here's sonething even crazier... a Fayetteville AD has suspended a coach for running up the score. Yep, 21 points after halftime was just too much.

Wed., Nov. 3, 6:45 a.m. : Just a few quick things... The Twin Valley @ Hurley game has been moved to Thursday night (at the same time as the Tech game); that means I'll have updated cheet sheets available around midnight for Regions IV & D. On Friday night, I'll probably have the unofficial pairings posted around midnight, although Region D might not be set, since Lee, Thomas Walker & Ervinton will all still have 1 game left.

    And, of course, the whole thing may look different than what was expected IF something happens at the last minute. You know, this IS the time of year when basketball coaches are going over their paperwork, and they might find something that was missed before, leading to the dreaded football forfeit/s. Or, something else might happen, as was the case last week, which led to a forfeit around Roanoke, according to South Boston's News & Record.

    I realize that this isn't "official" yet, and nothing's been mentioned this morning by any of the Roanoke media, and that Fleming will likely appeal, and likely lose, and that might take a couple of days, but I went ahead and checked how this would affect the ratings, and I got -2 for Salem & Pulaski Co., +2 for Martinsville, and 0 for Magna Vista. So I'm not re-doing the ratings or the cheat sheets... just subtract 2 from all of Salem's numbers.

    There's been a rumor of a possible forfeit out near Richmond, but it hasn't been made public or official yet.

    A new All-Star game will feature SW VA players VERY soon. The Tennessee-Virginia Senior Bowl, with 50 Seniors on each team, will be played beside of Freedom Hall in Johnson City at Science Hill's new 6,000 seat Kermit Tipton Stadium on Sat. Dec. 18th @ 1 p.m. Tickets will be $6 with proceeds (after expenses) benefitting the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Also benefitting, I'm sure, will be Smokey Bones and The (fashion) Mall.

    Kentucky & Tennessee start their post-season play Friday night. As was expected, things are a little messy im Tenn., as they "tweaked" their system AGAIN over the Summer, eliminating the home-field advantage for District champions. I've got the games of local interest on my weekly schedules page, but if you'd like to see the entire, statewide schedule, here's the links for Ky and Tenn..

    And don't forget to set your clocks BACK an hour Sat. night.

+++ 9 a.m. : Should add that this will also take a(nother) bonus point away from Bluefield, which officially lost one yesterday with news of a forfeit by Oak Hill..

Mon., Nov. 1, 8 p.m. : While I was "tightening up" the Region C sheet, I found a typo ... changed Galax's lowest seed from 5 to 3.
Added 2 new cheat sheets - Region IV "tightened" and Region C "tightened". I also added the tiebreakers to all 3 cheat sheets.

Mon., Nov. 1, 4 p.m. : While I was "tightening up" the Region D sheet, I found a few typos. The biggest change guarantees Clintwood the #1 seed & Burton the #2. I also changed how Haysi can get the BDD's automatic bid. Here's my "tightened" Region D sheet.

Sun., Oct. 31, 9:45 p.m. : Here's the Region C cheat sheet.

Sun., Oct. 31, 3 a.m. : Here's the updated standings and ratings points, along with the updated cheat sheets for Region IV and Region D, which shows what seeds some times have already locked up. I'll work on Region C this afternoon, since Heath & Julius don't square off until 8:30.

Sat., Oct. 30, 8 a.m. : Here's the updated standings. Ratings and sheet cheats will be updated late-late tonight.

Thur., Oct. 28, 5:15 p.m. : Between taking care of a couple of leaks that developed Tuesday night, answering a slew of political calls, and double-checking all my work, it's taken a bit longer to get the cheat sheets done than I had expected. Here's Region IV and Region D.
9:45 p.m. : Here's Region C.

Tues., Oct. 26, 7 p.m. : It's been such a quiet, uneventful Fall that I hadn't even realized my last update was so long ago. So before we go any further, here's the current standings and ratings points.

    PARENTS - A new online education course – The Role of the Parent in Sports – is now available through the National Federation of State High School Associations at nfhslearn.com.

    Look's like milk not only does a body good, it's even better if you're an athlete.

    Now back to our regularly scheduled rambling.

    The big thing in Va. so far is a NoVa forfeit of 2 games by Annandale, due to a paperwork snafu. One kid went to a different school last year to take a class that wasn't offered at Annandale, then came back there this year. But the "front office" forgot to "clear waivers", giving wins to Falls Church and South County. Here's the Washington Post stories from Oct. 8th and Oct. 20th.

