07 WESTERN GIRLS
LACROSSE TURNS OVER POSITIONS
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One Touch Albemarle soccer’s senior core is geared up for one more state tournament run. PAGE 07
VOL 7. ISSUE 16 :: MAY 31, 2016
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07 WesTern girls
lAcrosse Turns over posiTions
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STACKER ORDER Albemarle soccer has no weak spots
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PLAYING IN REVERSE Western girls lacrosse swap O and D
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GAME TIME Goochland baseball wins Region 2A quarters
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GOOD KNIGHT Buckingham’s Craig Gill calls it a career
one Touch VOL 7 . ISSUE 16 :: MAY 31, 2016
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MOUNTAINEER MAGIC Madison baseball finds its offense
vol 7. issue 16 :: May 31, 2016
Albemarle soccer’s senior core is geared up for one more state tournament run. page 07
S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Albemarle’s Brendan Moyers 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
Rounding third William Monroe’s Anthony Pritchett is waived home in his team’s Region 3A East quarterfinal against Hopewell. Representing the tying run in the bottom of the sixth, Pritchett reached home safely off a 2-run double from R.J. Payne. The Dragons advanced to the semifinals, 5-4, after the winning run was balked in in the bottom of the 7th. With a Group 3A tournament bid on the line, Monroe faces Colonial Heights. ✖ (Photo by Brian Mellott)
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First Quarter Mountaineer magic Madison baseball is at it again in the playoffs By Bart Isley
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adison County’s baseball team exploded offensively in the Conference 35 tournament, and that made things a little more simple for the Mountaineers’ head coach, David Londrey.
Madison’s Nick Littlehales and David Londrey. (John Berry)
{ THE ROSTER } As a small Group 2A school, Madison carries just 14 players.
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“When we’re hitting like this I just step back and let them go,” Londrey said. “I’m not doing much but staying out of their way.” Madison ended the regular season with a 5-0 shutout of Central Woodstock then faced a George Mason squad they lost twice to in the Conference 35 semifinals. “They were geared up and ready to go from the moment I told them that we were playing Mason,” Londrey said. The Mountaineers made the most of that new opportunity against the Mustangs, rolling 14-1 over Mason. They followed that with an 18-11 win in a wild ballgame for the Conference 35 title that took more than four hours to play including a short rain delay. That rain delay helped the Mountaineers reset themselves and refocus on the task at hand. “We talked about how it was a whole new ballgame,” Londrey said. Of course that two-game run didn’t happen out of nowhere. The Mountaineers had a solid regular season, playing well enough to earn the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. The Mountaineers got solid contributions from players like sophomore Eli Estes, who helped solidify a pitching rotation that Madison knew had some unanswered questions coming into the campaign. “We quickly realized that he was our number one,” Londrey said. “He’s a very smart pitcher. He knows what, when and where to throw it.” Estes’ ERA hovers around 2.0 and he’s proven adept at pounding the strike zone and pitching to contact, leaning on the defense behind him. His emergence prompted some other shifts in the lineup as Chris Smith took on an expanded role. The Mountaineers’ cen-
terfielder the past couple of seasons, Smith shifted to a part-time role at shortstop when Estes, the usual shortstop, is on the mound. He also sparked the dynamic effort the last two games with a leadoff stand-up triple in the conference semifinals against Mason. Smith earned first team All-Bull Run and AllConference 35 utility player honors for those efforts plus his role as the squad’s closer. “He’s the truest utility player that I’ve ever had,” Londrey said. “No matter where you put him, he’s done great.” But the player that perhaps most emulates the Mountaineers’ team-effort approach is Nick Littlehales. The senior first baseman is a rock that Madison can always rely on whether it’s for solid defense or whatever is asked of him at the plate, posting a .360 batting average. Plus he’s the squad’s No. 2 pitcher and capable of really locking up opposing teams by throwing a lot of strikes. “He quietly does his job,” Londrey said. “When I tallied up all his numbers he had a phenomenal season. He just quietly produced all year long.” Throw in All-Bull Run District campaigns from outfielders Shane Aylor and Isiah Smith. In 2014 Madison ran that kind of early postseason success to a state semifinal matchup and as special as that squad was, this year’s edition has stood out in a big way for Londrey. “This group works harder than any group I’ve had,” Londrey said. It’s why the Mountaineers are one of the last baseball teams playing in Central Virginia. ✖
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Port and starboard Western Albemarle rowing racks up trophies
We’ve gone digital But you can have it in print too!
