Union vs Clarke County
- Thread starter justafan24
- Start date
Been raining in Clarke since Sunday, so hopefully everything dries up nicely when it clears out later tonight.
Then Clarke's band better be there!
I know there are atleast 100 of us from strasburg coming.
Sheesh! I better camp out then! I hope you're coming to root for Clarke!
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It's like Richlands and Gate City. Richlands beat them 42-7 at Richlands. Union beat Richlands by 1 point in OT a week later. Then 3 weeks later, Union and Gate City come down to the wire.
I hate when people make the scoring comparison among common opponents.
If Union plays Union ball, I think they will win. They are playing like they are on a mission. Clarke County probably is too. If Bryce has a good passing game like last week and the defense does their job then they punch their ticket to Salem.
True! Film is key. If you look at the Richlands game. Appo never should have been in OT. We shouldve beat them by 2 TDs. 2 turnovers inside the 5? Nuts!!! Still found a way to win. So yes, if somebody looked at score of game 27-21. It wouldnt tell the whole story. Film and critical analysis of game footage is key.
Don't understand how you can bring up one teams miscues and not the other. If it wasn't for all of Richlands miscues they may have won convincingly. Fumble on first play for a TD, dropped passes, 2 ints and that short punt where Addison seemed a little confused that was recovered by Appomattox. Neither team played great. Only Appomattox played great at the end and that was the difference. I believe if they played 10 games they would split.
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I will give you that, but the fumble and dropped passes was DEFENSE!!!!! Great Defensive plays (we had 2 dropped passes too). 2 INT can be labeled as a miscue and yes Addison should have been away from ball. I will give you that one too! I wont give you the first 3. That was defense not a miscue.
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Honestly as physical as both of these teams are I see a mistake on special teams deciding this one. Both of these teams are really good football teams and deserve to be here. I still remember the mud bowl Strasburg and then Appalachia played that was a heck of a game. We can all set here and debate back and forth and predict scores but it all comes down to the kids on the field. Greensville vs Goochland is a prime example of the game is played between the lines. Any Team can be beaten anyday. Lets just sit back and enjoy some state semi final football
Wasn't it Appalachia who literally burned their field before hosting Madison County in the finals way back? They said it was to dry the field, MC thought it was to slow them down. Odd things happen come play off time!
Never heard that one, but they did bring a helicopter in to hover over it in an attempt to dry it.
Not trying to discount the teams that Clarke played, but browsing their record, they had a few wins over 1-9 nd 0-10 teams. Union faced teams like Richlands (#4 seed in West), David Crockett, Letcher County, JI Burton (won 11 straight after losing by 50 to Union), a decent Wise team, and Graham/Grenta/Glenvar in the playoffs. Clarke might have a great defense, but I doubt its as good Glenvars who gave up less points than Clarke against better teams. And Union only played three teams with losing records, and one was a GateCity team that is much better than the 3-7 record indicates.
And Union has been held under 38 points twice this year, once against Wise in which Union was in the red zone ten times but failed to convert and against Glenvar, where the Bears scored 28 points against the best defense in 2A in terms of PPG allowed.
Clarke may very well win, but Union will score more than two TDs.
Clarke may very well win, but Union will score more than two TDs.
Turner also did a great job of taking his foot off the pedal when the game was out of reach. Union could have scored 100 points on Eastside, Lee and John Battle, but the starters were out in the 3rd quarter. I think any team that put up 42 points on Richlands deserves some recognition, seeing as how Appo only held them to 21.
I'd say that Union is getting plenty of recognition as they are one of the last four teams playing in the semifinals this weekend.
Not to many great records by union opponents either. This is going to be a slugfest. I believe this is the first ever meeting between these two programs. Nothing really to compare teams to. I will say the officials from this area in general suck ass. They were horrible at every game i was at and they are flag happy so both teams will have to be diciplined on flags will fly
I dont disagree, only that I feel that the Union offense is getting overlooked. Union has scored 34 points in every regular season game but one, at Wise (a playoff team), and has been held under 40 once in the postseason by Glenvar.
Do not miscostrue, Clarke is by no means a pushover and can def win the game, only that stopping th Union offense is something no team has done all year, inclunding what was thought of as the best defense in 2A
That is the beauty of playoff football anything can happen at this stage of the season. I just feel that this one is going to come down to a play on special teams
How is Clarke on special teams? Union has a very good HS kicker, and guys capable of returning kicks for TDs and one of the most athletic, electric punt returners and the kick off specialist is great at kicking off, often putting it in the end zone. Punting is the Bears' weakest special teams link.
How are officials assigned for state games, such as the semis and the final? Do they come from local officials associations as during the regular season, or perhaps are they drawn from a neutral area with no bias toward teams playing? Any involvement from VHSL on this?
I just hope its not the crew that called Union/Glenvar. One official grabbed a Union player by the neck aroudn the top of the shoulder pads, it was not something a grown man does to a HS kid. There were not many obvious missed calls and dont believe they wre bias against Union, but the incident was completely inappropriate and the officials were awful buddy buddy with the Highlanders while never speaking to the Union kids at all.
Clarke has a good hs kicker. Kick coverage is good they stick to assignments as far as the punting game it is ok from the few times they punted. I am just hoping for a clean hard hitting football game and that all players come out as healthy as possible since one team will move on and the other will start winter sports
Only game where I wish Union scheduled someone different was Eastside. Pitiful team. I'm thinking the score was 48-6 either early in the 2nd quarter or late in the first. After that, I am pretty certain the starters were taken out. A lot of people knew it would be a blowout.
Regular season records of regular season opponents.
Union:
John I Burton 9-1
Richlands 9-1
Davy Crockett (5A Tenn) 6-4
Ridgeview 6-4
Gate City 3-7 (About the best 3-7 team I've ever seen if there is such a thing)
Lee 5-5
Central (Wise) 7-3
Eastside 2-8
Letcher Central KY 5A 4-6 (I think they were plagued with injuries, not sure)
John Battle 2-8
Union had played some pretty bad opponents. Then again some pretty good ones.
Pretty sure everyone involved with Clarke's team knows how good and high scoring Union's offense is. I think Clarke's defense is looking forward to the challenge. Union will be the best offense seen by Clarke this year.
Union does not punt often either, but our punter has a slow wind up and can take his time and if ateam got a lot of pressure it could be bad news. He can have one GREAT punt, then one 10 yard punt, not very consistent.
I am waiting to see if my Appomattox-Union and Riverheads-Essex predictions will hold but I'm nervous about Clarke County playing spoiler. Should be all great games this weekend! Enjoy!
I am hoping for a Union-Appomattox match up. Two teams that can throw the ball would be a good matchup.
Then your worst nightmare would be a Clarke and Gap matchup!!!!, two teams that like to run and play run defense.
Just read on facebook that the main street leading to Clarke's field will be CLOSED Saturday for a Christmas parade. That'll make getting there a lot of fun!
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