November 2012 Edition

11 ALBEMARLE’S 31 BLACK KNIGHTS THUNDER DOWN HILL UNCANNY STREAK

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VOL 4 . ISSUE 3 :: NOV. 2012

The Formula Two very different programs with similar makeups thrive PAGE 17

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MIRROR IMAGES A public and private program play both ways

IN PURSUIT The Lomong brothers’ inspiring move

THRILL IN THE VILLE Charlottesville turns it on

DEFENDING THE HOUSE Monticello girls basketball in new territory

The Formula VOL 4 . ISSUE 3 :: NOVEMBER 2012

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ONE GAME AT A TIME AHS puts together record streak

vol 4 . issue 3 :: oct. 2011

Two very different programs with similar make ups thrive page 17

S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor Journey Group, Art Direction O N T H E COV E R BRS’ Ryan Etheridge, WAHS’ Tommy Mullins 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.

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Papa John’s supports local athletic teams, coaches and players while also helping make local athletic events like the Madison County versus William Monroe alumni game happen.

PREGAME

Three years later Cody Pegram (4) was a freshman at Blue Ridge in 2009, the last time that Blue Ridge played in the VISAA Division 2 championship game. The Barons lost to Nansemond-Suffolk that year. Three years later on the same field against the same opponent, Pegram and his Blue Ridge teammates walked off the field with their heads held high as they rolled to the school's first state championship on the gridiron since 1994. ✖ (Photo by Bart Isley)

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November 2012 :: 04

PREGAME

Crossing the plane Monticello tight end Alex McNair is able to break the plane with the football during the Mustangs’ rematch with Western Albemarle in the Region II semifinals. Thanks to McNair and a huge game on the ground from teammate T.J. Tillery, Monticello was able to exact revenge on the Warriors 41-29 to earn a spot in the Region II title game for the first time since 2008 when the Mustangs made it the Group AA semifinals. ✖ (Photo by Ron Londen)

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Academic Edge sponsored by hargrave military academy

November’s Academic Athlete of the Month: Charlottesville’s Rashard Davis Rashard Davis’ pure speed was one of the hottest topics during football season this fall. Davis stretched defenses with speed that hovers around the mid 4-seconds in the 40-yard dash, rushing for nearly 1,400 yards on the season while leading Charlottesville to its first playoff berth in a decade.

But the speedy senior quarterback made a lot of noise in the classroom too, posting a GPA of 3.2 at CHS while playing football and basketball. He’s also a member of AVID, varsity cheerleading and 100 Black Men, a group that pairs successful African-American businessmen with African-American students as mentors.

In the process, Davis has opened up numerous collegiate options for himself with a combination of his solid academic record and that electric, game-changing athletic ability. Davis defines the label student athlete, bringing a high level of dedication and success to both pursuits.

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 over 99% and a heavy emphasis on academics, your son will have competetive advantages ahead of his peers including leadership and character development.

The Academic athlete of the month 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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First Quarter Building a reputation Goochland volleyball shows 2011 was no fluke

By Ryan Yemen

T

hose two years in the Jefferson District weren’t kind to Goochland’s volleyball team, but two years later the Bulldogs haven’t exactly been kind to their opponents in their return to the James River District.

Christine Mills and Goochland rumbled through to a repeat visit to the state tournament. (Ryan Yemen)

{ GROUP A GROWTH } Central Virginia’s smallest public school programs are also some of the best. A look at winning percentages for three of the best in 2012.

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K AR A EL DER

GOOCHLAND

It’s hard to image that the class of 2013 had to endure two campaigns without a district win their freshman and sophomore seasons, only to go on and sweep the JRD in both the regular season and postseason to wrap up their junior and senior years, but that’s exactly how it played it out.

Jennifer Erixon took over the Bulldogs’ volleyball program in 2011 and since then, her team has made back-to-back Group A Division 2 appearances. This year Goochland won its first 25 games of the year before falling in the Region B championship to eventual staterunner up Stuart’s Draft and then to eventual champion in Mathews in the first round of state play. What was a comeback year for the Bulldogs in 2011 turned into a statement in 2012 that Erixon’s bunch will be contending for district and region titles on a regular basis.

“The big thing was that this core group of seniors had all played together since eighth grade,” Erixon said. “So going through the system and then also playing with me in the offseason in (Junior Olympic Club volleyball), they play year-round and work. They work on what I want them to and then also develops some plays themselves.”

With a height advantage on most teams, seniors Christine Mills and Taylor Scruggs set up a blocking and hitting combination for Goochland that the competition could not handle. Even with fellow seniors Jordan Flemming and Lainey Kopczynski providing depth and more leadership, this was not a team built on one class.

“I’m going to lose four really key core

players,” Erixon said. “But we’ve got a lot of freshmen and sophomores who also play year round.”

With sophomore Sydney Alvis (an All-Region B first team selection) having a breakout year at setter and junior Jessica Leroy (second team All-Region B) anchoring the defense at libero, the Bulldogs rolledwith the continuity they had from their seniors last year and will be able to keep it going for next season. That it’s Leroy and Alvis coming back has Erixon confident they’ll run the show. That should only help this program continue to grow. “(Letting them develop and call plays), that’s something I let them do more actively this year rather than telling them everything they need to do last year,” Erixon said. “I think that helps because it’s given them a sense of ownership in the offense and in all the wins as opposed to feeling that this isn’t all because of them.”

Two weekend tournaments aside, the Bulldogs won every game in every match it played heading into the Region B finals against Draft.

So as this senior class was able to finish out with an outstanding 2-year run in the James River, Erixon has things set up nicely for the winning tradition to continue to sink in at Goochland. ✖

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College Update

Tale of the Tape

Well that did not take long. Anyone wondering what kind of impact former Fluvanna County standout YaYa Anderson was going to have at the next level only needed to wait until the first week of play.

Before he took the court he had to overcome an ankle injury, but Anderson is already starting to warm up. The two-time Jefferson District Player of the Year and All-Group AA Division 3 first teamer scored his first points for Radford against Cincinnati Christian, netting eight points on 3 of 7 shooting, grabbing four rebounds, dishing out an assist and swiping a steal in 19 minutes.

Just four days later Anderson hit doubledigit scoring for the first time as a Highlander, putting up 10 points by going .500 from the field against Towson. The following night he knocked down his first 3-pointer against Kennesaw State. To finish out the week he finished with 14 points, two steals and four rebounds against Eastern Kentucky. The

Highlanders went 2-2 during that stretch.

So in his first week playing college ball, Anderson averaged 7.8 points, 3.4 boards, 1.2 steals and 17.2 minutes of play per game. He shot 85 percent from the free throw line and 39 percent from the field.

But Anderson wasn’t the only local freshman chipping in for Radford. Fork Union’s Kion Brown averaged 6.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 19.2 minutes the first five games for the Highlanders. The 6-foot-8 Brown made a big impact in the opener against Wake Forest, scoring 14 points and hauling in six rebounds.

