05 MCHS SOFBTALL RETURNS
scr覺mmageplay THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SPORTS AUTHORITY
Old school A look at a trio of old school baseball players from three different programs. PAGE 7
VOL 5 . ISSUE 14 :: APRIL 28, 2014
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x’s and o’s 21 07 13
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PICKING UP A PASSION BRS’ Ferreira comes out of nowhere
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THROWBACKS Hard work seperates local baseball trio
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TUNNEL VISION Madison softball focus on state title
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GAME TIME Albemarle boys lacrosse edges Western
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THE RETRO CYCLE A look at constant thread change in sports
vol 5 . issue 14 :: april 28, 2014
old school a look a trio of old school baseball players from three different programs. page 7
VOL 5 . ISSUE 14 :: APRIL 28, 2014
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05 MCHS Sofbtall RetuRnS
S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R William Monroe baseball’s catcher Keegan Woolford 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 4408 Ivy Commons, Charlottesville, VA 22903 [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-202-0553
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PREGAME
Out for a run
Albemarle’s Kyle Seago brings the ball out of the crease for the Patriots in their come-from-behind victory over arch-rival Western Albemarle. Seago came up with critical stops late in the contest to help the Patriots hang for a 16-14 win. To read more about the first meeting between Albemarle and Western flip over to page 19. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)
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Family
Corner PRESENTED BY
ABOVE » Fork Union alumnus Christian Hackenberg made the most of his exposure on the national circuit and it showed quickly as he started as true freshman for Penn State.
Proper exposure I get one question more often than any from parents and athletes when it comes to the recruiting process — how do I get exposure? How do I get in front of coaches? How do I get my name out there? There’s no question that exposure matters. Look at the tour of camps that Fork Union alum and current Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg went on before his junior year. He showed up on everybody’s radar. But in the push for exposure, football and basketball players in particular — though other sports are far from immune — are losing sight of getting better. They’re losing sight of developing. Lacrosse players too often aren’t working as hard on developing their off-hand. Football players are more concerned with camps than the weight room in the offseason. This isn’t a universal problem obviously, but it’s happening enough that we’re noticing. Exposure and
development have to go hand-in-hand. As the cliché goes, if you’re not getting better, you’re getting left behind. All it takes is one look from a coach to decide whether you’re good enough to play in his or her program. You get one chance to impress. And you can’t get that done, no matter what anyone tells you, by sheer force of will. The idea that you can just turn it on and perform, like that’s innately in you, is an absurd notion. A lot of the things you’re being evaluated on are learned and developed over a long period of time. Yes, there are certain things that can’t be overcome. I couldn’t overcome the fact that I was abnormally, painfully slow. I had to work extremely hard just to get into the low fives in the 40-yard dash. Everyone has a ceiling, but getting to that ceiling takes a lot of work. You can’t just suddenly find it during a junior day or a workout for a coach. It’s not just lying in there waiting for you to call it forward. It has
to be developed. It has to be nurtured. Hackenberg got his name out there, but when he did, he was ready. He was ready to be put under the microscope because he went out and developed his game. Then when he got his name out, he kept working hard. He didn’t rest. Remember too, the odds aren’t in your favor at all. Only 7.8 percent of football players, 5.9 percent of basketball players, 11.2 percent of baseball players and 11.7 percent of lacrosse players get a chance to play at any level after college. That’s NAIA and Division III on up through Division I. Only around two percent earn actual scholarships. Getting to a school you want to play at shouldn’t be the goal. It should be a step in the process on your way toward making an impact on the field. Make sure you’re developing your skill set and maximizing your potential because there’s a flip side to the race for exposure through camps, video, and other paths. Occasionally, your flaws get exposed. ✖ Scrimmage Play and Triple C Camp partner up to cover family issues related to youth and prep sports in our Family
Bart Isley,
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
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First Quarter Picking up a passion Blue Ridge’s Ferreira explodes onto local lax secene By Bart Isley
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Dima Ferreira has given BRS plenty of scoring depth, going from beginner to standout. (Ashley Thornton)
{ OPTIONS } The top four goal scorers for the Barons as of April 27th.
