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Historical question for James Monroe & Courtland fans. And Spotsylvania effects.

V

Virginia HS Football Fan

Senior
Jun 8, 2001
1,589
721
98
Does anyone know if James Monroe’s football program benefitted from The Great Annexation of 1983? I’m curious to know if anyone who was playing football at Courtland or would have played at Courtland ended up playing at James Monroe due to Fredericksburg’s four-plus mile annexation of Spotsylvania during that time.

And what a crazy time in this region. Spotsylvania went from having near-misses in the regional finals in the 1970s to Valley schools (namely Harrisonburg) to Courtland opening in 1980 to split the county’s high school population to Fredericksburg taking over 2000 Spotsylvania residents in 1983.

Almost makes you think of what could have been if Spotsylvania had remained a one high school county for a bit longer. The drawback is that it would have undoubtedly been bumped up to AAA and things would have gotten super tough super quick.

Curious to see if there are any regional history buffs who could add any insight because this stuff is fascinating to me.
 
H

Hales Bottom

Sophomore
Jan 12, 2025
150
108
43
Spotsylvania in 1991 beat one of the best Salem teams I've ever seen led by a giant fullback that gashed the Spartans and that Spartan defense was good. The Spartan offense was also good. I couldn't believe what I saw. Salem had Marcus Parker too.
 
N

numb3rs2

Redshirt
Jan 14, 2026
15
9
3
Hales Bottom said:
Spotsylvania in 1991 beat one of the best Salem teams I've ever seen led by a giant fullback that gashed the Spartans and that Spartan defense was good. The Spartan offense was also good. I couldn't believe what I saw. Salem had Marcus Parker too.
Click to expand...
It's still an all time shocker. I'd rate that Salem team as the equal or near equal of the 1998 and 2015 teams, which are generally considered the best. In addition to Parker, there were several others who would be considered all-time greats such as Brad Bradley. Stephen Magenbauer would've been a senior that season if he hadn't been injured, though Tra Wilson was phenomenal at QB. Salem preferred smaller, quicker defensive linemen and were vulnerable to big bruisers.

On the main topic, I agree it would've been interesting to see what Ken Brown could've accomplished in the early 1980s with an undiluted talent pool in AAA, though Courtland did win AAA-5 in 1987.
 
H

Hales Bottom

Sophomore
Jan 12, 2025
150
108
43
numb3rs2 said:
It's still an all time shocker. I'd rate that Salem team as the equal or near equal of the 1998 and 2015 teams, which are generally considered the best. In addition to Parker, there were several others who would be considered all-time greats such as Brad Bradley. Stephen Magenbauer would've been a senior that season if he hadn't been injured, though Tra Wilson was phenomenal at QB. Salem preferred smaller, quicker defensive linemen and were vulnerable to big bruisers.

On the main topic, I agree it would've been interesting to see what Ken Brown could've accomplished in the early 1980s with an undiluted talent pool in AAA, though Courtland did win AAA-5 in 1987.
Click to expand...
I agree. Magenbauer's loss was huge with his injury. Bradley could ball. That Salem team drummed some great teams like Graham and Lee High earlier. Spotsy did everything right that game. Just run, play defense, control the clock, don't turn over. Played a perfect game. I think that's the best Salem team I've ever seen second only to 2015. I think they were slightly better than the 2008 team, but just my opinion. Salem's 1989 team was also great and Magenbauer's injury in 89 hurt in the playoffs and not having him his senior year in 91 hurt, otherwise I think they have 2 more state titles in their history. Got to hand it to Spotsy. They balled out that game.
 
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