Richmond/Central Region State Final History

[CRF4Dan]

Sitting here on a Friday night at home for the first time since the days of August, on the eve of the 5A State Finals has me thinking...

If LC Bird wins tomorrow, it will be their third straight title which to many fans of the region is still hard to believe considering the misfortunes over the years... For a long time, the Central/Richmond region was thought to be inferior to the rest of the state come state finals but this century that perception has been changed.

Consider that prior to 2000 the region had just two state titles and since that time they has 6. In 2009 I remember questioning whether Thomas Dale's victory was a turning point for the region when it comes to winning the big game and while 2010 and 2011 didn't help the regions track record, 2012-2014 certainly has.

With the new classes and new playoff structure, with the region spread out over four classes; the odds of the region claiming more state titles is pretty good...

Before tomorrow's big game... Let's look back at the history of the region in the finals...

1978 Highland Springs falls to Annandale 13-14 in AAA Final.

1979 Petersburg beats Patrick Henry-Roanoke 14-6 in AAA Final.
First State Final win for the region.

1988 Huguenot falls to EC Glass 7-22 in Division 5 Final.

1989 Highland Springs falls to West Potomac 14-17 in Division 6 Final.
Highland Springs second attempt and loss in big gme.

1991 LC Bird falls to Halifax 6-27 in Division 6 Final.
First of four trips LC Bird has made to finals.

1992 Thomas Dale falls to Pulaski 20-35 in Division 6 Final.
First of three trips to the finals for the Knights.

1994 Patrick Henry beats Deep Creek 21-7 in Division 5 Final.
First championship for region in football in 15 years. First of three trips to the finals for the Patriots.

1996 Patrick Henry falls to Hampton 14-51 in Division 5 Final.
Second trip to the finals for Patrick Henry.

1998 Varina falls to CD Hylton 13-21 in Division 6 Final.
First of two trips to the finals for the Blue Devils.

1999 Varina falls to CD Hylton 27-28 in Division 6 Final.
Varina becomes first team to make back-to-back appearances in Finals.

1999 Henrico falls to Culpeper 12-12 in Division 5 Final.
First of four trips to finals for Coach David Bedwell.

2000 Dinwiddie falls to Heritage 7-45 in Division 5 Final.
First of three trips to finals for Generals.

2001 Patrick Henry falls to Phoebus 7-26 in Division 5 Final.
Final trip to date for the Patriots in the finals.

2001 Thomas Dale falls to James Robinson 7-40 in Division 6 Final.
Second trip and loss in Finals for the Knights.

2003 Hopewell beats Massaponax 41-14 in Division 5 Final.
First championship in nine years for region and only third in 33 years.

2004 Meadowbrook beats North Stafford 35-27 in Division 5 Final.
First time region has won back-to-back state titles and fourth state title overall.

2008 Dinwiddie falls to Phoebus 13-37 in Division 5 Final.
Dinwiddie's econd loss in Finals in second attempt.

2009 Thomas Dale beat Lake Braddock 35-21 in Division 6 Final.
Knights score first state title and become first team to win at highest level of football.

2010 Hermitage falls to Battlefield 7-26 in Division 6 Final.
First trip to date to the finals for Panthers.

2012 LC Bird beats Ocean Lakes 14-10 in Division 6 Final.
First of three straight trips as well as first of two state titles for Skyhawks.

2013 LC Bird beats Briar Woods 35-28 in Class 5 Final.
2013 Dinwiddie beats Sherando 56-14 in Class 4 Final.
First time region has had two state champions in football in same year.
First championship for Dinwiddie, second for Bird.

2014 LC Bird v. Tuscarora.... find out tomorrow.

In the 20th Century, 1971-1999 the region was 2-9
In the 21st Century, 2000- the region is 6-5

The region has never been shutout in a state final but they have been held to 7 or less points six times.

Dinwiddie has scored the most points with 56 and the largest margin of victory as well.

12 teams from the region have been to the finals, only 7 have titles.
6 of those 7 champions have come from south of the James, Patrick Henry being the exception.
Bird is the only champion south of the James not of the Central District

 

[GilliamRatings]

Amazing how it was for the Central Region to even get a team to the final/ From 1971-1987 (17 years) only two teams got there. The region was incredibly on 2-19 in semi-final games. Definitely a well earned distinction as the "crappy" region during that span. Petersburg's win was big deal at the time. I don't know if many people remember how unexpected that was.

