Richlands @ Stuarts Draft
- Thread starter Ryan4VT
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I'm planning on going to this one, Richlands and their fans really impressed me when they were up here to play Wilson two years ago.
They run the same offense that Georgia Tech does. A lot of misdirection. 3 RB plus a QB a lot of the times. Richlands run defense has been pretty good this year, hopefully they can slow it down. I don't think SD has seen an offense like ours, so that could help. But at this point, it's such an unknown.
They dont run the Georgia Tech triple option, not even close. They run a form of Pistol Wing T and have thrown the ball pretty well this year as well. And while I can't say they are exact, from what I understand Richlands throw the ball quite a bit and spread it out, which is what East Rockingham does. And I certainly dont know what the players at Richlands are talent wise, East Rockingham's QB is VERY good
East Rock is similar to Richlands. I mean no disrespect to East Rock in saying this but I'm not quite sure how else to say it: they are like a Richlands A- team (not quite a B team). The QB play is about the same, but you could argue one is better than the other and I could see where both are coming from. The biggest difference is on the lines as Richlands is much better than ER there. The 2 defensive tackles are really good and have some good size to them. The WR play again is slight advantage Richlands over ER as they have more guys capable of catching passes. If Richlands is running the ball outside of JLA taking off for short gains to move the chains, that likely means they are winning, but #24 is a hard runner when he gets the ball. #11 is dangerous catching passes and running the jet sweep, he is a playmaker. #3 and #8 are threats through the air as well. #8 is a TE and likely fullback should they go to the I, and he is a big boy. Im talking probably 275 pounds and he can move. Richlands is MUCH better defensively than ER. The thing with this team is they will not panic, and no lead is safe with them as they can score anytime, and no down and distance is out of reach for them. I would milk the clock as much as possible to cut down on their number of possessions. The cougar secondary and the offense are going to have to step up to the occasion this week. If JLA holds onto the ball, the draft DL will be on him, but if he gets it out quick (which I Think he will do) the secondary will need to be ready. The offense needs to put some good long drives together to eat the clock (and put up points obviously) but in the event they need to punt, they need to try and keep Richlands out of the 25 yd line as their kicker has a good leg on him. Even though SD is the higher seed, I see them as the underdog as Richlands is hot right now.
Good assessment of RHS, I would add that #15 is a tall lanky WR that is good also. They throw to 11 & 15 a lot short and deep but keep an eye on 3 or 5 as they can get open deep. Lots of bubble screens and slants.
Don't know much about Stuarts Draft, but have seen Richlands twice. While Richlands is not the caliber of Appo by any means, they are in my opinion, probably the best of the rest. I think Richlands beats SD by at least 2 TD's. I was impressed with #11 for Richlands against Graham the other night, he was the difference maker (good size and speed). If Richlands had a few more like him, then I think they could compete with Appo a little better. Give Richlands coaching staff credit too because they have some well designed plays to get the ball to #11. Definitely think they need to keep #8 more involved in the offense to control the middle of the field and move the sticks. Their run defense was very good against a one dimensional and predictable Graham team, so remains to be seen how they do against someone who mixes it up more. Also, Richlands needs to come up with some sort of running game early and not wait until the end of the game to try to milk clock with a few running plays. Playing against a high powered, quick scoring offense and stopping the clock by passing and giving the ball to the other team so quickly, this is a recipe for disaster.
I'd be very surprised if SD can stay within 2 TD's of Richlands. Just my opinion. I have not seen Stuarts Draft at all, but just got a feeling that Richlands will be a little to much for SD. I've been saying Richlands and Appo in the championship with Appo winning their 2nd straight title and will continue to say it until next week : )
I'd be very surprised if SD can stay within 2 TD's of Richlands. Just my opinion. I have not seen Stuarts Draft at all, but just got a feeling that Richlands will be a little to much for SD. I've been saying Richlands and Appo in the championship with Appo winning their 2nd straight title and will continue to say it until next week : )
Richlands runs the spread. QB John Luke Asbury was the 2A state player of the year last year. His stats are a little down (though not by much) from last year, but he's also sat out the equivalent of 4 games worth of quarters. If it wasn't for that, he'd own every record in the VHSL there is to own.
