13 FORK UNION MAKES WAVES
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The Payoff
After three years of hard work, OCHS girls basketball sees the dividends. PAGE 7
VOL 6. ISSUE 12 :: FEBRUARY 23, 2015
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x’s and o’s 21 07 13
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THE TICKING CLOCK STAB basketball’s rise to prominence
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THE O.C. RETURNS From winless to the playoffs at Orange
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THE EXTRA GEAR FUMA hoops steps up its game
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GAME TIME CHS boys win Jefferson District tourney
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TRINKLE DOWN EFFECT Why solid college coaches make a difference
vol 6. issue 12 :: February 22, 2015015
The Payoff VOL 6 . ISSUE 12 :: FEBRUARY 22, 2015
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13 FOrk UniOn mAkeS WAveS
After three years of hard work, OCHS girls basketball sees the dividends. page 7
S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Orange County’s Rebecca Harvey M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T Local sports are the lifeblood of every community in America, and we’re here to reach beyond the basics and give compelling accounts about Central Virginia athletes to our readers. CO N TAC T U S [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-249-2032
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PREGAME
Heavy lies the crown? Charlottesville senior Jordan Saylor hoists the Jefferson District tournament championship trophy after the Black Knights defeated Albemarle. In a game where the Black Knights trailed much of the way, the regular season champs completed a true sweep of the JD with a fourth quarter run fueled by its defense. It was the third meeting with Albemarle, and arguably the best game on the boys side all year. To read more about the CHS victory turn to page 19. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)
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First Quarter
The ticking clock
STAB heads into playoffs looking to capitalize By Ryan Yemen
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STAB’s Parker Morris is the lone senior starter for a team that’s improved greatly. (Ashley Thornton)
{ THE TRIO } STAB has three players that average double-digit points.
MORRIS
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here isn’t anyone that questions St. Anne’s-Belfield’s individual talent. It was there last year, and while this team was dealing with new pieces, most of them young — it was pretty clear that with a little polish, the Saints had something.
Just two years removed from a 2-win campaign, STAB is playing at it’s highest level since the Brett Goodloe era back in 08-09 and there’s still room for improvement. “Right now, the big word we’ve been throwing around is ‘urgency’” said Saints coach Brian Kent. “We don’t want to repeat the same thing over to the kids which is that this is their year, their season. Now it’s about urgency. It’s about playing 32 minutes.” That 32 minutes might be the biggest hurdle the Saints have because there’s been little doubt this year that during stretches, whether against some of the best teams in the state like Blue Ridge or Benedictine, STAB’s made runs where they look ready to compete at the highest level. Winning a Prep League regular season title is one thing, playing in the final four of the VISAA tournament is a step above. In a come-from-behind win over Fork Union, the Saints showed they could close out a game late, something that’s plagued them a bit this year. “The last two minutes (against FUMA) was big because we’re getting pretty close to playing in the one-and-done (games),” Kent said. “We have to be able to match the intensity of each opponent we’re playing each time we play.” Getting individual talent to mesh is easier said than done. How do you share one ball with a senior sharp-shooter like Parker Morris, a bonafide Division 1 talent like Javin Montgomery-DeLaurier, an exceptional slashing guard like Kareem Johnson, a true tweener, do-everything forward like Jalen Harrison, and then a sophomore with a versatile skill set like
