Clintwood vs Galax, State Championship Predictions

[Moe Jontana]

Deon George will burn you for a 50yd TD in the air. Galax 42 > Clintwood 14

42 pts. off one 50yd. td catch? damn, Galax is good. maybe Clintwood can get one 50yd. run and tie it up, then score a td in overtime and win 84-42.

[TheBeast]

Galax would have been a West team though.

That's what I meant with the new seeding system you can get what we have with two west teams and no switching. So I would imagine higher seed gets to wear home colors, other than that it don't matter with the neutral site.

[homerun15]

No doubt Clintwood is big and apparently hits hard, that is just smash mouth football, who doesn?t like that. Galax is undersized, not that fast, poor tackling, no run defense. It appears to be a no brainer; Galax is the weaker team,the underdog, and should lose. No pressure on undefeated Galax, this is their first trip in football. Clintwood However, 3rd trip in 4 years and the much bigger hard hitting team should win. Galax is not an underdog according to this message board and others, they simply arent that good and beat weak teams. So if Galax wins it appears it will be the biggest upset ever, Clintwood losing to a small, soft hitting team would be total embarrassment.

It will be cool watching coach Mark Dixon on the sidelines with some of his ex-Miami Dolphin team mates supporting the Tide.

[UnIoNfAn]

Galax deserves praise for making it this far just like Clintwood does. Both teams have won games that everyone figured they wouldnt and both teams are deserving of where they are. My biggest point to be made is this, heart goes a long way and the Wave have proven there heart. Back in week one through week three nobody (including me) would have ever thought Clintwood would be playing for this season's championship. When playoffs hit nobody (including me) figured Clintwood would make it past some of the teams they beat, but after beating George Wythe (preseason and most of the regular season top pick for A D1) and then going to Sussex and not only winning but shutting down for the most part what was one of Virginia's top offenses in D1 I feel that the Green Wave have more than proven that they are capable of winning any given game any given week. The Wave have faced the doubters face on and proved them to be wrong. Its been said for years that SWVA's style of football cant handle the speed game of up east and that our "out of date" plays and coaching cant do what it takes to win consistantly. That point was proven with the losses by Clintwood to Buffalo Gap, JIB to Franklin and other eastern schools over the past 10 years as well as Appalachia's loss to William Cambell and Powell Valley's loss to Manassas Park (northern school but still...). Wait one minute though, Buffalo Gap out numbered Clintwood and is now D2 where they should have been then. Same goes for William Cambell. That still leaves the Manassas Park victory and JIB's short comings to explain away. Simple, Manassas Park was just a better team that day than Powell Valley was, and Powell Valley ran the spread that season not the I. Lets face it JIB dont play smashmouth football so their losses dont even add into this equation of Smash mouth vs Speed. Take into concideration the State Championships won in the last 10 years in D1 and D2 and 70% if not more were won by hard hitting teams. Gatecity, Gretna, Buffalo Gap, and so on..... these teams were run it down your throat type teams not finesse speed teams. Manassas Park is one of the few speed teams to win. Franklin bashes the ball up the gut. It looks to me that the numbers are in favor for the team that is bigger stronger and has more heart. We know that clintwood is bigger than Galax and stronger than Galax. We also know Clintwood wont lay down, they have the heart to play no matter the score. My questions are, can Galax take getting hit over and over and over no matter the score? Can they score if Clintwood controlls the ball? and can Galax stop two of the biggest backs in the state? To me it comes down to Clintwood not getting rattled and playing Clintwood football. If the Wave can controll the ball and both lines of scrimage (which they did against George Wythe and Sussex) then I see no reason why the LPD wont be the home of yet another State Champion team

[1inStripes]

Actually William Campbell is D1 still. They are similar in size to Eastside.

[TheBeast]

Also weren't most of the teams JIB played 2-3 times their size and would be D2 now also?

[centennialdawg]

No doubt Clintwood is big and apparently hits hard, that is just smash mouth football, who doesn’t like that. Galax is undersized, not that fast, poor tackling, no run defense. It appears to be a no brainer; Galax is the weaker team,the underdog, and should lose. No pressure on undefeated Galax, this is their first trip in football. Clintwood However, 3rd trip in 4 years and the much bigger hard hitting team should win. Galax is not an underdog according to this message board and others, they simply arent that good and beat weak teams. So if Galax wins it appears it will be the biggest upset ever, Clintwood losing to a small, soft hitting team would be total embarrassment.

It will be cool watching coach Mark Dixon on the sidelines with some of his ex-Miami Dolphin team mates supporting the Tide.

Hello Bobby!

[1inStripes]

Also weren't most of the teams JIB played 2-3 times their size and would be D2 now also?

Only Riverheads that I can think of. I think Riverheads and Buffalo Gap were both D2 now. Franklin, William Campbell and Altavista I believe are all D1 still.

[UnIoNfAn]

most of the teams that JIB played are still D1. You are correct about William Cambell. But that still brings us to the point that its been the "up the gut" nard nosed teams that won. As i mentioned the other schools are bigger and that was there biggest edge. Now with the playoffs the way they are the schools are even sized and more fair. But the point of the message is that its the Grinding teams that win not the finesse teams. Over 70% of the state champions in D1 and D2 in the past 10 years play Clintwoods (and the rest of the LPD) style ball. Its not the finesse speed teams that win the most, its the power teams that win. Thats why my faith is in the Greeen Wave to win due to power football.

[UnIoNfAn]

Only Riverheads that I can think of. I think Riverheads and Buffalo Gap were both D2 now. Franklin, William Campbell and Altavista I believe are all D1 still.

Riverheads plays hard hitting ball, Buffalo Gap and Ole Pickle Nicholes ran between the tackles, Franklin and Devon Babbs ran right at ya, Altavista im not sure of how they played and William Campbell was a speed team. Gatecity is a smashmouth team, Gretna played like we always do hard hitting. So hard hitting teams tend to win these games.