BY TIM HAYES

Bristol Herald Courier

COEBURN ? The Coeburn High School football team will open the season on Aug. 24 with a game at Clintwood.

However, it won't be the typical season opener for the Blue Knights.

After being a Lonesome Pine District school for nearly 50 years (47 years was the count according to research done by boys' basketball coach Jeff Adkins), Coeburn will begin its initial season as a member of the Cumberland District in the 2007-08 school year.

Rivals like Clintwood, Pound, J.J. Kelly and J.I. Burton will now be non-district opponents, while Coeburn will compete for Cumberland District championships with Ervinton, Castlewood, St. Paul and three other schools.

"We're excited about the move and I think the kids are excited," Coeburn football coach Greg Mullins said. "We're going to miss some of the rivals we've played for 50-some years. We're not going to see Powell Valley, Gate City or Appalachia on our schedule, and that's the first time we haven't played Appalachia or Powell Valley in 40-some years.

"We're going to continue to play J.I. Burton, Clintwood, J.J. Kelly and Pound. Those were traditionally our biggest rivals inside the district ... With losing those schools, we're just as excited about starting new rivalries with some teams we've already been playing over the past 5-10 years."

The possibility of those new rivalries, a more even playing field as far as enrollment goes and the new challenge has energized those around the Coeburn athletic program.

"Yeah, I'm excited about it," said Kayla Mitchell, a girls' basketball, softball and volleyball standout at the school.

Ready for the Move

Perhaps nobody is more excited about Coeburn's move to the Cumberland District than Blue Knights softball coach Suzi Atwood.

"I'm from Castlewood, so it's kind of like I'm going home," Atwood said. "They're always had a good tradition of softball in the Cumberland District with Castlewood and St. Paul, too."

The Cumberland will be even stronger with the addition of Atwood's team. The Blue Knights came within a game of reaching the Region D tournament this spring and feature one of the area's top pitchers in Hannah Light.

"Our theme this year was to start a tradition, so we hope to carry that on," Atwood said. "We're really excited about going to the Cumberland."

The thought of being more competitive is appealing to most of Coeburn's athletes.

"I'm excited about possibly competing better than we did before," Coeburn football standout Shane Bright said. "That's in all sports, really."

Bright knows something about good competition. He rushed for over 1,000 yards last year against a LPD schedule that included Southwest Virginia powerhouses like Gate City, Powell Valley, J.I. Burton and Appalachia.

However, Coeburn had just two wins to show for it.

"It's really tough to rebuild in the Lonesome Pine District, just because you play so many tough schools night in and night out," Mullins said. "In a given year, you can have five teams from the LPD that make the playoffs. That means you're talking about five of your seven district games are playoff teams.

"It's a tough road. In the Cumberland, Rye Cove has a really good program, Castlewood and Ervinton split the district championship last year, St. Paul has been strong over the past few years. It's not going to get any easier."

Coeburn will enter the school year as the largest Cumberland District school with 396 students. Under the current numbers, the Blue Knights would have been the fourth-largest LPD school.

"Overall, I think it's going to help our athletic programs ? all the way through from football to baseball and softball," Adkins said. "I think we can compete. Not saying that we're going to win it, just that we can compete. Maybe we get more numbers out that way too.

"That's a big key. Our numbers haven't been the greatest, but maybe winning will bring people out and that will change here."

Like Adkins said, it's not going to be easy for the Blue Knights. Andrew Adkins knows that well.

The head coach's son and the 2007 LPD boys basketball player of the year, he realizes the challenges that await he and his teammates on the hardwood.

"The Cumberland has a great tradition in basketball, so it's going to be a real different change playing over there," Adkins said. "Hopefully, we'll step up to that challenge."

Mullins hopes to meet a similar challenge on the gridiron.

"We're going into my third year and third year with the same coaching staff and with the kids we have coming back, continuity is the biggest thing we have going for us," Mullins said. "Not necessarily a move to a new district, it's the fact we're seeing the same faces day in and day out and building something that we think is going to be successful, no matter where we play."

Region D Restructured

Region D will have a radical new look this year. Coeburn's addition to the Cumberland District now makes it the largest of the Region D's four districts.

The Clinch Mountain District will debut as Lee High, Gate City, John Battle, Lebanon and Virginia High will form the new district. The five schools are the biggest in Region D, with Lee having 797 students in the VHSL's latest enrollment numbers.

"It's shaken things up," Jeff Adkins said. "I think it's unique how they've done it. But I think in the long run, it's going to have to split again [with other schools] coming down [to Group A]."

As for Coeburn, the move will take some adjustments for the school's fan base "? but that excitement that the coaches and players mentioned is prevalent.

"They're excited," Adkins said. "If you look at all the sports, they haven't been down, but we've been in the middle of the pack ... A lot of people are excited about this move. Some are taking the standoffish approach ? of let's stand back and wait and see. If we have a pretty good football year, it's just going to be a stream roll and get everybody excited."

That quest and the beginning of a new era at Coeburn begins Aug. 24