Jayden Nixon’s? While Morris’ hot hand often dictates the flow for the Saints, how a team defends Montgomery-DeLaurier determines the game. And it’s up to Johnson and Harrison to step in somehow in that grey area. So far this season, those five have found the right way to blend in. There’s no denying Montgomery-DeLaurier’s average of 20 points per game and 13.2 rebounds, 4.2 blocks and five assists in 21 contests. Morris chips in 12.7 points per game and hits 40% of his 3-point attempts. Harrison adds 11.1 points and five rebounds and shoots 50%. Nixon follows suit with 9.5 points, 3.9 rebounds. Johnson throws in an additional eight points, 3.9 rebounds and shoots 48%. What it’s amounted to is that with Morris being the lone senior starter, that the Saints still have a bright future ahead, but the iron is especially hot now and there might be no better time to strike. With the canceled Prep League tournament not providing the lead-in to the VISAA tournament, the Saints won’t get one last chance to tune up for a run to try and compete for a state title, but that’s something the program looked so far away from just a few short years ago. But as good as STAB has looked in so many first halves this season, it’s going to come down to the crunch in the fourth. Holding off Fork Union was a big step forward. Now this team enters the homestretch looking to take that next step where individual talent no longer matters. It’s about how the starting five find a way to persevere. ✖
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College Update
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Former Fluco finds a way to compete through adversity By Ryan Yemen In his time at Fluvanna County, Christian Chirico was a leader on the wrestling mat as he helped the Flucos compete at the top end of the Jefferson District. His highest accolade in the circle came in the 2010 Group AA tournament where he finished third in the state. There are few Division 1 wrestlers in this area, but Chirico found his way to West Virginia University, and while his focus is his major in petroleum and natural gas engineering where he’s an honor roll student (more on that in a bit), he’s still contributed over the years for the Mountaineers wrestling program. Chirico competed as a redshirt freshman at 174 pounds as a reserve where he was able to pick up his first win and first pin fall. Sadly, however, he was injured in an random act of crime where a student broke his orbital bone and damaged his eye. With his future in wrestling up in the air, Chirico, unsurprisingly worked through the injury to heal from the 38 stitches and get back on the mat as a sophomore, which brings up his tireless work ethic. While at Fluvanna, Chirico was well-known for starting his own business where he sold
firewood to retailers throughout Central Virginia to fund extra time on the mat. An avid competitor, the former Fluco had a solid list of schools where he could wrestle, but he chose West Virginia specifically because of it’s Petroleum and Natural Gas program. So, true to his work ethic, after his tragic injury, Chirico worked his way back to wrestling. During the ’13-’14 season he picked up three wins and one by fall while competing in the Mercyhurst Laker Open, Harold Nichols Open, Navy Classic and Reno Tournament of Champions. This year as a junior, still wrestling at 174, he picked up a pin fall for the third straight season as a reserve. If anything, Chirico is a shining example of a local athlete that found a way to pursue his career after college while making an impact at Division 1 program, and on top of that, fighting through a great deal of unfortunate adversity. Wrestling, more so than any sport, is and has always been about effort. Chirico has shown that over the years, nobody will work harder, whether in the classroom or to get on the mat. ✖
BELOW » Fluvanna County alum Christian Chirico is a redshirt junior at West Virginia. (WVU sports information and John Berry)
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PLAY TEAM SPORTS LONG ENOUGH, YOU’RE EVENTUALLY GOING TO HAVE A ROUGH SEASON. THINGS ARE GOING TO GO WRONG, INJURIES ARE GOING TO PILE UP. A KEY PLAYER IS GOING TO QUIT AND LEAVE A HOLE YOU CAN’T FILL OR YOU’RE GOING TO JUST RUN UP AGAINST A LOT OF STIFF COMPETITION. IT STANDS TO REASON THAT FOR EVERY CHAMPIONSHIP THAT’S OUT THERE, THERE’S ANOTHER TEAM OUT THERE THAT JUST HAD AN AWFUL, FRUSTRATING YEAR. It doesn’t get much worse though than Orange County girls basketball’s 2011-2012 season. The Hornets didn’t lose the majority of their games that year under head coach David Rabe. They didn’t even lose the vast majority of them. They lost every single one of them. The Hornets went 0-22. Placed in the Commonwealth District that at that time was at a major high point in girls basketball, Orange County, who had just moved up to the Group AAA level, struggled to compete night in and night out against loaded teams. Before that season, head coach David Rabe said via email that “we have no expectations of anything, our focus is on what we do and improving how we play.” It isn’t easy to stick by that approach for a coach. To see the long game when loss after loss is piling up around you. There’s got to be a serious commitment from the coach and the team and a sobering sense of perspective that keeps the program moving forward.
