Few people singing their praises even though they are 10-0 and the two seed. They are also ranked below any other 10-0 team and a few teams who are 9-1. What is the deal? Why no respect?
Curious----Why no hype for John Champe?
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I think it's because they're a new school which hasn't played the toughest schedule out there. 10-0 is an impressive feat no matter what the schedule, but I think they don't have much support here because they don't have the storied history that some of the popular programs around here do, like Salem and Amherst for instance. So even a 10-0 Champe team will be talked about less than some of those schools.
If they make a good run in the playoffs this year, it wouldn't surprise me to see some John Champe fans showing up around here. I think that'd make them more likely to be talked about.
If they make a good run in the playoffs this year, it wouldn't surprise me to see some John Champe fans showing up around here. I think that'd make them more likely to be talked about.
Probably just because they are new to the top and there are less posters from LC.. I am sure there will be plenty in the future.
This
This has been addressed weekly almost. Champe is a brand new school and doesn't have any posters so who's gonna hype them up?
I guess you gotta get some street cred before anyone takes you seriously! To some degree that certainly matters. There are teams that expect to win and naturally, that's what separates them from the pack. However, that can be a slippery slope.... Go ahead and take them lightly because of a schedule or short history and the result may be painful.
Louisa gets plenty of pub and i question their cred a lot, guess depends on the loyalty of the fans
Looked at their roster. It's amazing what Champe has done. They have a lot of Freshmen and Sophomores on their team. Could be the start of something special.
Briar Woods won their 1st State Championship in year 4 after going 3 - 7 the previous season. Just saying.
If they beat GW they'll have everyone's attention that's for sure.
Battlefield in 6A took slightly longer. If memory serves correctly they opened in 04 with a JV schedule and by 2010 demolished Hermitage in the finals that year. It didn't take them long to establish a winning culture under Coach Cox. I'm sure there are other programs that made the quantum leap to the state championship level... One thing for sure, their work will be cut out for them as the playoffs move forward.
Even the computers don't know what to make of John Champe. VHSL Reference ranks them as #4 in Group 4A and not far behind the top 3 in the scale. Gilliam Ratings ranks Champe as #15 in Group 4A and 25-30 points behind the top 3. Calpreps splits the difference, having Champe as #7 in Group 4A.
No one is thinking Champe is a pushover, I think people are more questioning the unknowns of Champe and same for GW. Should be a great game.
I couldn't agree more...to my knowledge Louisa hasn't won anything of any significance (state championship) yet a lot of posters seem to think they are a perennial power...not taking a shot at Louisa or anyone else, just my opinion.
There is only one fan who hypes Louisa, So to say posters as in plural is not accurate.
There is some truth to this, however a few other guys will chime in about Louisa. What have they really done since 2006?
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I hate to do this but you do have to give Louisa some credit. They are one of the solid programs in the State. I also don't rate programs by State Championships. Being consistent and competitive is what I look at. History says the Lions will always be that. To me, that means they've done something for their students, players and community.
I love Louisa's atmosphere and fan support it's 2nd to none. I think they have a competitive program year in and year out. Let's be realistic almost everyone on this site has a bias for one team or another.
Nobody cares much about history around here (except for Bird and Salem fans). The main reason is the schedule. It's kind of a wait and see attitude.
It's actually a pretty common pattern for new schools in affluent areas. I don't even think of it as being something special anymore. 3 or 4 years in they turn into powerhouses.
Louisa is actually a traditional weak sister in football. They only made the playoffs three times from 1970-2003 and never won a playoff game that whole time. They definitely turned into a good team from 2011 as they posted winning seasons 7 of those 8 years. The community loved it and really started supporting the team. I think it's great what they achieved, but even through all of the recent success, they've only won playoff games in 3 seasons and only once (2006) did they win more than 1 playoff game in a season. They truly had a great team that year.
However, anyone perceiving Louisa as some sort of perennial powerhouse on the level of Salem or even Courtland has a short memory, and even that memory is a little defective.
"You are what your record says you are" This is your famous saying Shauntclair, so if you take out the 2 best years in '06 & '10 their record the last 16 years is 79-76. Sounds to me like they are consistently average and if you see a team that makes the playoffs every few years and wins an occasional playoff game as competitive then I have to question your credibility.
THANK YOU. I have been saying this since on the board. But they keep racking up jv championships.
