I've heard how great LCA is this season. Of course, I think that Christiansburg, Lord Botetourt, Magna Vista, Kettle Run, Hopewell, Thomas Jefferson and any other remaining schools still alive in the playoffs would like to have their respective shot at knocking the king off the throne. Christiansburg without Tanner Evans (love that kids heart and his love of his team and teammates) changes the dynamic there but nonetheless I can't see them laying down for anyone to wipe their feet on them. KR losing (I think their star RB) would think they are still in full tilt mode to lace up their cleats and hit the field, Hopewell was missing from my understanding the younger brother of Tre Henderson most of the season but I can't imagine them saying let's just forfeit because if we make it to state we're facing LCA so what's the point! I guess what I'm saying is I've seen GREAT teams get beat on given days! Who saw 2016 Stanton River and that young man Overstreet (one of my favorite high school players of all time) losing to the 10th seed Blacksburg team. Who saw the 2015 Salem Spartans face a Lake Taylor team whose fans came to that title game wearing back to back state championship tee shirts as if they had already beaten Salem for that state title and lost to those Spartans. 2014 Magna Vista Warriors facing a juggernaut Lafayette team whom destroyed their opponents by an avg margin of roughly 49 points per game and pulled out the win! I guess what I'm getting at is we play the games to determine the outcomes not verbally give out titles. I get it LCA is GREAT but I think some of our true public schools should get a shout out for lacing them up and hitting the field. There are many life lessons to David's facing Goliath's in this world but what a story it would make to any team that can stand after 4 quarters and look at the score board and if fortune favors see just 1 point more on their side of the scoreboard! You talking about campfire conversations a dad could have with a son 20 years down the road! Good luck to all and not that I'm pulling against LCA because they are sons of mothers and fathers also but they apparently are heavily favored to dominate against public school teams but just want to see if someone is willing to answer the bell! God bless!
Should VHSL just crown LCA 3A state Champs?
- Thread starter mvwarrior
- Start date
They're not king until they win a championship and they've done that yet. Or any other time if I'm not mistaken. So until they do win a championship don't count your chicken before they hatch.
Sometimes you can just see it coming. Last year in like, late September you could pick out the entirety of the state title winners. It was maybe the least interesting playoffs of at least recent memory for that reason. This year, C1/C2/C4/C6 are getting far more heated discussions.
No, you don't anoint them but nobody should be surprised if they pull it off.
My opinion on their potential opponents?
Rustburg: battle-tested but cmon, they've lost 41-0 already, be reasonable
TA/Spotswood: weak district play dooms them against a hardened LCA squad.
Region D: MV likely top squad but my goodness, only team with a pulse when they played was C2 Gretna (who they beat by a point). Nobody's fault but weak schedules can hurt you deep in the playoffs. Cburg is a bizarro team. Give Byrd their only loss, blow a 2 TD lead to Riverheads, play PH to the limit, get blown out by Salem. Cotto is a fine replacement for Evans but they seem to lack an offensive identity. Speaking of, same goes for Byrd. 10-1, blanks LB, but I watched them play a hapless Northside in week 11 and they led 14-10 at half. LB has an offensive identity but it's not diverse and if you shut it down they have zero answers. Each of those four teams excels in some areas but that isn't enough to beat LCA, they're a very well-rounded team. Think any of the four would not only need to play their best four quarters of the season but need LCA to play their worst. That's a lot to ask of the football gods.
Region B: Can they do it? Sure. Will they? Seems unlikely. Neither KR nor Brentsville has played the kind of schedule that I think would prep them for beating not only whoever comes out of A but LCA to boot, although beat whoever comes out of A and we'll talk.
Region A: your most likely upset of LCA will come from here be it Hopewell or Lafayette (let's just take a leap that LT nor Heritage can beat both of the above). Some star power and, especially in the case of Hopewell, a battle-hardened team. I'm paying less attention to either team's wins than their losses, all coming to terrific squads (I see you, late season loss to TD by 4).