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“I THINK IT WAS VERY FRUSTRATING FOR EVERYONE BUT WE WERE ALL STILL THERE FOR EACH OTHER.” -- HARVEY 09 :: @scrimmageplay
“That was a year that we started the whole idea of we don’t look past anyone,” Rabe said. “When you’re 0-22 you don’t worry about championships or states, you just look for the next game.” That season a pair of talented freshmen, Markiana Smith and Rebecca Harvey, kept looking for the next game and they witnessed every single one of those 22 losses. They endured the frustration each night during that season, and it was those two young players that seemed to handle it as well as they could, that seemed to internalize the lessons that they were learning through losing. “That no-win season there were half the kids who worked hard and half the kids that didn’t,” Rabe said. “Having two as freshmen buy in, you know you have special kids. You know you have special kids who love the game.” Sure, Smith and Harvey had the advantage of knowing that they had years to come. That this wasn’t the end for them. But that process can be a daunting one as well. There was no way for Rabe or anyone else to be able to actually promise, to guarantee that things were going to get better. That meant Smith and Harvey had to fall in love with the process itself. That was, apparently, not a problem. “We just had to make sure this wasn’t going to define us,” Smith said. “We knew that we could be better.” How they’d get there was another matter. There wasn’t a clear and obvious path, so instead the Hornets learned to lean on each other in their uncertainty. They worked on lifting each other up. On being each other’s support system. On looking inside the team rather than trying to tear it apart. “I think it was very frustrating for everyone but we were all still there for each other,” Harvey said. “It made us figure out how much we really wanted to win.” That, perhaps, is the key. Losing can do a lot of things to a team and to a program. One impact it often has is that it created apathy. A sort of “here we go again” attitude infects the squad and losing becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. That didn’t happen for Orange’s girls basketball team. As it can in the best of circumstances, losing created a desire to win. And since that forgettable stretch, Orange has won. They took a big leap forward with a seven-win season two years ago against Commonwealth foes, going 7-15 that year. They followed that with an 8-14 campaign last season that fell a little short of expectations in their first year back in the Jefferson but was still a far cry from the pain of that 0-22 run. It all came together this year though when the Hornets powered their way to a 16-6 record in the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed in the Conference 16 tournament and
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Alex Starsia joined the Western Albemarle girls basketball varsity squad as just a sophomore, and she’s grown by leaps and bounds in that time. “I’ve been really impressed with how she developed a lot of toughness,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “She took on some of the tougher jobs on the court like rebounding, post defense, and blocking shots that every team needs.” Starsia needed all that toughness when a knee injury ended the captain’s season earlier this year. “That toughness really has appeared during rehab following knee surgery,” Wright said. “She’s been mentally and physically strong through the rehab process and that inner strength is going to take her a long way in the future.” Her academics are going to take her a long way too. Starsia hasn’t figured out the next step just yet, but she sports a 4.1 GPA, is in the National History and English honor societies, Spanish Club and Key Club while also playing varsity lacrosse. That’s a solid resume for one of the area’s toughest seniors.