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14 OORE KELL ARIOT A ELMDER
16 D IM A FERREIR A
RYLEE MARSH
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sually when a player commits to play collegiate lacrosse, it’s the culmination of a long-time dream, years of youth leagues, high school games and camps. It feels like a destination.
For Blue Ridge’s Dima Ferreira, it’s just a jumping off point right at the beginning of the journey. Ferreira, an Abingdon native, hadn’t even seen lacrosse played until he arrived on Blue Ridge’s campus as a sophomore and saw a couple of the Barons’ Canadian standouts, Tyler Pace and Tanner Fisher, tossing the ball around. “I thought it was so cool,” Ferreira said. “I played soccer and I’d never seen the sport. I’d heard of it but it’s not a big thing (where I come from).” Abingdon is baseball country, more than 100 miles from the nearest lacrosse footprint in Salem. Ferreira was undaunted and asked if he could give it a shot. He got some pointers from the Barons’ standouts and fell in love with the game almost immediately. “I asked my mom to get me a stick for my birthday,” Ferreira said. “She got me a starter stick. After that I got really into it.” Ferreira played on Blue Ridge’s junior varsity team as a sophomore before joining the varsity as a junior. He quickly became a sponge, soaking up all aspects of lacrosse, intently watching varsity contests to pick up on what members of the Barons’ talent-rich squad were doing. “It was more of me watching them play because when I watched them at games I’d just try and follow the way they played,” Ferreira said. “Then I’d try to do the same things by myself and try to figure it out.” That allowed Ferreira to make an immediate impact on the varsity as just a junior. He earned a spot on the second line of the mid-
field despite an admittedly limited time with even a stick in his hand. He was already a top notch athlete after years on the pitch, so the finer points of the game were what he really needed help with. “It all comes down to controlling the ball. I work on that every day, I shoot every day,” Ferreira said. “It’s something I really just found and love.” That solid campaign as a junior — remarkable in its own right — led to some even more impressive doors opening up for Ferreira. He visited a few potential schools to play lacrosse and the head coach at Mars Hill asked to see some tape. So Ferreira played fall ball and put together a highlight reel. He sent it to Division II Mars Hill and Young Harris in Georgia who’d requested a look in the meantime. Shortly thereafter, he was offered an opportunity at both schools, eventually selecting Mars Hill. With little more than two years of lacrosse under his belt, Ferreira is set to play at the next level. “I was blown away when I was told,” Ferreira said. Through 10 games this season, he was third on the Barons’ roster in scoring with 16 goals and five assists. As a member of Blue Ridge’s starting attack group, he’s emerged as a dynamic offensive threat. For a player that picked up a stick just a couple of years ago, that’s impressive. For Ferreira, it might just be the start. ✖
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For more spring sports coverage head over to our website at: www.scrimmageplay.com
College Update
We’ve gone digital
Abby Wheeler completes journey at Vanderbilt
But you can have it in print too!
By Bart Isley Abby Wheeler was an explosive force in high school girls lacrosse at Western Albemarle, totaling more than 200 goals in her four year career that culminated in the fantastic 2010 VHSL state title run for the Warriors. Now, Wheeler is wrapping up another monster four-year stint, this time at Vanderbilt University this spring. Apparently the 5-foot-4 Wheeler’s shifty, crafty style around the cage translated pretty well to the college game. Wheeler led the Commodores, who struggled to a 5-11 regular season record, with 38 goals on the year. She was also second on the team in points behind distributor Mallory Schonk with 45 total points. She was efficient as well, scoring on 65.5 percent of her shots. Back in early March, Wheeler exploded for a career-high seven goals in a 16-15 overtime victory over Stanford, a squad that was ranked No. 13 in the country at the time. The performance earned her Womenslax.com and American Lacrosse Conference player of the week honors. What’s particularly wild about that performance was that Wheeler needed just seven shots to pour in seven goals, picking her spots flawlessly against the Cardinal.
