Nothing wrong with these travel times. Stop complaining. Virginia isn't a perfect square and not every school is five minutes from one another. And this has nothing to do with the "Northern Virginia schools controlling the VHSL".
A solution would be to let the visiting team pick when they want to want to play. If they can handle the ride on Friday, then play Friday. If it's better for Saturday afternoon, then play then. At least don't do anything dumb like a couple of the Stafford County schools hosting games at 6:00PM this Friday in the heart of rush hour. Yes, the distance to Mountain View and Colonial Forge might be shorter in distance compared to other drives around the state, but it can still take an hour or 90 minutes with traffic to try to make a 6:00PM kick if you're coming from DC or over by Tysons.
But geographic outliers should not be coddled to. The structure of a tournament or a season schedule should not be compromised because a handful of teams aren't *only* 30 minutes down the road. The VHSL needs to stop making decisions that affect everyone just because Franklin County and Halifax County are in the middle of nowhere ane because Patrick Henry and William Fleming are the last big schools as you head into Southwest Virginia. Apparently the integrity of a bracket or a proper playoff structure means little to some people.
And I never hear anything about those in deep Southwest Virginia having to go only 30 miles for a game, but because they have to go over the river and through the woods, that can easily turn into an hour trip or longer.
Another solution would be to drop down to four or maybe even five classes where the geography worshippers would have a better chance at being paired with other schools that are within 90 minutes of each other. The flip side is that you might have a better chance at going on the road for two or three hours due to the larger opponent pool. Be careful what you wish for.
Or maybe you can push your schools to cease their affiliation with the VHSL, play a two game season by playing two teams within 20 minutes of your school, and call it a day. That's to appease the pro-shorter season and anti-travel crowd.
Just remember that there are teams, schools, and fans in other states starting their playoffs this week with some having substantially longer road trips. You won't hear them complaining because they know and respect that winning a state championship should be tough and if you have to go on the road, then that is part of the process.
Otherwise, it's playoff season. You're going to play teams from all over the state no matter the format. Deal with it.