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“HIS EMPHASIS WAS TO NEVER GIVE UP. NO MATTER WHAT WE WERE DOING.” -- SMITH 11 :: @scrimmageplay
finished fourth in the Jefferson. “We definitely appreciate (winning) more and it just comes down to our hard work,” Harvey said. Another big part of that success is that Rabe and everyone else in the program had a clear, realistic set of expectations in those first couple of years. They wanted to get better and worry about how they played. That prevented frustration from taking hold. “His emphasis was to never give up,” Smith said. “No matter what we were doing.” Harvey and Smith in particular took that message to heart and that wasn’t hard because they both deeply love the game itself. “Before practice, after practice, they’re just hanging out in the gym,” Rabe said. “They’re watching the boys practice or they’re just out there talking about basketball. They just love the game and you can learn so much from watching others. They’re definitely what you would consider gym rats.” Smith, a force in the post who posted a slew of double doubles this year while averaging 12.2 points and 8.9 boards per game, is a critical piece of the puzzle for the Hornets as she has been since almost day one as a freshman. But Harvey doesn’t point at points and boards when she talks about her longtime teammate — she highlights her ability to lead both vocally and by example. “She definitely pushes everyone to be the best they can be,” Harvey said. She’s a very good leader and she plays hard all game.” Harvey herself started her career on a mission. Her older sister Christina had been a standout for the Hornets and then went on to a strong career at Division II Pfeiffer University where she was an all-conference player for the Falcons. The younger Harvey, however, wasn’t content with following in her sister’s footsteps. “I think the motivation for her was a little different,” Rabe said. “She wanted to be Rebecca Harvey, not Christina’s sister. And over the four years she has made a name for herself.” She’s also been a big catalyst for the team itself according to Smith, as the two seniors who’ve been there from the start of that 0-22 team to now. “She brings a lot of leadership qualities to the team,” Smith said. “I’ve played with her for a long time and the chemistry we have really helps us lead the team.” One big move that helped the Hornets build to this season was the arrival of Kiani Hudgens at point guard. She arrived during Smith and Harvey’s sophomore season, and immediately fit into the squad. Her presence alone helped the Hornets improve drastically, in large part because it helped Harvey and Smith play more like themselves. “She stepped in as a freshman in AAA basketball
and there was a quick learning curve,” Rabe said. “It made it a lot easier because Rebecca could look for her outside shot more, Marki didn’t have to help get the ball across and it really took the pressure off of everybody else. Going from 0 wins to 22, a lot of that was because of her.” Going to 16 wins this year though including an upset of Monticello that ended the Mustangs’ multi-year district win streak? That took everyone on the Hornets’ roster. From the now-injured sophomore Lane Harrington’s emergence as a lockdown defender at guard to players who understand their role like Chardonnay Johnson, Makayla Pitts, Madison Barber, Elisha Richardson, Hannah Brown or Deja Wilson. “This season has been special, but the biggest thing this senior class is going to leave behind is that a team that plays as a team is a lot more successful than a team that plays as individuals,” Rabe said. “Not only did we get a lot of wins but we did it as an entire team.” That started with leaning on each other at 0-22. No matter how tough that was, clearly it was worth it for the Hornets because it forged something special in Orange. ✖
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HERE WAS SOMETHING POETIC about how James Pelham took over the varsity coaching job at Fork Union. After Fletcher Arritt’s retirement and a year of Brooks Berry at the helm, the Blue Devils promoted then varsity coach Matt Donahue to take over the storied postgraduate program which created the opening for Pelham. In 1994, Pelham played PG hoops at FUMA for the soon to be Virginia High School Hall of Fame recipient in Arritt. While the legendary coach has stepped aside from his old coaching duties, it hardly meant he was done coaching. Much to Pelham’s delight, getting Arritt’s take on the program isn’t tough. “Coach Arritt still has a major hand in basketball here,” Pelham said. “In him, I have one of the best resources in the country that you could ask for and I don’t mind tapping that well, asking and getting his opinion about this or that. I don’t quite run the same offense as he did when I played here, but he’s still such an important part of what happens here. We’re all in this thing together.” Coming into this year, Fork Union was a bit of an unknown as the Blue Devils returned just one athlete who played significant minutes for Pelham in his first year of the program, senior Sam Allen. FUMA started out the year at 2-2 playing four games, with three of those on the road, in 11 days before a month long winter break. So even going into January, it remained a bit of a mystery as to just how good the Blue Devils were, or even, could be. www.scrimmageplay.com ::