Both Anderson and Brown will get a chance to shine on the big stage soon as Radford heads to Morgantown to play West Virginia on December 22nd, a game that will be broadcast on ESPN3. Between the first five games and then, don’t be surprised if these two see even more minutes given their production. Radford’s quickly become a proving ground for Central Virginia’s best high school players. ✖

BELOW » Fluvanna alum YaYa Anderson is already starting to make his presence felt all over the court at Radford. (RUHighlanderPhotos.com)

N I K K I TA B R I ON E S

By Ryan Yemen

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On the Sidelines

A lasting example FUMA’s longtime coach hangs it up with grace

O

verall, it just felt kind of wrong that Fork Union coach Micky Sullivan was on the sidelines for one last game and the Blue Devils didn’t come out as state champions.

It wasn’t just that he’s been coaching football since 1975. The added caveat is that Sullivan is a FUMA graduate. He’s a homegrown product in every sense of the term. It was a sour ending for any coach to hang their hat on, a 35-14 loss to Liberty Christian Academy.

But this was just a bit more bitter given the circumstances.

Or at least that was my initial impression. I couldn’t imagine how his players felt, particularly the seniors. But after talking with him just minutes after the game, it was easy to see what makes Sullivan just so influential and important to the Fork Union and football community.

Every coach at the end of the year gets asked about talking to the outgoing senior class.

I’ve heard just about every answer to it. It can be corny, it can be bland. Sullivan’s answer was anything but. It was a glimpse into what makes a great coach and how they go about their business.

“What we’ve got to do now is regroup and try and get them all into school, that part of it is not over,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys going on to college to play already.

We’ve got a week off for Thanksgiving with kids scattered all over of the country. We’ve got to get them back safe and then make sure we get all of them into college now.”

Sullivan’s job as coach wasn’t over when the final seconds ticked off the clock in Lynchburg.

He still had to talk everyone off the ledge. But even after that he still had work to do. LCA’s senior running back Carrington Mosley waited patiently after Sullivan’s impromtu press conference. He wanted tell Sullivan how much it meant to him to be able to play against him in his final high school game. Sullivan embraced him and quipped, “I wish we could have made it a little more fun” before carrying on and hoping for th best for Carrington at the next level.

Sullivan’s job wasn’t done when he and the team drove back home. Nor will it be over for him on National Signing Day in February for his lauded senior class. For all intents and purposes, Sullivan’s last year of coaching won’t be done until all his players set foot on another campus at the end of the coming summer.

Football coaches in particular get a hard time from just about everyone for the coaching cliché of one play at a time and one game at a time. It’s overstated and the public isn’t wrong for rolling its eyes here and there when they see it in print or hear it in a pre or post-game huddle. But sometimes it’s easy to pass judgment on that mentality and forget that it exists for a purpose. The above quote from Sullivan, I think though, is the best example of taking things as they come and not amplifying or minimizing the moment. Coaches naturally want to move on to the next task. Sullivan knew exactly what that was.

“He’s respected by everyone across the state and for good reason,” said LCA coach Frank Rocco. “It’s a shame that on his last game he has to go out on a loss, but it’s football. It’s football and he understands that better than anyone.”

That’s pretty clear, because while there are no more practices or games to coach for Sullivan, his task at the helm for the Blue Devils carries on still, from the winter through the spring.

And even when he retires as AD and fully steps aside, no matter when that happens, he’ll still November 2012 :: 10

“It’s football and he understands that better than anyone.”

always be a coach. His former players, his colleagues, they’ll still continue to call him that.

“Private school football, not because of me, is a whole lot better today than it was when I started coaching back in 1978,” Sullivan said. “Hopefully it will continue to grow.”

Sullivan’s always been too modest and there’s no fault in that. He’s notorious for pinning blame on himself to avoid having it strung to his players or the rest of his staff.

But here he’s wrong because private school football is in fact better because of him.

FUMA is better because of him. All his players are better because of him.

If there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that Sullivan’s presence will be missed on that sideline by all. But again, I don’t think he’ll ever be done coaching. That’s sticking with him for life. ✖

Ryan Yemen,

CREATIVE EDITOR

back talk »

What makes a coach a real coach?

Email Ryan at: ryan@scrimmageplay.com

| ONE GAME AT T

STORY BY RYAN YEMEN | PHOTOS BY ASHLEY THORNTON o simply look at what the Albemarle volleyball team accomplished this year is taking the total body of work out of context. Yes, this team set the school record for most wins in a season at 25. And yes, they swept both the Commonwealth District regular season slate

and tournament for the first time ever in school history. But much in the way that a jab sets up a big hook for a boxer, the Patriots’ uncanny swan song in the Commonwealth got its start two years ago when there wasn’t the usual buzz around this team. The fruits of the 2012 season didn’t come about by accident.

This team learned how to win by pulling itself up by the bootstraps.

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T A TIME | ONE

November October 2012 :: 12

ONE GAME AT A TIME | ONE GAM

Libero Caroline Porco, setter Jessica Block and hitters Hannah Deal and Sarah Woods were the foundation of Albemarle’s perfect Commonwealth season.

After the 2010 season where the Patriots came just one win away from making a third straight trip to the Group AAA tournament, it was evident that the 2011 team was going to have its work cut out for it. You don’t lose an outside hitter (Megan Napolitano) that sets the single season mark of kills and the career blocks leader (Stephanie Strauss) and simply reload. The Patriots knew they had an established setter in Jessica Block and reliable libero in Caroline Proco coming back. So for coach Mark Ragland, last year was all about being patient as he worked to develop a new group of young hitters and hope that his team’s strength on defense could keep the ship upright.

“You push teams to the level they’re at, but I’m always pushing hard,” Ragland said. “I’m always on them but last year was a teaching year because there was so much inexperience. We had a lot of players still growing into their bodies, we had to work on rhythm and tempo and trying to feel everything out.”

By Albemarle’s standards, it turned into a rebuilding season as the Patriots put together a winning record but missed the Northwest

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Region tournament by one game. All season long, Albemarle worked in a plethora of different hitters, finding a reliable talent in sophomore Sarah Woods and getting others like fellow sophomore Chelsea Woodfolk and juniors Coleen Marshall and Savanah Morse to take big steps forward. There was little question that that group had the talent, it was simply a matter of experience.

“A big thing last year was that we never got discouraged,” Block said. “We always kept going. Even when we lost we were able to get past it. It wasn’t a big deal. It was about getting better, all of us each game.”

An offseason on the Junior Olympic circuit provided exactly that so that when the Patriots reconvened to gear up for the 2012 season, this team had mostly the same faces, but looked completely different.

“During the offseason they got more swings and more court time so that they were just more comfortable when they got back together again,” Ragland said. “That’s when we started to gel differently. We found a grove and I moved some kids around because the personnel changed a little bit, what each player could do changed a bit. The new dynamic has worked out pretty well for us.”

That dynamic was all-around court depth and a bench with talent capable of starting on just about every other team in Central Virginia.

