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Mountain Valley Football 2017 Pre Season Talk

usausausa

Posted 1:54 pm, 07/06/2017

Elkin, Ashe and WC had the three best middle school teams last season and it wasn't close. Elkin and CW were very similar but Ashe was the better team of the three. Elkin has some great talent coming up and some speed. Joraye Morrison from WC a rising 9th grader was the best-individual player I've seen at that level personally not a very long time. He will do big things for the Eagles. Brennan Robinson I believe is his name is a guy to look out for for Elkin.

ModernDayWarrior

Posted 4:48 am, 07/06/2017

Gotta ? for all the folks who seen the middle school squads last year; how will the freshman classes look in the MVAC this year?

I've heard a lot about Ashe and Elkin's freshman. I've seen East Wilkes's and Ashe's at 7 on 7's but that's not a complete way to see talent. Ashe looked like they will be much better especially on D. East's guys played very hard but they looked young. But are the Elkin rumors legit? Will they be playing JV or will they be moved up very early like what happened to Strickland's class in 2011?

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 1:41 pm, 07/01/2017

Anything would be an improvement.

TOOMUCH1234

Posted 8:36 pm, 06/30/2017

pacman3

Posted 10:13 am, 06/30/2017

Well i will agree with you on this . all i know is if EAST WILKES with with the number of students they have can go out and get a new coach and start winning and winning big there is something wrong in ASHE .When kids stop playing after one year AND I MEAN GOOD KIDS AND GOOD ATHLETES there is something wrong. Its not always the kid that is wrong . I think a HOUSE CLEANING IS NEEDED AT ASHE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FROM THE TOP DOWN . You have to think about the kids and not just beating your time for retirement. If the future Ashe county high parents wants there kids to be a student and a athlete you need to voice your concerns and i don't mean to the AD. SCHOOL BOARD AND BE LOUD.

If Ashe County needs a good house cleaning, I know 2 that willing come out of retirement do it from Wilkes. They did it at North few years back.

pacman3

Posted 10:13 am, 06/30/2017

Well i will agree with you on this . all i know is if EAST WILKES with with the number of students they have can go out and get a new coach and start winning and winning big there is something wrong in ASHE .When kids stop playing after one year AND I MEAN GOOD KIDS AND GOOD ATHLETES there is something wrong. Its not always the kid that is wrong . I think a HOUSE CLEANING IS NEEDED AT ASHE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FROM THE TOP DOWN . You have to think about the kids and not just beating your time for retirement. If the future Ashe county high parents wants there kids to be a student and a athlete you need to voice your concerns and i don't mean to the AD. SCHOOL BOARD AND BE LOUD.

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 2:53 pm, 06/29/2017

Lack of talent, Lack of Coaching, Lack of leadership on the team, Lack of Coaching......did I mention the Lack of Coaching and the Lack of Talent and screwed up priorities.

You can't put all of your eggs in one basket and expect good things to happen. Just like last year, it was all about the QB and his numbers, his passing %, his rushing yards, His personal preseason rankings, his year end stats and national ranking. He is a good athlete dont get me wrong but if the emphasis wasn't on him then how does a team with a player with those numbers go 4-7.

This year it will all about the #1 Wide receiver. No one will care if they win or lose as long as he has 20 receptions and 200yds and 3-4 TD's per game.

It because the focus in Ashe County is offense, passing yds and passing TD's, passer rating, completion percentages. The coaches placed all of that stuff above the team and the team winning. It didn't matter if they lost as long as he had 400 yds passing and 200 yds rushing per game. If you have a TEAM/Coaches with that mentality they will never succeed. If you disagree your blind, just come sit in the stands and watch it objectively. If you don't wont to waste the $5.00 on admission (which I wouldn't blame you) Just spend a few minutes listening to Hampton spit his BS on the radio on Mondays. As always, "well we fought hard, we gave it a good effort defensively we really tried our best to stop the other team. But the QB did go 54/72 passing for 882 yards, 5TD's, 6 interceptions and 4 fumbles (wait, the negative stats are never mentioned, sorry) and he rushed for 227 yds and 2 TD which are all school records" but we still lost by THIRTY!!!
But we will get back after it again on Monday and be better on defense by Friday night even though we don't tackle to the ground in practice or really even do much full contact hitting. If you want to be a solid tackling football team you practice it just like route running (Lord knows we practice that enough). If you want to be a physical team then you practice hitting. If you want to run the ball you have to practice run blocking against another live human being and the running backs have to practice getting hit.

This entire program makes me sick!!! There is way to much talent at that school to ever have a losing season. But what kid, in there right mind, would want to play for a coaching staff who values them less than another kid on the team.

pacman3

Posted 11:10 am, 06/28/2017

TryinToFindTheOne why do you think ashe will last this year.

