For the second straight season, Bland County’s Bears are one-and-done in Region C football competition.

Bland County got another outstanding performance from senior Josh Shrader and the Bears won their first ever outright MED championship with a 29-14 win over Grayson County in Independence on Nov. 7.

“Bear season opens 10-31-08. Beat down in Bastian. Go Pioneers! Beat Bland County.” Those were the words on the rotating message board that a Fort Chiswell business adjacent to Interstate 81 had going all last week

Bland County and Galax have turned their annual gridiron meeting into a new sport, at least when they meet in Galax.

If Bland County’s day had went like to game’s opening kickoff, Bears’ coach Harris Hart might have left Concord University’s football stadium scratching his head in wonderment.

Bland County’s Bears lived up to their pre-game billing by the Roanoke Times, becoming bad news for homestanding Craig County on Sept. 26 in New Castle.

Picked by many so-called football prognosticating media and internet experts to be run off the field by Twin Valley, the Bears County Bears defied the odds by winning their fourth consecutive opener in Harris Hart’s four years, shutting out the Panthers for the second straight season by a 33-0 score on Aug. 22 in Bastian

With all the negativity in the news anymore, be it the war in Iraq to domestic violence to child abuse to gas prices, what’s needed every now and again is a feel-good story.
The following is simply that, the story of a former Bland County Bears football player whose life God chose to spare in a violent motorcycle crash a couple of months ago.
Zach Perkins was enjoying a day with friends, riding for a cause. He and several of his ‘biker buddies’ were returning home on May 26 after participating in the Ride for the Wall Memorial. A brief moment in time quickly changed the young man’s life as well as anyone whom he called family and friends.

Thirteen miles—that’s roughly the distance between Rocky Gap and Bland, or Bland and Wytheville. Thirteen miles is how far your Hummer will take you on a gallon of gas. Thirteen miles made Ryan Bradberry wonder if his young life was about to end.

The Mountain Empire District has announced its All-District selections for the 2008 baseball season.