By the time Albemarle finished its scrimmages it was clear that this

ME AT A TIME | ONE GAME AT A “WE KNEW ALL OF LAST YEAR WE WERE PREPARING FOR THIS YEAR.” — C. PORCO

team had something. Going into the third week of the season, the Patriots not only won their own Invitational tournament including a solid 3-2 victory over E.C. Glass, but were sporting a 8-0 record and had given up just four games, the two others coming in a 3-2 win over Massaponax in just the second match of the year where Albemarle climbed out of an 0-2 hole. From September 8 until October 22, no team was able to take as much as a game from Ragland’s bunch.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect us to be undefeated for so long,” Ragland said. “I never think about that kind of thing going into a season.”

The players that touch the ball the most in volleyball are often overlooked because their jobs aren’t exactly the flashiest. Porco had a busy 2011 at libero, and her quickness and consistency behind the line made her Albemarle’s lone All-Commonwealth first team selection last year. Block was the only member of this team that played on the last Albemarle team to make it the state tournament. In 2009 she came off the bench for serves, a role she thrived in as she now holds the school record for service points by 120 points at 953. Since 2010 though, she’s been Ragland’s reliable setter, the successor to Abby Hendrix who had a decorated career at the position.

“Jessica is just so consistent and such a hard worker and the way she goes about it, you wouldn’t think that she’s going to leave

this school holding four different records, but she is,” Ragland said.

“Caroline, when a team thinks they’ve got a sure kill and all of the sudden she digs it up and we send it back over, it just takes the air out them. The back row is our anchor.”

With Block and Porco returning for their senior seasons, Albemarle had both incredible experience and talent in those two crucial positions.

“We knew all of last year that we were preparing for this year,” Porco said. “We knew that this year was our time.”

Albemarle’s had its fair share of hard hitting teams in the recent past whether it was the duo of Kara Elder and Laura Gomez that led the way to a 2008 state championship or the combination of Napolitano and Hannah Lawson that got the Patriots to the Group AAA quarterfinals the next year. But the group Ragland had this year stood out from the rest as it wasn’t just one or two hitters standing out each night. A balanced attack with five and six different hitters allowed Ragland to constantly rotate players on and off the bench keeping everyone fresh and flat out confusing opposing defenses as it never mattered if they keyed in on one particular player.

“It gives us something to strive for when we get compared to those other teams,” Woods said. “That’s what we all want to be is like those teams that went to states.”

November 2012 :: 14

AT A TIME | ONE GAME AT A TIM

During their unbeaten regular season, the Patriots went more than a month without dropping a game.

The prime stat that shows how deep Albemarle was this year was that the most kills for any hitter in a match was 16 and by junior Hannah Deal, playing on varsity for the first year. Not only was there so much depth to this group that one player could corner the market, the matches simply weren’t long enough either.

“When you look at this team you don’t see just one all-star,” Ragland said. “You see a bunch of cogs that all work together and that’s what excites me most about this group of girls. They care about each other and they work so well with each other. They’re okay with doing their job and if one person is off I can send in someone else because of the depth we have.”

The bottom line, is that there was no 6-foot giant carrying this offense, it was a true communal effort where the egos were checked at the door.

“It really helps that even though a lot of us are different ages, we’re all so close,” Deal said. “We know that everyone can play each position so even when you’re on the bench you cheer because you have confidence in everyone.”

Woods made good on her breakout sophomore season as a junior. The most consistent hitter on the team with a .398 attack percentage, she also led the team in blocks with 57 making her a force in the middle of the court. Deal took big steps forward this year and was able to lead the team with 176 kills while also standing out at the service line as she also was tops in aces on the team with 192. During the second half of the regular season and through the postseason, Woodfolk took her game to a different level to balance out the front

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line and make it even tougher on defenses.

From there the depth continued as Marshall was able to play all over the court, and hitters like Morse and Lexi Brown and Sydney Kostelac were regularly able to come off the bench and find a way to lead the team in kills on a given night. Where Block and Porco provided that anchoring play to get every point started in the right direction, Ragland’s gang of hitters were the x-factors each and every night that made this team so difficult to match up against.

As such, the Patriots wrapped up a Northwest Region bid with ease this year by taking the CD’s regular season crown without much of a fight.

Albemarle took down archrival Colonial Forge twice during that stretch, following a 3-0 win in the first meeting by holding on tightly to take the second match 3-2. During the CD tournament, the Patriots dropped just one set and that wasn’t until the championship round when they completed a season sweep of Forge with a 3-1 victory.

By winning its first 26 games, the Patriots earned the right to host its way through the NW region tourney. After dispatching Franklin with ease, Albemarle clawed through a tense match with Broad Run with a state tournament bid on the line in the second round. There was little question that Ragland and his team’s 28th victory, a 3-2 win, was the sweetest of the season as put them back in the Group AAA dance, the team’s goal from the outset of the season.

And while the Patriots may have fallen in both the region championship and on the road to the state semifinals to Patrick Henry, what this team accomplished between August and November truly stands out. Not just because of the records this group set for a program that is a flag bearer for the sport in Central Virginia, but because of how they came about it. This group of Patriots paid their dues and the next group of young players will be fortunate to learn from the core of this team that remains. ✖

ME | ONE GAME AT A

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MIRROR

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IMAGES

November 2012 ::

18

W

estern Albemarle’s high-octane offense piled up 43 total touchdowns in 10 regular season games.

After every one of them, the Warriors celebrated not with leaping celebrations or hip bumps or dog piles or even high fives. piles or even high fives. not with leaping celebrations or hip bumps or dog After every one of them, the Warriors celebrated 43 total touchdowns in 10 regular season games. estern Albemarle’s high-octane offense piled up

Simple, direct handshakes, usually between Kent Henry — who had a hand in 42 of those scores — and a wideout or lineman is all Western needed.

Sure, it could be a symbol for the team’s business-like attitude when it comes to offensive production — an indication they expect excellence and efficiency from that unit. But it could also, quite simply, be an attempt to conserve their energy.

After all, most of the Warriors’ skill position players — and a number of particularly fierce linemen — are going to be right back on the field for

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defense in a matter of seconds.

Both Blue Ridge and the Warriors, two teams that put together bigtime regular seasons and set the table for strong playoff runs, leaned heavily on a core of two-way football players. While commonplace not long ago, the every-down strong safety/running back or quarterback/ safety is becoming something of a dying breed in prep football where many coaches who have the numbers to do are trying to platoon or at least limit the snaps a player takes at what is deemed their secondary position. Teams like Western or Blue Ridge, however, don’t have the numbers necessary to get that done, not in an era where year-round soccer and basketball have in many cases cut into the sheer volume of student athletes signing up to play football.

Instead, the Barons have found two players in each of a small group of dedicated, hard-nosed individuals — runningback/linebacker Cody Pegram, running back/cornerback Shawn Steen, defensive end and offensive lineman Ryan Etheridge and wideout/defensive backs Leon Straus and P.J. White. The Warriors have done the same with two-way lineman Patrick Maupin, offensive lineman and middle linebacker Tommy Mullin, defensive back/wide receiver Nic Drapanas, linebacker/ wideout Daniel Kuzjak and quarterback/defensive back Kent Henry.

Ten total players who play a lot more like 20.

