13 ALBEMARLE LAX’S VAUNTED SENIORS
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VOL 5 . ISSUE 16 :: MAY 28, 2014
The next stage Fluvanna County softball takes another big step forward. PAGE 7
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ONE AFTER ANOTHER Western baseball’s killer lineup
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THE RIGHT PIECES Fluvanna softball comes together
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UNDERSTATED Albemarle boys lacrosse’s senior trio
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GAME TIME Western girls lacrosse tops Albemarle
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LOCKER ROOM MATERIAL From a tweet to a state title
TS AUTHORITY
VOL 5 . ISSUE 16 :: MAY 28, 2014
The next stage Fluvanna County softball takes another big step forward. PAGE 7
VOL 5 . ISSUE 15 :: MAY 28, 2014
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13 ALBEMARLE LAX’S VAUNTED SENIORS
S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Fluvanna County’s Brooke Herndon 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 ] 434-202-0553
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PREGAME
On the strings
Albemarle boys tennis’ Joey Michel competes for the Patriots in the Conference 16 semifinals against Orange County in May. Michel rolled 10-1 in his match against the Hornets as Albemarle won 5-0. He was one of two seniors for Albemarle that led the Patriots to the first Conference 16 championship and into the Region 5A North tournament where AHS fell to a powerful Marshall High School program. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)
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Family
Corner PRESENTED BY
ABOVE » St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Audrey Schreck, a Denver commit, is one of a number of local lacrosse players competing this summer in the Under Armour All-American Underclassmen program.
The preparation begins As we move into what’s become an increasingly busy summer recruiting season, it’s important to figure out how to mentally prepare for a sports camp at a college or a showcase-type scenario with a summer team. Most sports have developed some kind of summer apparatus that’s critical to the recruiting process, whether it’s football’s series of one-day camps or the showcase/ travel team baseball or lacrosse circuit, there are a lot of chances and opportunities to gain exposure and experience during summer. When you’re preparing for those type of camps, the best approach is often to view it as a business trip. Don’t be mistaken though. That doesn’t mean you should keep your head down and be anti-social and quiet the entire time as you apply laser-like focus on the task at hand, unless that’s just who you are. I’m talking more like a sales trip where you’re the product. You should be yourself. Be comfortable doing your thing, playing hard and fast
along the way. Make sure you’re making an effort to be a great teammate rather than just finding opportunities to show off your own skills. If you’ve got the goods, you’re going to get a chance to show what you can do, that opportunity is going to present itself. Visualize those opportunities ahead of time too. A lot of golfers in particular use visualization as a means of readying themselves for certain moments. They visualize themselves hitting a certain shot a certain way, and when that situation materializes, they’re more ready to handle it in real life. Do the same thing with drills you know they’ll run or game situations. Visualize how you’d handle each scenario that cropped up and you’ll be prepared when they do. That’ll keep you from hesitating or freezing up in those moments. You need to be mentally sharp and on top of your game in drills and don’t get caught either watching other players or being distracted by some-
thing else. Show you’re there to learn and take advantage of the situation to get better. That capacity is important for a college coach to see. If you’re a natural leader, don’t shy away from that because there are a bunch of natural leaders on the field at once. Work with folks around you and show the leadership skills you’ve amassed by creating consensus if that situation arises. Be supportive of other guys. Yes, it’s a competitive situation, but acting like a jerk is a sure-fire way to get knocked down a coach’s list. Show respect and it’ll likely come back to you. You’ve also got to manage your own expectations. If you put too much pressure on a certain opportunity or assume that something is going to happen, when it doesn’t it’s going to have an impact on you. So come in expecting the best, but understanding that things don’t, necessarily, play out how you planned it. So much of the recruiting process is out of your hands. Don’t let what you can’t control ruin an incredible opportunity to develop and learn. ✖ Scrimmage Play and Triple C Camp partner up to cover family issues related to youth and prep sports in our Family Corner.
Bart Isley,
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
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First Quarter One after another Western’s gauntlet of a lineup hits the playoffs By Ryan Yemen
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Logan Ebanks squares up for a pitch in Western’s 12-2 win over Albemarle back in April. (Ashley Thornton)
{ LURKING BELOW } RBI totals for Western in May (through the 27th) show the depth of this order from top to bottom.