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“We’re not giving it away like we did last year. If a team beats us, they are earning it.” — Pelham 15 :: @scrimmageplay
“It takes time,” Pelham said. “I think our schedule is one of the most unusual in the country. You come in for two weeks and leave for Thanksgiving for a week. Then come back for two weeks and leave for the holidays for a month. It’s hard to build chemistry at the beginning of the season. But we don’t run away from it. We still play the best competition we can. It’s all a learning experience for us.” While the choppy nature of the Blue Devils’ schedule in the first month and a half of the season presents its problems, the team does get a boost from the fact that the students board together and so the off-court chemistry that a team requires is on a fast track compared to some other schools. These athletes live together on campus, eat every meal together. And navigating that comes with a challenge too. “It’s unique because they do everything together,” Pelham said. “We’re one big family and that helps, but as any knows with family, it’s not always pretty, you can fight with your brother. So it can work both ways but these guys are close and have been great. I haven’t had to worry a lot about them.” After falling to a 2-4 record losing a pair of really close road games to St. Christopher’s and Woodberry Forest, Fork Union simply went on a tear. Winning 11 of their next 14 contests, the Blue Devils found something and suddenly those close losses that haunted them a year ago and at the beginning of this season suddenly switched over into clutch victories. “We’re winning close games this year compared to last year,” Pelham said. “Good teams find a way to win and bad teams find a way to lose. So last year we’d be right there and give it away at the end. We’re not giving it away like we did last year. If a team beats us, they are earning it. I really like the difference in that between this team and last year’s team.” With Jared Armstrong and Lewis Freeman leading the way, the Blue Devils play with a speed that is nothing short of truly entertaining. FUMA has seven different players that have started at least 10 games. Unafraid of using the bench, this is a team that tries to make the most of its players’ minutes. Of course, while playing at full tilt is where Pelham wants his team, one of the big steps forward this team has made is being able to run its half court set effectively. “I want to see them run and get out,” Pelham said. “But I’m also a realist and I know when a team has better athletes than we do. Sometimes we have to slow it down a bit. I want to run all the time, but if it’s not there, I’m no fool — we’ll pull the ball back and we aren’t afraid to do that right now.” While some fellow Prep League opponents like St. Anne’sBelfield might have a size advantage on Fork Union, the Blue Devils are arguably one of the best rebounding teams in the area, yet they don’t have that one dominant player on the boards. Pelham’s squad is winning games with hustle and determination on the boards. Four different players are averaging at least four rebounds a game with freshman Aundre Hyatt leading the way. “We’ve gotten there through practice because everyday has been nothing but competition,” Pelham said. “There’s nowhere to hide in our gym. If a team beats us on loose balls,
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Below, Armstrong
“AS the season went along, yeah we’re young but we can run. It just started to click.” — Armstrong 17 :: @scrimmageplay
it’s not a pretty day in practice the next day. We always make sure to get after every rebound, every loose ball. These guys have become pretty scrappy.” Offensively, the Blue Devils have seen Armstrong and Freeman truly excel in their first year in the system. Armstrong hails from Philadelphia, Pa. and came to Fork Union his senior year. Armstrong’s older brother played football for the Blue Devils in 2002 and convinced his younger brother Jared to finish up his high school career at FUMA. The shifty senior guard is the engine that drives Fork Union’s transition game. But it’s not just his speed that is giving teams fits right now. Armstrong hits over 35% of his 3-point attempts, 47% of his field goals and knocks down 73% of his free throws. As one of the few seniors, Armstrong was nervous at first at how playing with a brand new group that’s never played together would gel. It didn’t take long for things to work themselves out. “I thought we were young when we started,” Armstrong said. “All our bigs