    NC is again leading the forfeit race among nearby states, with 7 that I'm aware of... Asheville-Reynolds (West Forsyth), Ardrey Kell (Weddington), Winston-Salem-Reynolds (Atkins and Southwest Guilford) and Albemarle (West Stanly, South Davidson and Chatham Central) have all run into a problem somewhere.

    Harrisonburg O-lineman Landon Turner will play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio on Jan. 8th, according to WHSV.

    For the second year in a row, Bethel coach Jeff Nelson had to be hospitalized after a sideline hit, according to the Newport News Daily Press.

    I haven't seen any interesting events from VA games this season (other than the refs not showing up for a game at Essex on the 8th), but a few games from neighboring states HAVE stood out ...

    Unicoi County’s Austin Arrowood intercepted a spike against Happy Valley last month. (This article also touches on Tennessee's recent change that eliminated home-field advantage for District champs).

    There were some big games the weekend of the 15rh. You've heard of “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports!”, right? Well, just a few minutes from Churchill Downs was possibly the most exciting 2 seconds in HS football ! It happened in Louisville on the 15th when host Pleasure Ridge Park & Butler were tied at 34 and PRP had a 2nd and Goal at the 2 with about :10 left.
I've read about a half-dozen stories (including WDRB, Yahoo, WISV) and two things stuck with me...
1. The PA guy said "and that's the ball game". One of the things the NFHS wanted emphasized in the pre-season was the over-involved PA guys. Guess this one didn't get the message.
2. The coach said "We saw the sideline judge blow his whistle." Guy needs to either have his x-ray vision checked OR he was trying out to be the new spokesman on concussions.

    Jr. J.J. Jude rushed for a state-record 584 yards (or 583, on 32 carries) for Jim Matney to help Johnson Central set a KY state-record of 775 yards rushing in the Golden Eagles 68-35 win.

    That same night, the nation’s longest active winning streak (55 games) came to an end down in Reidsville, NC as the Rams fell to (Burlington) Cummings 28-7.

    Last month in NC, more than 100 HS athletes were cut from their teams in Guilford Co. because they didn't maintain a 2.0 GPA.

    Last weekend, I saw some Kentucky teams gearing up for basketball season... South Floyd beat Phelps 78-58 - Weston Little ONLY rushed for a school record 424 yards & 5 TD's. And Henry Clay put up 28 points in each of the last 2 quarters to beat Tates Creek 85-52.

    A report on concussions was recently released by Purdue University and can be found in both the Chicago Tribune and the Newport News Daily Press.

    Joe Pa thinks it might help if the facemask is removed, and a doc at Tech thinks position-specific helmets would help. The Times ran a related story on what's happened with a couple of Roanoke players.

    Speaking of Tech, Ow. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! (Apoligies to the late Mr. Kinison). I would nominate OG Greg Nosal for "Iron Man of the Year", but it's painfully obvious that he's NOT made of iron. (NSWE... not safe while eating.) Start with the Newport News Daily Press, then get more info from The Washington Post and a follow-up from The Roanoke Times.

    Say you're an ACC fan? Well, now there's an app for that.

    Goodness, gracious! What's WRONG with some people??? Six central Va. kids who had practiced all Summer, and had paid their fees, were told just days before their first game they COULDN'T PLAY, because the organization changed a rule, which made them ineligible.

    A La. school system has suspended their drug testing program after a parent complained it went too far. The Central Community Schools made a change over the Summer from testing urine ($4, 30 day history) to testing hair samples ($42, 90 day history, LONG before school started) without input from or notification to the parents or students.

    USA Football went through the opening-day 53-man rosters of evety NFL team a while back and found that Va. high schools produced 50 current NFL players, which ties us for 10th place with Alabama. Leading the way is California with 211.

    Which college coach recently said "The high school football in this state {VA} is very, very good" ?

    Unfortunately, that quote couldn't keep PV's Julius Jones from getting cut by Seattle. He then reportedly took a salary cut to stay with the Seahawks, but was cut again a month later and landed in New Orleans.

    The NFL has made some tweaks to their new umpire placement rule, including when the old placement will be used and giving umps the option of issuing a warning instead of an automatic flag.

    Bluefield baseball fans will be flocking to Bowen Field again next year to see the Baby Birds. But Baltimore didn't change their minds - Toronto is coming back to the Appy League after a 4-year absense.

Thur., Sept. 2, 8:45 p.m. : I made a mistake the other day, so I had to make a change on my changes page (ironic, or coincidence ???) ... Graham's going to the Mtn. Empire District, not the Hogoheegee.

    It's barely September and things are already getting interesting down in NC.

    A couple of Fayetteville-area schools have already been eliminated from playoff contention (which is VERY difficult, seeing how 2-win teams make the playoffs regularly down there). Pinecrest and Union Pines players were involved in an altercation on a kickoff last Friday night and both had at least 3 players ejected for fighting, so, according to NCHSAA rules, they're on probation & are playoff ineligible.

