Not to split hairs, but in referring to Tazewell the last 3 decades, I meant the 90's, 2000's, and the present decade, not literally 30 years, but well, 3 decades. I am aware of Tazewell's 86 title. I went my first year of High School to Nottoway and played against that Tazewell team as a freshmen (lost of course). And yes, since the 90's, 2000's and the present decade, they may very well be the worst Class AA football school in Virginia. They would be in the bottom 10%. As for Graham, I still think they are a great team and had them in the final four. I still think they likely beat Richlands. My top 2 teams are still Appo and Poquoson. As for the far west (not including Appo here), I like Giles better than Graham because of what they did against Bluefield in the scrimmage and yes, Blacksburg. I know, the score difference. That game was far closer than the score and the total yards difference was close. The field was dry as well. Don't let the Lord "Botty" loss fool you with Blacksburg, it was a mudbowl and crazy wet conditions. Blacksburg will contend deep in the playoffs at the Div 4 level and LB is a solid team, but Blacksburg is better on a dry field 7-8 out of 10 times.
Giles is the real deal this year up front. I like them better than Graham after watching Graham on the internet against Bluefield, I was not impressed with a few things. The first is, their blocking schemes are 1970's. At the Glenvar scrimmage, that is early on and you expect plain vanilla, but Bluefield was a live-regular season game and their offensive line blocking schemes are.....none. It's scary sad and scary old. Their offensive line coach needs to travel outside of Southwest VA and attend a camp or something. Their passing schemes/screens, etc., is non-existent. They have weapons everywhere, yet I didn't see one bubble screen against Bluefield on the net. No hitches. Offensively, very, very undercoached and sad. Finally, the Graham QB looked like he wasn't able to make the reads and also couldn't throw the ball to the WR's when open. When he dropped back to pass on Bluefield, their were guys running wide open, but you could see he was so frustrated with the reads and aware of his lacking throwing ability that he just tucked and ran. It looked like Graham just stopped calling passing plays with WR's running over the middle because the staff was aware of the kids inability to throw it over the middle.
As for Giles, I see bigs up front that blew Blacksburg off the ball a bunch, and they are raw in talent, but very well coached. Giles is the kind of program that requires you to be better than them to beat them. There are many times in a season where the better team overall doesn't win. Meaning, the more talented team doesn't win due to turnovers or coaching errors, muddy fields like Blacksburg and LB, etc. Some things a team can't control, but by in large, Giles is a well coached and well oiled machine that over the years, you have to be better than them to beat them because there are few times that they lose a game in which they are the better team overall. Graham is somewhat opposite in my opinion. They remind me much of Wilson Memorial over the years. Sorry WM fans, but I have seen some crazy talented WM and even Southampton teams that will blow you away with talent, but they somehow find themselves on the wrong end of the score against a team they are likely better than. This was already apparent with Graham and Bluefield. I think the difference in the Graham and Giles game is the line of scrimmage and QB position for Graham. Graham is completely one dimensional and their QB will improve, but he's no passer. You can see that with his throwing motion and accuracy. It's not going to improve much. The reading of the defenses will improve, but the accuracy part and pass timing is the part you can't teach. I think the Giles line will wear Graham down on both sides of the ball (not a blowout by any means) but a game kind of like RE Lee and Rockbridge game, or Poquoson and Southampton game, or the Union and Richlands game in which Union controlled the line of scrimmage 75-80% of the time and it was the difference.
I had the G-Men coming out of the west and on to the state semi's, but read on here the VHSL is crossbracketing in round 3 this year. I still got the G-Men advancing to the state semi's by beating a team in the East in round 3. Nothing has changed with that pick. I still think Appo is the team to beat and I still pick them to win the whole thing over a Poquoson team that will give them their closest state title game in the last 3 years. However, Giles could again be a problem and may surprise because of that line play. The Giles pass defense is an issue though, but they aren't going to face as many passing threats in Class AA as they would Blacksburg. Glenver and Graham aren't throwing it to beat ya. Richlands is nowhere close to the passing threat they have been in years, and Union can certainly throw it, but may have lost their QB. Scruggs and Appo can throw it enough in the middle of the field to give a team like Giles fits, but their ain't many out there. This is why I think Giles could surprise and when I write surprise, I mean maybe play for a state title unless they meet a solid passing school in the playoffs.
That's just my take. Sounds like Giles and Graham would be a fun one to watch. I'm heading to Appo and Heritage, and going to skip the Jamestown game. I want to watch Appo against a team similar in talent. I think the Appo coach is the difference and I got Appo actually beating Heritage. The QB for Appo is one of a kind and one heady ball player. He's the kind of kid that will flat out beat ya and has been a joy to watch the past couple of years. I would also love to see RE Lee and East Rock as that would be an easier drive for me, but that Appo team is something I have to see this year. This will be the first time I see them until they play in Salem. Yes, I think they return to the title game again. One final thing about Appo. The rest of Virginia in class AA has a major problem. That problem is their coach. I know, Scruggs and Graves and the rest of the talented players on their line of scrimmage and this and that, but I can assure you, after watching this team the last 2 years, it's obvious how "unequal" the coaching difference is when they play other teams. His talent is good, no question about it, but do you really think Appo (which has never been that much) all of a sudden struck gold in talent and stumbled upon a goldmine in talent? It doesn't work that way my friend. The difference is their coach, and EVEN with the loss of Graves and Scruggs, Appo will be right back in the thick of things next year. As long as Doug Smith is there, Appo is going to make a crazy Class AA run and string of titles (maybe not all in a row of course) but over the next 10-15 years, it wouldn't be surprising for them to win 7-8. He's that good of a coach and if you think the talent gap is the big difference with Appo and other teams, you are wrong. The biggest difference is their Head Coach and his staff.