The seven-goal tally was just one goal away from a program record. Her senior year has been a natural progression from the ground work she laid in the first three years. She finished with five goals as a freshman, 13 as a sophomore, then 28 as a junior as she grew into a key scoring role for Vanderbilt. All the while, Wheeler has managed to excel off the field as well, majoring in human and organizational development with a minor in public policy. She’s earned Southeastern Conference Academic honor roll nods each year at Vanderbilt. Wheeler isn’t done just yet though. Vanderbilt will compete in the American Lacrosse Conference tournament that includes national powers Florida and Northwestern in early May. That’ll give Wheeler one last chance to build on her legacy. While the individual success has continued at Vanderbilt, the Commodores have yet to put together a postseason run in Wheeler’s tenure there. If she can find another one of those seven-goal performances in her bag of tricks, Vanderbilt may be able to make that happen. ✖
BELOW » Since helping Western to its lone state title in 2010, Wheeler has taken her offensive prowess to Vanderbilt and come up with great results. (Steve Green/Vanderbilt University)
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Story by Ryan Yemen » Photos by Ashley Thornton
he details, the little things. Baseball is and has always been about the minutae. It’s the nickel and dime stuff. What seperates a great player from a good player
is all in those details. A great eye, arm strength, speed. These things can’t be tought. They are natural abilities, what seperates the athletes from amateurs. General toughness can’t be taught. It’s earned. A work ethic can be emphasized, encouraged, but at the end of the day it is an individual choice. Baseball IQ is taught, but only truly aquired through trial and error. What makes a throwback baseball player? The one that does all the little things right, the details. William Monroe’s Keegan Woolford, Western’s Jack Maynard and Albemarle’s Richie DeLoria are three examples of pure ball players.
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Keegan Woolford
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Jack Maynard
Richie DeLoria
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Keegan Woolford
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do a lot of tee work and try and
stay on top of the ball and make sure I’m hitting line drives.
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William Monroe coach Mike Maynard doesn’t mince his words about his starting catcher and number three hitter. “He has the best work ethic of anyone I’ve ever coached,” Maynard said. “He’s up there with (Monticello and University of Virginia alumnus and current MHS head coach) Corey Hunt. He’s the first to practice, last to leave and he does work on the tee like you wouldn’t believe.” Woolford’s breakthrough year came as a freshman on a loaded Dragons squad that went on to win a state title. Of course fittingly enough, it was Woolford who delivered the game winning hit in extra innings in Salem for the Dragons in June of 2012. Since then he’s developed as a hitter. While he started out as a great left-handed hitter with a phenomenal on-base percentage, he’s now the premier power hitter for one of the strongest baseball programs in the area. “He works on that tee all over and knows how to keep his hands in front of him because pitchers are going to throw in him hard in or low and away and he knows that,” Maynard said. In his backyard Woolford works on his hitting whenever he can with his father. They don’t work on power hitting but rather, the thing that pure-hitters always preach — hitting the ball hard, not necessarily far. The far part comes in the game and works itself out naturally. “I’m just working on gap-to-gap,” Woolford said. “I do a lot of tee work and try to stay on top of the ball and make sure I’m hitting line drives.” Woolford’s eye is as good as you’ll find, and now that he’s filled out his frame and developed a lot of strength, he’s an extra base machine that can crank doubles to the gap in leftcenter and has little trouble crushing a ball over the fence in right field. “He just never swings at a bad pitch so when he takes a pitch, it’s probably a ball,” Maynard said. “He’s stronger now and has this pretty swing, it’s so level through the zone. So many hitters have a loop in their swing. He doesn’t.” His work as a sophomore put him on the radar collegiately, and this year he’s only helped himself in the most critical recruiting year, the point and case coming in Monroe’s 12-2 win over Manassas Park with collegiate scouts in the stands where he homered twice, once to right, once to left-center. But Woolford’s not just a great lefty batter. He’s an example of a do-everything player. He played outfield starting out as a freshman before moving behind the plate last year. He quickly earned the trust of his coach to the point where he calls the pitches, a rarity at the high school level. He’s working with a young pitching staff this year and his knowledge as a hitter has helped make Maynard’s staff as effective as it was in 2012 and 2013. “His baseball IQ is incredible and so I only call a few pitches a game,” Maynard said. “He’s a great catcher and of course he’s got a cannon so nobody can run on him. I just have the utmost confidence in him.” It’s a case of one hand washing the other. The Monroe staff can’t help but love Woolford’s play on both sides of the plate and that confidence has helped turned him from young stalwart into established veteran leader. His resume was full heading into the year and it’s only getting better. ✖
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Jack Maynard
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o you’ve got to get the early
outs. One and two pitch outs
get you through seven innings.