By Bart Isley There are some small programs across Central Virginia, but some of them are some of the most successful. Take Western Albemarle’s rowing team. They had a tremendous spring, capped by the squad’s women’s quad winning a gold medal at the Schoolboy Rowing Association National Championship Regatta on Dillon Lake in Nashport, Ohio. Western’s senior group of Emily Barlow, Carrie Smith, Emmy Thacker and Maggie Vidal combined to win the national championship just two weeks after they won the Virginia State Championship on May 14 and a silver medal at the Stotesbury Cup May 21. Barlow, the squad’s senior captain, is headed to Bucknell this fall to row. The victory at Stotesbury was extremely
impressive as the Warriors competed in a field that included nearly 1,000 boats from 191 schools across the nation on the Schuykill River in Philadelphia. It was the 90th edition of the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the second largest regatta in the nation. The Warriors raced to the finish in 5.11.230, a little more than two seconds off the titlewinning pace of champion Conestoga High out of Pennsylvania. In the national championships, Western won the title in 5:17.132, outpacing a strong field that included Albemarle, who finished fifth in the race. The Warriors’ junior quad of Jordan Neuman, Hannah Carter, Clare O’Connell and Leah Gillespie took home a bronze medal in their race at the SRAA nationals. ✖
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BELOW » Emmy Thacker, Emily Barlow, Maggie Vidal and Carrie Smith celebrate their national championship. (Jim Shannon)
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First Quarter
CHS rallies for its coach Black Knights overcome adversity, sit a win away from state berth |
By Ryan Yemen
Hussein Osman is one of a handful of Charlottesville seniors making one last push. (Ashley Thornton)
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he circumstances are rather cruel. Stephan Cost has been coaching Charlottesville boys soccer for eight years. Over the last few the Black Knights have been so close to getting to the state tournament. However, with his father dealing with health troubles, Cost was forced to leave for Michigan as his team prepared for Conference 23 play. “It’s not fun, but my dad has been such an important part of my life and I think guys understand what’s going on,” Cost said. “This a group of good guys, good teammates. They understand the hard work it takes to win and I really hope they’re soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying it.” They are. With their hard fought 1-0 win over Jefferson Forest in the C23 semifinals, the Black Knights secured a spot in the Region 4A West tournament, something that’s become a perennial event since the VHSL realignment in 2013. After falling to E.C. Glass in the conference final, the Black Knights were stuck with an uphill climb. First they dismantled William Byrd 3-0. That earned them the right to make the long road trip up to John Handley where Charlottesville once again posted a 1-0 shutout. As such, the Black Knights now sit one win away from qualifying for the state tournament. In Cost’s absence, longtime assistant Martin Braun has taken the reigns and received help from Bayram Sadikoglu, the program’s JV coach. Cost still handles all the paperwork that goes along with running the team, and he talks with players, but come game time, he’s left all the decisions up to his assistant. “I’m still doing some behind the scenes things that I can from afar but basically I talk to Martin and leave the rest of the decisions up to him,” Cost said. “It’s his call from there because he’s watching the warmups, the practices. He knows the players, he knows our style. Right now though, I’ve sort of dropped into the role of being a team cheer leader.” Up front, Charlottesville can rely on veteran senior leadership from Thomas Birle, Theo Heard and Hussein Osman. They’ve been the core of this team for quite some time now. “Everyone is on the same page,” Osman said. “We’re combining balls from the back to the offense and finishing.” Of course, getting a mid-season addition never hurts either. In October, Abibi Osman broke