are young. So while I felt that we had to deal with being young, I still felt this team could win a lot of games. As the season went along, yeah we’re young but we can run. It just started to click, and that’s when we starting winning.” A versatile forward from Hampton, Freeman is FUMA’s leading scorer as he pours in 17.2 points a game and has a team-best 48% field goal percentage while hitting 33% of his shots from beyond the arc. An excellent finisher underneath the basket and awfully quick off the dribble, there are so many elements to Freeman’s game that it makes him especially difficult to defend. But for him, it starts on the defensive end. “I saw early that if we got the rebound and just decided to go, we started putting points on the board,” Freeman said. “That got the team going. That’s what we need to keep doing.” With Armstrong and Freeman doing the heavy lifting offensively, it’s easy to overlook the multitude of role players that the Blue Devils have contributing quality minutes, particularly defensively. Hyatt’s size underneath has been critical for Fork Union as he is the team’s most physical asset. His 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game are critical. Detwon Shelton’s play at forward has also been crucial as he’s averaged seven points and 4.8 boards each contest. Hyatt and Shelton are neck-andneck when it comes to leading the squad in blocked shots. Allen’s four rebounds, tenacity on defense and overall senior experience only further bolsters the lineup. The good news for Fork Union is that it was the No. 2 seed in the Prep League tournament and qualified for the VISAA Division 1 tournament. They’re battle tested having gone up against the top teams in Division 2 in Blue Ridge and St. Anne’s. While the Blue Devils might have fallen short in those contests, they played up to the competition and won’t see too many better teams moving forward. While they’re seeded ninth, simply qualifying for the state playoffs is a big step forward for a program that was 4-16 just a year ago.
Below, Shelton With February winding down the Blue Devils head into the home stretch looking to cap off what’s been a great year. But perhaps more importantly, the eight underclassmen — which include Freeman, Hyatt and Shelton — will head into the next season with the experience to launch expectations that would have been lofty two years ago. Competing for a Prep League championship is what this year was about. It will be fascinating to see if the Blue Devils can push forward and become a major player at the Division 1 level. There’s little doubt Pelham and Arritt will get together and talk about how to make that happen. ✖
TEAM SPOTLIGHT WOODBERRRY FOREST FOOTBALL On Valentine’s Day weekend, the Woodberry Forest football team took time to head to the Culpeper Baptist Retirement Community. Once there, the Tigers spoke with, dined and danced with the residents to provide a fine holiday evening. Great job Woodberry. Way to lead the way both on and off the field and give back to the area!
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Game Time Charlottesville 48, Albemarle 42 By Luke Nadkarni
Jordan Saylor’s seven fourth-quarter points fueled CHS to a JD tourney title. (Ashley Thornton)
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With 3:20 remaining in the Jefferson District championship game, the Charlottesville boys basketball team trailed Albemarle, a team the Black Knights had beaten twice during the regular season, 40-36 on Charlottesville’s home floor. Head coach Mitch Minor called a timeout after the Patriots’ Jake Hahn gave AHS that four-point margin, and the Knights responded with suffocating defense and held the Pats to just one basket the rest of the way to come away with a 48-42 victory and another district title. “I told the team not to lose their composure, and to just look for a good shot,” Minor said. “There was plenty of time left and I wanted us to play good defense too after we made a shot.” Charlottesville made just three threepointers on the night, but coming out of a timeout, senior point guard Jordan Saylor sank a long trey to ignite a 9-0 run over the next three minutes and the Black Knights went 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the victory. Saylor led CHS with 14 points, seven of which came in the fourth quarter. After an Albemarle miss following Saylor’s three, the Knights had a chance to take the lead with 2:21 remaining, but Kendell Dennis missed the front end of a one-and-one. Charlottesville then got another stop and Mica Girstantas, usually so deadly from long range, stepped inside the arc and hit a short jumper to give Charlottesville the lead for good with just under two minutes remaining. By the time Hahn scored again to break Albemarle’s drought, only 21 seconds remained and the Patriots immediately fouled Saylor trailing 45-42. Saylor made one of two to make it a two-possession game, and Hahn missed a driving layup