No, you don't anoint them but nobody should be surprised if they pull it off.
My opinion on their potential opponents?
Rustburg: battle-tested but cmon, they've lost 41-0 already, be reasonable
TA/Spotswood: weak district play dooms them against a hardened LCA squad.
Region D: MV likely top squad but my goodness, only team with a pulse when they played was C2 Gretna (who they beat by a point). Nobody's fault but weak schedules can hurt you deep in the playoffs. Cburg is a bizarro team. Give Byrd their only loss, blow a 2 TD lead to Riverheads, play PH to the limit, get blown out by Salem. Cotto is a fine replacement for Evans but they seem to lack an offensive identity. Speaking of, same goes for Byrd. 10-1, blanks LB, but I watched them play a hapless Northside in week 11 and they led 14-10 at half. LB has an offensive identity but it's not diverse and if you shut it down they have zero answers. Each of those four teams excels in some areas but that isn't enough to beat LCA, they're a very well-rounded team. Think any of the four would not only need to play their best four quarters of the season but need LCA to play their worst. That's a lot to ask of the football gods.
Region B: Can they do it? Sure. Will they? Seems unlikely. Neither KR nor Brentsville has played the kind of schedule that I think would prep them for beating not only whoever comes out of A but LCA to boot, although beat whoever comes out of A and we'll talk.
Region A: your most likely upset of LCA will come from here be it Hopewell or Lafayette (let's just take a leap that LT nor Heritage can beat both of the above). Some star power and, especially in the case of Hopewell, a battle-hardened team. I'm paying less attention to either team's wins than their losses, all coming to terrific squads (I see you, late season loss to TD by 4).
LCA is certainly the favorite but in a one game setting anything can happen.
I dont think Kettle Run is a real threat this year after what they lost. From what I am hearing here in Fauquier they are missing much more than just their star player in Colton Quaker but also their best WR who had over 1000 yards while also losing a few other key contributors. Not many teams can lose 2 all state level players and still keep trucking. They have a really great coaching staff and they rebounded last week but losing those type of players will make it really tough for them moving forward. Brentsville was in a tight game with them before injuries started mounting and they come into this weeks game healthy. Big edge Brentsville. If KR wins this week it would be one of the more impressive two week turnarounds I can remember.
I dont think Kettle Run is a real threat this year after what they lost. From what I am hearing here in Fauquier they are missing much more than just their star player in Colton Quaker but also their best WR who had over 1000 yards while also losing a few other key contributors. Not many teams can lose 2 all state level players and still keep trucking. They have a really great coaching staff and they rebounded last week but losing those type of players will make it really tough for them moving forward. Brentsville was in a tight game with them before injuries started mounting and they come into this weeks game healthy. Big edge Brentsville. If KR wins this week it would be one of the more impressive two week turnarounds I can remember.
I can say for Hopewell this season they've had injuries most of the season 2 or 4 starters have been out on and off. Last week has been the first time all season that everyone was back and healthy, Running back and linebacker Henderson is about 85% according to the coach and their best lineman lighter is back 85% and 2 other players are back. So at this point it's all or nothing, Hopewell has the talent and athletes. But not depth or numbers so that has been there number 1 problem this season. And 2 they starter slow some games. Other wise I think if they come to play and are healthy they have a good shot at being in the championship game and possible of winning. But we'll see one game at a time.
Awesome insight here @540football_Grandpa! Being on the west side of the state we don't get much coverage on eastern teams except occasional uploaded video highlights. I was unaware that KR had that many injuries and you are so correct that those are major blows to ANY program! Wouldn't it be nice though if ALL teams were healthy when they played so everyone would get everybody's best effort, but I'm not immune to the fact that injuries are part of the game and coaches have to put the best product on the field they know how week to week! Good Luck in you guys journey and until that final whistle, you're still playing!
