Galax at George Wythe
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Galax by 14-21 points. Maroon Tide have fared much better against common opponents and usually begin hitting their stride this time of year. Dixon himself will be the difference in this one; even when outclassed talent wise, he outcoaches GW.
Galax by 3 TDs or more, GW has plenty of athletes but Galax will ground and pound them for a while. GW will will start chucking it and turn the ball over, letting it get ugly sooner than later.
Sorry I have to ask, does anyone in here have a clue where there is a video of Northside/Galax at on YouTube? I have searched and searched to no avail. I see it mentioned on the SWVA board as reference to Galax. Just would like to check it out if someone has a lead on it. Thanks
Type in Galax High School on YouTube and it should be one of the first games to come up.
As I said in an earlier post this game comes down to who shows up. If either team has an off night it gets ugly quick. But if they both show up this game will be a barn burner. If it comes down to coaching alone GW will get beat by 5tds. If GW can keep the mistakes to a minimum and contain the run game we will be fine. And for Galax they have to contain Cole and our outside weapons.
I would think most people on here would agree that most years on paper, GW has more overall pure talent, and weapons than does Galax. Dixon is 4-1 against GW since 2010. I am specifically thinking of the 2016 match-up when GW was being lauded as a state title contender (they played in the semis) and had weapons all over the field. Galax came to Wytheville (I was there), and methodically punished GW for a 45-20 win.
The 2015 State Championship team beat Riverheads and Essex, two teams that outclassed them from a talent standpoint.
I am not a Galax fan, alumnus, or in any way associated with Galax, but I have an immense amount of respect for Coach Dixon.
@redneck jesus, like you I have a ton of respect for Coach Dixon and what he and his staff have built at Galax. The one thing I do disagree on is the 2015 team being out talented by Riverheads in the championship. I will sound like an a$$ but that Gladiator team was not supposed to even be there according to several people fairly close to the program, so they were ahead of schedule based off of internal talent evaluation. That year Galax had a phenomenal RB with a very good backup and one of the best LB's I have personally seen at the 1A level in a title game.
Also in 2015 Riverheads played against GW in Wytheville and that team was definitely loaded with skill guys so I can see your point in that regard. I couldn't tell you on a year to year basis but the few times I have made the trip to watch GW, they usually have half again as many talented guys as any team I have seen them face.
If this years team is anything close to the team that I witnessed come back and beat Radford the week before facing Riverheads in 2015, then it will be a tightly contested game. If I remember correctly GW beat Galax that year in a close game at Galax so the talk of the board was that IF both could win it would be a rematch of their regular season game in the championship.
GW putting up 23 against a very good Radford team before they had the injury bug hit impressed me considering the only other team to score more than them against the Bobcats is a championship caliber Richlands team. While transient scores don't usually count for a whole lot, it has to factor in to predicting an outcome for us amateur prognosticators, lol
All these things considered, I will still go with Galax in a closer than some expect game with a score of 42-34 or something like that. I just cant discount Dixon and company being 5-1 against GW regardless of talent.
Also in 2015 Riverheads played against GW in Wytheville and that team was definitely loaded with skill guys so I can see your point in that regard. I couldn't tell you on a year to year basis but the few times I have made the trip to watch GW, they usually have half again as many talented guys as any team I have seen them face.
If this years team is anything close to the team that I witnessed come back and beat Radford the week before facing Riverheads in 2015, then it will be a tightly contested game. If I remember correctly GW beat Galax that year in a close game at Galax so the talk of the board was that IF both could win it would be a rematch of their regular season game in the championship.
GW putting up 23 against a very good Radford team before they had the injury bug hit impressed me considering the only other team to score more than them against the Bobcats is a championship caliber Richlands team. While transient scores don't usually count for a whole lot, it has to factor in to predicting an outcome for us amateur prognosticators, lol
All these things considered, I will still go with Galax in a closer than some expect game with a score of 42-34 or something like that. I just cant discount Dixon and company being 5-1 against GW regardless of talent.
I would disagree that Riverheads had more talent in 2015. We didnt have anybody even close to the caliber of Spurlin or Peoples.
Harris was tailback on Galax 2015 not S Peoples(he had already graduated)
Harris was still the main back but Dougie was starting to come into his own....two very good backs!
Harris rushed for 173 yards on 29 carries and Dougie chipped in 36 yards on 9 carries....
For some reason the name Peoples stuck in my head. I remember both there backs in that game were beasts. I thought Peoples had more carries than that. Guess my memory is not as good as it used to be. Sucks getting old. Haha. Thanks for the info MT FAN 91.
To be honest i was thinking Dougie Peoples had more carries until i went back and looked it up and yes it sucks getting old....haha
Galax had a considerable amount of talent in 2015...not sure about Essex but equitable if not more than R Heads
Essex definitely had a lot of talent in 2015 and Riverheads had talent but they were probably a year early in the state game but did they ever make up for it the next year....that is when the current dynasty started and yes they were a machine!!!!!
