New website with all time records for every VA school

[eh31]

I've been fortunate enough to help my friend Rick Baker publish all of his research in a new website. Rick has been researching historical records of all the current and former teams in Virginia & West Virginia over the better part of the last decade. He has compiled all of his data in spreadsheet forms and they are available to be viewed now. Rick will be updating every current school's results each week during the season.

Go to www.fourseasonsfootball.com and click on the picture of the state of Virginia to get started. Click the "contact" link at the top and send Rick an email if you enjoyed his work or if you have any questions!

 

[Gen54]

awesome , thanks to the both of you

 

[DanvilleSportsHead]

Great work @eh31. That’s good stuff!

 

[eh31]

Great work @eh31. That’s good stuff!

I appreciate that, but all the work is his. I was just happy to play a small part in getting it online for everyone to use as a resource.

 

[Rev_Real]

Great work guys, not getting anything done today lol

 

[BleedingNavy]

Very impressive @eh31. Tell Mr
Baker that true hs football fans will enjoy this reference. Dinwiddie fans have talked for years about not knowing a lot about the early years. Now we know and after seeing all the losses in the 60's and 70's I regret being nosy. Lol

Thanks again.

 

[Chuck Vipperman (GW)]

I had fun swapping messages with Rick to clean up some of the info on GW's games. The guy has done *exhaustive* work!

I differ from him one in one respect. I do not recognize VHSL forfeits in my GW records. The VHSL policy on forfeits in the past was, to be kind, silly.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

eh31, Rick, Vipperman, and probably a few more, a big THANK YOU! If what you have provided is as appreciated by others, as much as it is here in Dinwiddie, you are the greatest of all time. I can't imagine how many hours was invested by Rick. And, just to secure the history of high school football, wow!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 

[1MoreHokie]

Stumbled upon this site about a week ago, was stunned by the accuracy. Great work.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

eh31, can you ask your buddy when the first VA high school game was played and by whom? I haven't checked very many, but 1916 is the earliest I've found so far.

I have searched for years to find any records for Cape Charles on VA's Eastern Shore. I can now die a happy man. Thank you again.

 

[tommythecpa]

Most significant posting ever on VA PREPS.

 

[eh31]

eh31, can you ask your buddy when the first VA high school game was played and by whom? I haven't checked very many, but 1916 is the earliest I've found so far.

I have searched for years to find any records for Cape Charles on VA's Eastern Shore. I can now die a happy man. Thank you again.

I’ll ask him!

 

[mike salem]

Newport News and Hampton had a couple of games listed in 1903, but idk if that's the first. It's too bad you can't remember that far back. I'm sure you were at the game DP.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

No Mike, Navy was already forgetting things by then. He forgot to swing by and pick me up on the way. He later blamed it on his mules for forgetting me.

 

[ClarkeFan83]

eh31, can you ask your buddy when the first VA high school game was played and by whom? I haven't checked very many, but 1916 is the earliest I've found so far.

I have searched for years to find any records for Cape Charles on VA's Eastern Shore. I can now die a happy man. Thank you again.

I think BleedingNavy played in that game.

 

[BleedingNavy]

I think BleedingNavy played in that game.

Naw Clarkefan, I was a little young in 1916. I was a back up center on the Freshman team that year. Leather helmets made their debut during the season.

In all seriousness I forwarded this link to my dad and after looking at it he called me back and started telling me stories about the 50's. He took a lot of pride in informing his team (Jefferson Sr. - Roanoke) had upset EC Glass in 1958 costing them a shot at the state title. He said Glass had a running back named Futrell who led the state in rushing. Apparently during this game Futrell broke his leg and with that the Hilltoppers undefeated season was over. The old man went on for hours. He cant remember where he put his shoes, but could tell me about games from the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. Unreal! Thanks again guys for doing this. You may actually give some peace to old football guys who are struggling with dementia. I know it made my fathers day!

 

[GilliamRatings]

Thanks for sucking up all my spare time this fall!

 

[Researcher27]

All are welcome. I spent the better part of 10 years compiling these scores. Many Saturdays and Sundays in the basement at the Newman Library at Va Tech. Many more Saturdays at the state library in Richmond. Countless hrs online at newspapers sites provided by the Library of Virginia website. Also many days at East Tennessee State University making scans of the Bristol papers. And for the WV information many, many hrs at the Wise Library at WVU and the state archives in Charleston. Of Course I have visited many county and city libraries across both WV and VA. I wish to thank all the fine people at these fine institutions for their help and support. I couldn't have done it without them. Also a shout out to all the high school librarians and AD's that got unsolicited emails from me seeking to find out what resources may be at the schools. Many helped and some even scanned old yearbooks and emailed them to me. One point I would like to make is the surprising amount of resources that are out there at your local level, state level and online. All funded by our tax dollars. So in a way you helped pay for the information.

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

Thanks again @eh31 and @Researcher27, many of my questions about my program's history have been answered as well. You guys should receive over 100 likes on your posts, any die-hard fan should click that button. You guys even got the lists in school colors! That's attention to detail.

 

[BleedingNavy]

Newport News and Hampton had a couple of games listed in 1903, but idk if that's the first. It's too bad you can't remember that far back. I'm sure you were at the game DP.

Hampton played in 1899. In Hopewells first game they lost 114 -0 to Petersburg. I guess they ran the run and shoot offense in 1916. Wonder if they they went for 2 after each score. Maybe I should ask @CRF4Dan. Heard he was Hopewell's team mascot then.