Do you get the feeling at Hopewell that you guys are starting to click? Man you guys have been battling more than opponents there at Hopewell! Playoffs are a hard time to recover star athletes, but I sure hope you guys can get healthy and keep advancing. I just hate it when star athletes go down and you never get to see the what-could-have-been! I guess I shouldn't limit that last sentence to only "star" athletes as everyone on the field or sideline contributes in some way. But when "your guy" goes down, it just takes wind out of the sails! Good luck the rest of your journey this season @10iceiceice!
Great post! I think LCA wins the championship this year as long as they are healthy. They have always has low numbers so depth is always the issue for them. They most likely would have been in the championship last year had Davidson not gotten a season ending injury against Glass in the last regular season game. But that's neither here nor there. Ironically, LCA has been in this position just recently when they faced Phoebus in the 2021 championship. LCA was the favorite that year and the better team but Phoebus got 2 pic sixes which proved to be the difference. LCA's offense scored more points than Phoebus' offense but it still wasn't good enough. So I agree, anything can happen.
I remember back in 2017 when Heritage of Lynchburg played Hopewell in the state championship game in Williamsburg at William and Mary and Heritage was picked by just about everyone except Hopewell fans. They were big and talented and were supposed to crush them and they lost I think 22-20. I was there but I remember all the posts Lynchburg and Heritage people were posting about how they were going to destroy Hopewell. After the game they ran out of the Stadium. Every team can be beaten.
I agree with your assessments and this is well said. I peeped you did not add in Thomas Jefferson in your post. Other than that meh 20-0 win over Goochland, they’ve beaten everyone they were supposed to and did it in fashion that they should have. They have a few Varina transfers, a few Huguenot transfers who were not apart of the Scott train, and a few other kids who’ve been in their system. They have some speed and my biggest takeaway is how physical they are. I get it, their schedule isn’t the best (RPS gets the crumbs when it comes to football scheduling) but they dominated Godwin, Deep Run, MBK, and Tucker like the bigger schools did. IMO, a Godwin and even MBK is 3-4 TDs better than some of the teams Brentsville, Botty, Magna Vista and Turner Ashby has played.
I was aware of their perfect season in the back of my head but I think I've seen the least amount of posts about them so they just got pushed out of the way in my mind when writing the post. I'd file them in the same way as I did Brentsville and KR which is I don't think they can get it done against LCA but beat whoever comes out of A and I'll maybe reconsider. I would say Brentsville's win over KR is a better win than Godwin and both of them have beaten Handley, which is probably in and around that area as well as far as talented teams. Unfortunately, from what I see the bottom half of their schedule is next-level bad. Top half probably better on the whole than what some of those teams have played (esp some of the C/D teams you mentioned) but bottom half drags it down so much I think KR and Brentsville both played an overall more difficult schedule, although not by much and I use "difficult" in a relative sense here.
CalPreps likes both teams over TJ by about two scores, although if the injuries on KR are true I'm not sure they get by Brentsville anyway. B final might be pretty good, ultimately I'm just not sure anyone from there can beat whoever climbs out of A and I've got far more doubts they can beat LCA.
Calpreps doesn't know it's just a computer picking games. Games are won on the field.
What fortune cookie did you nab that one from, champ.
I mean people were crowning Pheobus and Dinwiddie last year in the regular season and it turned out to be pretty accurate. This is similar to two years ago (As long as they stay healthy) when they did lose to Phoebus in an upset. I really don't know much about teams in A/B so I can't say anything about them but it is certainly understandable why LCA is getting so much love. Seemed like they surprised a lot of people when they beat Salem to open the season (obviously a quality win) and they've been untouchable sense, and I think just two teams have been able to hang with them for a half. I hate these posts, obviously anything can happen, but no harm and admitting one team is really good and the favorite.
As soon as VHSL announced that Phoebus was moving to Class 4, the Class 3 championship became LCA's to lose. Whether they lose it or not will remain to be seen but I would bet on them winning it. If I was a betting man.