Jack Maynard is the bulldog. It’s not because he calls himself that, but because the coaches do, whether it’s Skip Hudgins at Western Albemarle or William Monroe’s Mike Maynard (no relation) who coached him over the summer during American Legion Post 74’s campaign. “He’s just like a bulldog,” Hudgins said. “He comes out there and he trusts his stuff. He’s confident but not over-confident, not cocky. Anybody that good has an air about them, and what you don’t want it to be is an air that stinks. He doesn’t have that. There’s just a perfect self-confidence he has when he pitches.” To which Maynard, unaware of Hudgins’ comment, said almost the exact same thing. “I love that kid and wish he lived in Greene County because he’s just a bulldog who thinks he can get everybody out. When he has the ball in his hand he is going after you.” For a few years now, Hudgins’ baseball team has been extremely talented but extremely young and Jack Maynard was a big part of that, playing right out of the gate as a freshman. While confident -- and he should be between the velocity he has on his fastball and his knee-bending curveball -- he’s humble because of where he started. “Freshman year was tough and we were so small and everyone was bigger and just crushing us,” Maynard said. “I gave up a monster homerun against Albemarle the first pitch of my high school career. But sophomore year, we just turned it around.” Of course it should be mentioned that Western came one win away from qualifying for the Region II tournament that season, but the development of Maynard is at the center of the story of Western’s rise to the top of the Jefferson District again. He’s the team’s ace and a power bat. “Anytime your number one takes the mound you’re going to feel good but with him it’s different because you know that someone is going to have to beat him,” Hudgins said. “He hasn’t lost a start yet (as of April 23) but when he does, if he does, it’ll be because someone had to beat him.” Maynard was tested in a fabulous pitchers’ duel with Monticello’s Sean Byrnes in the first close district game of season and emerged successful with a 1-0 win. He’s playing on an experienced roster loaded with great hitters from John Mark Mastakas, Stevie Mangrum, Logan Ebanks and John Casteen just to name a few. That makes Maynard’s job simple. “You’ve got to throw strikes and while getting strikeouts looks great, you wind up throwing a lot of pitches,” Maynard said. “So you’ve got to get after the early outs. One and two pitch outs get you through seven innings.” Getting to that has meant not leaning too heavily on his sweeping curveball and just pumping in strikes on his fastball. “We try not to show (the curve) as often as you’d think,” Maynard said. “You want to use fastballs early to get a good count and then catch them off guard. When you don’t know it’s coming, that’s when it gets you.” For Hudgins, who’s been at Western since 1990 and coached a lot of top talent, it’s been a great ride, and there’s still a time. “When it’s all said and done, I think Jack has a chance to go down as one of the most productive players to ever put on a Western uniform and I think that says a lot,” Hudgins said. ✖
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Albemarle
Richie DeLoria
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ou have to take over and say ‘No, we don’t get to get out of the
way, we have to block the ball.’