on the other end, effectively ending Albemarle’s chances at a rally. “If it were a 29-minute game, we would’ve won it,” Albemarle head coach Greg Maynard said. The CHS defense held AHS star forward Austin Katstra to eight points, all in the second half. The first half was close throughout and was a defensive battle, with each team making just two field goals in the opening quarter for a 4-4 score after eight minutes. A three by Hahn, who led Albemarle with 15 points, and a basket by Juwan Carter gave the Patriots a 9-4 lead early in the second. Girstantas broke a Charlottesville drought of just over seven-and-a-half minutes with a basket and two free throws, making it 9-8 at the 5:16 mark. The remainder of the quarter featured six lead changes and Albemarle went into the locker room with a 19-17 lead. Katstra got his first two baskets of the game on back-to-back possessions to open the third, first on a putback to make it 21-17. The next time down the court, he slithered through the CHS defense and threw down a reverse one-handed dunk to bring the Patriot faithful to its feet and make it a sixpoint game. That was Albemarle’s largest lead of the game. Trailing 25-21 midway through the third, the Black Knights went on a 6-0 spurt to gain their first lead of the second half, fueled by back-to-back buckets from DeAndre Bryant. Saylor gave CHS a brief 34-33 lead on a trey with 6:25 left in the game. But Carter tied it on a free throw, and Katstra put the Pats back in front. Caleb Gage tied it once more with 4:23 left, but that was Charlottesville’s last basket until the decisive run. “We had to turn up the intensity. We could not lose on our home floor,” Saylor said. ✖
See a photograph you like? Defensive stand Warriors goalie has more than one trick | By Ryan Yemen
At Scrimmage Play we pride ourselves on offering the best possible graphics Two years ago the Western Albemarle boys to Shin, who doubles as a Junior National Judo soccer team get was fueled its underclassmen medalist, we can our byhands on, in both our but has developed into one of the with sophomores and freshman bearing the area’s most versatile goalkeepers. magazine as well as at our website at brunt of the work load. The netminder has shown he’s capable of Now two years later, forwards Aaron Myers making big saves, particularly in the team’s www.scrimmageplay.com and Alex Nolet, as well as senior defender two ties. In the first game of the season, Tom Rogers are all in their senior seasons and looking to earn a Region II bid, something that Orange County snatched away from them in the Jefferson District semifinals last season. After the first month of play, the Warriors seem to have the defensive side of the equation figured out and junior goalkeeper Kai Shin is a big part of that. Before Western went on its spring break, none of its four opponents were able to score more than once, a testament to the team’s play in the middle of the field, but also a nod
Shin endured wave after wave of Albemarle attack, but stood tall and showed no rust in the 1-1- tie. But while Shin’s on the field because he can make stops, his strong leg has also been of great use as he’s able to easily clear the zone but also spark fast breaks all by himself. The Warriors averaged a little over two goals per contest before the break, but if that average starts to increase, don’t be surprised if it’s because of Shin’s ability to contribute to the transition game. ✖
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Western Albemarle’s Kai Shin hauls in a shot during his team’s 1-1 tie with Albemarle that kicked off the soccer season for both squads. (Frank Crocker)
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The Functional Movement Screen has been used by major sports leagues including the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. It has also been used in our military forces. Albert Wong, PT, CSCS has over 20 years of outpatient orthopedic experience and has mentored under Gray Cook, MPT — co-founder of the Functional Movement Systems. For more information see www.functionalmovement.com
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Overtime
Trickle down effect Respected college coaches in the community matter
T
he barber shop I went to growing up in Chapel Hill had a pretty extensive collection of adult magazines and my adolescent mind spent a lot of time scheming on how to get my hands on them without the barber seeing, though looking back he probably would not have cared. But I didn’t think about them for a second the day that Dean Smith was in the chair in front of my brother and I because that day it felt like God himself was watching. Dean Smith is a nationally recognized legend in college basketball. But in Chapel Hill, he was, somehow, more than that. He was at the tail end of his career when I lived there, but basketball was everything to middle school boys growing up in the shadow of the Tar Heels’ dynasty. That made Smith larger than life. He also played a small role in helping desegregate