Gate City High School


Gate City High School is a public high school in Gate City, Virginia. The school was built in 1956. The school employs about 33 teachers and the student to teacher ratio is 23:1.

Extracurricular activities

Gate City High School offers a variety of sports programs. The school colors are blue and white, and the mascot is the Blue Devil. Gate City also competes in Soccer, Track and Field, Cross Country, Forensics, Speech and Drama, and Academic competitions.

Basketball

The girls' basketball team won a state championship in 2006 and were also state runner-up in 2005, 2012, and 2014. The boys’ team won the state championship for the 2017-2018 season and were also state runner-up for the 1998-1999, 2006-2007, 2007–2008, and 2012-13 seasons. The boys' team also won the Marshall Johnson Sportsmanship Award for the 2004-2005 season.

Football

Gate City won state championships in football in 1970, 1974, 1997, 2003, and 2010.
Gate City was also state runners-up in 1978, 1994, and 2007.
Gate City is second only to Hampton High School for the most appearances in the VHSL State Playoffs. Gate City has appeared in the playoffs 30 times while Hampton High School has appeared 35 times.
Gate City currently has three VHSL Hall of Fame inductees: Coach Harry Fry in 1991, Coach Nick Colobro in 2005, and football player Jeff Baker in 1995.
2010 Football Schedule:
DateOpponentScore
08/27RichlandsL 0-31
09/03@ TazewellW 41-0
09/10@ Sullivan SouthW 31-28
09/17Lebanon*W 44-0
09/24AppalachiaW 45-8
10/01@ BluefieldL 0-21
10/08John S. Battle*W 48-7
10/15@ Virginia High*W 42-13
10/22Powell ValleyW 44-7
10/29@ Lee*W 33-7

Gate City was the 2010 Clinch Mountain District Champions, winning the district for the third straight year. The district championship automatically qualified the Blue Devils for the 2010 VHSL Playoffs. Gate City won the Region D championship easily by defeating Coeburn High School 56-0 and Honaker High School 53-6. They defeated Radford High School 27-17 to advance to their seventh state championship appearance. They faced the Gretna High School Hawks, who, in 2007, defeated Gate City in the state championship 52-0. Gate City defeated Gretna 27-17 to win their fifth state championship in school history.
2010 Postseason
DateOpponentScore
11/19Coeburn*W 56-0
11/27Honaker†W 53-6
12/04@ Radford°W 27-17
12/11Gretna High School‽W 27-17

† Notifies Region D Championship played at UVA Wise
° Notifies VHSL State Semifinal played at Radford High School
‽ Notifies VHSL State Championship played in Salem, Virginia

Softball

Gate City holds the 2002 and 2005 state championships in softball.

Tennis

The Girls' tennis team won the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 State Championships. The boys' tennis team won the 2008 and 2009 State Championships.

Volleyball

The school won the 2004, 2005, 2008,2009,2013 and 2014 State Championships in volleyball.

Pre-game prayer controversy

In 2009 the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the school objecting to a Christian prayer having been read over the public address system before a football game. The principal, Greg Ervin, said that a student had read the prayer on her own initiative in response to the death of a student. Students then planned to protest the ACLU's position by wearing T-shirts reading "We're still praying in Jesus' Name" to a subsequent game, and the ACLU endorsed their right to do so.