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his leg playing travel soccer on a collision with a goalkeeper. With a metal rod now in his leg, Osman managed to make a full and quick recovery. The junior came through with the game winner on Monday against John Handley and gives Charlottesville an added creative threat on offense, and a forward with the strength to push through defenders despite his injury. “It was hard, I couldn’t run very well at the start of the season but now I finally feel like I’m back to my regular play,” Abibi Osman said. “I have a little fear sometimes when it’s one-on-one with a keeper, I mean that’s how I broke my leg, but I’ve been getting better with that and working hard to finish my shots.” On the back end of the field, with three shutouts in their last four games, the Black Knights’ defense is playing its best soccer of the season. One of the things Charlottesville did this year was rotate a lot of players around the defense to prepare should they suffer any injuries. That’s been a non-issue and with so many players having spent time playing at center-back throughout the regular season, this group has a lot of experience all across the back line with Yayha Mohamed at center-back and blossoming young defenders in freshman Kyle Lehnert and Carter Kitchin at goalkeeper. “We have so much young talent that I think this is the beginning of Charlottesville going far, trying to make it to states,” Birle said. “Honestly, we might be better next year.” However, nobody’s thinking about next year right now. “We’ve been able to rally around this and just work for coach Cost,” Heard said. ✖
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ACADEMIC EDGE
S P O N S O R E D
B Y
H A R G R AV E
M I L I TA R Y
A C A D E M Y
GOOCHLAND’S COLEMAN DUTY Balancing a full slate of golf in the fall and baseball in the spring didn’t make things easy for Goochland’s Coleman Duty, particularly during his junior year. “Right after school you go to practice or sometimes you get out early to go to a game and you miss class or you’ve got to go to your teacher and get all the makeup work for what you missed,” Duty said. “It’s hard to get back on track.” But Duty managed to shoulder that load, posting a 3.9 GPA that helped earn him a spot at Old Dominion University next year. Duty has also emerged as an ace for the Bulldogs’ baseball squad, earning Conference 34 player of the year honors and an all-state nod in 2015. Duty currently sports a 1.01 ERA for the Bulldogs who are in the Region 2A East playoff mix, fighting for a potential spot in the state tournament. As a senior things have been a little easier as Duty has had a slightly lighter course load. “Right after school, when I’d usually be in my fourth block class I get out early and I use that time to get my work done for the day,” Duty said. Clearly whatever Duty is doing, he finds time to pull it all together and get it all done.
ABOUT HARGRAVE MILITARY ACADEMY Hargrave believes individual achievement is a gamechanger for all students, both on and off the field. With a college acceptance rate of 100% and a heavy emphasis on academics, your son will have competitive advantages ahead of his peers including leadership and character development.
The Academic athlete of the issue is selected by Scrimmage Play’s staff with the consultation of coaches and athletic directors. To nominate an athlete email info@scrimmageplay.com
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STACKED ORDER
story by ryan yemen photos by ashley thornton, Tom pajewski and david balaban 09 :: @scrimmageplay
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rom plywood to birthday cake to even music, the strongest and best products are a delicate weave of layers. Put down properly, they build something strong, rigid and yet flexible. Layers that work together fit the old adage of the sum being greater than the parts. In some sports one player can carry a team. Not in soccer. It takes a blend of talent to go the distance. And it’s in the even years that Albemarle seems to stack the layers ever so well. Four years ago the Patriots won their first state title in soccer, a Group AAA championship. Two years later with just a few leftover players from that banner season, Albemarle made a Cinderella type run to the Group 5A title game, finishing as runner up. That year also marked the beginning of some future stars for the program. The similarities between all those teams? Layers. When the Patriots are at their best, they don’t overwhelm with offense, they don’t rely on being a defensive team. From their goalkeeping to their defense to their midfield to their forwards, they are consistent. They have strong, talented athletes in each area and a chemistry that simply works. It was true in 2012, again in 2014, and it would appear that 2016 is no different. Albemarle’s best seasons have been about depth. This group is just further evidence of that.