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ften it’s said that a high school baseball team is only as good as its second starter. Yes, good pitching usually trumps good hitting, but what happens when a team’s ninth hitter could well be hitting in the heart of the order?
Sometimes there’s nothing a good pitcher can do when he runs into a fully-stocked lineup. That’s where Western Albemarle sits as it gears up to make a postseason run. The Warriors have the most dominant starting pitcher in Central Virginia in Jack Maynard, and are developing another great one in Sam Hearn. They also have nine prominent batters. Welcome to the joy that is Skip Hudgins’ job right now. “The sense I get from this group is always that it’s just a matter of time,” Hudgins said. “Our lineup from 1-9 is really good. There are a lot of lineups where once you get past the five hole, the pitcher can take a little breather. Not with this group, they’re different.” It’s John Mark Mastakas, Maynard and Stevie Mangrum that headline the order for Western, but when you consider that every single starter that the team has was named to the All-Jefferson District team — honors given out by the opposing coaches in the JD, mind you — you get a greater sense of how many hard outs there are in this lineup. Dylan Weiss, Henry Kreienbaum, Eli Sumpter, Logan Ebanks, Josh Casteeen are the unsung heroes of this team, and the highly decorated athletes that star for this team recognize that. “That’s the funny thing, we get a lot of the press, but it’s them that are doing even more than us (at the top of the order) are really,” Maynard said. “These are the guys that get the huge 2-out hits.”
And it’s that mentality that a coach loves to see from a lineup. The phrases “pick up your teammates” and “trust the man behind you” get thrown around every single inning from every single coach. There’s a reason for that — teams that do so wind up putting big crooked numbers on the scoreboard. That’s been Western’s story offensively. Including a 10-0 win over Spotswood in its Conference 29 tournament opener, the Warriors have put up at least a four-run inning in all six of the last games they’ve played. “The team is hitting so well it’s just kind of contagious, you just get up there and swing and it ends up working out,” Mangrum said. “Our philosophy is to score a run every inning and keep it very simple.” In the last 10 games they’ve played the offense has put up at least five runs. The lowest scoring total so far this year? A 1-0 win where Maynard and Monticello’s Sean Byrnes put on an absolute pitching clinic. While the heart of the Warriors potentially big playoff run will center around the pitching from Maynard and Hearn — and rightfully so considering neither has taken a loss in a start so far — the potency of this lineup sometimes gets overlooked. And if you’re Casteen hitting in the nine-spot, that’s music to your ears. He had five RBI including a grand slam against Spotswood. Opposing pitchers don’t realize what they’re getting into that deep in the order. They had better figure it out quickly before it’s too late. ✖
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College Update
We’ve gone digital
Louisa alumnus wraps up career at West Point
But you can have it in print too!
By Ryan Yemen In the end, he finished up his career in college much in the way he did in high school. Gunnar Carroll was the first recipient of our All-Scrimmage Play player of the year award for baseball back in 2010 for going undefeated as a starter for Louisa County, the Jefferson District champions that season. After four years at Army, Carroll’s collegiate career has now come to an end, and he went out on a personal high note. While Army did not qualify for the NCAA Division 1 tournament this year like it did last year (and to make it better, where Carroll had a homecoming by playing in the Regional round at Davenport Field at UVa), Carroll did manage to earn first team honors in the Patriot League. Carroll paved the way for the Black Knights to a Patriot League Championship by going 8-3 and posting an ERA of 2.20. In 82 innings pitched this year he gave up just 89 hits and walked 12 runners for an impressive WHIP of 1.23. He struck out 52 batters this season and threw four complete
games. It was his best season since he arrived at West Point. Carroll, who was a 4-year starter for Kevin Fisher at Louisa during his high school career, had to work his way out of the bullpen to get the job as a starter at Army. Not too many true freshmen get to contribute from the rubber, but Carroll threw 44 innings in 2011 and went 3-2 out of the pen with a 4.50 ERA. As a sophomore he held a 2.48 ERA and threw 54.1 innings while striking out 40 batters. He struggled a bit as a junior, with his ERA hitting 6.02 during his 43.1 innings, but as his senior season proved, that was just a minor setback. This winter Army made him the team’s second starter and Carroll did not disappoint, as he became the same inning chewer that he was in high school. He finished at Army with a 16-10 record, a 3.47 ERA, gave up just nine home runs and 44 walks in his 223 innings while striking out 131. His career WHIP finished up at 1.26. ✖
HOW TO GET A PHYSICAL COPY OF SCRIMMAGE PLAY Step 1 :: Click here and head to the MagCloud version of the magazine. It’s going to look like this below:
BELOW » Louisa graduate Gunnar Carroll was Army’s lone first-team All-Patriot League selection after an oustanding senior year. (Army Sports Information)
Step 2 :: Click the Buy Print button next to the magazine and follow instructions to order Step 3 :: Wait patiently by your mailbox Step 4 :: When it arrives, take it out and read or stash away to your heart’s delight!
