Yep was there for that one. That Spurlin kid pretty much single handedly shut down Riverheads offense. I saw plays where he would take out 2 blockers and then tackle the back. He was a man among boys.
Riverheads would win 2A this year
- Thread starter obguthr
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Hey if everyone was throwing out la la land projections might as well go big or go home lol
You can’t compare teams based on scores of common games, especially when one team runs a wing offense because the whole flow of the game is different. Also the divide in VHSL class 2 football is very much like the divide in the NBA, the West is way stronger than the East. Every year there is 3 or 4 teams from the West who can win the State Championship and the East usually has 1 or 2 pretty good teams that can maybe hang for a little while but end up getting completely overpowered by the more physical western teams. Riverheads is a great program with very hardworking and well coached kids, they can definitely play with just about anyone they would play but running around beating on the weak class 2s around the Shenandoah valley don’t prove they could do the same to a western powerhouse. I’ve seen a lot of Riverheads film this year and I even got to coach against them, while I think they would compete be the best team from the East this year, they don’t have the speed/physicality it takes to hang with an Appomattox, Graham, or Union. It’s true that every year Appo went to the Jamboree, they looked pretty evenly matched but a scrimmage is a scrimmage and while Coach smith wants the actual atmosphere to feel as much like a game as possible, he does not approach scrimmages like a game. Every year Riverheads saw Appo’s base 3-4 defense that they use for a majority of there opponents but have never used against a wing offense in a game. Costello always completely changes the look and schemes of the defense and it always stiffles the best wing offenses in the state( Giles and Amherst from a couple years ago). Second of all, the offense plays almost never stay the same. Every opponent comes at Appo differently and every time, Doug Smith has a plan to change things up. He loves his bread and butter veer plays but he’s prepared to change the lineman’s responsiblis and run it from other formations. Riverheads only ever got his core Veer plays from the basic Split-Back formation. Not only that but he always had a list of plays he was going to get through, he wasn’t going to call a play based on need to score, certain plays weren’t working, or any other reason. Had Appo dropped back and passed more in that scrimmage, they’re All-state Receivers would have burnt the Riverheads D-backs Just about every play. As for the matter of should they be in class 2, different websites have different numbers for there enrollment but they’re all either right at or over the mark that divide class 1 and 2. If Stonewall Jackson had to move up to class 2, then Riverheads should have also had to but that’s just my opinion. None of this is down the Riverheads program because I love their coach and everyone I’ve met from their community and I am pulling for them to complete the 4-peat and represent us Valley folk well in the class 1 final on Saturday.
So if Stuarts Draft beats Appo Sat that doesnt say much for Appo since they will have gotten beat by a weak 2A team. I believe Appo got handled by Buckingham and ER handled Buckingham no let me rephrase that they kicked their ass!!! Draft and Riverheads both beat ER so I guess Appo falls in with those weak 2A teams. No disrespect to Appo but those were your words not mine.
And if you "love their coach" so much, why do you not know his name? It certainly is NOT Costello.
I think he was referencing Castello who is with Appo defense not Casto with Riverheads so no disrespect intended.
I thought it was already established the Buckingham squad Appo saw at the beginning of the year was not the same squad East Rock faced in the playoffs and from what I hear Appo didn’t have 2 key lineman and their QB went down in the 3rd quarter and from how they have been handling teams in the playoffs, I’d say Appo is not the same team that played Buckingham or even Heritage. However yes, if Draft beats Appo Saturday, which I think is possible then this is the year Riverheads will finally be the undoubtably best team in classes 1-2, assuming they take care of business against a pretty stout Galax. Now as far as the best team classes 1-3, I hope none of us are assuming any class 1 or 2 could beat Heritage or Lord Botetourt.
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These four teams are about as close as I have seen going into the 1A and 2A championship. I am only speaking for me but when people on these boards talk about how much better 2A is than 1A and in particular Riverheads it gets my ire up. @RollDukes66, you bring up a good point and one that most people overlook. It is all about matchups as styles makes fights. Without actually having the game play out live, there is no way to say definitively who would win in any match up. Theoretical or simulated scores do not take into account the very thing you use as your argument and I agree with completely. With some certainty I can say that Appomattox and Graham are not representative of the rest of 2A in the West. I would take several teams out of the weak Valley or the East to play Richlands, Union, Ridgeview, Central, Radford, Gretna, Glenvar, …. and have no doubt about the outcome. The reality is that Appo is just playing on a different level than all of 2A and Graham has been blessed with a surge of athletes over the past couple of years and they surely have the coaching to go with it. I also believe the other teams I called out have good coaching and good athletes but I would take Riverheads, Essex, SD, ER, Buckingham and Gap to win 8 out of 10 times if they played. I am one of the few that actually believes Draft has a legitimate shot at Appomattox on Saturday and its not based off of fandom but in what I have seen in person and on film. I think both of these games are much closer than any of the fanbases want to admit. I suppose by around 6-7 PM on Saturday we will have the answers to all these questions, lol.
