Riverheads Playoff History Part One

[longtimerhsfan]

Feeling bored today, and trying not to work too hard to keep anything from interfering with Saturday, so I thought I would post this for you guys. Some of you will have no interest, others will get bored by the second paragraph, but maybe some of you will find it memory-jogging or educational. Feel free to correct any mistakes you might notice or to express any different opinions on anything. I can take it!

1975: School had opened in 1962, but football struggled for the most part until this year. RHS finished 9-0-1 by virtue of a 7-7 tie with Wilson in the infamous "Fog Bowl" in which NOBODY on the RHS side saw the tying touchdown. That put us into the regionals for the first-time ever against Chilhowie in a recently-discussed game. It was played on a cold night in Staunton. I seem to remember that it was scoreless at the half before the Warriors ran away with it in the second half. Riverheads scored in the final few seconds to avoid being shut out.

1976: RHS posted its first-ever 10-0 regular season, which included a season-opening 19-12 win at Parry McCluer right in the middle of the Bob Williams dynasty. Tony DeMacio, who would go on to significant success as a pro-baseball scout, was RHS' coach at the time. The Gladiators hosted again in Staunton and again it was brutally cold. Each team scored late in the game...PM first, then RHS. They converted their kick and we didn't, even though many of us thought it was good. Final score PM 7-6.

1983: RHS earned what they called the Region B wild-card spot and went to Central Lunenburg. Coach Chappell was in the middle of his reign then, and once again, it was cold as blue blazes! The Gladiators were outmatched and lost 47-6, finishing 8-3.

1987: After only a 5-5 regular season, the Big Red somehow made the playoffs. They traveled to Strasburg where they lost 27-0. I have little or no memory of this one.

1998: Coach Casto had arrived by this time, and this was his third season. He actually went 0-10 his first year, but improved to 3-7 the next season. Finally in 1998, he got the program going the way he wanted in a season that was highlighted by an amazing 22-19 comeback win over Buffalo Gap that fans still talk about. The Gladiators again finished 8-2 and earned Casto his first playoff game. That was a bitter 15-7 loss at Strasburg in which RHS had a long touchdown pass called back by a penalty. I remember on the TV news that he did not mince words about what he thought of the officiating that night!

1999: This was Casto's first and RHS' second perfect regular season. The highlight was a season-ending 49-47 win at Luray in which the Big Red stopped a two-point conversion in the final seconds that would have sent the game into overtime. The next week Strasburg came to Riverheads for playoff action and in a wild, back and forth affair, the Rams took advantage of a late fumble in front of their own bench to win 42-35.

2000: If you are counting, that was six playoff appearances without a win, but the Gladiators made up for it with yet another perfect season, followed by four tense playoff wins to capture their first Division 1 state title. They beat district rival Stonewall Jackson 28-16, squeezed out a late field goal to edge Lunenburg 31-28 for the Region B title, made the long journey to Surry County on a cold rainy day and beat the defending state champs 17-6, and then on yet another frigid day down at Liberty University, clinched the state title with a 26-12 rematch win over Bath County, which would then win the state itself the next year. Big Red finished 14-0 for the (so far) best season in school history.

2001: Big Red was 9-1 in the regular season and at playoff time was still reeling from the tragic death of a classmate in a car accident that also killed his mother and grandmother. William Campbell came to town that night for the first-ever meeting between the two and won the game 14-3.

2002: Another 9-1 regular season for RHS. In one of the very few playoff games that I could not attend, RHS dropped a 14-13 heartbreaker to Manassas Park on the road when they scored late, went for two, and failed.

2003: After an 8-2 regular season. Gladiators won on the road at Amelia 14-3, and then made the first-ever trip down to William Campbell, where they fought hard but lost 19-7.

2004: The only season since he first made the playoffs that Coach Casto fell just short. The Gladiators had a UVa kind of year, finishing 4-6, but three of the losses were by one touchdown. RHS has made the playoffs every year since.