A strong middle infielder is so underrated. So taken for granted. Richie DeLoria is more than that. Of course, the gritty nature DeLoria brings to second base also translates at the plate where he’s the toughest out for Albemarle coach Jimmy Bibb’s squad. The Patriots senior, in a word, is a grinder. “He’s just a hard-nosed baseball player,” Bibb said. “He makes those plays at second that are just phenomenal. He’s the kind of kid that comes in after hours or on the weekend and works in the cage. He’s not a flashy type, just a pound-forpound kid that hits and works harder than anybody.” Hustle, bumps and bruises define the great infielders in baseball. It takes a certain mindset to standout at a position where the ball is constantly being hit hard at you and on top of that, where there’s a ton of responsibility after the ball is hit in play. Being comfortable in the line of fire is a force of will. “When the ball comes at you hard your mind wants you to get out of the way,” DeLoria said. “You have to take over and say ‘No, we don’t get to get out of the way, we have to block the ball.’” DeLoria is an example of a player who cares and works on the details, the little things that add up quickly in this game. “He gives you everything he has and just a great kid on top of that,” Bibb said. “He’s quiet but has that underlying fire that you don’t always see a lot, but when you do, you see it in his eyes. He gets fired up. You don’t won’t to wake up the sleeping giant or poke the bear.” DeLoria wears a lot of hats for Albemarle in addition to his stellar play at second. He’s been added to the pitching rotation and also plays great in center field. He’s a true utility player that finds a way to look and act comfortable no matter where he’s designated. “He’s plays amazing at second but he’s been a big help pitching for us this year, something he hasn’t done for a while. And then he runs so well that he can play amazing center field,” Bibb said. At the plate DeLoria falls into the scrappy category that pitchers hate. He’s the kind of hitter that grinds out counts, drives up pitch counts, hits way harder than his stature suggest and has the speed to run through the base to make any ground ball an infield single or force an error. “He’s a more powerful hitter than he gets credit for, though” Bibb said. “He finds the ball and hits it hard, knows how to find the gaps and both this year and last year, has hit it down the line or hit to the fence to get us doubles and triples. He doesn’t strike out, he just has a good eye.” That was something that developed as a junior. DeLoria came into his own at the plate for a breakout season and it’s carried over into his senior year. “Last year was when I developed confidence as a hitter,” DeLoria said. “I came up and said that if the pitch is in the zone I’m going to swing and nothing bad can happen from that. If you don’t get a hit you just deal with the consequences but at least it was a good pitch. I’m looking for strikes, looking for fastballs in the zone and I don’t care where.” DeLoria brings so much to this Albemarle team. But it’s the way he does it that makes him stand out. “You can’t teach what he has just through practice,” Bibb said. “A kid like that, they become like that on their own, through their own hard work off the field.” ✖ www.scrimmageplay.com ::
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TUNNEL VISION Story by Bart Isley | Photos by John Berry
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oming up just a little short in the state tournament is a particularly frustrating way to finish a season. The team has accomplished a great deal and there’s plenty to be proud of — in
all likelihood there’s a district or region title that’s going to be a particularly treasured memory soon or is already. But there’s also the acute sense of how close the team was to something even grander. There’s a feeling of frustration or heartbreak. In that moment, there’s a lot of power. Power that can tear a team apart, or make them stronger and more resilient than ever. When one of the key players and leaders for that team keeps coming back and keeps rising up, that can have a particularly pointed impact. How that specific player responds can determine the program’s course. Madison County’s Lauren Seale seems determined to keep going forward and intent on pushing the Mountaineers over the hump. She’s back this year, cruising through batters in the circle and putting Madison in position for a yet another huge postseason.
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Madison catcher Grace Estes is behind the plate and responsible for reacting to Seale’s ever moving pitches.