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THE RIGHT PIECES STORY BY RYAN YEMEN — PHOTOS BY ASHLEY THORNTON 07 :: @scrimmageplay
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BROOKE HERNDON IS ONE OF JUST TWO SENIORS ON THE FLUVANNA COUNTY SOFTBALL ROSTER, THE TEAM’S RELIABLE CATCHER. SHE’S PLAYED ON THE VARSITY LEVEL FOR FOUR YEARS NOW AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS PROGRAM FROM HER FRESHMAN YEAR TO HER SENIOR YEAR IS A STORY OF STEADY AND GRADUAL PROGRESS. THERE ARE COUNTLESS TALES OF TEAMS RISING FROM THE BASEMENT TO THE TOP OF THE STANDINGS IN JUST ONE SEASON. THERE ARE JUST AS MANY STORIES OF TEAMS RETURNING TO THAT BASEMENT, THE PROVERBIAL ‘FLASH IN THE PAN’ WHERE A PROGRAM RIDES THE COATTAILS OF ONE OR TWO PLAYERS. THE PROGRESS THAT FLUVANNA’S MADE DURING HERNDON’S TIME IS DIFFERENT. THE FLUCOS — WHO WERE A FORCE TO RECKONED WITH BACK IN 2008, FINISHING SECOND TO ORANGE COUNTY THAT YEAR IN THE JEFFERSON DISTRICT — ARE AND SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE A PRIMETIME PLAYER IN THE JD AND FROM THERE, IN THE NEWLY FORMED CONFERENCE 23. THEY ARE IN THE CONVERSATION WITH THE POWHATANS, THE LOUISA COUNTYS OF THE AREA. AND GETTING TO THIS POINT, WHERE FLUVANNA CAN MAKE A LENGTHY PLAYOFF RUN, WAS A MATTER OF HARD WORK, DEVELOPING YOUNG TALENT, AND THEN A SELFLESS DECISION BY A KEY PLAYER.
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“I think it was the right combination with her pitcher and me playing behind her at short.”
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-- Scott
Lexi Scott was Fluvanna’s number one arm in 2013. As a sophomore, she helped the Flucos take another step forward from the previous two made in 2011 and 2012. Fluvanna became one of the tougher outs in the district for Louisa and Powhatan, but it’s overall talent was still young. Last year, Fluvanna coach Aimee McCall made the deciscion to call up then freshman Annaleise Kennedy from the junior varisty squad. “We pulled Annaleise up from JV about a quarter of the way through the season and with Lexi pitching, we played her at third base,” McCall said. “We would pitch Annaleise in practice and she was always there if we needed her, but the job was Lexi’s that year and she took control and ran with it.” Every once in a while, there’s a pitching change in softball that isn’t dramatic. It is possible to have a younger pitcher replace the incumbent and have everyone happy with the decision. This happens to be that rare occasion where cooler heads prevailed on all sides, everyone’s smiling and the team is benefiting overall. Lexi Scott felt like she belonged at shortstop. Annaleise Kennedy has spent her entire life wanting to be a heralded pitcher. The move was made. “Lexi’s heart is at shortstop, and we’ve known that and I think she realized that, this year,” McCall said. “And then Annaliese was just more than willing to take over.” So it happened. It was the first big step of the year. “I love playing short and I think that Annaleise has more motivation to pitch,” Scott said. “I’m a more aggressive player when I’m playing short. So I think it was the right combination with her pitching and me playing behind her at short.” Scott’s speed, range, solid fielding and great arm at shorstop helped steady the Flucos’ young infield ncluding Mindy Lawson and Tiffani Shaheen. Whenever McCall needs Scott to pitch, the junior was more than willing to contribute. It’s just that the future of this team was written on the wall and everyone seemed to be on board. “We’re stronger because of this,” McCall said. “Lexi’s so comfortable over there and plays a great shortstop, but she’s a team player and if I need her to pitch she’s more than willing to do that too. I know she’s willing to do whatever I ask, she just wants to win.” And what better way to develop a young pitcher than by putting a quality defense behind her. Behind the plate there’s the true veteran in Herndon. Between Scott, Lawson and Shaheen, this team’s defense is arguably it’s greatest strength. “The defense is one of the main things for us this year,” Herndon said. “We used to be one of the slowest teams in the district and now all of the sudden we are one of the fastest.” So far, Kennedy’s trek into the circle has been outstanding, making her one of the young playmakers in the sport to keep a close eye on. While she has solid
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“She has a lot of movement on her pitches. It takes some getting used to.”
