Well THAT was a statement. I didn't think anyone would stick it to Massaponax like that.
Can you say, "Favorite?"
Can you say, "Favorite?"
Tuscarora impressive.
- Thread starter GilliamRatings
- Start date
Tuscarora looks very good. They are much more athletic than I thought and Reimers is playing like a man amongst boys. Did Massaponax have a lot of injuries? They were not very impressive. They have a couple of athletes but were pretty small and just looked outclassed from a physical standpoint. I know they play good football in the Staffford area but it was clear after the first two series of the game that Massaponax had no chance (didn't come close to stopping Reimers). It will be interesting to see how next week plays out. Overall, my sense is that 5A North is way down this year. Tuscarora's toughest game this year was against Broad Run and I think Broad Run was better last year. It will be interesting to see how Tuscarora does against Bird or Salem. I think Tuscarora has a good chance of taking home the title but I suspect that Bird and Salem are more battle tested because of the competition they have faced all season.
Tuscarora absolutely dominated the line play. Massaponax was no match at all... made me wonder how they got to 13-0 and how they beat Stone Bridge which has similar size and physical play along their lines as Tuscarora. Haven't seen a RB like Reimers in some time. He was like a boulder out there. Seemed like everyone just bounced and slide off of him like he was a rock. That being said he was rarely touched until he was 4-6 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Actually, I'm not sure Salem had a real tough path to the playoffs. They did have to play Ocean Lakes in the regular season, and last night those Dolphins looked AWESOME. I would cry if somebody told me I had to spend 48 minutes trying to tackle those monsters. However, that game didn't go well for the Sun Devils as they lost 41-7. Their first two games in the playoffs were against also rans from their own district: Princess Anne, who finished the season 2-9 and Green Run who was a modest 6-4 team in the regular season.They finally had to play a 11-1 Norview team who had a dream season, but Norview came out of a traditionally mediocre district and only faced two teams with winning records the entire season (five of their opponents were 1-9). This does not mean Salem isn't any good any more than a weak schedule means Tuscarora isn't any good. Two years ago the message boards were filled all season with comments about Bird's weak schedule and they ran (literally) through the 6A playoffs like a hot knife through warm butter.
When the VHSL realigned the Eastern Region most of the division 6 smoke stayed up in 6A, but most of the tradition in division 5 found itself in 4A. Hampton was really the only team that I saw when they did the divisions that made me take note down their and Hampton, coincidentally, has turned in two of its weaker seasons since the switch. Salem has really been the only REAL good team in 5A down there. I don't think it's going to take long for a few schools to fill that void, but the void is there right now.
Bird definitely had a beastly schedule, and they lost two games that came down to the last second and won two games that came down to the last second against 4 of the best teams in Virginia in Lake Taylor, Thomas Dale, Manchester and Highland Springs and they blew out five others that had great seasons (James River, Cosby, Monacan, Atlee and Hermitage).
I don't believe there is anything Bird hasn't seen before waiting for them in Salem (or Tuscarora), but good football teams don't need to surprise you, they just need to outplay you and Salem and Tuscarora are very good football teams.
When the VHSL realigned the Eastern Region most of the division 6 smoke stayed up in 6A, but most of the tradition in division 5 found itself in 4A. Hampton was really the only team that I saw when they did the divisions that made me take note down their and Hampton, coincidentally, has turned in two of its weaker seasons since the switch. Salem has really been the only REAL good team in 5A down there. I don't think it's going to take long for a few schools to fill that void, but the void is there right now.
Bird definitely had a beastly schedule, and they lost two games that came down to the last second and won two games that came down to the last second against 4 of the best teams in Virginia in Lake Taylor, Thomas Dale, Manchester and Highland Springs and they blew out five others that had great seasons (James River, Cosby, Monacan, Atlee and Hermitage).
I don't believe there is anything Bird hasn't seen before waiting for them in Salem (or Tuscarora), but good football teams don't need to surprise you, they just need to outplay you and Salem and Tuscarora are very good football teams.
Massaponax's starting QB Joey Benden didn't play due to concussion. He's a great athlete. That said, Tuscarora is my favorite to win the title after I watched them push Martinsburg around.
I'm not calling anything.
I'm not calling a Bird win. I think Tuscarora is scary good, and I really haven't felt good about Bird's chances of repeating since they needed a hail mary to beat Thomas Dale in week 1. The only playoff game I had lots of confidence about for Bird was this week, and Salem really showed me that I probably shouldn't have been so confident. Nevertheless, here they are yet again and I keep wondering how it happened. On the stat sheets they have underperformed 2013 in every way and the Central Region, Dominon District and their schedule was slam loaded, but they got through.
Tuscarora has put up some impressive numbers, but Bird is ranked higher at CalPreps and those rankings are done based on results of games where Bird got all those penalties. Bird has done it against quite a schedule. I do feel like Tuscarora became the favorite, if for nothing else, because of the way they handled Massaponax on Friday. VHSL-Reference and this site will have Tuscarora #1 and Bird #2 after their updates, so we'll see.
I think it will be close and exciting, and if it lives up to the last two state finals we'll all get our money's worth.
I'm not calling a Bird win. I think Tuscarora is scary good, and I really haven't felt good about Bird's chances of repeating since they needed a hail mary to beat Thomas Dale in week 1. The only playoff game I had lots of confidence about for Bird was this week, and Salem really showed me that I probably shouldn't have been so confident. Nevertheless, here they are yet again and I keep wondering how it happened. On the stat sheets they have underperformed 2013 in every way and the Central Region, Dominon District and their schedule was slam loaded, but they got through.
Tuscarora has put up some impressive numbers, but Bird is ranked higher at CalPreps and those rankings are done based on results of games where Bird got all those penalties. Bird has done it against quite a schedule. I do feel like Tuscarora became the favorite, if for nothing else, because of the way they handled Massaponax on Friday. VHSL-Reference and this site will have Tuscarora #1 and Bird #2 after their updates, so we'll see.
I think it will be close and exciting, and if it lives up to the last two state finals we'll all get our money's worth.
