Stereotypes gone

[southbottomU]

When the realignment occurred teams that had never played each other were thrown into 4a. There was a lot of ignorance out there. Many fans of teams in the West thought that these new teams would be poorly coached and undisciplined. They quickly found out they were very wrong. Fans of teams in the east thought that Western teams were too slow and did not have enough athletes. It looked for a few years that they were right, but now that stereotype has been disproven. So in a few months we will start a new season and one of the good things is that most of those stereotypical arguments that used to permeate this board have almost disappeared. Progress

 

[shauntclair]

No

 

[southbottomU]

No

I knew you were against progress.

 

[mbonape1]

Class 4 is probably the most even competition between east and west of any of the divisions. I do think SOME of the 804 and 757 generally have a harder reg season schedule then the west teams but that doesn't mean much come the championship rounds. Bottom line is winning a state title is HARD!

Quick question for the west side:
Was Salem the best team out west regardless of classification?

 

[mike salem]

Class 4 is probably the most even competition between east and west of any of the divisions. I do think SOME of the 804 and 757 generally have a harder reg season schedule then the west teams but that doesn't mean much come the championship rounds. Bottom line is winning a state title is HARD!

Quick question for the west side:
Was Salem the best team out west regardless of classification?

Salem didn't start out as the best team in the West, with T Thomas Mundy missing the first 8 games with a major foot injury and the defense getting scorched by Amherst.

As far as area teams go there were some improvements made by several teams: William Byrd gave Salem 2 great games. Blacksburg made some major changes after the Salem game and won 8 of their last 9 I think. Patrick Henry was much improved, especially defensively. We didn't play Staunton River, but the Wing is a tough offense to prepare for. Overstreet is a steamroller and the OL makes the backfield's job look easy. Amherst beating Salem at SS game 1 was a big statement for the Lancers. I would have enjoyed a rematch, but an injury to the QB really hampered them down the stretch and didn't allow them to reach their full potential.

I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting, but I think Appomattox would have been a good matchup with Salem. The Raiders completed back to back titles and they have a great coaching staff much like Salem. Appomattox being smaller might affect them depth wise against the Spartans, but the core is talented. The Spartans and Raiders would have been tough for anyone else to knock off out West.