The we got there 4 times in the next 6 years. Including three cracks in the D6 game, but still no title. Finally, that awesome PH squad showed up and got us another one, and then that long drout from 1996-2002. Remember only 4 regions and two games a year, so that's 14 straight whiffs after the PH title.

So in 2002 the Central Region had 2 titles:

Petersburg in 1979 in AAA
Patrick Henry in 1994 in D5.

So when there was one AAA title (1971-1985) The Central Region was 2-13 in semi-final games and 1-1 in finals.
When they went to a 6A and a 5A from 1986-2002 The Central Region went 6-11 in 5A semifinals and 6-11 in 6A semi-finals, but they were 0-6 in finals in 6A and 1-5 in finals in 5A. That made the Central Region at that point 15-48 in the state playoffs. Egads!

As of 2011 the Central Region felt a little better with three state titles, but we really still weren't doing much.
3-6 in 5A semis, 2-7 in 6A semis. Though the region was 3-2 in finals over that period, it was still 8-15 in the state playoffs running the all-time record to 23-63.

That's why the whole region seemed to rally behind Bird's win in 2012. It was the last time for the old system and to go out with an undefeated D6 Champ was a statement (and unprecedented for the region). So, when it was all said and done, the Central Region was 25-64 in state playoffs with only 6 titles to their name. Petersburg, Patrick Henry, Hopewell, Meadowbrook, Thomas Dale and L.C. Bird.

While no one else seemed to really want a realignment with teams playing where they belonged numbers-wise I felt it would help out the region a lot. There are all kinds of factors that affect winning and losing, but constantly heading to the state playoffs to face teams with bigger enrollments wasn't helping. If the Central Region had been 35-54, it might not have been so noticeable, but when you're getting beat more than twice as often as you win, I notice. I look at a lot of the Division 6 losses and wonder what would have happened if those teams would have been in 3A in a 4A system (or 4A in a 5A system) like I often suggested.

The two state titles last year seemed to confirm my hypothesis, but that's not enough data to prove anything. We'll see where the Central Region is 89 playoff games from now, but somehow, I think they'll be better than 25-64 in the final four. A lot of Richmond area teams got a lot of respect this year, and I think that will continue.

 

[GilliamRatings]

In the new system the old Central Region is 5-1 in state final fours (and they honestly might have more teams there if they hadn't agreed/proposed that whole sub-region thing in 5A--they might have had two Central Region teams playing in the semi-final this year). I think they'll continue to send some disguised really good 4A teams to the playoffs (like Monacan) who might not look as good on paper as they are due to playing so many 5A's and 6A's in the regular season. I think 5A continues to have a lot of smoke every year, and I'm waiting to see which 6A team builds on this year's playoff success and becomes a force (also, Manchester is moving up to 6A). Nevertheless, 5 final four wins in the first two years (and a chance at another one in a few hours) when it took 20 years to do that in the old system. The Central Region ought to be ecstatic about the changes.

They were truly overmatched for decades.

 

[VaPrepsRod]

Originally posted by GilliamRatings:
In the new system the old Central Region is 5-1 in state final fours (and they honestly might have more teams there if they hadn't agreed/proposed that whole sub-region thing in 5A--they might have had two Central Region teams playing in the semi-final this year). I think they'll continue to send some disguised really good 4A teams to the playoffs (like Monacan) who might not look as good on paper as they are due to playing so many 5A's and 6A's in the regular season. I think 5A continues to have a lot of smoke every year, and I'm waiting to see which 6A team builds on this year's playoff success and becomes a force (also, Manchester is moving up to 6A). Nevertheless, 5 final four wins in the first two years (and a chance at another one in a few hours) when it took 20 years to do that in the old system. The Central Region ought to be ecstatic about the changes.

They were truly overmatched for decades.

It never made much sense to me that the Richmond area fought so hard against the changes. It seemed very clear that the Central was the region that would benefit the most from the realignment.

Along with winning more, the Central was reportedly the most profitable area in the state last year, as well.