****I will stop at this point, let you read this much, and summarize the last 10 years in a follow-up thread.

 

[kwhs95fan]

Was at the 2000 game as KW beat Heath Miller and Honaker in the game before that. Good read by the way. Riverheads and Giles are two programs that I always follow yearly as they always seem to get the most out of their talent. Great respect for both programs

 

[Bama1985]

this is casto,s 20th year, I have his record as 183- 54 and 3 championships, also they are preselling tickets at rhs for Saturdays showdown, GO BIG RED

 

[Chilwar25]

Coach Casto has coached for 20 YEARS at Riverheads. He has a remarkable record, and no doubt he will enter the VHSL Hall of Fame. I don't know how long a coach is in the business of coaching these days, but 20 years is unheard of at one school these days down here in SWVA. There have been a few like Frye at Gate City and Carlock at Graham, but that was years ago. How much longer do you guys expect him to stay with it? Usually they go to the Central Office were the Big Bucks are at. But he is probably already making the Big Bucks!

 

[Xcross]

Since this is a rebuilding year , my guess is he will be here a while . He still has kids in school and that may be a factor as well ! Hope he still there when my great grandson plays for Riverheads ! lol

 

[WilsonFootball]

I hope he retires soon, or maybe comes to Fishersville . Norcross on the Defensive side deserves as much credit as anyone. Even though the bad blood between our two schools is really thick, EVERYONE knows who the best staff and coach in the area is. What he has done there over his career with the talent he has year in and year out really is impressive. You actually will hear at Wilson, "if he had been our coach, we would have 3 state titles". That is from many people here. Casto will most definitely end up in the VHSL Hall of Fame when he is done.

 

[bullrun25]

It is unusual a coach sticks around one program that long. The only other coaches i know off from the shenandoah valley area that stayed longer as of know was Coach Proctor for Strasburg and Coach Krohl for Stonewall. I was apart of the Strasburg team in 98 when Riverheads came to town. That game was one of the hardest hitting battles i was apart of in my 4 years of high school football. Coach Castro is a class act he pulled me aside after the game and told me i was one of the best linebackers that he had seen that year. That really meant alot to me to get that compliment from another coach. Good luck at GW Big Red

 

[Xcross]

I hope he retires soon, or maybe comes to Fishersville . Norcross on the Defensive side deserves as much credit as anyone. Even though the bad blood between our two schools is really thick, EVERYONE knows who the best staff and coach in the area is. What he has done there over his career with the talent he has year in and year out really is impressive. You actually will hear at Wilson, "if he had been our coach, we would have 3 state titles". That is from many people here. Casto will most definitely end up in the VHSL Hall of Fame when he is done.

Wilson would not like Casto as their coach ! Way to many politics for him . Players earn playing time by performing in practice and on the field , not by whom they are or who their parents are or how much $ was donated to whatever . I wonder how many football players walk the hall @ Wilson ?

 

[WilsonFootball]

Wilson would not like Casto as their coach ! Way to many politics for him . Players earn playing time by performing in practice and on the field , not by whom they are or who their parents are or how much $ was donated to whatever . I wonder how many football players walk the hall @ Wilson ?

He should give it a shot We do have a lot of talent the next few years. What we do with it is your guess as well as mine.

 

[Xcross]

No way does Riverheads have better players year after year . All the county schools have good athletes . Casto just seems to get almost all the young men on the football field , not leaving a lot for the basketball team . The kids love the to compete for playing time , and discipline ? That's one thing you always see in his players . His team's always show good character . They are fun to watch and are like no other high school team I have seen . My guess is they will advance to the State Game . Casto has a bunch of coaches that make him look good . They know the system and know what he wants . Next year looks like they will be even better !