If you can get pressure on him, he's human and begins to scramble and try to take off, but he usually keeps his eyes open downfield. The first TD to Booker on Friday was a JLA being flushed out of the pocket and finding a wide open Booker at the last second.
Richlands is deep at the WR spot. 11 Howie (6'4) and 15 Ball (6'4) are the outside guys. Ball has the best hands on the team, and can and will outjump the defender and make spectacular plays. Howie is the big play guy. He's the fastest player on the team, and has crazy athleticism. A bubble screen to him can be a 80 yard touchdown very quickly. They also love to use him on jet sweeps (scored on one from 62 yards on Friday) and also will line him up at running back at times.
5 Collins and 3 Booker are the two slot guys. Collins is also the running back at times. Collins are Wilson Memorial and Appomattox up the last two years over the middle. And Booker has also had a big year with 10 TD catches himself.
When one of those are tired, you will see 1 D. Brown, 9 H. Brown, 6, Moir and 23 Horn come in and spell them out. Horn and Dan Brown are the next two guys, usually, though Brown didn't play much on offense against Graham. Horn is a sophomore and is going to be GREAT before he leaves. He would start on 90% of teams in 2A.
The running game has been the biggest issue this year. Last year with Blankenship, teams had to choose who to stop. This year, it's been a bit of a struggle. After the Abingdon loss, Mance challenged the line (average about 250lbs) to run block better. They do it in unconventional ways (much like VT), but it's worked the last couple of games. Collins, Howie, Lowe (6'3 275 with good hands and quick for his size, also plays TE), White, Booker, and LB Elswick will all carry the ball, plus JLA on some designed QB draws.
That's Richlands. We will throw short passes and if a tackle is broken, it's a big play. And then when defenses creep up, they'll throw deep to a plethora of WR. And once the defenses back off, they'll start running the ball.
On defense, Richlands has been pretty good this year, averaging only 13ppg all year. It all starts with the big boys up front. Lowe and 'Bull' Dye are stud DT who are hard to block for a full game. While they eat up the inside and try to force QBs and RBs outside, Adkins, Elswick, and Johnson are all hard hitters who are ready to step up and make plays.
If you can get pressure on him, he's human and begins to scramble and try to take off, but he usually keeps his eyes open downfield. The first TD to Booker on Friday was a JLA being flushed out of the pocket and finding a wide open Booker at the last second.
Richlands is deep at the WR spot. 11 Howie (6'4) and 15 Ball (6'4) are the outside guys. Ball has the best hands on the team, and can and will outjump the defender and make spectacular plays. Howie is the big play guy. He's the fastest player on the team, and has crazy athleticism. A bubble screen to him can be a 80 yard touchdown very quickly. They also love to use him on jet sweeps (scored on one from 62 yards on Friday) and also will line him up at running back at times.
5 Collins and 3 Booker are the two slot guys. Collins is also the running back at times. Collins are Wilson Memorial and Appomattox up the last two years over the middle. And Booker has also had a big year with 10 TD catches himself.
When one of those are tired, you will see 1 D. Brown, 9 H. Brown, 6, Moir and 23 Horn come in and spell them out. Horn and Dan Brown are the next two guys, usually, though Brown didn't play much on offense against Graham. Horn is a sophomore and is going to be GREAT before he leaves. He would start on 90% of teams in 2A.
The running game has been the biggest issue this year. Last year with Blankenship, teams had to choose who to stop. This year, it's been a bit of a struggle. After the Abingdon loss, Mance challenged the line (average about 250lbs) to run block better. They do it in unconventional ways (much like VT), but it's worked the last couple of games. Collins, Howie, Lowe (6'3 275 with good hands and quick for his size, also plays TE), White, Booker, and LB Elswick will all carry the ball, plus JLA on some designed QB draws.
That's Richlands. We will throw short passes and if a tackle is broken, it's a big play. And then when defenses creep up, they'll throw deep to a plethora of WR. And once the defenses back off, they'll start running the ball.
On defense, Richlands has been pretty good this year, averaging only 13ppg all year. It all starts with the big boys up front. Lowe and 'Bull' Dye are stud DT who are hard to block for a full game. While they eat up the inside and try to force QBs and RBs outside, Adkins, Elswick, and Johnson are all hard hitters who are ready to step up and make plays.
