Salem: Probably one of the most explosive Salem offenses I have ever seen. Got behind early against lca because of a blocked kick but was matching them score for score after that. Fleming was a single miss step offensively, but if Fleming and Salem had to play again, I would say it would be a high scoring game for both teams. Salem found some serious success in the misdirection of the split back formation. Defensively it has been fun watching them grow. Personnel changes every week, as late as week 9. Looking at the different bodies they have had in the interior d line and Mike and Sam Lb has been interesting to say the least but really cool to watch this young defense grow their skills every week! Mules getting it done, 55 and 67 are fun to watch. Mean.
Fleming: after playing Salem, I was ready to say this was the best team I have ever seen come out of the Roanoke valley (been watching football since I was about 10 years old in 2005). However, every week since beating Salem, it seems like they have had games that were closer than they should be or had been pulling away later and later in the game. Finally caught up to them against SR. Fleming is big everywhere they need to be and fast everywhere they need to be and coached well, so I hope they regroup and make a deep playoff run. It’s high school football, kids will get upset some games.
Staunton River: back when I played at Salem we always played Staunton River in a preseason scrimmage and I always thought, “man those kids can hit”. I did not see them play but has been awesome seeing them beat good teams and keep all of their games close. Good for them for not getting demoralized by some close losses and staying strong. I hope they still hit like they used to. Beating Fleming last game after the year they had must feel like winning the state championship! And honestly, Fleming is a state championship caliber team! Congrats SR!
Northside: saw the Salem game and thought they had some firepower on offense. When Salem beat them, there was a lot of talk about how they had not played anybody, but they had been undefeated up until then. Not a bad northside team, and proved it by keeping parts of the Fleming game close and by beating a good LB team week 9 of their season. Good season for their program as they needed some momentum.
William Byrd: saw the Byrd vs lb game. During this game they seemed to be pretty hit or miss on offense. Well coached but some drives would stall out and some drives would be finished with a td in 4-5 plays. Defensively they were pretty stout but the power run game of LB was too much for them. Between this season and last season, it seems like Byrd is really developing a program. Two of the close brothers (previous Salem players) are coaching at Byrd and you love to see them helping that program succeed. Their offense is a bit modern in my book, with some of their personnel (not overly fast but brawny good runners), I would like to see them get their hand in the dirt and go from under center and pound, but there are some limitations on that when a growing program. New “air raid” offense allows you to get the ball to multiple kids and gets the kids excited about the game=more participation, so on and so on. They aren’t a power based team and they are good, hope to see this continue. (But still let’s have one fullback formation please, just for me)
Lord Botetourt: When I saw them play Byrd, I was very impressed by their defense. They seem to have some stud d backs as well, none that will go d1, just great high school athletes all around in their defensive backfield. As a previous mule and an offense fan, it’s hard to know how I feel about this offense. I do not even know what to call it. Wild cat? Sometimes a running back takes a direct snap and sometimes a qb does? Throw a couple of sniffer backs/wing backs to the side they are going to run it and let them log/ seal the edge? Their o-line seams to get after it and they end up being a dominant “three yards and cloud of dust” offense, but I really don’t get it. Usually the three yards come on some variations of a sweep that is being ran by the person (qb/rb?) that takes a direct snap from shotgun. Not trying to down the offense because it was effective and demoralizing to WB, but I just do not know that offense enough to understand it conceptually. Did not see the game but lost to Northside. Not sure what happened there but like I said, northside is not a bad team, and if LB came out weak they could easily lose that game, which they did. Otherwise beat some pretty strong opponents (Staunton River, William Byrd) and kept it close with some stronger bigger schools (ec glass and Fleming). Good to see LB is still strong
PH: had a good year, all of their losses were to strong teams, and handled all of the teams they should have handled. If they played Salem again, I could see it being closer. When Salem got up on them a score and they got a couple flags in the first half, it really seemed like they got demoralized. This seems like a team that rides the momentum. Need to learn that every game can be won even if you’re behind. Good to see another solid PH team this year, and not sure if they are making the playoffs, but if they are, I hope they play hard and keep their heads up and win as many games as they can.