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The word dominant comes to mind and sometimes you hear that too often, but really Griffin is just that - balnave
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When Griffin Coffey was in fifth grade, he remembers watching the Patriots strive for a state tournament bid. His older brother, Ben, was a William and Mary commit and All-state selection as senior in 2009. Albemarle cruised through its then Commonwealth District opponents, but fell just short of getting out of the then Northwest Region. Seven years later, the younger Coffey is a senior and heading to play at Washington and Lee next fall, but before he gets there, he’d like to help his team get to the Group 5A tournament. Albemarle sits one win away from that accomplishment. “I watched his team all four years and the atmosphere here was great and they went undefeated through the regular season his senior year,” Coffey said. “They made it to the region tournament and it’s cool to come back in that same atmosphere and compete like they were.” If senior Brendan Moyers is on the offensive end of the spectrum and goalkeeper Jake Gelnovatch and his backs are on the defensive end of things, Coffey serves as the go-between. He bridges the gap and roams the middle of the field. “The word dominant comes to mind and sometimes you hear that too often, but really Griffin is just that — he’s a dominant player,” said Albemarle coach Jeff Balnave. “He’s mentally dominant. He’s thinking 12 steps ahead of where he should be at all times. He does the dirty work. He’s got some finesse and shows it here and there, but he’s a battler for us. He’s a junk yard dog and you need that.” He’s tall and covers a ton of space. He’s a first line of defense on 50-50 balls and an outlet to creating offense. With another talented senior mid-fielder in Jordan Parks, the middle of the field becomes this black hole of Patriots possession. It’s by design. “I’m there to make sure that when another team is attacking, they can’t go at our defenders,” Coffey said. “Basically it’s my job to be a wall of defense before you can get to our defense. We play with three on the back line and it’s up to Jordan Parks and I to shift them away and not let them come straight at our defense.” For a pair of mid-fielders with defense in mind, the two have proven to be a potent set of two-way talents. Coffey has six goals and four assists while Parks has thrown in three goals and three assists to boost an offense that’s already got enough talent as it is. As important as they are to being the first responders defensively, their offensive contributions make an already well-oiled machine that much more powerful. Between Brendan Moyers, Eliya Budugure, Daniel Starr, Andrew Weber and a breakout season from freshman Brandon Mahon, the Patriots are stacked at forward. It’s the kind of depth that allows Balnave to give his players plenty of rest, and the kind of depth forces teams to pick their poison. Out of the gate, it’s obvious that Moyers has to be marked by the opposition’s top talent and/or doubled up
to try and stop him. Moving up from the mid-field last year to play forward, Moyers has transitioned from a player similar to Coffey to the kind of player with the kind of production that Marcel Berry, both a Gatorade and Scrimmage Play’s Player of the Year in 2015, provided in the previous two seasons. Moyers and Berry played together since grade school and while Berry’s style was improvisational and at times, completely unpredictable, Moyers is a more well-rounded product. “Brendan is just a complete player that has every tool,” Balnave said. “He can pick out every pass and he can hold the ball under pressure, he can defend. He’s clean player with great first touch.” With 14 goals and 11 assists, he’s been able to be that main threat that Albemarle needed with Berry’s absence. He has a different style than Berry, but the end results are similar. And in watching Moyers work, what stands out beyond his ability to stretch a defense on breakaways is his knack for creating out of stop and start plays. “He’s a rare talent and it’s not coaching, he does these things on his own,” Balnave said. “Brendan picks his spots, decides when to go at defenders. He had a goal (in the Conference 16 tournament) where he was up against three defenders, took one wide, switched gears, beat the other two inside and then scored. It was just phenomenal and something I’ve never seen a player do.” With Budugure second in scoring with nine goals to go
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He can pick out every pass and he can hold the ball under pressure, he can defend - Balnave
along with his four assists, the Patriots have a No. 2 weapon. Mahon’s six goals and six assists give them a future star. Starr has five goals and assist as well. And Weber, another budding talent who’s just a sophomore, has five goals and a team-high 13 assists is the a big part of the glue that makes this offense flow. So you’ve got the offense up front, and you’ve got the midfield holding things down. What about guts of this defense? It’s one that’s helped the Patriots post 11 shutouts. Michael Vaughn, a junior, has been a lockdown center-mid and with senior Grant Kersey and www.scrimmageplay.com ::
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jake manages the game so well. he calms everyone down - Balnave
sophomore Mathew Balcells, the Patriots have a gifted core that keeps goalkeeper Jake Gelnovatch safe. Gelnovatch played with Coffey and Moyers on the travel circuit, but is playing on the high school level for the first time. “There’s a partnership between a center-back and a goalkeeper and Jake and Michael have great chemistry and it’s really been since game one,” Balnave said. “To their credit they’ve developed a feel of when Michael has to clear it, when he has time, where he has move.