PATRICK MAUPIN & TOMMY MULLIN

RYAN ETHERIDGE & CODY PEGRAM

It’s one thing to play both ways at a skill position. The pounding a running back takes can be offset by a stint at safety. But when you’re Patrick Maupin and Tommy Mullin you’re taking a pounding on every, single play.

Mullin was a first team All-Jefferson District honoree at middle linebacker who’s also helped spark Western’s offense that piled up more than 3,000 yards of total offense during the regular season. Against Monticello in a 28-0 victory, he decimated the Mustangs’ offensive line and set up shop in their backfield. With a little help from Maupin, of course, who had two sacks that day.

Maupin is a solid defensive presence and has also cleared the way for that productive offense up front. He earned first team all-Jefferson District honors as a defensive end, with 24 total tackles, four for a loss and an interception return for a touchdown on the year.

“Sitting out there at end, (Maupin) gets the (pulling guards) a lot and has to take on big old linemen,” Henry said.

“Then he has to pull on the offensive side and hit those guys. He’s a pretty talented player.”

Mullin’s 6.5 tackles per game led the Warriors’ defense, and he’s made many of his plays in key situations, like a goal line shot against an Albemarle running back that kept him out of the endzone late in the game.

It’s plays like that that make playing athletes like Mullin and Maupin on both sides of the ball a no-brainer.

Ryan Etheridge’s arrival at Blue Ridge had a seismic impact for the Barons. Etheridge was an established defensive end out of North Carolina who’s twin brother Hunter is now a quarterback at Woodberry Forest. Etheridge instantly gave Blue Ridge an impact player in the front seven, and, at the request of coach Orlando Patterson, a fierce offensive lineman the Barons could rely on. Patterson let Etheridge know that with a shortage of offensive linemen, he’d need Etheridge to step in.

“He just brings this breath of fierceness and grit,” Patterson said. “He gets after it. He lives and breathes football. He has to do his thing and he’s here only to try and get better.”

That was welcome news to Pegram, a running back for the Barons who is one of the few players who’s played for four seasons in the Blue Ridge program. Along with Shawn Steen, he’d run behind a smaller line in 2011 and the influx of big men including Etheridge was a big lift.

Etheridge piled up more than 100 tackles in the regular season, averaging 10.4 per game. He’s also clearing the way for Pegram and the rushing attack to average more than 180 yards per game. Pegram rushed for 617 yards during the regular season and registered four tackles per game in his own two-way duties.

Pegram’s presence and impact was most obvious when he was hurt early in the game against Christchurch and the Barons lost. With him healthy and in the lineup during the state semifinals? They won. It’s that simple.

November 2012 ::

20

NIC DRAPANAS & DANIEL KUZJAK

LEON STRAUS & PJ WHITE

The last time that a Drapanas and Kuzjak roamed the secondary and lined up at wideout for Western Albemarle it worked out pretty well, in the form of a 10-win season.

The second time around was essentially a repeat performance. In 2009, Nick Kuzjak and Christophe Drapanas teamed up for a big year. Now younger brothers Daniel Kuzjak and Nic Drapanas got the job done, combining for nearly 1,600 regular season receiving yards and 66 total tackes.

Drapanas, a junior, is one of the area’s most dynamic athletes. He possesses the ability to take over a game and take it over in an instant. Against Monticello early in the year, he picked off three passes in the game. He broke up 16 passes in 10 games during the regular season, and when he takes off after the catch, the oppositon gets nervous. Fourteen of his 39 catches in the regular season went for touchdowns.

“Last year I played better defensively and this year I’ve shown more of a liking to offense,” Drapanas said. “It’s fun (to get your hands on the ball) on both sides.”

Kuzjak is a big, tall threat and about as versatile as they come. When first-year head coach Ed Redmond took over, it was apparent that the Warriors needed help at linebacker, and Kuzjak had the tools to get it done despite playing free safety in 2011. He made a huge impact up by the line of scrimmage but also could cover the opposition’s top wide receiver when called upon.

It’s become standard up at Blue Ridge to have multiple big, tall wideouts for whoever is the Barons’ quarterback to pick from in the passing game.

Usually though, they’re basketball players from the Barons’ storied program. This time, they’re football players first.

Straus and White both check in at more than 6-foot-2 and they both can fly, with Straus, a senior, clocking around a 4.3 at a camp this summer. White isn’t far off it, and has excellent skills in the air, coming up with nearly every jump ball that comes his way. They both turn around and line up in the secondary, with Straus at corner and White at safety.

White picked off five passes from his spot, while Straus has essentially forced opposing quarterbacks to pick on Shawn Steen at the other corner — a losing proposition, as it turns out. Strauss is also an emotional, passionate player who rarely quiets down during a game, giving the Barons an emotional lift on a regular basis.

The two top-flight wideouts created major matchup problems. There are very few corners, particularly in the private school ranks, who are tall enough to make a play against Straus or White. That’s why, against St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes, then -anked No. 1 in VISAA’s Division I, Blue Ridge went to White repeatedly on deep jump balls.

When you’ve got an advantage, you take it. Blue Ridge had two of them when Straus and White were in the lineup.

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KENT HENRY

SHAWN STEEN

Kent Henry strikes fear in the hearts of opposing defensive coordinators. The fact that he’s just a junior and has become an even more dynamic rusher and scrambler than he already was has just made things worse. The fact that he is also a pretty darn good defensive back is almost an afterthought.

Henry started his career as a strong safety, joining the varsity as a freshman. He immediately made an impact, becoming a reliable contributor with the ability to lay a big hit. He brings that to the table at quarterback too, where he occasionally seems to seek out contact on runs.

“It’s a factor when you can look back there and you know Kent is going to read it right, that’s he’s going to see the holes open,” Kuzjak said. “He has great vision and he can hit you too. He really brings that physicality to quarterback unlike you see anywhere else.”

Henry broke out as a sophomore last year. He proved he was a gamer and a winner from day one, leading Western to an overtime victory against Albemarle in the season opener, scoring on a two-point conversion to win the game in overtime.

This year he took it to another level, accounting for more than 3,000 yards of total offense in the regular season, exploding into a seemingly unstoppable dual threat.

Henry takes what the opposition gives him on offense and then occasionally takes the ball or a play away on the other side of the ball. He had five breakups and a pair of interceptions in 10 regular season contests.

Shawn Steen’s stature all but invites the opposition to try and test him. He checks in at 5-foot-8 and it’s even more obvious with an imposing corner like Straus playing opposite him.

But it seems like every time someone tries, they fail.

Steen picked off eight passes on the year, nearly a pick per game. He’s a ball hawk, plain and simple.

That small corner also happens to be Blue Ridge’s leading rusher during the regular season, a fierce runner who packs a powerful punch.

“He’s the little man with the big heart,” Patterson said.

“He takes a bunch of hits and then he can bring them when he wants to. He’s not just a tough kid, he’s probably the toughest kid I’ve met in my whole life.”

But two-way star hardly does justice to Steen. He’s also the squad’s kicker and punter. In 10 games, he hit 31 PATs and two field goals. Not bad for his third-most critical job.

