Xcross comes out of hibernation to say something on a Draft thread and doesn't even bring up the clock operator? He must be off his game.
In football: IF Riverheads ends up in the Pioneer it will be terrible. People complain about RHS' easy run now; wait till they are playing Craig and Bath in district games. If Narrows, Covington, and PM are the 'tough' ones.... jeeze. I'd much rather see RHS keep playing ER/Draft/Gap/Wilson/Lee for district titles. I'm sure 3 of those would be picked up for non-district, but if people say the road is easy now......
On a broader look, it's still terrible for all the sports. Trading Luray (furthest at 1:15), Page (1:03), and Stonewall (0:49) for trips to Narrows (furthest at 2:20), East Mont (1:33) and Craig (1:38). And that is the long trips. The closest Pioneer schools are PM, Bath, Covington. Trade those from the cross Augusta County Gap, Draft, and Wilson which are 10-20 min trips.
The gate money will be greatly reduced. More than just football. Football is probably the worst examples, but look at all the other sports. Who is coming from these schools to watch baseball, basketball, volleyball? Maybe PM fans will come but that is it. RHS gets decent crowds for those sports for more than half the schedule. I would also be surprised if the rest of the Shenandoah would be excited to lose RHS fans who tend to travel well.
I sure would like to see the smaller Shenandoah continue on with Riverheads included. It would still be 7 teams, which is what the Pioneer is now. I just don't understand this, IF it is for real. The VHSL might just want to leave things alone here.