LCA already has great practice for the celebration. After they knocked of Sparty, they were smoking cigars in the locker room (KIDDING) . They celebrated and the Coach cried in the postgame interview.
They said the same things about us when we played Lord Botetourt. We were too small and they were going to run over us. I think we have a solid team that’s playing its best football at the right time. Took our foot off the gas against Dale and that’s part of our depth against a C6 opponent. I haven’t watched LCA much but I don’t think they are better than a the Dinwiddie team we faced we were down 21-14 at half. To your point our second half against good teams needs to be better.
I have seen LCA in person. I don't think there is a team on this side of the state in C3 that matches up well with them. I expect them to be the "West" representative in the state championship game. Hopewell has a very good team when they're fully healthy. If LCA and Hopewell meet I expect a great game!
Hey @mike salem, I know you know Salem football up one side and down the other, and i respect your opinions on these boards very much! I have a hypothetical question for you...Would LCA beat Salem in week 10 if they played again and what have you seen that you would base your observation off of? Could you give a hypothetical final score if the 2 were to have played in week 10 (for a second time in the same season)?
I mean, grats on that but the game is four quarters, not two, which is why that game ended 50-22.
Is LCA better than Dinwiddie? Probably not. But they're far closer than you probably want to realize and they can go four quarters. Salem week 1 is something different for a few reasons but they went into the half against EC Glass up 21-13 and won 35-13 and went into the half tied at 7 with JF and won 35-14.
What I'm telling you is LCA can play four quarters, if Hopewell can't it won't really matter how close it is at the half. If they can then they'll have a shot but half of an attempt isn't going to cut it against LCA just like it didn't against Dinwiddie.
Which is what I said if you hadn’t cherry picked part of my comment. Secondly this has more to do with the depth of teams like dinwiddie and dale who are good 2 deep on both sides of the ball. Hopewell has 6 or 7 2 way starters and were banged up when we played Dinwiddie essentially on 1 deep for 4 quarters.Most 3a teams don’t dress the amount that Dale or Dinwiddie do but with all the recruiting the do over there at LCA they may have more numbers than most other 3a schools.
LCA is unlikely to have much, if any, more depth than Hopewell. In theory, it's their one weakness but nobody has actually been able to punish them for it yet. If Salem played them late in the season the potential might have been there but Salem's offense hadn't come together yet (QB playing in his first game with a new team, new offense) and Salem wasn't able to really drag them up and down the field enough times for depth to start to matter.
Hopewell's best chance is to try and grind the entire game out. Get 10 plays minimum per drive and just wear them out. Doing that also wins you TOP and keeps Davidson off the field.
I haven't seen LCA in person since the 1st week, but if they played Salem now, I think Salem would win in a very close game. (17-14) I would say if these 2 played 10 games it would be pretty evenly split. I know Salem has made significant improvements, especially since Taylor came back from his collarbone injury. He has been playing with so much confidence. His passes have been on time, with the right touch and velocity. The defense has been lockdown and the OL/running game is getting much better every game.
I would assume LCA is making similar strides in improvement. They looked playoff ready in week 1 so I know coaching will have them geared up in the playoffs. Players to watch- obviously #8 Davidson, (RB/CB doesn't really leave the field in big games) #9 Moon QB/CB, #78 Ware OL/DL, #56 Murray OL/DL, #22 Woodard DE/TE. LCA is very well conditioned, several guys play both ways at a high level. Average depth for a C3 program. Good speed, especially Davidson and Moon.
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Agree.
First of all let both of these teams get to that point before putting them in the championship game. Maybe they will or maybe not.
Hopewell has to get past Lafayette first.