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-- Herndon
stuff, it’s her attitude that makes her special. “She’s only a sophomore but she works her butt off every day in practice,” McCall said. “She’s our go-to pitcher, but in practice she works on everything, her hitting — if she has a bad night before, she wants to work off the tee. She’s just a worker.” When hard work meets talent great things happen, but in softball, there’s a mental game constantly at play. You can always tell when a pitcher is frustrated. Good hitters know what approach to take at the plate when someone is rattled, angry or just going through the motions. In Kennedy, the Flucos have a wise poker player. “She’s a year round pitcher and has wanted to do this since she was a kid,” McCall said. “She’s just so stoic as a pitcher. You could come by any game at anytime and you’d never know if a team just got a hit, a run or if she just struck someone out. We could be up by 10 or down by 10 and you wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at her.” Kennedy doesn’t mince words about her demeanor, her approach or attitude, everything stems from exactly what you’d want a pitcher to think. “I think it comes from my motivation to want to strike everyone out,” Kennedy said. “It really is my strategy. I try and go at them from what I get (scouting wise) from our coaches. I want to go after the weaknesses. It’s been a learning process.” As for Kennedy’s stuff, she brings a repertoire. Often the game is about changing speeds, and a pitcher that can locate can get by with just adjusting the velocity and keeping batters off-kilter. Kennedy brings a bit more as she can put a lot of movement on her pitches to buckle a batter’s knees. There’s nothing better for a pitcher than a batter swinging at a pitch that looks like a strike and finishes just out of the zone. For Herndon, the change in the circle was adjustment for her as well. She had to deal with being more attentive to the variety of pitches and make sure as little as possible got by her. “She has a lot of movement on her pitches,” Herndon said. “It takes some getting used to because she has so many different pitches. With Lexi we were working with her fastball and her change up. With Annaleise it’s just a different mix.” Of course, you don’t get to be the reliable veteran catcher without bringing a whole lot of skill yourself. The only player that touches the ball even close to a pitcher happens to sit behind the plate. Keeping a runner from second base in softball is the name of the game. With the distance between the bases shorter than in baseball, the advantage goes to the offense. A walk and a stolen base or a wild pitch isn’t just the same as a double. It’s a good chance that a simple single will easily score the runner from second. So confidence behind the
dish is a key. Fluvanna has that with Herndon. “She’s a fourth year starter and a constant force behind the plate,” McCall said. “The teams in our area all know her really well now, so they just don’t run on her.” Whether it was Haii Goad at Louisa in 2011 and 2012 or Chrissy Cromer (Louisa again) and Sam Pearce at Powhatan these last two years, the Jefferson District always seems to have great depth at catcher. Herndon was a second team selection as a player at large last year, but broke through to earn second team All-JD at catcher this season. “She’s always had really stiff competition in the Jefferson District from the personal accolade standpoint and so I think that’s really helped her keep working,” McCall said. “She knows those other catchers are getting better everyday, so she has to too.” With a strong arm and her ability to keep everything in front of her, there wasn’t a whole lot that Herndon could do to get better behind the plate. So this last year she’s devoted a lot of time and effort to getting better at the plate. It’s paid off, and the Flucos’ cleanup hitter has made the gains she was looking for. “Her batting average has improved from last year and so it’s great to see her work paying off on that end of her game without having to sacrifice all the things that make her such a great catcher,” McCall said. For Herndon, it’s not just about her change at the plate that’s made this team more successful.