Cave spring: Not too much to say, seems well coached, and they were able to pull out some games and keep other games close. Hope this program gets stronger (2006-2012 had some really strong cave teams, let’s get back to that)
Hidden valley: 90-0 in the first game really set the tone for the rest of the season. Had a couple of tough kids playing and I hope the ones that stuck with it are proud of themselves. Only one chance to play high school football, and the kids playing on that team had to truely love the game. Like I said, there were some tough linemen, and on offense, I saw them execute occasionally. Would really like to see this program get back on track. 2011 score was 10-3 vs Salem and 2012 it was 24-14 vs Salem. In 2007 it was 22-21, Salem winning all three of the previously mentioned games. But those were good Salem teams and HV played them close (maybe I am biased because I played on those Salem teams). Weaver has proven to be a good coach and a good guy from what I can tell, not really sure what happens when seasons fall apart like this one. Go back to the I formation and make fullbacks great again. Thats just my bias. They had some great I formation teams back in my day. But more than a formation is needed to get morale up. Wish them the best.
Franklin county: I know coach Edwards is a good coach. Played under him, tough man but cares about the kids under him. Unfortunately this Franklin county team did not put it together for as many games as they needed to this season. Against Salem, I was really impressed with their explosiveness on offense and their QB. Had a few guys who liked to hit. Also, they beat SR (a good team despite their record) and kept it close with Fleming in the first half from what I saw. Inconsistent is probably the best word to describe. While playing their best they could keep up with anyone but also seemingly played down. Wish coach Edward the best and success next year!
Pulaski: Going into tonight maybe one of the best 2 win teams on the state? Like Staunton River, whenever you play Pulaski you say, “man those kids can hit”. I was out of town during the Pulaski Salem game so I cannot tell you much about this team but putting up forty on Salem was shocking and scary as a Salem fan. However, with a couple of wins the weeks after they proved that they weren’t as bad as their record showed. I hope they still take pride in their program and develop hard nosed young men. It should mean something to have Pulaski on your chest.
Blacksburg:these kids should be proud of their season. So much has to be done right just to win one football game, so four games this season after only 2 wins in 4? years is a huge step in the right direction. While many may not be impressed, they showed some competency on offense and defense this year. Keep it going for next year Blacksburg!
Christiansburg: first year with new coach so this was not a bad regular season record. 5-5. Like I said above, you have to do so many things right just to win a single football game. There is just so much to put together. Seemed like their kids really enjoyed playing. They came out swinging in a modified wing T concept second half against Salem and ran right down the field and scored after only a little success in the first half running a more “modern” offense. reminded me of the days of Brenden motley, Zach snell and Joey augustine running those wing t concepts so effectively from 2008-2011. Bring back the old school offenses! Let your offense tackles block down! Let your fullbacks kick out! Do some misdirection! Anyways, off my soap box, good season and hope this coach can keep the momentum going in the right direction.
I’m sure I missed a lot but I love high school football in the Roanoke valley and want to see it prosper! Staunton River taking out Fleming tonight is what it is all about! Any time, any place, you got to go out there and play the game. No fear.
I see all these polls about points and standings in the playoffs but I have no idea about that math-y stuff I tune out. Just hope Salem has at least one home game.
No serious rhetorical or analytical framework would have you take Staunton River over Fleming before tonight, and then Staunton River showed us that high school football is not the place for any concrete judgements/predictions of how these games are going to go. Gotta go out there and play the game. Only 5 out of the 10 Salem state championship teams have had undefeated regular seasons. One of those teams (2000) lost 4 regular season games in less than impressive fashion (paraphrasing spartan of yore) and two of those teams had 2 losses. Especially for year 2000, no analysis would have lead to the conclusion to say: “this team will go on and decidedly win the state championship” before the playoffs started. But they did.