 

[CRF4Dan]

Hampton played in 1899. In Hopewells first game they lost 114 -0 to Petersburg. I guess they ran the run and shoot offense in 1916. Wonder if they they went for 2 after each score. Maybe I should ask @CRF4Dan. Heard he was Hopewell's team mascot then.

Wait a second... I thought your shots were always aimed at DP... Change of pace this year?

It's pretty interesting to go back and see scores from those early games when I imagine the rules were really loose... evident by that 114-0 obliterating shutout win by Petersburg.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Wait a second... I thought your shots were always aimed at DP... Change of pace this year?

It's pretty interesting to go back and see scores from those early games when I imagine the rules were really loose... evident by that 114-0 obliterating shutout win by Petersburg.

One thing is for sure, there was no running clock!!! To score that much, and in some of the other unbelievably high scoring games, they must have stopped the clock at every whistle, and didn't start it until the next snap.

(Danny, shhhh, remember he was part of the pre-helmet era. He gets confused.)

 

[ClarkeFan83]

I still can't access the site for the previous mentioned reason in another thread on the 2A board. Categorization as "none".

 

[eh31]

I still can't access the site for the previous mentioned reason in another thread on the 2A board. Categorization as "none".

Sorry @ClarkeFan83, still working on this issue.

 

[ClarkeFan83]

Sorry @ClarkeFan83, still working on this issue.

You're killing me, Smalls!

 

[Researcher27]

There is a rule that is little known now but was commonly used back in the early days. As a matter of fact it was considered "sound strategy". That rule is "When an opponent scores the team scored upon has the option to kick or receive" Like I said, most of the time the team scored upon kicked. As football was a kicking and field position game at the time this was considered a sound football strategy. I would almost guarantee that Hopewell kicked to Petersburg every time Petersburg scored.

One other interesting discovery is the origin of the clock rules. Back in the day the games were played with one football. If there was an incomplete pass the ball had to be retrieved before play could resume so the clock was stopped. There were no stands, just fields roped off. So when a ball carrier went out of bounds it was often a challenge to separate the ball carrier from the fans and find the football and then mark it for play. Therefore the clock was stopped in the name of fair play.

 

[GilliamRatings]

There is a rule that is little known now but was commonly used back in the early days. As a matter of fact it was considered "sound strategy". That rule is "When an opponent scores the team scored upon has the option to kick or receive" Like I said, most of the time the team scored upon kicked. As football was a kicking and field position game at the time this was considered a sound football strategy. I would almost guarantee that Hopewell kicked to Petersburg every time Petersburg scored.

One other interesting discovery is the origin of the clock rules. Back in the day the games were played with one football. If there was an incomplete pass the ball had to be retrieved before play could resume so the clock was stopped. There were no stands, just fields roped off. So when a ball carrier went out of bounds it was often a challenge to separate the ball carrier from the fans and find the football and then mark it for play. Therefore the clock was stopped in the name of fair play.

That rule still exists and in its current form it reads the team scored upon after a Touchdown has the choice to kick or receive. There is no choice after a field goal. After a field goal the scoring team must kick off. I actually elected to kick during a j.v. game once. We were ahead of Midlothian 50-0 when they scored to make it 50-7 with 10 seconds left in the game. My kick off return kids already had their pads off so I just yelled for the kick off team. The refs were so excited. I asked my wife after the game if anyone in the stands was mad the wrong team kicked off. She said, "No one was paying any attention at that point."

 

[DinwiddieProud]

I think Bird did that a few years ago when they were playing Wythe or Hugeunout.

 

[schoolboard]

What's up with listing the home field of Warren County as Bing Crosby stadium? When I came to the county in 1999, they were playing at the school on 15th Street(which was a Middle School at the time) And they have clearly played at the stadium at WCHS since 2007.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

What's up with listing the home field of Warren County as Bing Crosby stadium? When I came to the county in 1999, they were playing at the school on 15th Street(which was a Middle School at the time) And they have clearly played at the stadium at WCHS since 2007.

Easy please Schoolboard. This gentleman worked on compiling this data for ten years, and graciously shared it with us.

If you believe their is an error, his email address is at the bottom of the link, and I'm sure he would appreciate a note from you with the needed corrections.

 

[schoolboard]

Sorry. It is an outstanding site, and I would be fine if it said The Rose Bowl for all I care. I was just wondering if anyone knew the history. Were the games once played there?

 

[ClarkeFan83]

Go to www.fourseasonsfootball.com and click on the picture of the state of Virginia to get started. Click the "contact" link at the top and send Rick an email if you enjoyed his work or if you have any questions!

I still can't access it from work because of categorization of "none".

 

[Rev_Real]

What's up with listing the home field of Warren County as Bing Crosby stadium? When I came to the county in 1999, they were playing at the school on 15th Street(which was a Middle School at the time) And they have clearly played at the stadium at WCHS since 2007.

They use to play at The Bing back in the day

 

[schoolboard]

They use to play at The Bing back in the day

I saw on some webpage that they even used it for religious revivals.

 

[Rev_Real]

they may have, but it still didn't help the Cats win lol

 

[eh31]

I still can't access it from work because of categorization of "none".

We’ve updated everything on our end through the server. From what I understand, your work’s firewall will keep it blocked until they refresh their settings. Sort of like it’s saved in the cache.
Tech support at my host told me that you can request the firewall refresh, but I’m not 100% sure about how you can do that through your work.

 

[ClarkeFan83]

We’ve updated everything on our end through the server. From what I understand, your work’s firewall will keep it blocked until they refresh their settings. Sort of like it’s saved in the cache.
Tech support at my host told me that you can request the firewall refresh, but I’m not 100% sure about how you can do that through your work.

Thanks!