I want to go back and discuss the 2015 GW team that beat Galax in the regular season. I only remember one name from that team and it was Deacon Beamer who I believe was the QB. I know they had some big linemen and two or three other standout skill position players as well. I loved the atmosphere when I visited for the Radford playoff game on the Saturday before the Gladiators played them the following week in the State semi's. IIRC, against Radford they were down by a few with around a minute left before a back got away up the middle for the go ahead score. The crowd went crazy and hell I got caught up in cheering for them too. It was one of the few times I remember being at another schools game "scouting" and ending up a fan. A majority of that team was back and ended a gnats behind from beating a very good Sussex team to make the State title game in 2016. Sorry for the trip down memory lane but I do respect both programs and would love to be there to see this one. If it is videoed, I would love to see it if anyone can update the masses.
The 2016 Riverheads team was one of the better high-school teams that I had watched live. The linebacker (I do not remember his name was) phenomenal. I watched the 17 and 18 teams in person and believe the 16 team was by far the better team - in my humble opinion.
Ridge Stokes was the young mans name. I have to agree that was a pretty special team. The 2017 and 2018 team were very good but I would give the edge to the 2016 team in a matchup. The defense on that team was just nasty, especially once the playoffs started.
The linebacker was Ridge Stokes. He went to WV Wesleyan to play football. He also has a younger brother thats a stud football player also, he probably would have been on the varsity as a freshman this year but opted not to play.
I went back and was watching some old championship game films and saw their game against JI Burton. When did they switch to the offense they are currently running?
That's what i was thinking...we were ready for the run and then the pass for a long TD, set the tone for the game...he was one heck of a player!!!
For some perspective on the talent debate in 2015, Essex had 7 all-state players (Hundley, Jones, Nelson, Douglas, Monroe, Martin, and Holmes); Riverheads had 5 (Miller, Diehl, Stokes, Allen, and Schaefer); and Galax had 3 (Spurlin, Harris, and Echeagaray).
https://www.newsadvance.com/sports/...cle_d4e04fd4-bb42-11e5-a43a-032d7eb96320.html
https://www.newsadvance.com/sports/...cle_d4e04fd4-bb42-11e5-a43a-032d7eb96320.html
I know their names aren't on the list but Edwards and Coomes were pretty good lineman as well and they run off their side a lot.
I dont put much stock into all state, all district or all region. If youre 10-0 youre going to have more players selected for awards than an 0-10 team even if the talent is equal. IMO its probably 50 percent talent and 50 percent politics on who gets selected.
Ridge Stokes was one of the best ive ever seen at LB he singled handed destroyed the Sussex Veer in Salem.
I would put him right there with Spurlin from Galax, he shutdown Riverheads run game in 2015 championship game and is playing at App State now and gets quite a bit of playing time. He was a beast in high school
Both outstanding but.......Spurlin at App State ranked No 24 in nation ....Stokes at WV Wes........big difference.
Congrats to both for going on to further their education as well as their football dreams. I would say this is another argument on why in 2015 regardless of all state selections, Galax was not out talented by anyone they faced. I know their early season was a little bumpy but no one will convince me that they were the underdog when you seen them play. On paper sure due to the ratings system and a few loses but lets be real they beat some very good teams that year as well.
Back to the game this week, I'm in Wytheville twice a week for work and they're very confident in this years team as they should be. I watched them play Gate City and i was impressed with them. Been hearing a lot of talk out of them lining up punching us in the mouth and running the ball to go along with their talented QB throwing the ball. GW players and fans are confident in their abilities. Also been some talk out of Wythe county about Galax running back not liking contact and they shut him down last year while he was at Fort and they will shut him down again. Myself personally i haven't seen him shy away from contact so I guess we will see friday night. Make no mistake this a very talented football team and they have no intention of losing this week and they have had two weeks to prepare for everything Galax will throw at them. With that being said they're playing a very talented and physical team in Galax who has every intention winning as well. Should be a heck of game but i have to go with my young men from Galax to come out of Wytheville with win Friday night.
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@MT FAN 91 your comment about the back from Galax not liking contact is the reason I asked for the Northside YouTube video. What I seen in the video is a very good football team that has a diverse enough O to give a D coordinator nightmares. If he avoided contact I didn't see it but then again I have old eyes that don't see all that good at times, lol.
I went and watched it as well as I did not pay much attention to him when I watched the Glenvar game. I also went and watched the FC game. Whatever this kid did in the past it is not evident now. He flat out ran over kids against Fort and ran extremely hard against a very good Northside team. There was one play that he carried 4 people for a 5 yard gain against Northside.
@RedPrideNation_RollPride I thought Galax played with Northside after the first series or two seems like it was 28 - 28 heading into 4th Quarter.
George Wythe has alot of talent, QB has been great so far. My worry for GW is that QB is taking alot of hits as many times as they run him a game. He throws the ball extremely well and they love to run a screen pass to teh WR and let him use his talent to elude tackler. GW could very well beat Galax. But it will not be because anyone from Galax is afraid of contact. I'll promise you that.
I dread playing either one of them as we have no speed whatsoever and it looks like we will play the loser of this game in the first round either two weeks removed or back to back weeks from playing in the regular season.
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