Steen is an ironman and he goes about his business quietly. While Straus talks — in a good-natured, funny way — constantly, Steen couldn’t even be bothered to celebrate after he sealed the midseason win over SSSA with a pick, clutching an injured shoulder while his teammates celebrated around him.

But no matter how little he says, Blue Ridge wouldn’t be where it is without him. They need him for every part of his game, in every role.

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Two-way players are ironmen — they’re forged in competition.

That’s where they prove it. All 10 of these players have done just that.

There’s an inherent risk to playing so many key athletes on both sides of the ball — you’re opening yourself up for an injury that’ll force that team to fill-in two starting spots. Which means you need some smart, savvy fill-ins. Western got good performances out of two other two-way players, Trevor Harlow and Steven Hearn, when Kuzjak went down with an injury. Someone had to step up and both players did.

Blue Ridge turned to Jared Arntzen to tote the rock or Darryl Smith at wideout when things did’t going according to plan. Both made key

contributions during a fantastic campaign.

Plus, if a coach like Ed Redmond at Western or Orlando Patterson at Blue Ridge can find a group of players like they have this season and stay healthy, special things can happen. Like a 9-1 regular season for the Warriors or a state championship for the Barons.

And honestly? Most guys who get the chance to play on both sides of the football and make an impact for 48 minutes each Friday wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We like that nitty-gritty,” Henry said. “I think going both ways kind of shows that.” ✖

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IN PURSUIT 25 :: scrimmageplay

F

Fork Union’s Peter Lomong runs with passion. He’s battling sometimes, like he did with his lower back during the 2012 cross country. But he’s loving it.

Whether it’s urging his younger brother Alex on during a race or celebrating a top three finish in the Prep League race after battling those nagging injuries “I just (started running) because I saw how successful my brother was,” Peter said. “I was like ‘let me try’ (reluctantly) because soccer is my thing. From there… wow…I liked it.”

It doesn’t hurt that his days also used to be quite a bit more serious than running for the Blue Devils — an admittedly serious endeavor considering the Blue Devils’ prowess on the track and trail.

Story by Bart Isley Photos by Ashley Thornton and Bart Isley

November 2012 ::

26

“I JUST KNEW THAT I Early each morning while growing up in the South Sudan, Peter Lomong left around 6 a.m. to lead a herd of cattle out, staying with the animals near a river all day before heading back in around 5 p.m.

That process started when he was seven.

“I had to go there all day,” Peter said. “It was just like going to school. With cows.”

His family worked as herders, with his father and one of his brothers out with the cattle during his stretch working the herd. Another brother lived in the capital city of Juba and was a solider in the army.

Meanwhile, his mother and Alex were in Kenya when everyone in the Lomong family’s world changed. That’s when their previously lost brother, Lopez Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan who they assumed dead, arrived on the scene.

“I just knew that I had a brother,” Peter said. “I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know I had a brother like this.”

Lopez was kidnapped in the second Sudanese Civil War at just six-years old, but after a brutal stretch in captivity managed to escape with a dissident group to Kenya to a refugee camp near Narobi. After a decade there, he came to the United States at 16 in 2001. He assumed at the time that his family had been killed in the violence that enveloped the South Sudan.

He became an phenomenal track athlete, winning a pair of NCAA titles, and those accomplishments allowed him to eventually reconnect with his family where he learned he had a pair of younger brothers, school-aged Alex and Peter. HBO’s Real Sports program took him back to Africa where he expressed an interest in bringing Alex and Peter to America to get an education.

“When Lopez came we saw how successful he was,” Peter said. “I wanted to be like him.”

That night, Fork Union track and field coach Winston Brown was watching, and Brown and his wife immediately started discussing the possibility of helping Lopez with that task. Through a series of connections in the track and field world that started with FUMA alum David Fleenor, a collegiate teammate of Lopez’s college coach, Brown made contact with Lopez the same night the HBO special ran.

It took a long time to get Alex and Peter to America though.

Lopez navigated a busy professional schedule that eventually led to him becoming a United States citizen. He then qualified for the 2008 Olympic Team, where he served as the flag bearer in Beijing for the American contingent before bowing out in the 1500-meter semifinals.

He also had to navigate the extensive red-tape of the Sudan and neighboring Kenya in order to bring his brothers to the United States.

The brothers’ father even had some reservations about sending Peter with Lopez — because of the cows. By that time, Peter had become an adept herder.

“My dad didn’t really want me to come (to America) because I’m

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HAD A BROTHER, I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING. I DIDN’T KNOW I HAD A BROTHER LIKE THIS.”

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Our students know that the challenges they face every day as scholars, artists, athletes, and citizens help to prepare them for their lives ahead. Our diverse community allows students to discover that surrounding yourself with cultures different than your own can be the best education of all.

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Eight years after Lopez Lomong came to the United States, brothers Peter and Alex made the trip too enrolling at Fork Union and working with coach Winston Brown (above).

really responsible and I cared about it,” Lomong said.

But the allure of Lopez’s success was a huge motivating factor, even for his younger brothers who didn’t know anything of the world Lopez was talking about and involved in.

“I didn’t actually know anything because I hadn’t watched TV like that,” Peter said. “I didn’t know there were guys like that until I saw Lopez.”

After a number of false starts and problems, Lopez eventually accomplished the daunting task of bringing Alex and Peter across the Atlantic Ocean. On February 13, 2009, Alex and Peter arrived at Dulles International in Washington, ready to move in with the Brown family — Winston and Beth — and attend Fork Union as middle school students. It was, of course, far from an easy transition.

“It was cold because it was February,” Peter said. “I didn’t speak any English so that was hard for me. I was just sitting down in class all day and thought ‘what’s going on here.’”

His progress was fast though, as the now tri-lingual (English, Sudanese and Swahili) quickly picked up American rhythms and customs.

“I really need to thank my teachers and everything for doing that,” Peter said.

The complete language immersion helped Peter and Alex learn quickly. Running helped them adjust.

By the fall of 2009, both brothers had made stride after stride and raced for the FUMA middle school team in cross country’s Ragged Mountain Cup. They ran extremely well in the sub-varsity race, with Peter finishing third as a seventh grader while Alex finished fifth as a sixth grader in a field that included all manners

29 :: scrimmageplay

of high school students from 9th to 12th grade. They even handled an interview request for another international student, Wojciech Czernek, a Polish arrival. The brothers both indicated that he couldn’t speak English, and then tried to answer questions for him.

Their success in running made social interactions easier, allowing them to make fast friends in the close-knit Fork Union community.

“When I won in middle school, that made it exciting,” Peter said.

“That’s it. If I hadn’t done well at the beginning, I don’t think I’d be where I was now. But I came out and I was good at it, so I kept doing it.”

Where he is now is pretty transformative. Both Peter and Alex are now in high school and finished back-to-back — ninth and 10th — at the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association’s state championship race. Peter also owns a top-10 finish in the state’s 3200-meter race from back at last spring’s outdoor championships.

They’ve worked things out in the classroom too, much as their older brother did more than a decade ago when he arrived in America.