 

[WilsonFootball]

No way does Riverheads have better players year after year . All the county schools have good athletes . Casto just seems to get almost all the young men on the football field , not leaving a lot for the basketball team . The kids love the to compete for playing time , and discipline ? That's one thing you always see in his players . His team's always show good character . They are fun to watch and are like no other high school team I have seen . My guess is they will advance to the State Game . Casto has a bunch of coaches that make him look good . They know the system and know what he wants . Next year looks like they will be even better !

Yep, that kinda was my point of replying to this post. This year, in my opinion you have the 3rd most "talented" team in the area. This is from a pure athlete, football player perspective. Both of the teams I would consider had more talent, you beat. One of them easily.

Next year, Draft will have the most "talent" of any team in our area. I know you have some talent returning as well, but on paper Draft should have a really good year. The following 2 years I will say Wilson. This is not saying other teams will not do great things, or these 2 teams will win every game. Next years best freshman class should be Draft/Gap. I believe your player "talent" level does not reach the top until what will be your next years 8th grade class. I have to throw in Lee with a new coach, who always has talent, they could become the new king in football because they always have talent. My guess is you guys finish no lower than 2nd if not first in any of the next 5 years as long as your staff is there.

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

Wilson does have talent coming up.

Yep, that kinda was my point of replying to this post. This year, in my opinion you have the 3rd most "talented" team in the area. This is from a pure athlete, football player perspective. Both of the teams I would consider had more talent, you beat. One of them easily.

Next year, Draft will have the most "talent" of any team in our area. I know you have some talent returning as well, but on paper Draft should have a really good year. The following 2 years I will say Wilson. This is not saying other teams will not do great things, or these 2 teams will win every game. Next years best freshman class should be Draft/Gap. I believe your player "talent" level does not reach the top until what will be your next years 8th grade class. I have to throw in Lee with a new coach, who always has talent, they could become the new king in football because they always have talent. My guess is you guys finish no lower than 2nd if not first in any of the next 5 years as long as your staff is there.

I was wondering how you come to the conclusion that Draft and Gap have the most talented class of 8th graders? If we are strictly speaking football, I disagree completely. Having a step son play for Wilson seniors I was able to watch all of the seniors that will be moving up and I would say your evaluations are off. There was not a lot of difference in the Lee(Staunton), Riverheads, Gap, Wilson, Draft programs. A few good skill players and some decent blocking but by and large there were no standouts like last year with the young man that started for Wilson as Fr this year. He was head and shoulders above the others that were playing and now he is behind an average line playing against much better players. Any insinuation that LL success equals Varsity success is absolute nonsense. It does at time work that way but I do not think it is always the case. If that were true, with all due respect, with our track record in Varsity we would win every LL title. It doesn't work that way. Wilson along with multiple other local schools have talent walking he halls that won't ever come out to play. We are very blessed that coach Casto can connect with our kids at RHS and get them to come out even if they didn't play LL football. I think if schools look to the winning before the building part that's involved in a program, there is short term success that is based on a perfect storm of athletes and circumstances. I think any of the area schools with the proper coach can be a power house because we are fortunate to have a fair amount of talent in the area. Now getting it pointed in the right direction with 25 or so other young men takes a special person. I appreciate all of the area coaches regardless of their success on the field because most are able to make an impact in some of these young men's lives and in the end that's a much worthier cause than winning a football game. I will now step down off of my soapbox, lol.

 

[WilsonFootball]

Wilson does have talent coming up.

