The most perfect thing about high school football is that each year is different. It’s kind of designed that way. High School is a 4-year period of a young person’s life. They achieve the success necessary to move on and then they do just that…move on.
So, each season a coach can talk about the players he has returning but that does not mean a particular outcome, and we are seeing that just one week into the season.
First, there is little Liberty High School in Bedford. Hard to believe that Liberty has turned out two (2) College Division-1 head coaches in Jim Grobe, who coached at Liberty in the 1970s before achieving success as a head coach at Ohio and Wake Forest, and Scott Abel who coached at Liberty in the 1990s before becoming the current head coach at Division 1 Rice. Liberty has had success in football, winning a Group AA, Division 3 state championship in 2002. But success has been fleeting lately until Friday night.
Liberty snapped its 37-game losing streak and they did it in a big way with a 50-16 win over William Campbell. It was Liberty’s first win since 2021 and regardless of what happens the remainder of the season, this season has already been a success. The players can walk a little prouder today and any coach will tell you that just a bit of success is sometimes all it takes.
I’ve said before that Liberty would be better dropping out of the SEC of High School Football known as the Seminole District. Apparently, they requested to do so and move to the Dogwood District and were denied. Now, reality may be hitting Liberty in Week 2 as they host Glenvar. Boy, did the Highlanders serve notice to the rest of Class 2 with a 70-0 win over Galax.
Speaking of Galax, is the school throwing in the towel already? After getting hammered by Glenvar, (its 10th straight loss) Galax has decided to forfeit this week’s home game with Graham. All of this comes less than 2 years removed from a state championship. I get that maybe they don’t have enough healthy bodies and if they don’t, then fine. If you just don’t want to play because you are concerned that Graham will lay 70 points on you, that sends the wrong message. Guess what, your players will face more adversity in life than losing a game by 70 points, and life doesn’t let you quit when it gets tough.
Speaking of Graham, the G-Men had their 15-game winning streak snapped on Friday night losing to Bluefield 20-10. It was Graham’s first loss since the 2023 state semi-finals to Radford and Bluefield’s first win over Graham in 5 years.
That game was the 99th meeting between the two schools, but there’s a small probability that there won’t be a 100th. Graham refused to sign a contract with the City of Bluefield, West Virginia to continue playing its home games at iconic Mitchell Stadium. Instead, they’ll play 1 home game at Tazewell High School, one home game at Richlands High School and 3 home games on a Saturday afternoon on the turf field adjacent to the school. The field has temporary bleachers on the visitors’ side and a new scoreboard donated by Wytheville based Hitachi Energy. The home fans will need lawn chairs or sit on the ground as there are no other bleachers.
Next season, Graham would be the designated home team for the game. That means if they play it won’t be at Mitchell Stadium and to hear Graham’s athletic director, the fate of the 100th meeting remains in doubt. Playing at Graham’s high school field is not feasible as it cannot hold 10,000 people and neighbors are already concerned about noise and parking. Tazewell and Richlands are, I assume, options. I’m all for Graham having a home of its own. I never quite understood why they didn’t anyway. But the two sides need to figure something out and rapidly because this game is too important to the area to let it just go away.
Opening weekend wasn’t so kind to Mountain Empire District teams. Galax, Grayson County, George Wythe, Fort Chiswell, Giles, Auburn and Bland County all lost.
It wasn’t much better in the River Ridge District. Salem, Cave Spring, Hidden Valley, Pulaski County, Christiansburg all lost. The only two winners were Blacksburg which may finally be emerging from wandering in the wilderness the past few years, and Patrick Henry which went into North Carolina to post an opening night win over Southern Alamance, North Carolina.
Salem and opening nights just aren’t mixing well in recent years. The Spartans loss to E.C. Glass was the 5th consecutive opening night loss for Don Holter’s team. They previously lost on opening night to Liberty Christian in 2023 and 2024, and West Virginia powerhouse Martinsburg in 2021 and 2022. Not to mention, Salem last won a state championship in the Spring 2021 (2020) season and 5 years without a title is an eternity in the City of Champions.
There was a time when the biggest rivalry in the Roanoke area was the annual meeting between Salem and Pulaski County. Salem’s Willis White and Pulaski’s Joel Hicks made it must see TV. This is clearly not your father’s Pulaski County program. The field bears Hicks’s name, but the product on the field isn’t anywhere close. Now, I understand high school football is cyclical. Legendary Graham coach Glynn Carlock told me once that you coach what momma sends you and I get that. However, it’s up to you to coach what momma sends you and right now it appears that the once proud Cougar programs is just trying to be mediocre.
You can certainly make a case for Region 3D being in the best in Class 3. Whoever comes out of the Region to make the state semi-finals will have earned it. Magna Vista, Lord Botetourt, and William Byrd are all looking impressive. LB and Byrd will battle it out in the regular season, but the first time either sees Magna Vista is in the post-season. And don’t sleep on Northside. The Vikings opened with a 49-20 win over Pulaski County and with back-to-back trips to Cave Spring and Hidden Valley, there’s a chance Scott Fisher’s team which just three years ago was 0-10 will be 3-0.
All good things come to an end and for Liberty Christian that happened on Saturday. Look, I get it. Public school coaches despise LCA, and they aren’t lining up to play the Bulldogs, so scheduling is nearly impossible outside of the required district games in the Seminole. LCA – just to get 9 games, which is all they’ve had the past two seasons – had to travel to Class 5 Ironton, Ohio on Saturday. High School Football is a serious deal in Ohio so I wouldn’t read too much into a 49-3 loss by LCA to a school about 4 times its size. Come season’s end that may be LCA’s only regular season loss as they look for a third straight Class 3 championship.
LCA paved the way to play in the VHSL for private schools by suing to get an invite. The second one to join is Moneta based Smith Mountain Lake Christian. The Ospreys are part of Region 1B but aren’t playing a full schedule of public schools in their first “public school season”. However, they might have wanted to pick someone better to start with than Riverheads. The Gladiators, back in Class 1, predictably, cruised to an easy win.
Two schools had bye weeks in week 1, Heritage and Alleghany. Alleghany opens with Brookville while Heritage plays the most interesting game of Week 2. Heritage travels to Bridgeport, West Virginia to play the reigning West Virginia AAA champions, the Bridgeport Indians. Heritage Coach Brad Bradley went to college just a few miles away at Glenville State and got his first coaching job at Gilmer County High School in West Virginia. This might feel like a homecoming to Bradley, but Bridgeport runs a loaded Single-Wing offense that makes even the toughest teams look confused. Heritage wins this game, then look out because Bridgeport appears to be on a collision course with Princeton to play for the AAA state title in December in Charleston.