    And while Charlotte schools avoided (for now) any forfeits with their recent purging of ineligible football players, an Asheville school wasn't as fortunate. Defending 4-A state champ A.C. Reynolds will forfeit last week's win for dressing a 5th year guy who didn't take the field for a single play. Word is that Reynolds will appeal because the kid was a transfer and they had no idea he started HS in 2006 (so someone messed up somewhere with the transcript).

    Ironically, his former coach had told a newspaper last week "You have got to check the records when they come in”.

    Here's a few more recent debuts that deserve mentioning...

    Two of VA's four new high schools squared off Friday night up in Loudoun County as Tuscarora beat Woodgrove 33-21.

    DC's new female head coach lost her debut Friday night by a 28-0 score.

    And, unfortunately, a major departure was announced a few days ago. The Baltimore Orioles announced that they were ending their record 53 year partnership with Bluefield as a "short-season" affiliate. Some people saw this coming back in 2002 when former Baby Bird Cal Ripken, Jr. started a s-s team in his hometown of Aberdeen, Md., just a stone's throw from Canden Yards.
 

    Soooooooooo, how 'bout this Nike Pro Combat Series stuff? Seems like ppl. are in 1 of 2 camps on this... they either think it's way cool or think What the .... ????

    Tech's unis for Monday night will be black (to honor the Corps, which got free tickets to the game) overlaid with a circuit-board design (to recognize the Engineering dept.). The cool-looking matte-black helmet has a regressing orange stripe with maroon circuitry, but the orange shoes are just hideous. (see pics here , there, here and there

    Boise is also in on this; they'll be wearing gray tops (don't know why) and blue pants (which symbolizes their famed artificial, or "smurf" turf). Makes me glad I'm NOT watching this in 3-D. (Hmmmmm.... I wonder what thousands of car keys will look like in 3-D?)

    WVU will sport their new duds when they battle Pitt in the Thanksgiving weekend "Backyard Brawl". The 'Eers unis were designed to pay tribute to 29 miners killed @ Upper Big Branch. They're white with a "smudged black pattern" (like it's coated in coal dust) with coal-black helmets which have a yellow stripe running front-to-back (to pay homage the miners' headlamps) and yellow-gold shoes (to pay respect to all those canaries who were the early early-alert systems for deadly gas). A wonderful comment I saw said "Friends don't let friends wear canary shoes".

    And since it has to do with mining, someone's got a problem with it, leading Nike to announce that it will modify their ad.

    Of course, Pitt will also be decked out in Nike attire. The only thing I've seen about their unis is something about steel I-beams on the helmet to honor the steel industry.
 

    It looks like Army, Navy & Notre Dame have found a forth, in case they ever decide to get together for a round of golf. BYU announced that it's leaving the Mountain West Conference next Summer for the West Coast Conference in all sports BUT football, which will play as an Independent. This allows BYU to market their own TV rights (hello, ESPN?) through BYU-TV, and give the WCC a bigger "ommmph" in negotiating a basketball deal, since they already have Gonzaga & St. Mary's.
 

    The ACC basketball master schedule has finally been released. Va. Tech plays at UNC on Thur. Jan 13th (3 nights after the BCS title game), will host Duke (and ESPN Gameday) on Sat. night, Feb. 26th, and visit UVA on Sat. aft., Feb. 19th (at about the same time that the state wrestling tourney's 7th place matches start).
 

    And if you're going to be down in Charlotte anytime during the next 6 weeks, watch out for those race cars on steroids.

Wed., Sept. 1, 11:30 a.m. : There were a few debuts recently that deserve mentioning...

    The new HS over in McDowell Co. WV, River View, won their debut in a "home" game on the "visitors" field by beating, no, destroying Mount View 52-18. Strange stat... NOBODY had more than 1 TD, meaning 11 kids hit paydirt... and a 12th scored on a 2-point conversion!

    Over in KY, the new Martha Layne Collins HS not only won their opener against a state semi-finalist from last year (Sheldon Clark), they also scored on their first offensive play.

    Down in NC, the 2 new high schools in Charlotte faced each other as Hough beat Rocky River 25-6.

    I've posted the changes for this year, and I promise there's something there that will surprise you.

    And if I hear any complaints, I WILL send my invisible monkey over there with his vuvuzela.

   

Mon., Aug. 30, 4 p.m. : If you'd like something nice to read before we "get right down to the real nitty gritty" (yaaaa, SCOTS!), check out the blind QB in Ohio.