If your team is in the playoffs, whether you are the 1st seed or the 8th seed, your team has a chance to win the state championship (*cough* Blacksburg 2016 *cough*). It’s playoff time in Virginia, baby!
Fleming: after playing Salem, I was ready to say this was the best team I have ever seen come out of the Roanoke valley (been watching football since I was about 10 years old in 2005). However, every week since beating Salem, it seems like they have had games that were closer than they should be or had been pulling away later and later in the game. Finally caught up to them against SR. Fleming is big everywhere they need to be and fast everywhere they need to be and coached well, so I hope they regroup and make a deep playoff run. It’s high school football, kids will get upset some games.
Staunton River: back when I played at Salem we always played Staunton River in a preseason scrimmage and I always thought, “man those kids can hit”. I did not see them play but has been awesome seeing them beat good teams and keep all of their games close. Good for them for not getting demoralized by some close losses and staying strong. I hope they still hit like they used to. Beating Fleming last game after the year they had must feel like winning the state championship! And honestly, Fleming is a state championship caliber team! Congrats SR!
Northside: saw the Salem game and thought they had some firepower on offense. When Salem beat them, there was a lot of talk about how they had not played anybody, but they had been undefeated up until then. Not a bad northside team, and proved it by keeping parts of the Fleming game close and by beating a good LB team week 9 of their season. Good season for their program as they needed some momentum.
William Byrd: saw the Byrd vs lb game. During this game they seemed to be pretty hit or miss on offense. Well coached but some drives would stall out and some drives would be finished with a td in 4-5 plays. Defensively they were pretty stout but the power run game of LB was too much for them. Between this season and last season, it seems like Byrd is really developing a program. Two of the close brothers (previous Salem players) are coaching at Byrd and you love to see them helping that program succeed. Their offense is a bit modern in my book, with some of their personnel (not overly fast but brawny good runners), I would like to see them get their hand in the dirt and go from under center and pound, but there are some limitations on that when a growing program. New “air raid” offense allows you to get the ball to multiple kids and gets the kids excited about the game=more participation, so on and so on. They aren’t a power based team and they are good, hope to see this continue. (But still let’s have one fullback formation please, just for me)
Lord Botetourt: When I saw them play Byrd, I was very impressed by their defense. They seem to have some stud d backs as well, none that will go d1, just great high school athletes all around in their defensive backfield. As a previous mule and an offense fan, it’s hard to know how I feel about this offense. I do not even know what to call it. Wild cat? Sometimes a running back takes a direct snap and sometimes a qb does? Throw a couple of sniffer backs/wing backs to the side they are going to run it and let them log/ seal the edge? Their o-line seams to get after it and they end up being a dominant “three yards and cloud of dust” offense, but I really don’t get it. Usually the three yards come on some variations of a sweep that is being ran by the person (qb/rb?) that takes a direct snap from shotgun. Not trying to down the offense because it was effective and demoralizing to WB, but I just do not know that offense enough to understand it conceptually. Did not see the game but lost to Northside. Not sure what happened there but like I said, northside is not a bad team, and if LB came out weak they could easily lose that game, which they did. Otherwise beat some pretty strong opponents (Staunton River, William Byrd) and kept it close with some stronger bigger schools (ec glass and Fleming). Good to see LB is still strong
PH: had a good year, all of their losses were to strong teams, and handled all of the teams they should have handled. If they played Salem again, I could see it being closer. When Salem got up on them a score and they got a couple flags in the first half, it really seemed like they got demoralized. This seems like a team that rides the momentum. Need to learn that every game can be won even if you’re behind. Good to see another solid PH team this year, and not sure if they are making the playoffs, but if they are, I hope they play hard and keep their heads up and win as many games as they can.