Still, there are adjustments to life here that have baffled Peter.

“At restaurants and you drink as many sodas as you want and you make sodas with ice,” Peter said. “I don’t know how you do that, we just don’t do that. It was freezing. I just had to wait for a while so the ice could melt.”

He and Alex haven’t waited to do much else. The two natives of the Sudan are on a startling trajectory that could lead down a path similar to the wildly successful Lopez in whatever discipline they pursue.

Which is exactly why they came to America with Lopez’s help and advice — an opportunity. So far, they’ve made the most of that chance. ✖

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Thrill in the V 31 :: scrimmageplay

C H Ville S

It’s easy to forget after what we saw in the second half of the 2012 season that four weeks into the year, Charlottesville was 1-4. That meant that junior running back Chris Thurston was a whopping 2-23 in his career until that point. After laying it on the line every Friday night for 25 games — and Thurston is all about laying it on the line — he had those two wins to show for it. But the Black Knights got things moving and went 4-3 to close out the year. Now that he’s had a taste? Don’t bet that Thurston or the Black Knights are turning back.

“My senior year we’re going all the way,” Thurston said. “No doubt.”

What got overlooked when the Black Knights turned the corner is the process that Charlottesville went through to make those wins a possibility. Thurston, a first team All-Jefferson District honoree, is emblematic of that process. The junior is a multi-talented athlete who lives for football. As a freshman under former coach Chris Fraser, he played everything. He returned kicks, he played running back and he lined up in the secondary. The program showed promise going into that year, coming off a 4-6 campaign in 2009, and the addition of Thurston seemed poised to keep things headed in the right direction.

But a winless season greeted Thurston as a ninth grader as the program instead hit rock bottom. At one point, Thurston, clearly exasperated, looked at his coaches when he came off the field during the William Monroe game and said simply “I can’t do everything.”

Charlottesville was asking a lot of the ninth grader. A whole lot. But that baptism by fire can forge steel. It did eventually, bringing out the best in Thurston.

But a lot had to change before that happened.

Charlottesville changed head coaches before his sophomore year, but progress wasn’t instantaneous. Thurston endured another frustrating sophomore campaign under new head coach Eric Sherry where the Black Knights went just 1-9 and played just one true home game as the school installed a new turf field. It’d be easy to let that wear you down, to let the losing infect and demoralize you. But Thurston never let it.

Instead Thurston went to work, and the program around him did too. While Sherry is from Massaponax, many of the other coaches on the staff are proud Charlottesville alumni, players who know how to win in that environment because they’ve done just that. And Sherry, an Air Force veteran, is no stranger to doing things the right way and staying focused on process. That’s turned into a fantastic mix for the Black Knights.

Throw in some of the image changes — the turf playing surface, new jerseys that read simply “The Ville” and a logo alteration that is part gladiator mask, part knight helmet — and the ingredients for a seismic shift were in place.

But it doesn’t happen without the focused, resilient Thurston. Not with a 1-4 record going into Jefferson District play. That should’ve been the squad’s undoing.

November 2012 ::

32

Aiding Thurston in making plays this year for Charlottesville were seniors like Rashard Davis (2) and Darius Watson (3).

33 :: scrimmageplay

Thurston and his teammates wouldn’t let that story unfold. Instead they edged out Fluvanna County at home, holding on for the victory after building a huge lead to win their first JD game since 2009.

That got the ball rolling. The Black Knights then beat Monticello, the first win over the Mustangs in a decade. That set the stage for a showdown with Western Albemarle in Crozet. It was there that Thurston and his running mate Rashard Davis exploded. Charlottesville rolled up nearly 600 yards on the ground against Western in a 50-49 shootout loss. The Black Knights may have come out on the short end of the stick, but they proved they belonged in the upper echelon of the Jefferson District and were real contenders for a playoff spot.

Charlottesville got its swagger back — there’s no other way to put it. Thurston rushed for 202 yards, pounding it out largely between the tackles while Davis streaked down the sidelines or improvised on broken plays for 293 yards. It was a nearly lethal combination for a Western team that came into the clash unbeaten.

They followed it with a win over Louisa at home, blowing out the Lions 46-16. The victory, in combination with a Handley High loss the next day, gave Charlottesville its first playoff berth in 10 years. Thurston, predictably, led the way, with 206 yards and four touchdowns that helped open up the passing game for Davis that eventually led to the blowout. Louisa coach Jon Meeks perhaps best summed up the clear leap that Thurston had taken.

“He’s always been the young guy going against three or four year older guys,” Meeks said. “He still looked special, but the body wasn’t there. Now you’re seeing him go against equals, and the kid’s real good.”

Thurston’s hard work was starting to pay off. He’d become a 160-pound power runner with 4.66 speed and a symbol of what Charlottesville’s program could be.

“I think everyone knows how special Chris is — he has the heart of a lion,” Sherry said.

The Black Knights dropped two straight games to close the season, losing narrowly to Powhatan and in tough fashion to Western in the first round of the Region II playoffs. Thurston, who has another year to play, was upset for his teammates, the seniors who wouldn’t get another opportunity. It was why he refused to quit down the stretch against the Warriors, breaking tackles left and right with his aggressive running style despite the fact that the score was out of reach. He kept picking up teammates off the bench who were hanging their heads. Thurston didn’t point fingers. He tried to lift everyone else up to his level.

“Some people were dropping their heads a little bit and we had to pick them up a little bit,” Thurston said. “That’s what we do as team leaders.”

He was clearly inspired by guys like Davis in the senior class.

The Black Knights’ running back has a tough task. Right now, he’s both the present and the future for his program. With players like Laquarius Warfield, Rashad Brock, Robert Spivey, Larry Anderson, Troy Hughes and Wade Kammauff all back for more next year, the Black Knights shouldn’t be a one-year wonder. It’ll be up Thurston to see that that happens. Not just with what he does on the field on Fridays, but what he does in practice, on the sidelines and in the locker room. That’s a lot the Black Knights are asking of him. But they’ve been asking a lot of him for awhile now.

If his 2013 efforts are anything like the last three years have been, look out. ✖

SUPPORTING THE FUTURE SPORTS STARS OF TOMORROW

WHAT’S YOUR SPORT? William Grupp Dentistry has been supporting local youth sports for the past 15 years New patients receive a complimentary custom fitted mouth guard for contact sports

Free Throws Defending the house Mustangs embark on mission to maintain status quo in JD

By Ryan Yemen

A lot has changed for the Mustangs since Bridget Holleran first started playing in 2009.

(Ashley Thornton)

35 :: scrimmageplay

It wasn’t supposed to come together so quickly for Josh McElheny. The first-year coach at Monticello went into the ’11-’12 season with such a young roster in the Jefferson District and came out with a pair of firsts in program history – a JD tournament title and a Region II win. And just like that the Mustangs, with their core players back in the fold, are the team to beat in Jefferson, a substantial change for this program.

“Last year everything was new and fresh,” McElheny said. “Now it’s about making sure that they understand just because they think they know the system, doesn’t mean that they know everything there is to it. We’re trying to work out the minor things now and get really picky.”