Should be a great one. I think playing East Rock twice will help Stuart's Draft with preparation for Richlands but East Rock pass attack is not like Richlands. Stuart's Draft need to put together long time consuming drives and keep Richlands off the field as much as possible. I think they are good enough to do that and they play pretty good balanced football. I don't see a blowout either way I see a difficult challenge for both but if Stuart's Draft gets their smash mouth football going I think they can win. As good as Richlands are they do turn the ball over and they can't do that against Draft. On the other hand if Draft can't get pressure on Ashbury and give up 2-3 mins Touchdown drives then they will be forced to pass and game over. Wish I could see it but I gotta watch my 2 rivals beat each other up in Appomattox. Good luck to both.
Critically important to stopping any option team or wing t offenses with multiple variations and lots of QB zone read stuff (QB reading the DE and deciding to keep the ball or hand it off, etc) is.............defensive line penetration. If you can get pressure with your front four, especially your defensive tackles to wreak havoc and get penetration, it becomes a huge problem for these offenses. If you don't get penetration with your tackles and the O line either beats the defensive tackles or even plays them neutral, these offenses can cause problems. A big component of this game is Richlands down two DT's winning their battles. I was more than impressed with Richlands 2 DT's when watching them against Graham. As a matter of fact, Graham just simply could not block them. When watching Richlands earlier in the year, Lowe was a beast and that was obvious from the start, but.......where Richlands has really, really improved from watching them earlier in the year, and then against Graham was the other DT spot. I believe it's number 72 Dye who is also an absolute beast. This kid has improved dramatically in my opinion from what I saw earlier. They are also pretty deep at that position with I think #75 McGlothlin getting some reps and he is also very good. They are quick, physical, and big.
The VHSL has a "seating minimum" of 2,500 seats for a state-semifinal game. The VHSL page lists the "capacity" of Stuarts Draft's stadium at 2,000. That likely means SD will have to either bring in a whole bunch of additional seating, or the VHSL may end up moving this game to a neutral site near SD.
Not sure how they get the numbers for it, but there is certainly more than at Riverheads and probably just as much if not more at Wilson. I would say there was 4000-5000 at the Stuarts Draft and Riverheads game this year easily
Rumor around town is that there's talk of moving it to Richlands. Have you heard anything about that down there?
I was at the radio station about an hour ago and we hadn't heard a peep.
$$$-wise, that would be great - more fans and less spent on gas.
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Here's what I see @ SD...
Bleachers from the 35 to the 35 = 30 yards.
3 aisles of 2 yards each leave 24 yards.
away : 24 x 10 rows = 240 yds, home : 24 x 15 rows = 360 yds
600 yds x 2 butts per yard = 1200 seats
$$$-wise, that would be great - more fans and less spent on gas.
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Here's what I see @ SD...
Bleachers from the 35 to the 35 = 30 yards.
3 aisles of 2 yards each leave 24 yards.
away : 24 x 10 rows = 240 yds, home : 24 x 15 rows = 360 yds
600 yds x 2 butts per yard = 1200 seats
You know what would be incredibly awesome?
Since the 2 schools down here share an opponent, and the 2 from up there are close-by, could you imagine the crowd for a twin-bill @ Bluefield... SD-Richlands @ 12:30, R'heads-Galax @ 4:00 ?!?!?!? The Wytheville restaurants would cash in & fans could listen to the Tech game going back up 81.
Since the 2 schools down here share an opponent, and the 2 from up there are close-by, could you imagine the crowd for a twin-bill @ Bluefield... SD-Richlands @ 12:30, R'heads-Galax @ 4:00 ?!?!?!? The Wytheville restaurants would cash in & fans could listen to the Tech game going back up 81.
I was meaning we have more seats than Riverheads and they are listed at 2500. I can say with fair amount of certainty it will be at Sd
Move it to Charlottesville or Monticello. No way I would agree to play at Richlands.
Well as of Friday it was 2 pm. I do have an inside source, but as of now there is no reason to inquire. if there becomes an issue when it isn't 6 days away I can find out. and I could certainly be wrong, but I would say it's at Draft
Richlands shouldn't in any way be forced to drive even farther than Stuart's draft because of their stadium capacity. If nothing else it should be somewhere closer to them.
