Blacksburg High just won the 3A state championship! They entered the playoffs with a 5-5 record and a 10 seed. They won 5 straight, including victories over the 1 seed Phoebus last week and 4 seed Staunton River this afternoon.
Huge program changing win by the Bruins. I'm proud to be an alum today.
VHSL 3A FINAL SCORE: Blacksburg 28, Staunton River 20. First football title for school since 1989, third overall.— Timesland (@Timesland) December 10, 2016
VHSL 3A FINAL: Blacksburg completes historic run for championship with as many postseason wins as Bruins had in regular season.— Timesland (@Timesland) December 10, 2016
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Awesome win by the local team. Question for y'all who follow high school football. How did a 5-5 team make the playoffs?
Ended strong with huge wins over decent programs. They do it by some kind of complicated points system here.
Their playoff wins were impressive, saw highlights. Wonder if they made some changes during the season because that team looked locked in.
They changed it up after they lost to Salem. Started playing more of their skill players on both side of the ball, changed their defensive scheme a little bit, stopped kicked onsides kicks all the time and started punting of 4th down (they had been doing that leading up to the Salem game, but decided to change to give the defense more confidence)
Started punting on 4th down instead of what? Sounds like Paul Johnson may have had a hand in the non-punting shenanigans, or else they couldn't find a competent punter. Did they kick extra points or go for 2 all the time?
They either went for it if it was less than 4th and 6 or just quick kicked it if it was longer than that.
they didn't have a true punter until the 2nd half of the season. Surprisingly, their kicker/punter is the brother of Carson Wise -- who went to Tech before transferring to a D2 school.
It is a complicated points system... A team can have a bad record, but if they lost to bigger schools early (before conference/district play begins) they will actually receive "playoff points", even for those losses. On the other hand, a team can have a good record while only beating smaller schools and not receive "playoff points" for those wins.
So public schools don't play in "conferences" anymore?
There are still conferences/districts that determine who you play annually. Playoffs take more teams than just the district champs, though. My senior year Strasburg was 7-3 but tied in points with a 6-6 school, so it went to a coin flip. Ended a 10 year playoff streak (which interestingly started in 1987). We had regions back then though, and things made more sense. These new classifications baffle me.
Side note: I don't think we attempted a field goal or extra point until my Jr year. Helps having a dominant RB.
Blacksburg plays in Group 3A, West Region. There are 25 teams in that region, and 16 make the playoffs. Blacksburg was the 10 seed.
This was the last year for 3A. Next year, Blacksburg is being moved to 4A.
Didn't know there was a realignment coming up. Just looked it up, Phoebus is still 3A, was hoping they'd be bumped to 4A. Still find it crazy that a team that was as dominant in Division 5 as long as they were has been relegated to a level where they're significantly less relevant on the state and national level (not to take anything away from Blacksburg's title).
Regardless, the question was "why did they even make the playoffs at 5-5", and the answer is "because way too many teams make the playoffs, almost 2/3 out of the available pool".
I heard from one of the coaches that they were petitioning to stay in 3A next year, they probably don't want to have to play Salem in the playoffs.
From what I saw, looks like the alignment was finalized in August. There were a few other schools that successfully petitioned prior to that, but most had a better reason than "we don't want to play _________ in the playoffs".
I'm 99% certain that's not the official reason. Also, there's a good chance you or someone on here knows more about this stuff than I do, especially since you went to high school in Virginia and I went to high school in Maryland. All I know is that it was brought up in a casual conversation in a group last night, and the guy I know who is a coach on the team said that they would probably be 4a next year but they were petitioning to stay 3a. One of two things happened, either I misheard/misunderstood him, or it's not a done deal yet.
Note, I'm being purposely vague on who's my source as he's given me good information in the past about other things.
Apparently Whit's son Drew is on the team. I guess Babcocks spell victory for anyone with whom they associate!
Mike Goforth and the late Jim Weaver also have sons on the team. I think one of the VT FB coaches also has a son on the team.
5-5 team can get you a state championship trophy? The regular season doesn't mean anything anymore. Everyone gets a participation trophy these days. Grumble grumble.
/s
They're all just exhibition games until you get to
conferenceplayoff games. Am I right? /sBeing from the 757, I read they beat Phoebus and just about lost my shit. Way to go young fellas!! This is a HUGE win for that school
From the 757 as well.