“My dad always told me speed isn’t everything if you move the ball the right way.” — Lauren Seale
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But the senior hurler is going to need some help. Seale throws hard. She isn’t burning up the radar gun, but you can’t float it over the plate and rack up the kind of accolades she’s received or put up those kind of numbers. But that’s not what gets you when you face Seale. It’s that she makes everything so enticing, which keeps you guessing and in turn, keeps you off balance. That makes her particularly dangerous against players who haven’t seen her very often, like the Mountaineers’ rival William Monroe’s inexperienced lineup earlier this season. “We try to get (our girls) to be really patient and not help her out — make her throw into the strikezone because she throws so well,” said William Monroe coach Chad Roach. “We have a lot of young girls on the team who haven’t seen (Seale) and it really got to them. They kept saying ‘coach she’s got a really good rise ball… It’s a strike here and then it’s over top of your head.” Seale is now in her third year as Madison’s starter at pitcher since she took over in the circle for Jordan Aylor as a sophomore. She’s posted huge strikeout totals over that three-year stretch with a slick screwball and a rise ball that gives nearly everyone, not just Monroe’s inexperienced lineup, fits. “My pitching coach (Chris Cauthorne) told me I had a lot of upward movement on it, so it’s almost like a rise screw and my curveball cuts more over than a normal curve,” Seale said. Seale, who credits Cauthorne for a lot of her development, built her repertoire on the natural movement in her rise ball that her father noticed at an early age. They worked to capitalize on that movement by maximizing its importance, leading to the frustration of countless batters lining up against Madison over the years. “I would throw my fastball and my dad would notice movement on it so it kind of came naturally,” Seale said. “My dad always told me speed isn’t everything if you move the ball the right way.” Softball programs often go on strong runs behind star pitchers. Monticello had an eight-year run behind the Scott sisters, including Victoria Scott’s storied career for the Mustangs that wrapped up in 2010. Orange just wrapped up an Aysha Richardson led surge that pushed the Hornets to the highly competitive 5A state tournament last year. Seale’s unwavering presence and output has firmly established her as the Mountaineers’ rock. “Every game we come in to I’m confident (with Lauren starting) because even if she’s not 100 percent with her speed, our defense is good enough to back her up,” said Madison corner infielder Taylor Yowell. Not that that becomes an issue for the Mountaineers very often. “Ninety percent of the time, most teams are not the greatest against her because she’s such an overpowering pitcher,” Yowell
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said. “And even when she’s not doing her best she’s still better than most.” Her consistency in the circle has been a big part of Madison’s continuing string of runs to the state’s Group A final four in Salem. She was a freshman when the Mountaineers made it for the first time in her career, and she played in the field then, with Aylor piloting Madison to the state semifinals where they lost to Bath County. The next two trips to the state tournament were powered by Seale’s arm, but they both ended in heartbreak. As a sophomore, Seale powered a young Mountaineers squad that included seven freshmen and five sophomores back to the semis, played at Virginia Tech. Only a rough sixth inning sunk Madison in the semifinal as Holston High took advantage of a strange play at third base to build a 2-1 lead before a two-run homerun provided the dagger one at-bat later. The Mountaineers took it a step further last year, taking advantage of Eastside’s mistakes in the semifinal to secure a 4-0 win behind eight Seale strikeouts and Cagney Shifflett’s 2 for 3 day at the plate. But the run ended a day later at the hands of Honaker in particularly frustrating fashion. Madison took a 1-0 lead before Honaker rallied for a 3-1 win on a three-run homerun over the left field fence.
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“Each game you can see them hitting the ball a little bit more on the nos, getting a little more aggressive in their at bats” — Jesse Yowell
It’s a lot of heartbreak, but Seale isn’t willing to dwell on it. “It gives us motivation to try harder,” Seale said. There’s also a pretty obvious common thread in those games — the Mountaineers only scored one run in each of the last two seasonending losses. “You can’t win many ball games at 1-0,” Yowell said. “Your hitting has got to be at the top every time you step out there. You’ve got
Bailey Colvin (left) and Mariann Smith (right) are part of Madison’s talented lineup this season.