When you’re returning your point guard and it’s a four-year starter like Bridget Holleran happens to be, you get to dig into the basketball minutiae. The Mustangs also have the advantage of getting back one of the area’s best young shooters in sophomore Megan Comer, and when she gets healthy, arguably the best post player in the JD in Molly Shephard.

“Since we all know each other so well now I think we just want to get out there and run as a team,” Comer said. “We learned a lot about playing at the varisty level.”

For someone like Holleran who’s been at the forefront since this program started heading in the right direction in 2009, this group feels different in the best way possible.

“We’re just so much closer as a team and we were fractioned off my freshman and sophomore years,” Holleran said. “I think that really hurt us. Now we have a positive way of talking with each other, helping each other out, we just have real chemistry.”

By virtue of bringing the band back

together in near entirety, Monticello’s big advantage this year is the depth it will find with added youth and then also with senior Lyra Payne who transferred over the summer from Fluvanna County.

“With the new players, the younger players, it’s a challenge everyday trying to get them caught up while keeping the other players going,” McElheney said.

With depth offensively and the scoring so evenly balanced last year, Monticello was able to play fluidly even if the opposition wanted to take one thing away. With that even-keeled approach likely to continue on offense, the focus for this team is defensively where McElheny wants to see more turnovers forced, one to two more per quarter. The Mustangs thrived by winning a lot close games and rather than face the ugly side of the law of averages, the second-year coach thinks his team should win more games with free throws at the end, not last second shots. It’s the difference between winning a district championship and defending it.

“I don’t think we know what it means to be a defending champion right now,” McElheney said “But as we get into the season and see teams give us their best shot each night, we’re going to have to learn because I think teams are going to surprise us with how hard they play us.”

Given the way the Mustangs surprised the rest of the JD last year, the odds are pretty good this core group of talent will figure things out. ✖ Monticello kicks off December with nondistrict rival Albemarle. The Mustangs also will get a stiff challenge playing in the NBC29/ Dailyprogress Holiday Tournament where their first opponent will be private powerhouse, the Miller School.

Success stories begin here.

Success Story: Russell Bodine In 2009 there were few offensive or defensive lines more intimidating than the group that Fork Union put on the field game in or game out. Russell Bodine had a large hand in that. As he did his part in the trenches, the Blue Devils were able to advance to the VISAA Division 1 semifinals. For his work that season, Bodine earned All-Prep League honors as well as first team All-State and All-Scrimmage Play nods.

During his time at FUMA, Bodine was able to become the eighth-rated center in the country according to both Rivals.com and ESPN.com, and the 15th best player overall in Virginia by the Roanoke Times.

In turn, he collected an awful lot of offers from major collegiate programs to play offensive line including Stanford, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Virginia and North Carolina. In the

end, the Scottsville native chose to become a Tar Heel.

After red-shirting in 2010, Bodine took the field as a freshman in 2011, appearing in 13 games and starting twice. He was in on 318 snaps and earned 18 knockdowns, grading out at a season best 90 percent against Duke.

Now weighing in at 305 pounds on a 6-foot-4 frame, Bodine’s taken another step forward this fall. Against Louisville he had 7 ½ knockdowns, and then had a team best 14 against Wake Forest. He put together his best game of the year against Elon where he registered 17 knockdowns and graded out at 95 percent.

He still has two years left to play at Chapel Hill, but it’s clear already that Bodine’s tenacity and grit have followed him from high school to college where he continues to shine.

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

Overtime

Matter of perspective When a simple move puts you in your place

A

change of scenery can change your entire perspective. I started high school at a school of just under 1000 students. I played three sports — football, lacrosse and wrestling. I started both ways on the junior varsity football team and at defense on the lacrosse squad. I was also a varsity letterman in wrestling for two years.

When I moved to Cox High in Virginia Beach and enrolled at a school with more than 2,000 students, I found out all that I’d done back in North Carolina didn’t matter much.

The first indication things were going to change? On my tour of the school I walked by a wrestling room wall of honor celebrated individual state champion after individual champion. There were team title plaques above those for Eastern Region wins. Heck, when I took a look at the map and there was a school called Granby on there, and I’d recently learned a Granby roll, I knew wrestling was probably out for a guy who’d just strung together his first winning streak (with the help of a forfeit).

I can’t think of many guys at my school in North Carolina who played Division I football.

Two that come to mind came after me, one at Wake Forest as a fullback, the other as a walk-on quarterback at UNC. There were that many Division I players at my own position at Cox. As a junior, I was the fourth or fifth tight end on the roster, with a guy who played at James Madison as the starter and a 6-foot-6 guy who played defensive end at East Carolina at the other spot in our two tight end set. The other two guys in front of me were players too. One started at Hampden Sydney, the other bypassed prep football and went to the Burning Man festival out west and went off the grid for nearly a decade. But trust me, he could play.

I went from facing teams with a couple of borderline Division I players to lining up against a Princess Anne team where the quarterback played wideout for Tennessee, the tailback started for Virginia Tech and the fullback played middle linebacker for UVa. In North Carolina I’d been a nose guard and a defensive end. My coach informed me on day one of offseason lifting that I’d better learn to be an outside linebacker and a tight end because the nose guard was checking in around 280 pounds and at 170 pounds I wasn’t going to gain enough weight to unseat him.

Everything can change when your setting changes. That’s the nature of a reality check.

I get asked a lot to compare teams from different settings. Like when Madison County basketball was on its state title run a couple of years ago — people asked who I thought they could beat. Or how one of the last few Woodberry or Fork Union teams would match up against public schools. Occasionally we get to see it happen and settle those arguments — cross country and swimming are pretty good examples of that — but usually we don’t. Not in team sports.

We see a lot of players, who, by one set of circumstances or another, emerge as superstars within their realm and are disappointed when colleges don’t come beating down their doors.

It’s important that parents, coaches and administrators do a good job of helping create that perspective in lieu of the opportunity to settle it on the court. Be honest about what you’re looking at.

37 :: scrimmageplay

“We see a lot of players, who by one set of circumstances or another emerge as superstars within their realm and are disappointed...”

Sometimes a starting nose guard and right tackle is just a fifth-string tight end in a different role. ✖

Bart Isley,

CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR

back talk »

Has a move or transfer affected you in a big way? Contact Bart at: bart@scrimmageplay.com

HOMETOWN HOOPS P R O U D LY P R E S E N T E D B Y P E P S I - C O L A O F C E N T R A L V I R G I N I A

DECEMBER 1

DECEMBER 5

DECEMBER 6

DE C E M B E R 1 8

M O N T I C E L LO AT ALBEMARLE

CHARLOTTESVILLE AT WILLIAM MONROE

MILLER AT COVENANT

MADISON COUNTY AT WILL I A M M O N R O E

The Mustangs, led by their quick backcourt, will hit the road trying to take down a Patriots team that is filling a lot of holes. Year in and year out, Albemarle coach Greg Maynard finds production in unlikely places.

Two undeniably fast teams here that play pressure defense. The Black Knights will need to be at their JD championship level from last year to be ready for a Dragons team that returns the bulk of its talent.