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And then from there you’ve got Grant Kersey, Matt Balcells and Kevin Jacobs. Our defense has some incredible defenders.” While Gelnovatch is in goal going forward in the playoffs, he spent half the season playing out. It’s something Balnave did with Natale in 2013. Gelnovatch had seven goals to finish third in scoring during the regular season. He split time in net with Mathew Booth and Thomas Leckrone up until now. Going forward, the physically imposing keeper is getting his chance to show why he’s headed to play for Louisville in college. “When you think of goalkeeping you think of good hands,” Balnave said. “Jake and Matt played out in the field so much because they had great feet. Jake manages the game so well. He calms everyone down and knows when to move quickly off a restart or when to slow down and let us get our shape.” Developing the chemistry with his defense got off to a quick start and the feel the back line has with their keeper has only improved. So much of defense is talking and trust and there have been few complaints between the overall unit. “Communication-wise we’ve become so much better and that just comes with playing together, spending time off the field together,”
Gelnovatch said. “It’s better movement-wise and tactically.” So there it is — Albemarle’s multi-dimensional plan to win soccer games, at the goal, at its own goal and everything in between. They sit one win on the road away from qualifying for the Group 5A tournament. “It’s nice to get to this stage trying to beat these really, really good teams,” Moyers said. “That’s how it felt as a sophomore and it feels the same way now.” Moyers might be underselling his team. Those “really, really good teams” like Briar Woods in the Region 5A quarters and Mountain View now in the semifinals — they’re trying to match up with a really, really good Albemarle squad. Should the Patriots beat the Wildcats, a team they beat 2-1 in overtime earlier in the regular season, they’ll have punched a ticket to the state tournament for a third time in five seasons. “I think the defense is good as it was when I was a sophomore,” Moyers said. “Our team is similar to that team, pretty technical. We like to keep things on the ground, switch whenever we want. It tires other teams out and so you get more space after that.” Similarities between the 2014 team are a good thing. Similarities to 2012 are even better. And the Patriots have the layers to put this class in the same conversation as the other great Albemarle teams. ✖
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Playing in
esreveR Story by Bart Isley Photos by Ashley Thornton & bart isley yelsI traB yb yrotS yelsi trab & notnrohT yelhsA yb sotohP 15 :: @scrimmageplay
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In a community built in large part around a major education center like UVa there is always going to be a high percentage of high-performing students. High schools in Central Virginia produce student athletes that are among the top high school students in the nation, brainpower that can compete pound-forpound with any other region. Quite often, that brainpower comes with a certain personality profile, a hard-working, driven student who doesn’t care to make mistakes, who wants to get it right the first time. Western Albemarle’s girls lacrosse team is stocked with those kind of student athletes. “I like to call them Type-A’s,” said Western coach Tara Hohenshelt. “There’s a beauty to having really intelligent girls.”
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Earlier this season, Hohenshelt challenged a group of her players to work outside their comfort zone, asking players who have been long-time fixtures at certain spots or have played certain positions their entire career to mix it up. For defenders to take the ball across more often, for attackers or offensiveminded midfielders to hang back on certain possessions. For defenders to try and score. For offensive players to sharpen their defensive skills. “To just put them at just either end of the field as a coach I wouldn’t be doing my job if we left them there,” Hohenshelt said. “But they’re capable of doing it. We see the potential in them and then it’s about them getting comfortable with the idea that they can do more with more territory. “ The approach started in practices as a way to expand players skill sets, to get them to try something different and hopefully discover something about themselves. But it quickly became a part of Western’s regular game plan as a way to combat the Warriors’ thin depth at the midfield. While old hands like Sammie Magargee and Kate Snyder were back in the midfield, the Warriors needed to bolster its options there. Expanding the skill set of some of its best players became an important part of what the Warriors wanted to do, and that means it needed to be successful, something beyond a learning experience. That was going to require a particular condition, a particular atmosphere that Hohenshelt and in turn the Warriors operate