to have the confidence that you can hit any pitcher and just have confidence in your team.” That begs the question, can Madison County get the offense charged up enough to finally end the frustration in the tournament? The Mountaineers were focused on answering that to start the year, and it seems to be paying dividends at the plate. They’re more aggressive, and that’s at least in part due to the fact that so many key players are back. Kimberly Deane was the lone Madison starter that graduated, and standouts like Yowell, Kaitlin Aylor, Cagney Shifflett, Sam Atwell and Chandler Gentry headline a talented lineup that has another year of varsity softball under their belt. Even Seale herself can provide a lot of her own run support. “Each game you can see them hitting the ball a little bit more on the nose, getting a little more aggressive in their at bats,” said Madison coach Jessie Yowell. “We’re getting a little bit better each game.” The emergence of sophomore Mariann Smith has also given the
Mountaineers a lift. Madison has developed a group of hitters that can strike from anywhere in the lineup and do all the little things to ignite rallies and string together runs. “(Smith’s) hitting is phenomenal, but everybody is showing up ready to play,” Seale said. “I think our hitting started off better and I think we’ll be fine when we get to (the playoffs) because it’s just going to progressively get better.” This year, the Mountaineers will try and complete the journey in newly-formed Division 2A, which cuts down on the pool of teams they’re competing with for a title, but likely will not diminish the quality of opponents competing in the state tournament if the Mountaineers are able to battle their way into that mix. “I’m excited, hopefully we’ll win it this year,” Seale said. “We only lost four seniors, one that started, and I think our team is ready — we’re mentally prepared for it. We’ve lost and we don’t want to have that feeling again.” There’s power in disappointment. To overcome that final hurdle, Madison has to be forged and hardened by its own frustration and they have to play top notch softball when the time comes. Step one is, clearly, done. Step two is now looming just a few weeks away. ✖
www.scrimmageplay.com :: 18
Game Time Albemarle 16, Western Albemarle 14 By Bart Isley
Albemarle’s Kevin Bernardino unleahes a shot in his team’s 16-14 win over WAHS. (Ashley Thornton)
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You’re not going to hear a lot out of Cameron Green. The Albemarle midfielder is far from the most vocal player on the Patriots’ roster. But in Albemarle’s barnburner of a rivalry clash on a chilly, occasionally snowy April night against Western, Green’s stick and his shot did a lot of talking. Green scored five goals on just eight shots Tuesday night as the Patriots pulled off a 1614 victory over Western in Crozet in the first installment of local public school lacrosse’s premier rivalry. “He’s a great two-way (midfielder), that’s why he’s such an asset to us,” said Albemarle coach Dave King. “Sure he scored the gamewinner but he got back on defense…he’s smart and he’s really come on this year.” With Western trying to clamp down on Matt Crist and Hunter Brown, Green had a chance to make a big impact and he took advantage. His final goal came with 2:36 to play and it became the gamewinner as Albemarle (4-1) completed a rally from being down two goals early in the fourth quarter. “I saw they were shutting me off so I ran down (behind the goal) and after the shot I picked it up,” Green said. “We set up a play and luckily I was able to run around the crease and get one in.” Kevin Bernardino’s score just 10 seconds after Green’s go-ahead goal came off the ensuing faceoff and helped seal the win for the Patriots. Over the final 2:26, Albemarle’s defense stood strong while the offense took huge chunks of time off the clock. Western kept building two and three goal leads all night but each time Albemarle answered and the Warriors just couldn’t
put the Patriots away for good. Despite hat tricks from Sumner Corbett and Clark Sipe as well as a two-goal, two-assist effort from Justin Haws, Western couldn’t hold off the late charge by the Patriots despite holding a 21-13 edge in faceoffs. “You’ve got to give credit to Albemarle,” said Western coach Alex Whitten. “Their (ability) on offense to find the backside look was phenomenal tonight. When you have 30 points scored and it’s 16-14, those are the kind of games we want to play in and those are the kind of games that we think this rivalry can be.” Carson Franklin played big time in the cage for the Warriors despite surrendering 16 goals. He made several acrobatic and pointblank saves while totaling 13 stops on the night as he helped stem the tide of a barrage of Albemarle shots. The Patriots’ Bernardino finished with three goals and a pair of assists while Crist distributed well all night with four assists to go with his two-goal outing. Zac Willis and Justin Moran each had two goals and Hunter Brown and Ian Davis had a goal and an assist each. Nick Chisholm won a pair of fourth quarter faceoffs for the Patriots that both came at critical moments. “I think we did a little better job in the second half of tying up at least their faceoff guys and you have to give Nick Chisholm credit who came off the bench after standing in the snow and won those last two faceoffs,” King said. Albemarle got a tremendous second half performance from Kyle Seago in between the pipes as he made five saves, including two in a row late to help preserve the win. ✖
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Overtime
The retro cycle Sizing up the ever changing uniform business
T