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 9:11 am, 06/28/2017

I think its going to end up more like this:
1. East Wilkes
2. Wilkes Central
3. North Wilkes
4. West Wilkes
5. Starmount
6. Elkin
7. Alleghany
8. trAshe County

Cardinalpride555

Posted 4:47 pm, 06/27/2017

Mark my words this is how the conference standings will end up
1. East Wilkes
2. Wilkes Central
3. Ashe
4. Starmount
5. West Wilkes
6. Elkin
7. Alleghany
8. North Wilkes

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 10:10 pm, 06/26/2017

Finally someone who understands football and knows what they are talking about.

EWfan

Posted 5:57 pm, 06/15/2017

If all you have to crow about is beating Elkin and Starmount last year you are in for a long season!

GreighDog

Posted 12:12 pm, 06/15/2017

TryinToFindTheOne, again your point is flawed. If they had coached all the kids they would have had a better chance of sustaining the injuries?

Okay, well, all they did after losing Shuler, Price, Coldiron, and Shepherd (all starting wide receivers at the begging of the season) was go on and put a beatdown on Starmount with all new wide receivers and then a School record 73 points the next week on Elkin. Again, almost all of those kids are coming back on that offense that started at the end of the season aside from QB and one offensive lineman.

The JV team struggled last year because they were pretty much all Freshman. Almost the entire varsity offensive line were sophomore's last year. The senior class this year is another small group, but the Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman Class looks okay.

sportsfan1230

Posted 10:40 am, 06/15/2017

I think you guys can blame the coaches all you want, BUT I think you are forgetting that the kids these days are a total different bred than what they use to be. A lot of the down fall in this system is the ungrateful, spoiled kids that we are raising today. They (including parents) don't know how to handling coaches breathing down their son/daughter's neck and pushing them to the extreme or they become upset with the coach putting their kid in a position that they don't like to play( or even benched for that matter), because Johnny Boy is in that position. Parents make it too easy for kids just to walk away and not become committed to anything anymore. These kids have a rude awakening when it comes to life, because sports on the High School level teaches you about life. I am a parent of a high school child and see this every day. Go ahead and blame a coach, but there are parents out there that are just as much to blame. I have tried to teach my child to not be a quitter and be respectful towards every coach and above all go out and do your personal best and play EVERY game as if it's your last! If the home front will do their job, then more kids will be committed to play, the coaches will coach better because the team is motivated and ready to play and your success rate will be high! After all, isn't that what everyone wants?

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 2:06 pm, 06/14/2017

badguy,
I take it your an 8th grade parent. And youre right they did roll everyone in the conference BUT they are coached in a different way and at a different level when they get to high school. Less quality, less time, less of everything. Why do you think every year there are less and less kids and not just underclassman but upperclassman as well (3 this year alone)!! It's a continuing trend year after year......

Middle school=The best football in the county!!!

badguy

Posted 11:26 am, 06/14/2017

Ashe will be a bottom feeder for the forseeable future? Their 8th grade team embarrassed every other middle school team in the conference this year. They may have a down year this year, but the future is pretty bright

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 12:18 pm, 06/13/2017

GreighDog, That was a good article you wrote. But IMO Ashe will be the bottom feeders of the conference for the foreseeable future. Say what you want to about their past QB and all the injuries leading to the failure of what was last year. That's when coaching, wait, I mean good coaching come into play. You have to coach ALL the players on your team because you never know when your gonna need that kid to step up and play. Ashe is notorious for only coaching a few kids and letting the others figure it out or just let them sit the bench and watch. Had all of those other kids last year been coached to play they would've had a better chance to absorb the injuries. It starts with JV program, coach them to win and you'll have a confident bunch of kids coming to varsity when it's time for them to play. Ashe's JV program get 1/3 the coaching as the varsity does and therefore they produce 1/3 the wins. 1/3 of 4 isn't very many wins. Losing breeds losing and it's already started!!

They will be lucky to beat Alleghany and Elkin this year and they have a very real chance of not winning a single game!!

ModernDayWarrior

Posted 6:03 pm, 06/02/2017

NC Prep's mod reported that Alleghany's hired Noah Lyon to be their new HC. Not much is known on him besides that.

GreighDog

Posted 2:23 pm, 05/29/2017

Okay, so on a couple of things I completely disagree with the previous post. Fist off, the Alleghany thing, if anything Piscopo is the possible hire. I don't see Hampton leaving for multiple reasons, nor should he. Piscopo however is currently the OC at Ashe county and a very young coach. I've seen on other prep sites his name mentioned, but I have no idea if the Trojans are interested. He could definitely bring some energy to the Trojans just because of his youth, and I wonder what Ashe would do moving forward if this were to happen. He played Quarterback at Alleghany in the mid 2000’s and then went on to Emory & Henry College in VA and became the schools starting quarterback for a few seasons. All Ashe county’s done since he’s been there is average over 30 point per game all three seasons (the only team in the MVAC to do so) and rank among the top teams in the entire state in passing yards and efficiency. Although I think that would be a great hire, I don’t think it’s a probable one. I’m pretty sure Piscopo is not certified to teach, and with Sessoms gone they probably are looking for an Athletic Director / Head Coach hire.