This is gonna be a tough game. SD's defense looks stout and they played East Rock twice, who are very similar to Richlands offensively although im not sure if they had as many dynamic receivers as Richlands. One thing that stands out for East Rock is their Defense. It didnt look very good at all judging by some of their scores. So hopefully Richlands can pull it out. I look for a close game. Richlands needs to start fast and limit turnovers to 0.
Draft and Wilson are identical.
From the schools to the field house to the football stadiums. Minor differences if any
They will not move this game. Richlands played at Wilson with no problem.
This will not be a cake walk for Richlands either. Drafts defense is legit.
From the schools to the field house to the football stadiums. Minor differences if any
They will not move this game. Richlands played at Wilson with no problem.
This will not be a cake walk for Richlands either. Drafts defense is legit.
Wherever Draft wants to play and I'm sure that would be on their field. That's the way it should be and this comes from an honest Richlands fan.
I agree, of course I am from Draft. I understand that teams bring a lot of fans, and I love to see a packed game, but I didn't understand it last year when it was Salem and Jefferson Forest I believe. Somega of the people posting were downright hateful about their stadium, I just didn't get it. Some are more fortunate than others.
I think what some don't realize with this area, there are 5 different high schools in the county. So that is a lot of $$$ for things. And I know it would be a lot higher than 2a, but imagine if they were all together. Buffalo Gap, Fort Defiance, Riverheads, Stuarts Draft, and Wilson
There is no way they will move the game to Richlands, and as much as I would love to see that, I don't think they should. SD is suppose to be the home team and earned their right to host this game and every effort should be made to keep it there. I would not want a game that was suppose to be at Richlands moved. If for whatever reason this game has to be moved ( which I doubt ) then it should be moved to as close to SD as possible..........just my honest opinion.
And I don't know of any Richlands fans that think this game will be easy either, hell, I just hope we get a 1 point win, that's all that matters.
Every team left in the playoffs are here for a reason and have proven to be very good football teams. I look forward to the game on Saturday and expect a hard fought game with hopefully a Blues win, but much respect will be given to SD and the other teams left playing !
And I don't know of any Richlands fans that think this game will be easy either, hell, I just hope we get a 1 point win, that's all that matters.
Every team left in the playoffs are here for a reason and have proven to be very good football teams. I look forward to the game on Saturday and expect a hard fought game with hopefully a Blues win, but much respect will be given to SD and the other teams left playing !
There's no way this game should be moved. I do think that SD should bring in some portable bleachers, however. Wilson brought in a set or two, and Appomattox did the same last year. There will be 1,500 Richlands fans there at least, maybe more like 2000. The reason I bring up additional seating is that some folks can't stand and watch the game. My grandfather has had 14 back surgeries, and my grandmother has had multiple ankle surgeries. Neither one can stand for that long without crippling aftereffects. As others have stated, SD earned this home game, and they should get it. I just hope they are courteous and bring in some extra bleachers for us. It should be a great atmosphere. I don't think any Richlands fan thinks we are gonna walk all over SD. You will see Richlands fans be confident, but everyone should be when you make it to the last 4 teams playing in the state. There are so many unknown at this point. One advantage Richlands may have (as they did last week), is the fact that they have been to this stage so many times before. They have made it to the final four 9 times since 92. SD hasn't been once since 95. If the moment gets big and the pressure is on, who will break first. That could be an interesting storyline to watch in this game.
Just wondering Gunz, but do you think Stuarts Draft will let us bring our Helmet to run out of? Neither Wilson Memorial nor Appomattox allowed us to bring it. Appo was nice about it, Wilson...not so much.
Just wondering Gunz, but do you think Stuarts Draft will let us bring our Helmet to run out of? Neither Wilson Memorial nor Appomattox allowed us to bring it. Appo was nice about it, Wilson...not so much.
I do not know, but if not it isn't something personal and I'm sure will be nice about it. If it's for a couple people like that, I may be able to get a few seats reserved for them. not making any promises
Gates will open at 12 on Saturday. Expect Richlands folks to be in line at the gate by 8am, I'd say.