Who's Phoebus?
If you accidentally get off 64 after you come out of the tunnel, you run into Phoebus. I just turn around at McDonald's and on my way.
Next question: who's McDonald?
Phoebus High School in Hampton - a traditional powerhouse in the Peninsula District. I think at one point in the past 5 years or so they've been ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
Before the restructuring of the different divisions in HS football, they and Hampton High school alternated for a ton of state titles. macraw83 would know more since he followed high school football a lot more than I did when we were in high school/college.
Phoebus High and Hampton High had a pretty huge rivalry going through the 2000's. Tyrod Taylor played for Hampton from 2003-06, leading them to a state title in 2005. Phoebus had Tajh Boyd from 2005-08, winning the title in 2006 and 2008 (with the 2008 title kicking off a 47-game win streak ending in 2011). For a good while, Phoebus and Hampton dominated the Division 5 Eastern Region playoffs, with either only losing to the other leading up to the state semis.
We've had a number of players from Phoebus over the years, with the Adibis being the first that come to mind. Currently Marshawn Williams is the only Phantom on the roster.
The Phoebus game was in the state semis. They beat Staunton River HS in the finals, getting revenge for a 61-21 beatdown handed to them in the 1st round in 2015. When I saw that matchup, I figured they had no chance, but then realized they'd just beaten Phoebus.
As a former Indian/Bruin this is pretty sweet! Honestly though, I never thought I'd see it happen in football. Blacksburg has always been a powerhouse in soccer. We've had talent in football but never managed to put it all together. Either way, congrats to the Blacksburg High!
All of Blacksburg fall sports played for a state title this year
Golf, football, boys cross country and girls cross country -- all won their state title
Volleyball made it to the state final.
It's more than just soccer now. Could be an argument for one of the most dominant schools in 3A West athletics wise.
Which is awesome to see happen! Congrats to all the sports teams that won a state title. Not taking anything away from those teams - my point is I'm surprised to see it happen in football, especially given the start to their season. Regardless, it's an amazing accomplishment for the football team and all the programs that won or made it to the state finals.
Absolutely! Sorry, didn't mean to come across as saying you were doing that. I'm just as surprised as you are, to be completely honest
As another Blacksburg alum, it's great seeing all of the athletic teams succeed. You could make an argument that BHS has the most dominant athletic program in entire state, even if you factor in all 6 divisions.
As a Christiansburg guy, congratulations on all the titles this year.
I seem to remember you guys winning state in football with a 5-5 record back in the New River District days, too.
Absolutely. I graduated from Blacksburg High School in 2015 so that's a little old for me to have any knowledge of but pretty crazy given the circumstances in which they won!
I honestly thought Staunton River would run all over them. Congrats to Blacksburg. Hell of a way to finish what was a lackluster season.
As a class of 2010 alum who saw the team make 2 playoff appearances and bow out meekly in each one, then not even make the playoffs my final 2 years there...holy shit this is awesome
As an 2002 alum, I saw some shitty high school football. This is pretty freaking awesome! Congrats to all the kids who won. And to all the kids who have made it to states this year. Pretty pumped right now.
That's really something else having a 5-5 team go on to win the whole thing.
Congrats to the Bruins!
Class of 94, I was at the last state champ game in 89, very cool to see them do it again. it was funny listening to the announcers calling the game naming off all the kids or relatives of guys that were on that 89 team, it was a trip down memory lane.
Congrats to the Bruins! Pretty cool to see them win it all after a mediocre regular season.
My HS (in MD) just won the 3A state title last week as well. 9th overall and 2nd straight!
My Dad played football for BHS (Indians back in those days) in the 70's.
He was pretty proud Alumni! Way to go Blacksburg!
Congrats to Blacksbug! I think it also benefitted the Bruins' that Staunton River runs the Single Wing. The Single Wing epicenter is in Giles, who the Bruins play every year. It takes experience to effectively stop a powerful Single Wing offense, and it seems like Blacksbug used that to hold them to only 3 TDs!
They were blown out by that same team in the opening round the year before (61-21), which may have added some fire for them to figure it out.
Fun fact, I used to listen to them on the radio when I was living in the NRV, including that beatdown in the playoffs. I have since moved to NY, and it's no longer on a local station.