Cave spring: Not too much to say, seems well coached, and they were able to pull out some games and keep other games close. Hope this program gets stronger (2006-2012 had some really strong cave teams, let’s get back to that)
Hidden valley: 90-0 in the first game really set the tone for the rest of the season. Had a couple of tough kids playing and I hope the ones that stuck with it are proud of themselves. Only one chance to play high school football, and the kids playing on that team had to truely love the game. Like I said, there were some tough linemen, and on offense, I saw them execute occasionally. Would really like to see this program get back on track. 2011 score was 10-3 vs Salem and 2012 it was 24-14 vs Salem. In 2007 it was 22-21, Salem winning all three of the previously mentioned games. But those were good Salem teams and HV played them close (maybe I am biased because I played on those Salem teams). Weaver has proven to be a good coach and a good guy from what I can tell, not really sure what happens when seasons fall apart like this one. Go back to the I formation and make fullbacks great again. Thats just my bias. They had some great I formation teams back in my day. But more than a formation is needed to get morale up. Wish them the best.
Franklin county: I know coach Edwards is a good coach. Played under him, tough man but cares about the kids under him. Unfortunately this Franklin county team did not put it together for as many games as they needed to this season. Against Salem, I was really impressed with their explosiveness on offense and their QB. Had a few guys who liked to hit. Also, they beat SR (a good team despite their record) and kept it close with Fleming in the first half from what I saw. Inconsistent is probably the best word to describe. While playing their best they could keep up with anyone but also seemingly played down. Wish coach Edward the best and success next year!
Pulaski: Going into tonight maybe one of the best 2 win teams on the state? Like Staunton River, whenever you play Pulaski you say, “man those kids can hit”. I was out of town during the Pulaski Salem game so I cannot tell you much about this team but putting up forty on Salem was shocking and scary as a Salem fan. However, with a couple of wins the weeks after they proved that they weren’t as bad as their record showed. I hope they still take pride in their program and develop hard nosed young men. It should mean something to have Pulaski on your chest.
Blacksburg:these kids should be proud of their season. So much has to be done right just to win one football game, so four games this season after only 2 wins in 4? years is a huge step in the right direction. While many may not be impressed, they showed some competency on offense and defense this year. Keep it going for next year Blacksburg!
Christiansburg: first year with new coach so this was not a bad regular season record. 5-5. Like I said above, you have to do so many things right just to win a single football game. There is just so much to put together. Seemed like their kids really enjoyed playing. They came out swinging in a modified wing T concept second half against Salem and ran right down the field and scored after only a little success in the first half running a more “modern” offense. reminded me of the days of Brenden motley, Zach snell and Joey augustine running those wing t concepts so effectively from 2008-2011. Bring back the old school offenses! Let your offense tackles block down! Let your fullbacks kick out! Do some misdirection! Anyways, off my soap box, good season and hope this coach can keep the momentum going in the right direction.
I’m sure I missed a lot but I love high school football in the Roanoke valley and want to see it prosper! Staunton River taking out Fleming tonight is what it is all about! Any time, any place, you got to go out there and play the game. No fear.
I see all these polls about points and standings in the playoffs but I have no idea about that math-y stuff I tune out. Just hope Salem has at least one home game.
No serious rhetorical or analytical framework would have you take Staunton River over Fleming before tonight, and then Staunton River showed us that high school football is not the place for any concrete judgements/predictions of how these games are going to go. Gotta go out there and play the game. Only 5 out of the 10 Salem state championship teams have had undefeated regular seasons. One of those teams (2000) lost 4 regular season games in less than impressive fashion (paraphrasing spartan of yore) and two of those teams had 2 losses. Especially for year 2000, no analysis would have lead to the conclusion to say: “this team will go on and decidedly win the state championship” before the playoffs started. But they did.
If your team is in the playoffs, whether you are the 1st seed or the 8th seed, your team has a chance to win the state championship (*cough* Blacksburg 2016 *cough*). It’s playoff time in Virginia, baby!
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