Chapel Hill well before my time, and that helped him reach a kind of status as a living moral compass. I’m sure he wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he was held up as a kind of ideal and he came to represent something more in that town, in that state. Part of the reason the entire basketball world had kind words to say upon his death this month is because he did a lot of things the right way. He made Carolina basketball a family and then a powerhouse, doing things his way and innovating along the way. Through that approach and process he inspired. When you were near him, whether it was in the Dean Dome, at his basketball camp (that I think every boy in North Carolina attended at one point or another) or at a barber shop, things were different. My younger brother summed it up nicely when he said “the air around Dean was certainly rarefied.” I think sports communities are often vastly improved when a coach who is an area’s model, who’s held up as the person who does things the right way, is also someone who treats people the right way. I always felt that way in Chapel Hill and I think we’re seeing that in Tony Bennett here in Charlottesville. He’s a winner, a great strategist and he treats people and the game with the respect they deserve. That can have a trickle down effect on a community. I’m not saying every kid is going to start perfecting their defensive stance suddenly and playing the packline defense on playgrounds across Central Virginia, but if they do I want to be told and I want to come watch because that sounds awesome. And I will say, my son likes to sing “I’m all about that pace, bout that pace” and does a dance with it and everything. But the example Bennett sets, the way he approaches the game, that will likely have an impact. Now there is someone, along with the kinds of players he recruits, that parents and coaches locally can point at and say to young student athletes “that’s how you do it.” You can point to Malcolm Brogdon’s incredible balance of academics and athletics. You can point to Bennett’s emphasis on fundamentals, his demand that players work hard and play hard during games. There’s so much about how this program operates that you can point to that can help improve what the local sports community values, what we emphasize.
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“I’m happy that my son and daughters are going to grow up in a community with that kind of role model. We had coach Smith.” Those lessons, those examples can cross the lines of whatever sports you play. I’m happy that my son and daughters are going to grow up in a community with that kind of a role model. We had Coach Smith growing up, and he was an incredible person to learn from even at a distance. A few weeks ago after UVa’s clash with Georgia Tech, I had my son slip onto the court well after the final horn and sit in Bennett’s chair. I snapped a photo (that you can see above he took very seriously), because I want him to know that there are role models out there. That there are lessons you can learn and I’m doing my best to create that connection. After all, the air around Tony Bennett is starting to get pretty rarefied too. ✖
Bart Isley
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
back talk »
Who are coaches that have or continue to make an impact for you? Email: bart@scrimmageplay.com
Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Eddie George It was a big decision, but after starring for the Fork Union prep football team as a junior and senior, Eddie George thought a postgraduate year at FUMA would help him get to the level he desired. The results speak for themselves. In his PG year, George rushed for 1,372 yards and right to a scholarship to play for an elite national program in Ohio State. In four years for the Buckeyes, George was a man possesed, making the most of his 6-foot-3inch frame and running for 3,768 yards and 45 touchdowns. In 1995 as a senior, George rushed for a school record 1,927 yards and 24 touchdowns en route to the Heisman Trophy where he was able to edge Tommie Frazier for the nation’s most outstanding
player award. In the National Football League, George made a equally large impact. He was the 14th overall pick in 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans). He made four Pro Bowls while playing for the Oilers/Titans, including the 1999 season where Tennessee fell just short of winning Super Bowl XXXIV to the St. Louis Rams. George played up until 2005. His career totals speak to how hard he run in the short time he played — he has 10,441 rushing yards, 268 receptions, 2,227 receiving yards, and 78 total touchdowns. He has a succesful broadcasting career now as a college and professional football analyst. In the end, his decision at Fork Union was the first step on what’s been a long and successful journey.
Fork Union Military Academy is the leading Christian military boarding school for boys in grades 6 - 12 and PG. www.forkunion.com — 1-800-GO-2-FUMA