“We have definitely become a better hitting team,” Herndon said. “At the beginning of the year, yeah, we were okay. Some days it was the top of the lineup doing well, other days it was the bottom. Now it feels like everyone gets up there and just hits, hits, hits.” So Fluvanna heads into Conference 23 play with a well rounded team. It has a pitcher who’s great now but will only get better. It has the senior mentor in Herndon. It has an example of a true team player in Scott. It has a boat load of underclassmen that will be hungry to out do anything they do this season. And the chemistry is there. “This team has bonded way more this year,” Herndon said. “When you come together as a team, you just play better.” As a result, the steady progress this team has made since Herndon’s freshman year is likely to continue. “We only have two seniors and so looking down the road, we’re really excited,” McCall said. “We’re getting better everyday and that’s always been the goal — to be better after each practice. We want to peak at the right time in the season, and so far it’s looking like we’ve picked the right time this year.” It’s the time of year where winning matters most. It’s win or go home. “We know what it takes to get here,” Scott said. “We’re willing to do what it takes. We’re aggressive this year. We want this.” It doesn’t look like motivation is a problem. ✖
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uNDER
sTATED STORY BY BART ISLEY | PHOTOS BY ASHLEY THORNTON & TOM PAJEWSKI
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ver since the trio of Hunter Brown, Kevin Bernardino and Matt Crist started to emerge on the scene for Albemarle boys lacrosse back in 2011, the Patriots have been a maddening
team to face while picking up a host of victories and titles. To hear about all that success though, you’ll have to ask someone else, ask them directly in a one-on-one setting or just go without, because you’re definitely not going to hear about it from them unsolicited. “Well done is better than well said for those guys,” said Albemarle coach Dave King. “Everything they do is on the field, it’s not talk. It’s legitimate and they show it through work. I’d take that any day.” Just because they’re not constantly talking, it doesn’t mean they’re not communicating. After seven years of playing lacrosse together they may just not need to talk all that much to know what’s happening. “We’re not the loudest, but we work well together,” Bernardino said. “We get our point across.” They’ve gotten their point across with a ton of victories during their career, including a state tournament bid in 2013 that ended at the hands of Chantilly in the quarterfinals. But they’ve had to get to that point with a particular line of thinking and style of play in mind.
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wE USE THAT TO OUR ADVANTAGE. WE JUST WANT TO WIN AND WHATEVER IT TAKES, WE’LL DO THAT.” — bERNARDINO
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The three captains for the Patriots are a study in how lacrosse, despite a move to bigger, stronger athletes throughout different levels of the game, can be run by smaller, slick athletes with a high lacrosse I.Q. and savvy stick skills. None of the three are particularly tall, with each sitting around 5-foot-8. They’re all three fast and lightning quick with the stick though. “Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about our size, but there are a lot of things that can make up for it like stick skills and speed,” Crist said. “That’s what we try and work on and it’s worked for us so far.” Crist was the first member of the trio to break out for the Patriots. He jumped into the varsity starting lineup as a freshman on a team that advanced all the way to the state final four because he’s one of the state’s most gifted distributors. He has a knack for always finding the open man and he’s built his game around that savvy, making everyone in the Albemarle lineup better because of his setup skills. In the last couple of years, however, he’s expanded his game drastically, becoming a dangerous scoring option under King’s tutelage. That became a necessity because of how defenses were handling him. “People don’t slide as quickly to me any more because they know that’ll leave a guy that I’ll pass to easily,” Crist said. “Coach King has really worked with me on dodging and everything and trying to, not necessarily take away my pass-first mentality but to make sure if they’re going to make me score, I can.” While Crist still has the occasional fiveassist game, he’s piling up a lot more goals now too, making an already challenging Albemarle offense that much more of a headache. Crist and Bernardino are a tremendous partnership because Bernardino is a master at getting open with off the ball cuts and movement. Crist can find anyone who’s open and Bernardino is open an awful lot. That’s proven deadly for opposing teams over the years. Bernardino is also gritty on ground balls and brings a certain level of toughness shared by all three of the Patriots’ captains. All three are quick to bounce back up after a brutal hit
SUPPORTING THE FUTURE SPORTS STARS OF TOMORROW Best of luck to our 2013 student athletes as they embark on their college careers. Maiah Bartlett Miles Davis Blissie DuBose Will Eppard Tyler Gimple Will Grossman Allie Nicholson Lloyd Smith Stewart Staunton Aaron Stinnie Catherine Towers
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Hunter Brown (above) has given the Patriots a huge goal scoring boost since he paired up with Bernandino and Crist.
