G-Men face talented Radford at Christiansburg High School today

Dec. 2—BLUEFIELD, Va. — Down the road on the other side of the state line, the Princeton football team had been celebrated by students and fans earlier in the day yesterday in a pep rally.

The Tigers were about to embark on their journey to Wheeling for today's state championship game meeting with Class AAA juggernaut Martinsburg.

For the G-Men this is a state semifinal week — the fifth state semifinal appearance under head coach Tony Palmer. The VHSL state championships won't be played until next weekend at Salem City Stadium in Salem, Va.

Region 2D champion Graham (12-1) travels to Christiansburg, Va. today to face Region 2C champion Radford (13-0) in a VHSL Class 2 'half-state' showdown at the Blue Demons' George Porterfield Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

"We're just going to treat it like a normal game," said Graham head coach Tony Palmer, who supervised a routine walk-through practice on Friday and expected the team to depart for Christiansburg without much fanfare this morning.

The game is not being played in Radford due to issues with their home field's visitors' side seating.

Graham fans had been planning for a massive turnout, but otherwise nothing on the scale of Princeton's send-off party was in the works. Not that Palmer begrudges the Tigers any of the excitement they're generating.

"We're really happy for Princeton and happy for their community ... that they're getting the opportunity to compete for a state title. Those are things that are earned. Nobody gives you that," said Palmer, who led the G-Men to Class 2 state championships in 2018 and 2022.

"Coach Taylor has done a good job over there with that bunch. They have a bright future and we wish them nothing but the best," he said.

Virginia's five-week playoff gauntlet appears a bit excessive to some West Virginia observers. It seems excessive to some Virginia football coaches to this day.

The VHSL added the additional week to playoffs in the 2007 season. The rationale was to afford greater opportunity for more teams to experience post-season play. The expanded bracket also generates an increase in overall post-season gate revenues.

Obviously, merely making it to a VHSL state championship game is a brag-worthy physical ordeal — win or lose at the end. Relatively few programs have made 15-0 runs since the current playoff format was introduced. Graham is one of those programs.

During the 2023 regular season, Graham has fought through some injuries — including the unfortunate loss of Sean Hughes. But the youngsters on the squad have been thrown into the fire and built depth that could come in handy this deep into the playoffs.

"They've played a lot of football this year. We have younger guys that were forced to play ... and they've responded well. We're certainly proud of those guys," said Palmer, whose squad defeated regional rival Union 33-24 in last week's Region 2D championship game at Big Stone Gap, Va.

Defending VHSL Class 2 offensive Player of the Year Ty'Drez Clements rushed for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns in that game. Quarterback Dalton Roberts passed economically for 98 yards, including a touchdown pass to Chris Edwards.

Myles Rayley, Daniel Jennings, Yubrenal Isabelle and Kaden Rhotenberry led the defense.

"We think we played better. We left some points back there we could've got. But we're a young team and we're improving every week. That's our goal," said Palmer, whose team avenged its only regular season loss.

"It was a quality win. We were beat up the last time we played [Union]. It was a game that proved to ourselves and everybody else that we can still play. I think we won the line of scrimmage. That was the biggest difference," he said.

The Bobcats come into today's game following a 29-24 victory over longtime rival Glenvar at Norman G. Lineburg Field in Radford that wasn't secured until 10 seconds remaining in the game.

The Bobcats are led by Head Coach Michael Crist, who came to Radford by way of an eight-year head coaching post at Virginia High. He is the son of Dave Crist, who coached 40 seasons at Blacksburg and won a Group AA state championship in 1977. Dave was a friendly rival of Norm Lineburg, who led Radford to the second (1971) and third (1972) Class AA state championships of the modern VHSL playoff era.

"He comes from a coaching tree, man," Palmer said. "His dad was still coaching at Blacksburg when I played. His older brother, who I played against in high school, is coaching at Virginia Tech right now."

Graham last faced Radford on a football field in 2018. Matthew Saunders was head coach at the time.

"That's a good high school. They're pretty good in practically everything they do. They've got some good athletes," Palmer said. "They've got good sports programs, for sure."

Last week's regional title win was Radford's first football trophy-taking victory after a significant lull. Needless to say, Michael Crist fits within the "Six Degrees of Lineburg" radius and is eager to put another state championship trophy in the Bobcats' trophy case while the brass is still molten.

Radford's wide open spread attack offense is led by quarterback Landen Clark, whose 22-yard touchdown pass to Luke Woodward was the game winner against the Highlanders.

Clark was impressive, completing 27 of 39 pass attempts for 279 yards and two scoring strikes. He also rushed for 114 yards on 13 carries, including a 67-yard touchdown run. Max Kanipe led Bobcats pass-catchers with 13 receptions for 138 yards and a TD. Sincere Taylor had six catches for 70 yards.

"They're impressive. They're loaded with athletes and have great team speed. It will be a tough game for us," said Palmer.