under — that it’s just fine to not do something right. “She actually got mad yesterday because we weren’t making any mistakes,” said Western senior Hannah Curry. “She says you’re not giving it your all if you don’t mess up. You can’t get better if you don’t make those mistakes.” Curry is a longtime defender for the Warriors, having been a key part of the mix since she was a freshman. The Christopher Newport-bound standout is adept at locking down a player she’s assigned to or helping coordinate the Warriors’ entire defensive unit. Good team defense has been a hallmark of Western’s program the last four years and Curry is a big reason why. When Hohenshelt started asking players to expand their role and try something new, Curry was asked to advance the ball more often, to get involved in the offense. That required some basic tutorials that show just how specialized certain players’ skill sets had become, like Curry, an all-state pick as a junior. “It was definitely tough, especially when it came to knowing the plays and how to shoot because I don’t do that often,” Curry said. Another defender, Julia Haws, was also tasked with advancing the ball and triggering the offense. Despite an extensive youth lacrosse background where she played all over the field, Haws was also working well outside her comfort zone. “Since I’ve been playing defense for the last four years, it can be a little uncomfortable crossing the restraining line and having that responsibility with the ball but it’s fun to try something new,” Haws said. Those two defenders’ expanded role created something of a ripple effect throughout the lineup, opening up opportunities for offensive-minded players to hang back on defense. Hanna Schuler and Kira Repich are two of those players. Repich was
an important scoring threat for the Warriors during the 2015 season as just a freshman, including a four-goal performance against Rockbridge in the region quarterfinals. She’s cat quick on the attack and when she’s in rhythm she can pour it in. She also didn’t balk at the opportunity to play more defense in her sophomore year, which should allow her to be even more of an impact player as her career progresses. “The upperclassmen are great examples to me so I just kind of look to what they do in practice,” Repich said. “I kind of just use them as an example.” That example now includes a lot of position switching and the idea of being open to that kind of challenge. Hanna Schuler also saw the benefits of expanding her skill set. Schuler has been a top scoring option and offensive playmaker the last couple of years for the Warriors. Hohenshelt wanted more defense out of her and a chance to rest her (as well as Repich) on certain possessions. “I’ve never played defense before in an actual game so it’s really fun. I learned from it how I can make moves on attack,” Schuler said. Those four are just the tip of the iceberg too. Lily Elder, Joie Funk and several other key players have also been playing a variety of roles outside their usual spot, expanding the essence of just how dynamic the Warriors are. While the adjustments to those players’ responsibilities certainly made a difference for Western as a team as far as depth and game strategy were concerned, it was much more about what it did for those players in the grand scheme of their own development. Each player has learned something about their typical position from playing a different role, with attackers improving when they re-defend and defenders being able to better position themselves. That’s had the added impact of allowing the players to better communicate and coach among themselves. Gradually, offensiveminded players were able to give defensive players pointers about how to shut them off while defensive players can now explain a dodge or movement that might work against them in a specific situation. “It helps me to know more about my teammates so when I’m
“i’ve never played defense before in an actual game so it’s really fun. i learned from it how i can make moves on attack.” - Schuler watching from the defensive end I can actually give my attackers some pointers because there’s just more experience and more knowledge of the game (to draw from),” Curry said. That’s high-level thinking, the kind of approach that works extremely well with a smart, capable group of players. It’s a step well beyond the fundamentals. “They’re smart players, they have a really high lacrosse IQ and they’re just adding to their repertoire,” Hohenshelt said. “A lot of times, their system rejects it but they’re smart enough to figure it out.” Hohenshelt asked a group of players who advanced all the way to the state final last season to do more. She challenged them to push themselves past what worked and find something different within themselves. No matter how the Warriors’ season ends, that’s a lesson worth learning. That’s a lesson worth building an entire season around. That’s a lesson that every student athlete needs. The lesson that, often, getting out of your comfort zone and making a mistake is the best choice you can make.