Awesome! Thanks Mike! Those are the usual suspects I see on film as well as Dalton Nesselrotte and looks like they have a fantastic kicker in Ryan Pettit. When you have Defense/Offense/and Special Teams weapons, well that's the making of title teams I have to agree! Good luck to your Spartans and that program in Salem never ceases to amaze me! Love the community involvement in your program there in Salem and if I were a transplant to that area, would be sitting right beside you on Friday nights watching those Spartans! Take care my friend!
You hit the nail on the head! Most teams wear down as the game goes on but LCA seems to get stronger. That's not common among high school teams. It's almost like they intentionally give teams a false sense of hope in the 1st half just to demoralize them in the 2nd half. Another thing that LCA does exceptionally well this year is protect the football. They do not turn the ball over so you will literally have to stop them for 4 quarters to win because they are not going to beat themselves. However, they do lack depth due to low number of players so that could become a factor if they get a few injuries along the way. If there is one weakness in LCA this year it is that they have been penalized a little more than usual. That could become a factor if they are ever in a tight situation late in a game.
It keeps Davidson off the field on offense but not on defense or special teams. He's just as good and impactful there as well. But I get the logic. That's probably the best bet.
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I don't know if LCA has ever had more than 35 full time guys on varsity or more than 60 guys in the entire program, including Jv. This year they dress about 35 for varsity games but 5-6 of those guys are freshman from the Jv team that never play.
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I truly believe LCA is in a tier by themselves; however, if Hopewell can avoid tripping on themselves and can get to Lynchburg they will offer the Bulldogs a different look.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Hopewell is nearly is good as Salem, but they do bring a different style. They can run it hard with Henderson, run around you with co-running back Hunt, and more importantly run the RPO with their very capable QB Tatum.
LCA's strengths are physicality on the interior lines, discipline, and technique. Unfortunately, these are Hopewell's weaknesses. The Blue Devils have struggled mightily with fast and physical running backs. Davidson will give them fits and although very fast the Hopewell db's will struggle with the precision of the Bulldogs passing game.
I know the LCA coaching staff is top notch, but don't under estimate Coach Irby. He has won a few titles and knows how to have success against better teams.
Although I like TJ and Armstrong's talent they cannot beat LCA. I know I will get a chuckle for this one, but LT may be on to something. If they can get hot and avoid shooting themselves in the foot, Coach Sawyer and the Titans are more than capable of making a run. LCA against the veer. Could be interesting.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Hopewell is nearly is good as Salem, but they do bring a different style. They can run it hard with Henderson, run around you with co-running back Hunt, and more importantly run the RPO with their very capable QB Tatum.
LCA's strengths are physicality on the interior lines, discipline, and technique. Unfortunately, these are Hopewell's weaknesses. The Blue Devils have struggled mightily with fast and physical running backs. Davidson will give them fits and although very fast the Hopewell db's will struggle with the precision of the Bulldogs passing game.
I know the LCA coaching staff is top notch, but don't under estimate Coach Irby. He has won a few titles and knows how to have success against better teams.
Although I like TJ and Armstrong's talent they cannot beat LCA. I know I will get a chuckle for this one, but LT may be on to something. If they can get hot and avoid shooting themselves in the foot, Coach Sawyer and the Titans are more than capable of making a run. LCA against the veer. Could be interesting.
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IMO the way the season has gone I’d say yes. However, I said the same exact thing in 2016 when I thought going into the playoffs that Heritage would run through everyone they got to the title game & Hopewell cause them all kinds off fits. I think if I ranked the teams capable of winning the title it would be
LCA
Hopewell
Lafayette
Brentsville
TJ
LCA
Hopewell
Lafayette
Brentsville
TJ
LCA against the veer could be interesting just because the veer itself a different animal. However, I will say that the LCA coaching staff is very familiar with a veer style system as they used to face JF when they ran wishbone (a variation of veer). Granted this current group of LCA players have not seen veer or wishbone but the LCA coaches will definitely have a sound scheme to defend the veer. Then it would just come down to 15, 16, 17, 18 year olds executing the scheme . 🤣