So nobody going to say that East Rock faced a back up QB because the starter was out that game? Appomattox would not have played the same if Lawing goes down (or even Page or Scruggs from past championships). Just sucks it was a playoff game. I actually think the backup was a Freshman that never been behind center all year in a game.
Look Goochland when to the Semis and Buckingham lost to them by TD. Buckingham is going to be a FORCE next year. They dont lose but like 3 seniors.
Look Goochland when to the Semis and Buckingham lost to them by TD. Buckingham is going to be a FORCE next year. They dont lose but like 3 seniors.
You have a lot of knowledge on both programs. Yes Smith and Castello puts in a lot of hours to understand how to beat a team from week to week. When Smith retires, I can see Castello taking over, just my opinion. Unless he takes a HC job somewhere else before that day comes. They been together along time!
Not that I don’t agree with you but to the Buckingham fans credit, they offered no excuses and no regrets. Anyone watching more than just their own little bubble knows they will be a force to deal with next year and may have been in this game Saturday instead of SD.
That said, there are teams every year that can look at the what if’s. Would Graham have been a little more effective with the young man they lost for the semifinal game? I have no idea to be honest but it may have been worth a first down here or a longer conversion attempt somewhere for Appomattox.
That said, there are teams every year that can look at the what if’s. Would Graham have been a little more effective with the young man they lost for the semifinal game? I have no idea to be honest but it may have been worth a first down here or a longer conversion attempt somewhere for Appomattox.
8/10? Lol no. Maybe Draft or Riverheads, but good teams don't lose to other good teams 8/10. That's ridiculous. There's absolutely zero chance Buffalo Gap, a 6-4 team that lost to every good team it played by multiple TDs, is beating Wise Central or Gretna 8/10. Not happening.
@BigWinners, lol now you see how ridiculous hearing how dominant the west is over the east is for those of us that are not from SWVA. The top of the West has been a few steps ahead for the better part of a decade and that part is not even a question. The whole of the west is not significantly better than the east in my opinion. A case in point is the regular season record and dominance of Ridgeview only to get beat by a good not great Wise Central team. Not taking away from eithers accomplishment (I actually like both teams) but if that were a 1 seed in the east losing in the second round we would hear how weak the teams are out east and that's why they cant compete. I get it, with the run of so many 2A championships being won by the west there is something to crow about but don't get it twisted and think that the average team out west is significantly better than the average team out east.
As a Ridgeview fan, let me clear some things up. Our dominance is very deceiving. We have always scheduled smartly when it comes to OOC. We don't play tough OOC, except for Pikeville this year. But we schedule smart OOC. J.I. Burton is almost always good for 8-2 being they play in the very weak Cumberland district and they're the only good team in it. Honaker is usually a sure fire bet to win the Black Diamond, but they're terribly weak now. Shelby Valley plays in the weakest 2A conference in Kentucky. They roll everyone else they play and their only loss is always to us, so they're always 9-1. So, we bag up the rider points, but our schedule is far from tough OOC.
The reason we can't seem to break this one and done stuff is rather simple. We have one stud (Adkins) and our coaching staff decides to ride and die with him. We have capable receivers and a good quarterback who can throw the ball a mile. But our coaches won't pass at all. I think we averaged maybe 5 pass plays a game this season. That's just not going to get it done in 2A ball. The teams that make it to Salem can air it out. Appomattox, Graham, Richlands... they're very balanced and can air it out when they need to. We probably could but choose not to and that's why we get knocked out. We get up against a team who has done their homework, knows how to stack the box and stop Adkins and it's game over.
That's one way to do scheduling, but I think it does a disservice to the players. It's great for seeding and playoff qualification, but playing patsies with winning records doesn't prepare the team for the level of competition they will see after round 1. I'm sure I'm exaggerating your point, but I think you see where I'm going. Given Ridgeview's playoff track record, I might be right. And you're right about the passing game. Even the great power run teams of Giles and Riverheads had to air it out on occasion to win championships.