I went down there when Sherando played them I forget the year maybe 2007 I loved the atmosphere. I think they've had a fairly competitive program over the last 8 or 9 years but let's face it Salem probably works harder than any program in the state during the offseason. They're not loaded with D1 players but they're dedicated to the program.
We all know JV success doesn't necessarily equate to Varsity success a year or two later. Some teams move a lot of 9th and 10th graders up to help Varsity. That may make their JV seem weak, when actually if they had all of their players, they would be strong.
you have me on the quote but this is VAHS Football. I don't think we need to discuss the strength of schedule differential. You already understand that and I don't think you can disagree there are certainly .500 VA teams that are just as good or better than some 9 - 1 and 8 - 2 teams.
If Louisa plays a GW or Salem schedule, they're pretty damn good. But I have to give you the quote, "you are what your record says you are". That says the Lions have had their good moments but are at least consistently competitive. Plenty of teams cannot say that so, for me, they're a good program.
The RRD has been down a couple years, but the Jefferson District isn't a world beater either. I don't consider Louisa a good program, they are an average team with 3 really good seasons out of 16. A number of years they missed the playoffs completely. Most of the time when they make the playoffs they are 1 & done. That's not a good program. A good program would take that tough schedule and make noise in the playoffs because they had been tested during the regular season.
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Why throw out Louisa's good seasons Mike? Because you refuse to give them any credit? Those seasons count just as much as any others. Louisa has done just as much as Salem and Sherando over the last nine years. And at least when Louisa made it to Lynchburg, they didn't get crushed.
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Ha....I see you caught your mistake, and edited "last ten years" to "last nine years." Since Salem won the state in that ten year window. I won't throw out those good years for Louisa - as you say, they all count. So, congrats. What's that, three good years since the playoff era began in 1970?
As for the comparison to Salem, that's laughable, as anyone with even a cursory knowledge of VHSL history knows. Aside from the glaring difference in winning percentage over the last "nine" years (just check VHSL/Reference), Salem's played in one state final, and reached the state semis three other times. And only twice in the past nine years failed to reach the regional final. Louisa has one state final appearance. And that Amherst team that soundly beat Louisa in the '06 final? Salem led them until about one minute left in the game. So, not quite a "crushing." How do you think a typically mediocre Louisa team would have done against LT or Dinwiddie the past two years?
Again, all anyone has to do is check the histories. Matt said it best: Louisa is one of the traditional weak sisters of VHSL football, and two better-than-average years in the last nine hasn't really changed that.
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Um Amherst beating Louisa 34-27 is soundly beating them? Maybe you should've checked that little fact while going through the Salem History books. You can have and brag about all the state title and semi game appearances you want, if you don't win the whole thing you've done nothing, just like we haven't. How do you think Salem would do against an LT or Dinwiddie? OH WAIT....better go back to basking in your past some more. Won't be any Powhatans to play anytime soon.
How a thread about Champe got turned into a Louisa discussion shows how much people itch to bash us. I'm done with the subject, have a good one.
How a thread about Champe got turned into a Louisa discussion shows how much people itch to bash us. I'm done with the subject, have a good one.
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The past decade(2006-2015):
Louisa - 65 wins, 42 losses, 60.7% winning percentage
Sherando - 91 wins, 26 losses, 77.7% winning percentage
Salem - 104 wins, 19 losses, 84.5% winning percentage
Louisa - 2 undefeated regular seasons, 3 sub-.500 regular seasons, 4-6 playoff record(1 playoff win from 2007-2015)
Sherando - 2 undefeated regular seasons, 0 sub-.500 regular seasons, 8-8 playoff record
Salem - 6 undefeated regular seasons, 0 sub-.500 regular seasons, 15-9 playoff record
Louisa - 3008 PF, 2391 PA(28-22 average per game)
Sherando - 3393 PF, 1646 PA(29-14 average per game)
Salem - 3835 PF, 1699 PA(31-13 average per game)
By no formative stretch is it fair to say Louisa has done just as much as either of those schools. I could probably dig out a host of other stats to further bury that point but I think those do enough. Salem and Sherando share more regular season and playoff success and they overall defeat their opponents in a more sound fashion.
I bear no ill will towards Louisa and their strides as a program in the past decade are clear and apparent but there is a definite line in the sand between their program and the two you mentioned.
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Salem has a past to bask in ---Louisa does not
Drop the mike---game set match
Drop the mike---game set match
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