I was wondering how you come to the conclusion that Draft and Gap have the most talented class of 8th graders? If we are strictly speaking football, I disagree completely. Having a step son play for Wilson seniors I was able to watch all of the seniors that will be moving up and I would say your evaluations are off. There was not a lot of difference in the Lee(Staunton), Riverheads, Gap, Wilson, Draft programs. A few good skill players and some decent blocking but by and large there were no standouts like last year with the young man that started for Wilson as Fr this year. He was head and shoulders above the others that were playing and now he is behind an average line playing against much better players. Any insinuation that LL success equals Varsity success is absolute nonsense. It does at time work that way but I do not think it is always the case. If that were true, with all due respect, with our track record in Varsity we would win every LL title. It doesn't work that way. Wilson along with multiple other local schools have talent walking he halls that won't ever come out to play. We are very blessed that coach Casto can connect with our kids at RHS and get them to come out even if they didn't play LL football. I think if schools look to the winning before the building part that's involved in a program, there is short term success that is based on a perfect storm of athletes and circumstances. I think any of the area schools with the proper coach can be a power house because we are fortunate to have a fair amount of talent in the area. Now getting it pointed in the right direction with 25 or so other young men takes a special person. I appreciate all of the area coaches regardless of their success on the field because most are able to make an impact in some of these young men's lives and in the end that's a much worthier cause than winning a football game. I will now step down off of my soapbox, lol.

We do not have kids walknig the halls that should be on the team. Although after this year, it may go back to that if some changes aren't made. From what I am hearing, changes are being made and a commitment to the future is being made at Wilson that frankly this past seasons Seniors didn't get. Wilson had over 80 players turn out for their football team this year. We lost 2 very good players during the season due to internal issues and one to an injury. For the most part, our athletes now play football.
I also was able to evaluate the players at the senior level and I can tell talent, or future talent. If all play, we won't know but only Lee and Waynesboro had a real problem of players not playing at the high school level. Years ago I told people that Wilson would battle for state championships when the past 2 years groups got to high school and was laughed at. We were not terrible in Varsity at the time but an average football school on the way up. The only teams through out their football career to give us trouble was Waynesboro and Riverheads. Kendal Casto didn't even play Little League at the time. Randy Armstrong, Tripp and Ben Agnor and others did. We see that played out to the end.

This years 8th grade Draft team has the best Linebacking core of any school. They also have plenty of talent to go around in other areas. Again, I am speaking talent. "If" they play and are coached to a level of their potential ability. Kids move, things happen I get it. But they are very good and will be good. Their JV team won 1 game I believe. So I wonder what happened. A lot of the Gap players left after Midgets with their old coach and went to play with the Augusta Spartans. They are very good. If most of those kids go to Grace Christian where I hear he will be coaching his son who is a stud by the way, Gap will not be as good. I believe their JV went undefeated this year, or maybe not? Could Bowers be a difference?
This past LL seniors teams were close. Even though Riverheads lost to Lee in the Super Bowl, they do have the most potential talent of any of the teams. They have really good size on the line with athletes like Armstrong and they have another Smiley who is going to be a beast. Our senior team was pretty good as well, but player for player, Riverheads has more potential talent. The teams were pretty even, I will give you that, and as you know Wilson was the only team to beat Lee and the playoff game against them we should have won. Riverheads manhandled us both games.
Yes, call me crazy but I use Seniors and Little League to get a feel for who has what coming in the future. This equation actually works quite well. I prefer that over JV, because unlike you guys, we do not have a former Varsity coach running it and our Head Varsity Coach doesn't really get involved. For some reason we believe it is better for freshman to stand on the sideline and get a few plays here and there than actually get some playing experience in JV. Our Varsity team last year went 5-5 in JV's with 6 future All-district and 3 All-State players on that team. Again, I am speaking about pure football talent not execution. Fort had the best running back I have ever seen play move out of the area a few years ago, so yes it is not a perfect formula. There is a tremendous amount of talent in the SAW area. The teams are close and even though I also appreciate the work coaches do, some are better than others. Casto and Bowers are the top 2 and what they have done when they do not have a "Superior" talent level team deserves a lot of credit.

I also seem to remember Trevor being made fun of when he spoke about this years Freshman class for Wilson and being told it does not parlay to Varsity. It does. If Casto coached LL, you WOULD win every Super Bowl.