and show that being smaller doesn’t mean they’re going down easily. “We know all of our strengths and we’re really just tough kids,” Bernardino said. “We use that to our advantage. We just want to win and whatever it takes, we’ll do that.” Brown is intent on doing whatever it takes, particularly when it comes to getting setup to take a shot with the stick in his left hand. He’ll dodge, rotate, move or shake to set up his devastating ability to score with his left, particularly when he’s dodging from the top. If he gets to his left, that’s a major problem for the goalie trying to stop him. King and the rest of the Albemarle staff have also found a system and style that works for their cat quick lineup that not only has Brown but several other players with the ability to dodge and create. “We like to get space and then back out,” Brown said. “Then we can go — we can really use our speed to our advantage. There’s a lot of backside play where that guy is open.” By taking the tempo up or shifting gears, Albemarle can create openings on the opposite side of the formations as defenses try and adjust and rotate. Brown can then find an open man or unleash a
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wE LIKE TO GET SPACE AND THEN BACK OUT. THEN WE CAN GO.” — bROWN howitzer of a shot if his defender loses a step, which happens all the time against the Hampden Sydney-bound speedster. “That’s the best part about this sport is that if you’re athletic and aggressive and you’ve put the time in on stick skills like these guys have, it can be so much fun,” King said. “There’s not many other sports (at their size) where you can play at the level these guys play and be so effective.” They get a lot of support from a slew of other players offensively too, whether it’s Zac Willis, Justin Moran, Andrew Hogg, Cameron
Matt Crist’s creative offensive mind has fueled Albemarle the last four years.
tHIS GROUP OF SENIORS DEFINETLY WANTS IT.” — cRIST Green or Ian Davis, Albemarle has a lot of options in the mix this year. That gives Albemarle an element of deception because of the depth. The go-to guy could be different any given night. “It’s Matt, Kevin, Hunter — Hunter, Matt, Kevin or Kevin, Hunter, Matt in some order,” King said. “That’s usually the way that this program has started and what teams have focused on for three years. The great part about this team this year is that you have those three and they deserve to be the focal point of what we do but you sprinkle in the other guys and it makes it fun for them.”
It helps too that Albemarle’s elder statesmen are focused. Both Bernardino and Crist watched their older brothers come up just short of a state title back in 2011 with Crist playing a huge role on that team en route to Scrimmage Play newcomer of the year honors for that squad. His brother Billy and Kevin’s brother Michael both fell in the semifinals to the same Chantilly program that eliminated Albemarle last year. “We saw early on how much our brothers care,” Bernardino said. “They didn’t get a state championship and that’s obviously our goal because we want to get it not only for our team but the guys we’ve played with the last three years. We learned a lot from them and it was a lot of fun playing with them.” That’s going to require some laser-like focus over the new few weeks and a heavy dose of Brown, Bernardino and Crist’s lead-byexample style as the road gets tougher. They all three know what’s at stake as much as anybody could. “None of us want it to end for sure,” Crist said. “This group of seniors definitely wants it more than any beach week or anything like that. We want to play for the last game.” ✖
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Game Time Western 15, Albemarle 12 By Bart Isley
The Warriors celebrate after beating the Patriots in the Charlottesville Group final. (Ashley Thorton)