@swva_havok_fan, understood. I think for Adkins to be getting P5 looks speaks volumes in his ability and the line play that has to be present at Ridgeview. I get it about scheduling and even the part about being one dimensional. I honestly have no hate at all towards any of the teams I listed but was making the point that you expanded on, not all regular season records and achievements are equal. As some of my friends from 1A East like to say, if you get fat eating cupcake all year, don't be surprised when you get bounced out come playoff time. I do think Central, Ridgeview, Union, Richlands, Gretna, Glenvar, and Radford are all good programs and have some phenomenal athletes so I do not want to come across as downing them at all. I just get tired of hearing how much better the whole of the West is over the East when there are some great teams at the top but the bulk of the classification is fairly equal.
Appo was missing several lineman to injuries & discipline but one of Buckingham's best if not the best RB only played 3 qtr's this year as he got hurt in the 4th quarter. He was a sophomore and will be back next.yr. From I understand they lost 2 more key players later in the year before they even got to the playoffs. To compare teams and scores is not apples to apples in anyway. 2 things I know are 1) Buckingham will be really good next year as none of those injuries were to seniors and most of there team will be back. and 2) Appo is not the same team that Buckingham saw. I watched and listened to Goochland, Big Stone Gap and many others come to Bragg over the last 4 years thinking they could match Appo's speed and size only to realize team speed is not 1 or 2 guys on the field but the LB's and lineman are really quick also. This years Appo is in noway the 2016 caliber of a team but they are still pretty darn quick with multiple people to have to stop. Good luck to both Stuarts Draft and the Raiders as I think this will be won in the trenches. If my Raiders can control the line somewhat then it will be long day for Stuarts Draft.
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I'll be honest, never saw a post of anyone saying a 6-4 team out West would beat the top seed in Region A or B 8/10 times. The West is very good at the top but there is usually 4-5 quality teams in each Region that could play with the top seeds in any region. It's hard to argue the West isn't loaded, the results bear that esp in 2A, but I haven't seen many people making such bold claims like the ones you made.
Wise was 8-2, only two losses and had won six straight before the rematch (very tough to beat a good team twice. Look at Graham/Union and East Rock/Clarke) and played Ridgeview in a fog bowl, literally a fog bowl. It wasn't a bad team upsetting a juggernaut.
The only match up this year between East/West in regular season of note I can remember was Gretna/TJ, the top seeded team in A against the 3-seed in C, and from what I can gather, Gretna was the better team but really killed themselves with fumbles and prob should have won the game but lost by three scores to Appomattox.
I believe the top four seeds in the West regions are maybe a little better than the top four seeds in the East, but I don't believe it's some huge gap and I haven't seen many people suggesting it is, maybe I've overlooked it.
When the Ridgeview fan gets on here and points out that his team has a marginal schedule and in their opinion that is why they get beat I would have to Take him at his word. I am not sure but I think I are a Union guy, which doesn’t really matter to this particular discussion but I find it interesting that even your team fans say they overachieved this year with their record. I am in complete agreement that there isn’t a lot of difference between the top of the east and west. You didn’t say that the west was far superior, @RollDukes66 said it earlier. I just happen to disagree and honestly its wonderful if you agree with him. In the end it’s opinion as There are limited games between the two sides. And for the record, Appomattox is far superior to both sides not just the east. The teams are all scrambling behind them for second at this point. No need to argue who is second fiddle.
After watching the Appo and draft game I believe Riverheads would have chance against Appo but really impressed with the sophomore quarterback for Appo. I didn’t say Riverheads would beat Appo but I believe it would be good game
I guess you didn’t watch the first game today. Wouldn’t exactly call galax weak. That was probably one of the best games I’ve seen in a long time. Both teams left it all on the field and played heads up. Neither willing to back down. Great show of class and sportsmanship from both schools players and fans.
The 1A Championship was the best game I have seen in 6+ years. The first half of the 2A was pretty good. Second half Appo showed why they are the cream of the 2A crop. Coach Smith gained them great field position right at the end of the 3rd after stuffing Draft with under two minutes, he called a timeout to make Draft punt into the wind which had a net yardage in the air of zero. That was huge to get the ball first and goal after a punt that goes out of bounds. I don’t think I have ever seen that before. Not that Appo wasn’t already moving the ball but it was only 21-14 at that point so still within reach for Draft if they could have gotten the ball out and made them have to drive it further.
So true. Galax was impressive. Great size, speed, and discipline.
riverheads should be 2A, they need to be placed in this division
When i saw that muffed punt i was thinking oh crap 2017 state game all over again the Raiders better go make damn sure that ball is down. Needless to say it went way out of bounds after hanging in the air too long for me. lol