As far as Ashe goes, last season was one of the most injury filled and emotionally filled season I can recall coming from Ashe county. Hampton had a lot of things he had to deal with last year, a lot of it just felt unlucky honestly. A lot of kids got playing time last season for the Huskies, if you look at the starting lineup from week one to week eleven, it would look like two entirely different teams. Those injury’s came at critical positions for the Huskies as well, their starting running back Skye Sullivan is out for the season before week one with a back injury, then their top two wide receivers Dante Shuler and Judd Price both go down with season ending injuries by week 4. Other key wideouts suffer injuries, Shepherd is out with a collar bone, Corbin Coldiron breaks his foot, and Simon Houck got knocked out of the Alleghany game (that's 5 staring wide receivers out with injuries at multiple points). Defensively, Tristen Jones missed multiple games and Dylan Little on the defensive line broke his collar bone. Emotionally, the loss of a former player in the middle of the season doesn’t help things.

All you have to do is look at week 6-7 for the Huskies. Rain on Friday night moves their West Wilkes game to a Monday night, meanwhile East Wilkes played that Friday night giving them the whole week to prep and even come to the west game if they choose. On Monday the team goes to Luis Ramos’s funeral, then later that night travels to play West Wilkes. That night Dante Shuler breaks his collar bone and the Huskies can’t keep up with the Blackhawks after that. Now it’s Tuesday and the coaching staff decides to bring up Kia Cristopherson from the JV team and tries to get him comfortable on a short week. Then, on Thursday the day before the Friday game vs East Wilkes, Coldiron breaks his foot leaving the Huskies looking for another wideout to teach in less than 24 hours. On Friday night the team looks completely out of sync (for obvious reasons) and also a little depressed (also, for obvious reasons).

So here’s the good news, when you ask where will the production come from, you can make the argument that its the same kids who produced last year. All the kids they lost from last years team were hurt by week 4. A lot of kids played last season and by looking at the Elkin game there were only 3 sr's on that starting offense (an offense that put up a school record 73 points in that game) Lineman Ethan Shepherd, receiver/running-back Matthew Greer (Greer was really more of a defensive player, was moved to O because of injuries) and of course Quarterback Colin Ellis. The Huskies, when healthy, we easily the best team in our conference last year offensively. Again, statistically they averaged more PPG and YPG than any team in the MVAC. Thompson, Christopherson, Richardson, Shepherd, Coldiorn, Houck, and Mullis all return at WR for the Huskies. So when you ask who will be producing on the offense, there is your answer.

Ellis will be huge shoes to fill, no doubt, but something tells me that Luke Hudler will play well for the Huskies. I have a strong feeling Hudler will put up great numbers in a QB loaded confrence. That system always allows the QB to be effective and Hampton/Piscopo have done a great job with QB’s. The problem for the Huskies is their defense, but I honestly don't think it will be worse than last year. Ashe was super young last year, and with another year under their belt, the defense should improve. Honestly, beacuse there is no where else to go other than up. As I said Ashe county led the conference in scoring last season despite all those injuries, however, they also gave up over 500 points last year (only Elkin was worse). A strength for Ashe should be up front, really the youngest part of their team last year with Kemp and Richardson both sophomores so maybe the age and experience will help the Huskies this next season. Look for Grant Thomspon at wideout to be the leader of the team this season. Grant is another wide receiver in the program who had a 1,000 receiving season as a JR, and he is an All-Conference receiver.

TryinToFindTheOne

Posted 12:58 pm, 05/18/2017

Maybe Hampton from Ashe Co. will take it!!! I'd write him a glowing letter of recommendation just to help him out......of Ashe County.

I'm sure Ashe will be doing what Ashe has been doing for a while now....throwing the ball 50 times a game. The question is where is the production in this offense going to come from. And on defense.....they weren't good last year and will be even worse this year.

The glory days are over in Ashe County as a matter of fact they've been over since 2014!!

ModernDayWarrior

Posted 1:11 pm, 05/16/2017

The prep sports sites have reported that Frank Sessoms is out at Alleghany after 6 seasons and a 30-46 record. Didn't state if he resigned or retired. Record isn't impressive but what he did there was. Went deep in 2013 and was 1A west runner up in 2014.

Going to be an important hire for Alleghany. A wrong move will bring them back to the dire straights of 2004-2010 but a good pick will make them competive in 1A again. This is very late in the pre-season regardless.

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