Magna Vista should be in the mix next year. A lot of talent returning. Lord Botetourt should be up there too.
Yes Northside should be very competitive next season. Other than Brookville I believe Northside has more returning starters than anyone in west as far as 3A goes. I believe LB has had 2 undefeated JV seasons. Huge offensive and defensive lines for that age. They will be fine up front for years.
LB has a great tradition for quality line play.
Brookville was my thought too. I know they have a lot of weapons back. They have a huge whole to fill at QB though. Who is expected to step in at QB? How many return on the O/D lines?
I do agree with you in part but as far as haveing a "balanced attack on O". Staunton Rivers single wing during the 2016, 2017 campaigns produced 26 wins,only 40 completed passes, 50.5 points per game, and 490 yards per game. Like you said the pass does keep the defense honest and most of SR's passes resulted for big yardage or touchdowns. Also 2017 Army had a 10 win season with a bowl victory and only 20 completed passes on the year.
in this day time with the spread offenses pass and run not just run 40 times and pass 3 or 4 times its hard to win like that and more athletic and fast and not just big 300 pounds but slow.thats how Hopewell won run 25 pass 15 or 20.
You said that is hard to win with a run 40 times and pass 3 or 4 times but that is exactly what Staunton River did over the past two years. You can't argue with facts, statistics and wins. When it comes to winning it doesn't matter which type of offense that you run but it's effectiveness. With the above mentioned statistics no one could not say that style of offense was not effective. Teams knew they were going to run the ball, stack the box and still couldn't stop it. In 2016 there was about a 5 or 6 game stretch that they did not attempt a pass and still won all of those games.
I definitely agree with both of you. IMAO a good effective defense is the greater deciding factor of a successful football team as apposed which style of offense you should run to be successful. As long as your offense scores. *(Yes you must score) As previously posters have debated saying that you can't have a run heavy offense and not be successful is not true. SR's hybrid single wing, defenses knew they were going to run it 99.9% but had difficulty stoping it. In the case of SR semi game loss against Heritage, SR scored 35. A 35 point total would have won both 3A and 4A state championships. *(not saying they would have scored 35 in either of those games).
And the style of offense that Heritage and Louisa ran played right into the hands of a good run stopping defense. Had Heritage or Louis been able to throw the ball effectively then the outcomes may have been different. The same can be said if a team throws the ball 90% of the time and they run into a great pass defense team and they aren't able to run the ball effectively, they too would probably lose the game.
I can't speak for the Louisa football team(never seen them play) but as for Heritage there were a very one dementional team. They spread you out and basically played seven on seven with a great athlete in Davis in the backfield. It was a simple offence that could easily be defeated when it comes up against a fast, athletic (Hopewell). Also the opposite is with to much passing.(Western Albemarle)
These posts are soooo hilarious. You originally said it was a balanced offense that made a team successful. Then you say in another post that it is defence that losses football games. So which one is it. I would like to hear your opinion on how this team won 26 games in 2 years. We all come on hear to talk about fall high school sports. We may disagree but we should never disrespect. Maybe when you have a better knowledge of the game and make some sense with your comments you should come back. Not mad at you thought
Thanks Mike. Finally, someone gets it. This is exactly what I was saying from the beginning!
Actually Mike Salem said something that I've been saying all along that you didn't mention at all ".....and of course defense has always been key." My point is its not the balance of your offense but the balance of your offences/defense. You have to be equally as good on both sides of the ball. SR scored 35 against Heritage in the semifinals and lost. In the championship game against Heritage, Hopewells (spread) was limited to 2 touchdowns. There game winkng score came off a pick six (defense) Another important variable we have not discussed match ups. IMOA some teams just simply match up better better than other teams.
That s all I've been trying to say. It's not the type or style of offense you run. *as long as it's successful. But the balance of a good offense and defense.
LOL I guess you missed the rest of the entire paragraph where Mike talked about how a balanced offense seems to matter more nowadays when the games matter more, i.e. state championships.
I see all of your points and agree with many parts. As you mentioned, if a one dementional team that is run heavy (like SR) is so easly defenseable then how was SR putting up such insane numbers? I do agree that run heavy offenses like LB, WB and Heritage can be more easily prepaid for defensively. There plays where often times simple and predictable. Those coaches did do a good job of knowing there players strengths. They would run their athlete's in space (Heritage, WB), run with power (LB). Imo SR's single wing was anything but predictable. Now with that said, the times l did see SR struggle was at times play calling became predictable. SR problem was on the defensive side of the ball. They were much improved from 16 to 17 but lacked speed. Also most everyone played both sides of the ball due to lack of depth.
Balanced offence and overall balance on both sides of the ball, if you play for the ring you've got to be good in all phases of the game, I'm an old offensive line coach, I cut my teeth on three yards and a cloud of dust, when MV went spread it changed my thinking, putting your athletes in space and speading the D works. And if you've got a defense that gives you the ball back with field position that's gravy on the biscuits. Numbers that allow you to play mostly one way helps,two way players get beat up and it hurts late in the season.
