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Picking an "All" any kind of team is always a

difficult assignment. Selecting the individual players for the

VirginiaPreps.com Region IV All-Decade football team was no easy assignment.

Always known for tough and talented football teams, the Region has seen its

share of standouts over the past ten years. VirginiaPreps.com's Double A

football editor Patrick Mauney coordinated the site's efforts in making these

selections.

Congratulations are in order for the selectees,

all of which made huge impacts on the Region's football fields during the last

decade.

Our Coach of the Decade from Region IV is

Greg Mance of Richlands.

The veteran coach has helped Richlands become a power and guided

the Blue Tornado to the 2006 VHSL AA, Division 3 championship. A graduate

of Giles High School Mance played a key role in that school's 1980 state

championship, and later became a baseball star at Virginia Tech.

After college he

became an assistant football coach, and in 1997 became the head coach at

Richlands. During the past decade Mance guided the Richlands football

program to an impressive 95-24 won/loss record including three state

championship game appearance starting in 2004.

When asked about the

nature of the sport over the years in Region IV, Mance captured the essence of

southwest Virginia football perfectly. "You'd better be physical or you're not

going to win football games," he said.

In 1980, Mance played for Giles, helping the Spartans win the Group AA state

title with a 33-32 win over Park View-Sterling. In 1992, Mance was an assistant

at Richlands when the Tornado earned a Division 4 state title with a 19-10 win

over Orange County.

"I tell people that the strength of our program is the dedication and work ethic

of our football players, and our assistant coaches," Mance said. "They do a

great job of coaching and our players love them. They're dedicated and committed

to winning."

Our Region IV

Player of the Decade is Graham's Ahmad Bradshaw. He rushed for 2,282 yards

and 27 touchdowns as a junior and 2,557 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns as a

senior, totaling 5,265 yards and 92 touchdowns while averaging nearly ten yards

a carry for his high school career, while playing for the late

Glynn Carlock. Virginia High School sports historian Marshall

Johnson told VirginiaPreps.com "Bradshaw was first and only player to my

knowledge who had more than 5,000 rushing yards and 1,500 receiving yards as a

high school player. Bradshaw graduated in 2004 and went on to have an

impressive college career at Marshall, and was then drafted by the NFL's New

York Giants.

For his accomplishments on the football field

at Graham, Bradshaw was named the Bluefield Daily Telegraph's football player of

the year, in 2002 and 2003. He was named the 2002 State Double A Player of

the Year and was also a first team all state choice in both 2002 and 2003.

Named second team all-state at defensive back and as a kick returner.

Bradshaw was the first player in Graham

history to have back-to-back 2000-yard seasons. He averaged more than 10 yards

per carry as a senior. That same season he gained 327 yards on the ground

and scored four touchdowns in the Southwest District championship, and in three

playoff games that season he ran for 547 yards and eight touchdowns and caught

three touchdown passes.

Bradshaw rarely if ever came off the football

field during his senior and junior seasons at Graham and has the stats to prove

it. For his high school career he averaged 22.5 yards on 44 kickoff

returns and returned two for touchdowns and returned 45 punts for a 22.6-yard

average and four scores. As a junior he made 139 tackles while playing the

safety position for the "G-Men" and for his career he intercepted 10 passes and

returned two for touchdowns.

Also a standout basketball player at Graham,

Bradshaw scored more than 1,000 points in his career and was a first-team

All-State basketball player as a junior.

After graduating from Graham, Bradshaw played

three seasons at Marshall, and put the thunder back in the Thundering Herd

offense. The nation's sixth-leading rusher in 2006, he closed out his career as

the school's fifth all-time rusher with 2,987 yards. After college

Bradshaw was drafted by the New York Giants and helped the team to a Super Bowl

victory over the New England Patriots in 2008.