    So, lots of stuff has happened since the end of last season, and I'm still getting most of the stuff I want to post cleaned up, but there's a bunch that's ready to go.

    Let's start with something we're all used to, just not in HS football... a DVD "release".

    The way I understand it, a Pulaski Co. coach filmed a Spring gym class and put it on a DVD, which someone copied and sent out to some other schools in the area. The VHSL was then sent a copy, and they determined that the gym class was actually an illegal practice session. The VHSL then levied sanctions against the Cougars, which included the loss of 5 pre-season practices and a scrimmage (which ended up being the TD Classic), a $1000 fine, and being declared ineligible for post-season play this year.

    A Greensboro coach decided to employ a Summer conditioning "tool" that was used by the college he used to work at. Some think it was a bad idea.

    Over a dozen Oregon players were hospitalized after an intense workout, and at least 3 have had emergency surgery. It looks like the "problem" has only happened to about a dozen people, ever, before the team was affected. Here's the background, then check the other stories in The Oregonian, starting Aug. 19, 1:12 p.m.

    What is it with Oregon this Summer? An OSU Frosh was found naked in someone's home/office Monday morning.

    Into energy drinks? Not a good idea if you're a player, because it looks like they're about to be banned.

    Looks like Salem is going to start random drug testing SOME of the students that are invovled in VHSL-sponsored activites (Beta & band aren't included). Here's links to two VERY different stories from WSLS and WSET.

    One of the top HS QB's in the nation (from down in Charlotte) has decided not to play this season !

    Speaking of the Queen City, they're still having problems with ineligible football players. Over 2 dozen kids were "found out" last week, before they caused any forfeits.

    We've all heard or said how "one call" hurt this team or cost that team. Looks like it can cost an official, too.

    More school systems are having budget problems. Not only is Loudoun Co. continuing to assess a $100 fee per athlete per season, they have been joined by the Culpeper, Fairfax, Orange & Spotsylvania county school systems, along and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Co. system in NC. Culpeper Co. previously charged athletes $60 for the entire school year. Albemarle Co. has begun charging $75. Meanwhile, Frederick Co. has cut costs by eliminating freshman football.

    Up in Indiana, a $6 Million budget cut to one school system prompted the elimination of all coaching stipends. The schools' teams and clubs got together and held fundraisers, including the world's largest car wash, where over 120 vehicles were cleaned and nearly $34,000 was raised. It looks like their efforts have offset 90% of the cuts.

    At least they didn't eliminate sports, like Mansfield, Mass. High (temporarily) did in the Spring.

    Galax is trying something new to get MORE kids playing out on the sandlots by starting 8-man football teams.

    Wanna help your school win some $ ??? State Farm Insurance has an online contest where you submit big plays which get voted on. Check out Friday Night Feats. (ANYONE, even coaches, can submit a play. If don't want to watch the game on your cellphone, concentrate on kickoffs, extra points and end-of-half plays.)

    The Football Writers Association of America has stripped USC of their 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy. The BCS is waiting for the NCAA to hear USC's appeal in late September before they make a decision on what to do.

    From the "when bad things happen to good people" department... You may of heard about the teacher/Bengals cheerleader who was suing a gossip website for defamation. She won her case by default and was awarded $11 Million. And why was the website not in court to defend their "we're not liable for comments" (like the one that said she was having an affair with Shayne Graham) disclaimer? Because the website owner was never served... the lawyers sued the wrong people, due to a typo.

    And from the "when GOOD things happen to good people" department... Former Tazewell QB/CB Billy Wagner now owns the MLB record for strikeouts by a left-handed reliever, besting Jesse Orosco's old mark of 1,169. The record breaking 1,170th happened Friday night when he struck out Marlins rookie Michael Stanton. And with about 30 regular-season games left in his career, he's just 9 saves away from tying John Franco's ML record of 424.

    I'm still a few days away from having all my usual stuff ready, but I do have the 2010 college page ready, with notes and schedules of regional teams. And if you missed it over the Summer, here's my take of the DRASTIC change to the Group A playoff structure that takes effect with the 2011 season.

    And if I hear any complaints, I WILL grab a can of my favorite beverage and deploy my emergency chute.

Mon., Aug. 16, 2:15 p.m. : Updated the big list of pre-season scrimmages (new web page address) and added the weekly schedules, plus a lot of interesting stuff I noticed while compiling them.

Wed., Aug. 11, 2 a.m. : Practices are well underway and everyone's wondering "when do we get to hit another team?" Well, here's a big list of pre-season scrimmages that should take place over the next couple of weeks.

I hope to have the weekly schedules up this weekend, even if the VHSL hasn't released an updated master schedule with corrections.