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Western Albemarle’s girls lacrosse team knew in their third meeting with Albemarle, after a run-and-shoot regular season finale, that draw controls were going to be absolutely critical. With a nearly 3-to-1 advantage on the draw, the Warriors got the job done and held on for a 15-12 win in the Charlottesville Group final Friday night in Crozet. “That was a huge part of the game because it just shifts the momentum and gives you the opportunity to score rather than having it on defense the entire time,” said Western midfielder Olivia Rentz. Rentz and Ellie Allen combined for 10 draw controls with five each, totaling more than half of the Warriors’ 19 on the night. Albemarle scratched out seven but with the deficit had to come up with defensive stops to hang in the game with the Warriors. “That was crucial to our game tonight,” Allen said. “It kind of gave us confidence too, it help us build momentum.” The Patriots came up with those stops and powered back to an 11-10 lead with 15:03 to play, forcing Western to settle itself down. “I’m not going to lie, there was some panic,” Allen said. “But we were able to calm it down and definitely winning the draw controls gave us some assurance that we still have this, we can still get the upperhand.” The Warriors closed out the game on a 5-1 run, sparked by several of those critical draw controls that kept the ball out of a dangerous, multiple-faceted Albemarle attack’s sticks. Allen and Sammie Magargee each had four goals for the Warriors, with Magargee
also dishing out a pair of assists. Magargee came up with a particularly critical goal with 1:42 left. A minute earlier, the Patriots had cut the Warriors lead to just one and after Reilly Funk won the draw for the Warriors, they appeared set to try and burn clock and look for the perfect chance to extend the lead. Magargee got trapped up top but split a pair of defenders with some nifty footwork and sprinted toward the cage. She buried the subsequent shot and pushed Western to a 14-12 lead that seemed to sink any hopes of an Albemarle comeback. Alison Berg scored two goals on the night, but they couldn’t have come at a much better time for the Warriors, as she scored them back-to-back to turn an 11-11 deadlock into a 13-11 lead for Western with 8:46 to play in the game. Kate Snyder also finished with two goals while Reilly Funk and Hanna Schuler each had a goal. Albemarle’s squad got a particularly productive night from Carolyn Chapman who notched four goals. Eight different Patriots scored on the night as Albemarle shared the ball extremely well in their offensive half. “I think one of our strengths is that we don’t have one star,” said Albemarle coach Laurie Pratt. “(Having eight players score) just shows how deep this team is.” Julia Hartman had two goals while Mary Earles provided much of the Patriots’ threat on a tough night at the draw with four controls. ✖
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TEAM SPOTLIGHT C OV E NA N T S O F T BA L L Covenant’s softball team won a second-straight LIS title. The Eagles then went on to advance further in the VISAA Division 2 tournament than any softball squad in school history. In doing so, they qualified for the state semifinals. Congratulations to the Eagles on their big step forward!
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WESTERN ALBEMARLE’S OLIVIA RENTZ
Olivia Rentz has been a critical part of the puzzle for a Western Albemarle girls lacrosse squad that clawed its way to a Jefferson District championship and a Charlottesville Group title in 2014. Rentz is a second team All-Group midfielder for the Warriors who’s had a major impact on scoring and draw controls, and the senior and her teammates aren’t done yet. The Warriors still have the South Zone tournament and potentially the state playoffs left to navigate. Taking on a heavy load comes naturally to Rentz though, as the senior posts a 4.516 GPA while balancing lacrosse, honor council, National Honor Society and being a photographer for the school paper, the Western Hemisphere. She’s also a part of the school’s World Culture Club and the student fan group, the WAHS Fanatics. Rentz plans to head to Wake Forest University next year, a strong academic school where the challenges will only get tougher. It’s clear Rentz is ready for the journey.
