WSET.com - ABC13Carter's Call for December 8, 2010

Whether you're a Hokies fan or not, what Virginia Tech football has done this season is truly remarkable. In fact, it's never been done until now. No major Division One college football team had ever started a season 0-and-2 and then won their next 11 games. The Hokies have now, and they can make it 12 straight wins with a victory over Stanford in the Orange Bowl in Miami January 3rd.

Nobody was thinking Orange Bowl after the Hokies lost to JMU on a rainy, dreary day back in September. I can remember leaving Blacksburg that day and thinking to myself this could be a really rough season for Tech.

Here the Hokies were, losing to the Dukes at home with road games like N.C. State, North Carolina and Miami still ahead. It looked pretty bleak.

But talk about bouncing back in a big way. Despite a number of slow starts and double-digit deficits, the Hokies have found a way to win 11 straight. This season so reminiscent of 1995, when Tech also lost its first two games and roared back to win its last 10 including a Sugar Bowl victory over Texas.

Win or lose against Stanford in the Orange Bowl, Frank Beamer will have very fond memories of what these guys accomplished this year.

And then there were two.

This Saturday is State Championship Saturday for high school football and we've still got two area teams chasing a title.

13-and-0 Eastern Montgomery takes on 12-and-1 Riverheads for the Division One title at noon at Salem Stadium. The second game in Salem at 4:30 pits 12-and-1 Gretna and 11-and-2 Gate City. The Gretna Hawks can lock down a fifth state title in the past eight years with a victory.

The two state finals games at Liberty University are Richlands (the team that beat Brookville 44-7 in the semis)taking on Poquoson at noon for the Division 3 title, followed by Harrisonburg and Briar Woods at 4:30 for the Division 4 title. After watching Richlands rough up Brookville last weekend, Poquoson better bring everything they've got if they want to beat this Blue Tornado bunch.

As always, I welcome your comments and story ideas.

You can drop me a line at dcarter@wset.com.

Dennis Carter