hree years ago the publisher of this magazine — you know him better as Bart Isley — gave me the task of designing this magazine. It used to be farmed out to an experienced graphic designer. I’ve learned the trade the old fashioned way, by trial and error, no official training. It’s been a strange learning experience and issues like this are a great example of the conundrums thrown my way. We wanted a retro look for our baseball cover feature. So, umm, what is retro? To each generation it means something else and trying to figure that out with today’s athlete’s is a conundrum. When we try to pay homage to a style from the past and fit today’s product into that mold it’s a history reminder for me. Going back to the 1960’s like we did with St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Javin Montgomery-DeLaurier back in January or with Buckingham County football back in the fall of 2012, it made me feel young. Those looks, those styles make me happy. Those were the designs my parents grew up with, the Mad Men era for lack of a better term — the good ol’ days. If you were a child in the late 80’s and early 90’s like I was, the period that came right before all of today’s current athletes were conceived, new retro has a weird feel to it. It’s my childhood. Soon the neon colors of the 80’s will morph into the teel and purple era of the mid ‘90’s (proof coming in the form of the Colorado Rockies, the Florida Marlins, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Toronto Raptors, Vancouver Grizzlies, Jacksonville Jaguars and so on). Those colors will be retro for the next group of athletes come three or four years from now. For someone like me, retro is the old uniforms worn by the Houston Astros, my beloved Toronto Blue Jays, the blue and yellow Seattle Mariners. The 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck rookie card was the gold standard for our generation. As good or bad as something looks now, it’s going to be retro for the children of the group of athletes we covered when we first launched in 2009. But sometimes a good look is neither retro nor futuristic. And the sport that exemplifies that is hockey where the “original six” teams the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, my Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers all wear what they did back in the 1960’s. In baseball the clock goes even further back to the 1920’s, it’s the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees. There are a lot of 1960’s milestones coming up or that have just passed. This November was the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assasination. Martin Luther King’s similar anniversary is coming up in four years. All the turmoil of the ‘60’s is and has been getting lots of attention thanks to Mad Men and rightfully so. Those colors, those looks are timeless now, both in a retro and modern sense, which seems impossible. Will the colors and looks of my generation get that treatment? Not likely. The neon yellows and greens and the font of the “Bo Knows” era put forth by Nike will fade over the next few years and we’ll enter a strange area of purple and teal that will last for a flickering moment. But it’s there where diminishing returns set in, at least from my prospective. The retro faze started in the mid to late 2000’s in sports. So many teams like my Blue Jays, or the Buffalo Bills, the Washington Wizards, etc have given up on their campaigns to try and modernize and returned to the looks that fans hold dear. What’s clear now is that the well is running dry. There is a void of creativity, we’re happy to play the old songs we like rather than experiment with new ones. Maybe the Seattle Seahawks’ neon highlights and carbon fiber looks will resurface, but the pickings are slim outside of that. And even
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“But sometimes a good look is neither retro nor futuristic.” that example is a modern look with hints of 90’s homage. The point is that the age of retro is dying because we love retro so much. Only the looks that were timeless to start, like those original six hockey teams, the classic baseball teams, have the chance at being permanently retro. So as someone involved in design, trying to retro-fit today’s athlete’s into a different era is going to get complicated. Think of the the Washington Nationals, the Houston Texans, the Columbus Blue Jackets. The scheme there? Red, white and blue. It was a period of nationalism for the United States given the headlines. That scheme will never be current nor retro. It’s part of a deeper American consciousness. It is this country’s fallback scheme. When in doubt… red, white, blue. Good design sticks, and the ‘50’s, 60’s and 70’s are perfect not retro. That was the golden era of color, never to be beaten. I hope we get a new design influx soon. What we have now and just recently isn't that special. Call them what Ryan Yemen, they are -- gimmicks.✖ CRE ATIVE EDITOR
back talk »
What is current that will be classic? Contact Ryan at: ryan@scrimmageplay.com
Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Eddie George It was a big decision, but after staring for the Fork Union prep football team as a junior and senior, Eddie George thought a post graduate 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-3-inch 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 Nebraska quarterback Tommy Harisson 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 ran in the time he played — he has 10,441 rushing yards, 268 receptions, 2,227 receiving yards, and 78 total touchdowns. He now has a succesful broadcasting career as a college and professional football analyst. 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