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

We can agree to disagree as I am sure via our rooting interest we will anyway, lol. But in my opinion some LL programs turn kids off to play in HS while others only start to develop better skills once they hit HS. That all said I can admit you can get an idea of what's coming but in no way is it a direct reflection. And I know of a at least one kid with size that relocated to another area achool( not RHS) to play a different sport even though they have he size and athleticism to be on the green grass of Wilson on Friday nights. It's a shame when parents and politics get involved honestly and it happens everywhere to some extent.

 

[WilsonFootball]

Ya you are right, no way we can agree on anything lol. Ya no one knows how it all turns out, I just feel it gives a feel for whats ahead. Might be because we have been able to have a lot of success in LL going back before Ricky Hanger played and have had some decent success in Varsity. And I am very familiar with the players from other schools as well. Drafts JV really surprised me because they really do have some good 8th football players.
Yes, politics are bad. Our season was ugly and to put it lightly, ended even worse. When you have parents not a part of the football team asking you after your banquet "is your coach really like that?" it makes you wonder..
Sucks for my son and his fellow senior players. They really were much better than most gave them credit and had to fight against tremendous odds not only on the field to play as well as they did at times. I believe I know who you are talking about leaving, and sadly he might not be the only one. When faced with adversity, everyone's true colors show...that goes for parents and coaches.
I know this sounds crazy, but since I do have friends who have kids playing tomorrow, and I have known a lot of your kids for the past ten years, good luck tomorrow at GW. Bring another back to the county so you can shove one more state title up our butts lol.

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

Ya you are right, no way we can agree on anything lol. Ya no one knows how it all turns out, I just feel it gives a feel for whats ahead. Might be because we have been able to have a lot of success in LL going back before Ricky Hanger played and have had some decent success in Varsity. And I am very familiar with the players from other schools as well. Drafts JV really surprised me because they really do have some good 8th football players.
Yes, politics are bad. Our season was ugly and to put it lightly, ended even worse. When you have parents not a part of the football team asking you after your banquet "is your coach really like that?" it makes you wonder..
Sucks for my son and his fellow senior players. They really were much better than most gave them credit and had to fight against tremendous odds not only on the field to play as well as they did at times. I believe I know who you are talking about leaving, and sadly he might not be the only one. When faced with adversity, everyone's true colors show...that goes for parents and coaches.
I know this sounds crazy, but since I do have friends who have kids playing tomorrow, and I have known a lot of your kids for the past ten years, good luck tomorrow at GW. Bring another back to the county so you can shove one more state title up our butts lol.

It really is disappointing to know that results are not achieved when talent and desire are there. Lots of respect for the Wilson players I know even going back to the days of Ricky. I probably knew him more than some of the others and he was a great individual off the field as well. No disrespect but there just appeared to be a void of player leadership and that is surprising based on the senior class and the experiences they have been through. I have to say thanks for the well wishes for the team as I have a hard time pulling for any of the other area teams(I wouldn't admit it to anyone anyway). Maybe we can meet up at one of these games and talk football, sounds like we may enjoy breaking down what's going on week to week, lol.

 

[WilsonFootball]

It really is disappointing to know that results are not achieved when talent and desire are there. Lots of respect for the Wilson players I know even going back to the days of Ricky. I probably knew him more than some of the others and he was a great individual off the field as well. No disrespect but there just appeared to be a void of player leadership and that is surprising based on the senior class and the experiences they have been through. I have to say thanks for the well wishes for the team as I have a hard time pulling for any of the other area teams(I wouldn't admit it to anyone anyway). Maybe we can meet up at one of these games and talk football, sounds like we may enjoy breaking down what's going on week to week, lol.

Ya, I had many talks with my son during the season about senior leadership. Seems that was the driving force behind all our failures. Not sure that was the problem, but anyone who follows a legend is never very successful no matter how good he is.
As far as meeting up and talking football, sounds good. You can tell me how much you hate Wilson and I will tell you how much I hate Riverheads lol.