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Game Time Goochland 4, Nandua 0 By Liz Keller
Goochland’s Scott Carter had an RBI single in his team’s Region quarterfinal victory. (Bart Isley)
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The past two years, the Goochland baseball team has gotten knocked out of the the first round of the Region 2A East tournament. This year, the senior-laden Bulldogs were bound and determined not to let it happen again. To that end, Coleman Duty tossed a complete-game shutout and Goochland got timely hits, including a two-run home run from Tanner Bradshaw, as it dispatched Nandua 4-0 on Monday in a game that lasted a mere hour and 10 minutes. The Bulldogs, the Conference 34 champions, advance to the region semifinals and will face Strasburg, a winner over East Rockingham. “We got over the hump so this was good,” Goochland coach Wes Farkas said. “This year we have a lot of seasoned, veteran guys. They’ve been around for a while and are very consistent over the past three or four years they’ve played with me. I feel like they’ve pulled together and the leadership has stepped up.” One of those senior leaders was Duty, who was efficient throughout, scattering three hits and recording six strikeouts to earn the win. After giving up a hit to start the game, the right-hander retired six straight batters. “All my pitches were finally clicking together, and once all three of them start working, it’s really easy to keep batters off-balance,” Duty said. “I’m really glad they were on today.” Leadoff batter John King got a single to start things off for the Bulldogs, then stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Harcum. King scored on an infield error to give Goochland a 1-0 lead after one inning. The Bulldogs (19-3) got back-to-back singles from Noah Doczi and Jeb Anderson in the second, but were stranded as the Warriors’ starter, Evan McGregor, struck out
the bottom of the order. Scott Carter’s RBI bloop single into rightcenter scored King for the second time in the third. The Warriors’ Michael McCluskey opened the fourth with a triple into left field, but got caught in a rundown at home plate as King threw it to Stephen Roberts for the out to end the inning. Duty and the Goochland defense were perfect the rest of the way and didn’t allow another baserunner with 12 straight putouts. “They got key hits when they needed it, and we didn’t get any key hits,” Nandua coach Luke Brankley said. “[Duty] threw a good fastball, a good change and threw his change for a strike. We just couldn’t get a key hit off of it and when we did it was right at them.” Bradshaw, a 6-2, 220-pound junior, provided the icing on the cake for the Bulldogs with a two-run homer that cleared the left field wall at 340 feet in the sixth. “Two extra runs on top of two you already have can really make you relax,” Duty added. “When you’re playing a close game it’s really stressful up there, but when you have a good cushion it’s easy to relax yourself and get in the groove. I’m happy with how we’re playing right now — we’re doing everything right.” The win was particularly sweet for Goochland, which was ousted in the postseason two years ago by Nandua off a walk-off home run. “I’m really pleased because the last two years we came really close,” said Bradshaw, a first baseman and pitcher. “It’s a big step to go farther than this game.” Goochland travels to Strasburg on Wednesday for a semifinal game at 7 p.m. for a chance to earn a berth in the state tournament. ✖
TEAM SPOTLIGHT COVENANT GIRLS LACROSSE Congratulations to the Covenant Girls Lacrosse team for advancing to the state tournament as the No. 7 seed, nearly knocking off No. 2 Foxcroft and placing three players on the All-State VISAA D2 squad.
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Overtime
Good Knight The impact Craig Gill made on Buckingham County
E
ach August, the trip to Buckingham County is a part of the “gearing up for football season” ritual we’ve developed in our seven years — our eighth campaign is not too far off. There’s always evening football in August for the Knights. After Louisa County’s midnight madness, the very next trip I make is the drive down to Dillwyn. Every time I’ve done it, Buckingham coach Craig Gill is usually in the middle of a drill and after it ends, he’ll come over and let you know when is a good time to talk to him, his players. So you sit in the bleachers and watch. His voice is unmistakable, it has this southern gravely tone that carries. The days of the Bear Bryant-style coach, one who is running kids into the ground on hot summer days are long since past. So are the days of a coach that is hard for the sake of being hard. Gill’s voice is heard, it’s stern, but his message is always encouraging, critical at times but positive. A Fork Union graduate, this last camp I saw was his 20th with the Knights. He joined the program in 1996 and coached them to a Group A state final showing in 2002. When we launched as a company, Buckingham was coming off a 5-5 season and a bit of a lull. Since then the Knights are one of two public school teams to qualify for the playoffs in all seven years, Goochland being the other. Coaches and players always want to go out before they lose their gift. After 20 years at Buckingham, Gill is doing just that. Yet with over 100 wins in his time at the school, what stands out to me as neutral bystander, isn’t just the success that Gill has had — the 2013 Group 2A final four showing being the highlight — but rather the way he found a way to touch this current generation of athletes. It was in 2013 that Gill was diagnosed with cancer. He was barely able to walk the sidelines and keep his breath. He said nothing of it. It wasn’t until after the season was over that the news of his health became public. Somehow, overcoming odds that were stacked against him, he made it through chemotherapy and came back to coach in 2014. Gone was his standard military crew cut, in were the curly grey locks, a common result of chemotherapy. Gill coached the Knights in 2014 to yet another playoff run, and in 2015, Buckingham won the James River District title with a win at home over Goochland (their first since 2004) serving as the crown jewel of the season. In all seven years in talking with Gill’s standout players from Taylor Boyers and Maurice Taylor, Tarian Ayres and Cam Johnson, Kenneth “Peanut” Johnson, Leon Ragland and the tragically passed Dyzhawn Perkins, there was one theme in their quotes. It was their love for their head coach. He made them smile, he made them laugh and they loved playing for him, and even more winning for him. Everyone wants to win, to be successful on the field, that’s simple. But when you’ve got an old-school coach like Gill, there’s something special happening, a bridge being built between generations, an understanding that’s hard to find. The hardest part of our jobs is talking with coaches after playoff losses. It’s not fun. Who wants to talk about the results after a tough loss? Not many. They are few and far between. Gill is on a short list of coaches that you could count on 10 times out of 10 to not be short of words after falling in a tough game. His professionalism was second to none. In sports I think we all truly appreciate those humble in victory, but more than anything else, those gracious in defeat. That’s Craig Gill in a nutshell. I can tell you how many times he blamed a loss on an officiating call. Never. I can tell you how many times he complimented the other side, coaches and players when his teams lost. Always, without exception.
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“I can tell you how many times he blamed a loss on an officiating call. Never.” There’s a lesson to be learned from his style, the way he left things on the field and moved forward. Gill might have been an oldschool coach, but his demeanor transcended generations, made him a so-called players coach when visibly he had a fire and drive in him that would make you think he’s a disciplinarian type of coach. You know what Gill did when things were bad? He huddled his players up, he pulled out the whiteboard in the middle of games and completely redrew game plans. No tantrums, no whining or complaining. He just had that hands-on approach that’s easy to like. I’m really going to miss Buckingham football without Gill. He made it fun, win or lose. If that’s how I feel, imagine those in and around program. But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that Gill would never leave unless he was certain he needed to, and if the program didn’t have a replacement that could keep things going. The list of coaches that stay 20 years at one place is short. He leaves an incredible mark and while the this phrase gets thrown around a lot, I almost never use it — Craig Gill Ryan Yemen, did things the right way. ✖
CRE ATIVE EDITOR
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Who’s the best player Gill ever had at Buckingham County? ryan@scrimmageplay.com
Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Mike Thomas Mike Thomas simply exploded his senior year in high school. While attending Woodland Hills Taft High located in Los Angeles, California, Thomas put together 1,656 yards on 86 receptions and scored 21 touchdowns. It motivated the Los Angeles Times to name his Southern California’s most improved player. Looking to help round out his recruiting profile, Thomas enrolled at Fork Union in the Fall of 2011 to play for celebrated postgraduate coach John Shuman. During his time with the Blue Devils, Thomas further developed his skills as a receiver. He had 497 yards and seven touchdowns on 23 catches and vaulted up the recruiting rankings to become the nation’s No. 4 overall prep school talent, and a four star recruit. That caught Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s attention. It turned out to be fantastic fit for Thomas. In Meyer’s system, Thomas became the Buckeyes’ top receiver as a sophomore and junior. Playing a key role during OSU’s 2014 National Championship run, Thomas had 54 catches for 799 yards and nine touchdowns. As a senior, he hauled in 56 catches for 781 yards and nine touchdowns. Thomas graduated in December of 2015 with a degree in Sport Industry and turned his focus on the NFL Draft. At his pro day he ran a 4.55 second 40-yard dash and put up a 33 and half inch vertical. With a 6-foot-3 inch frame and a solid 212 pounds, he drew plenty of attention going into the draft. With the 47th overall pick, the New Orleans Saints selected Thomas. He enters the offseason looking to make an impact for one the league’s top offenses. From Los Angeles to Fork Union to Columbus, Mike Thomas has shown he can play at the highest level. Now yet another Blue Devils joins the NFL fraternity with opportunity to continue playing the game he loves.
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