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Staying Motivated Covenant’s Llera intensifies focus with Tweet
G
enerally I’m pretty cynical about motivationally tactics. It’s probably a direct response to having a father who was really into Succesories, a series of motivational prints that were big in the 1990s and sold in mall retail stores. They had like one big photo and a single word under it plus a quote. They’ve been parodied online since, probably because they’re so easy to make fun of. Throw in a combination of being around organized sports in some form or fashion for 25 years, and it gets to a point where you’ve sort of heard it all. But that cynicism gives way when you hear a story of a high school junior staying committed to a motivational tactic every day for an entire year. Seconds after Covenant’s boys lacrosse team lost to Highland in the state final in 2013, I tweeted out this simple update: “20-13 Highland beats Covenant for the VISAA boys lacrosse D2 title.” Shortly thereafter, Covenant’s Austin Llera, then a sophomore, printed the update on a simple piece of typing paper. He then taped it to his driver’s side door — and a second copy near his bed — so that each day he’d have to see that tweet and remember the frustration he and the rest of the Eagles felt after that loss. “Every day I looked at in bed, every time in my car — I said this is what I’m doing it for,” Llera said. “I’m not having that feeling again.” So each day, Llera glanced at that paper as he got in or out of his car on the way to travel lacrosse tournaments or workouts during the summer. He saw it during an occasionally frustrating football season where things didn’t go as planned for the Eagles. He saw it during good days and bad days at school. He saw at every winter workout where he had to drive through the snow to get a lift in. He saw it as he negotiated the recruiting process as the sophomore to junior transition is a huge recruiting year in lacrosse. He saw it as Covenant’s 2014 lacrosse season cranked back up. He saw it when the Eagles started the year as Division II’s No. 1 ranked team. He saw it as the Eagles made a few missteps, including an early season loss to Blue Ridge and a late season struggle against Western. He then saw it each day as Covenant unleashed an incredible close to 2014, beating Liberty Christian and North Cross before avenging the Blue Ridge loss. He saw it as Covenant beat Trinity-Meadowview and Trinity Christian in the first two rounds of the VISAA tournament. That set the table for the only way having to view a reminder of that frustrating moment all year could really be worth it, for the Eagles to beat Nansemond-Suffolk in the state final. Covenant got the job done, beating NSA 12-10. “Everyone worked so hard this season in the gym and hitting the wall after practice,” Llera said. “I just think we all deserved this. It feels good to work so hard for something and then win it.” Llera, who was overcome with emotion after the game, wasn’t done though. The next day at home, he tore the tweet off his driver’s side door and burned it. He lit that tattered and torn paper that had weathered a year of being scotch taped to a car door on fire in his driveway.
22 :: @scrimmageplay
“Every day I looked at it in bed, every time in my car — I said this is what I’m doing it for.”
It takes pretty incredible dedication and discipline to remind yourself every day of one the most frustrating moments in your athletic career. Llera is that disciplined and he was ready to accept that burden. That piece of paper helped push an already driven student athlete toward a lofty goal. So maybe I shouldn’t be so cynical about motivational tactics. They’re only as good as the athlete’s focus and drive of course. But that reminder helped keep it fresh in Llera’s mind. And symbolically burning all that frustration after the mission was accomplished? That made Covenant’s championship that much sweeter. ✖
Bart Isley,
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
back talk »
What do you look for to get that extra motivation? Contact Bart at: bart@scrimmageplay.com
Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Russell Bodine At 6-foot 4-inches you’d never have guessed that Russell Bodine wasn’t the largest member of the Fork Union offensive line when he played in high school. Bodine played along side Jacob Ruby (Richmond), John Tu’uta (NC State) and Mark Shuman (Virginia Tech) during his time as a Blue Devil, and developed a reputation as one of the hardest working and most tenacious linemen in the state. The Scottsville native was a first team All-VISAA Division 1 and AllPrep League in both 2008 and 2009. In all, 11 different schools offered for Bodine a chance to play, including Virginia, Virginia Tech, California, Stanford and Rutgers. However, before his senior season began, Bodine verbally committed to North Carolina before singing his national letter of intent in February of 2010. In Chapel Hill, Bodine redshirted
for the fall of 2010 before getting prominent playing time as a freshman in 2011. He appeared in nine of the Tarheels’ 13 games. As a sophomore, Bodine took over full time at center, starting in all 12 games. During his junior season, Bodine once again started all 12 contests for the Tarheels, playing both center and at times, sliding over to play left guard as he clocked in at 310 pounds. His effort earned him an All-ACC honorable mention. With a year of eligibility left, Bodine decided to forgo his senior season. At the NFL Combine, he put up 42 reps on the bench press at 225 pounds, the best of any center at the event. In the 2014 NFL Draft, the Cincinatti Bengals used their fourth round pick on the Fork Union graduate. Bodine’s journey has seen him go from playing football on Fridays to Saturdays and now finally on Sundays.
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