A pair of local private foes square off. This will be the only game of December in Virginia for the Mavericks. Catch them against an upstart Eagles team looking to build on its success from the 2011-2012 season.

One of the best rivalries in the area, and without question the most electric atmosphere you’ll come by. These two are always talented and will do battle for the first time this season in Stanardsville.

P E P S I - C O L A O F C E N T R A L V I R G I N I A ­: S U P P O RT I N G L O C A L H I G H S C H O O L AT H L E T I C S F O R D E C A D E S

Tracking down the winning smiles we helped create

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Will Strickler

Will Strickler first cut his teeth on the Woodberry Forest golf team, but the Charlottesville native has gone on to much greater heights. After graduating from the University of Florida, Strickler earned his PGA Tour card for the 2011 season. That year he made the cut at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. He joined the Canadian Tour this year and came in second in July’s Dakota Dunes Casino Open.

Keep smiling, Will, you’ve made everyone in Charlottesville proud!

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THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SPORTS AUTHORITY

THE TOP 10 There’s no sport that has the same intensity during the regular season like football.

Starting with the first games in August, high school football has a playoff feel right out of the gates and for a little over two months as the season played out, Central Virginia football fans got to see some thrilling games. We went back and picked out what we thought were the 10 best regular season games. Here they are.

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No. 10 8.31.12 Monticello 24, Albemarle 21 This rivalry clash has produced a number of memorable matchups, and when T.J. Tillery got going after the break against the Patriots, he made sure it was more memorable for the Mustangs than the Patriots. Monticello rallied from four-down at halftime with Tillery’s authoritative running leading the way and a Josh Malm interception sealing the game. The game got started with a bang for Albemarle when it recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and Matt Crist picked off an early pass. Niko Troche also made it happen on the ground for Albemarle with 149 yards and two touchdowns. The Patriots couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity after the Crist pick though as Denzel Terry picked off a pass and rolled 90 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter to keep Monticello within striking distance early. The game also kickstarted a Central Virginia rushing title campaign for Tillery in his first year as a starter.

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No. 9 10.5.12 Fluvanna County 34, Louisa County 19 In a game that was much closer than the final score indicated, Fluvanna County picked up its first Jefferson District win of the season and also its first victory in a decade over Louisa County, winning on the strength of Dashon Tibbs’ 36-yard touchdown run with under four minutes to play. The Flucos were up just a point when the explosive Tibbs got loose and put Fluvanna up 27-19, which with an insurance touchdown by Jovan Burton from 20 yards out was enough to hold off the Lions and pick up a huge, huge win for the Fluvanna program. Tibbs finished with 197 yards and two touchdowns on the ground as the Flucos leaned heavily on a single wing set against the Lions.

Fluvanna’s defense stood the test in the big upset on crucial downs, holding Louisa to just two conversions on eight third downs and just one conversion on fourth down in three attempts.

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No. 8 10.19.12 Covenant 21, St. Anne’s-Belfield 13 (F/OT) You can’t ask for much more exciting than a game-clinching interception in overtime, and the Eagles got that, with Gus Rose picking off a pass during STAB’s first overtime possession to clinch the win. The Eagles picked up their first victory over their crosstown rivals in school history with Rose’s interception.

Covenant’s defense led the way in the win with five total interceptions, holding STAB in check throughout. The Saints got going in the fourth quarter after trailing 13-0 and appeared set to take the lead with less than 30 seconds to play. But the point after touchdown, after a penalty, clanged off the upright.

That forced the Saints and Eagles into overtime where Brady Doyle came up big on fourth down, hitting wide-open Peter Gould for a touchdown. Then Doyle connected John Meade for a two-point conversion to put the pressure on the Saints. That’s when Rose came up clutch to give Covenant the crucial win.

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No. 7 9.22.12 Monticello 34, Louisa County 27 Monticello had to hold on tight out in Mineral. Louisa never went away, even when the Mustangs went up by a pair of possessions late in the game, the Lions pulled back within a score. Still the Mustangs picked up a couple of first downs to keep Louisa at bay. This back-and-forth affair had tons of excitement throughout with Monticello back T.J. Tillery exploding for 198 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries including a 67-yard sprint. There was also Jhalil Mosley picking off a pass and racing 82 yards with time expiring in the first half to put Monticello up 20-12. Still Louisa refused to quit behind the quarterbacking of Zack Jackson, and took Monticello to the brink. Being forced into tough situations like this early in the year helped the Mustangs overcome the season’s low point just a few weeks later and handle games well down the stretch in the playoffs.

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No. 6 11.2.12 Louisa County 32, Western Albemarle 29 It was supposed to be the cherry on top of Western Albemarle’s unbeaten season sundae. A coronation of sorts for the expected No. 1 seed in the Region II tournament. Louisa County had completely different ideas. The Lions, who by the game’s end were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, fought back late with a touchdown drive in the closing minutes. Zack Jackson capped the drive with 10 seconds to play, ending a frantic march that included a fourth down conversion reception from Deion Johnson and was set up by Trey Cherry’s long kick return. Louisa had floundered at times during a challenging season, and the Lions needed the win and the momentum it gave them going into the offseason. They got just that and, in the process, spoiled Western’s perfect regular season. Plus, they sent Zack Jackson, perhaps one of the area’s most underrated athletes on the gridiron, out on a high note.

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No. 5 9.15.12 Woodberry Forest 44, Blair Academy 33 It started out as a blowout in favor of mighty Blair Academy. It became the “Miracle at Woodberry” as the Tigers unleashed a 37-point run to rally from down 33-7 and win at home against the Pirates. Greer Martini had a breakout game on offense as the Notre Dame committment at linebacker stepped in at wide receiver and came up with a 2-point conversion catch and 131 yards on three other receptions, including an 85-yard catch and run from Hunter Etheridge that pulled Woodberry ahead 36-33. Touchdowns by H.T. Minor, Brandon Walker and Christian Asher also factored into the incredible rally. Head coach Clint Alexander, who’s been at this awhile, called it the greatest comeback he’s ever been a part of, and rightfully so. The rally was simply incredible and the fact that the Woodberry defense managed to step up and give the offense a chance was nothing short of amazing.

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No. 4 10.12.12 Liberty Christian 36, Fork Union 33 It was one of just a handful of losses for Fork Union on the year but it was also one of the finest games between private schools played in Virginia this year.

The Blue Devils went toe-to-toe in a thriller, with only a missed field goal on the final play of regulation preventing the game from heading to overtime. The clash between two VISAA Division I powers — and eventual state finalists — had a little of everything. A Tyron McDade kick return for a touchdown, a 65-yard scoring strike from Christian Hackenberg to Chrystian Brown that was part of a 283-yard performance by Hackenberg and a 235-yard rushing outing by LCA’s Carrington Mosley all came together to crate an up-and-down battle from start to finish. Both defenses came up with critical turnovers. The bottom line? Both teams came to play on that October afternoon and put on a show worthy of two one-loss teams going at it.

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No. 3 10.6.12 Blue Ridge 30, St.Stephen’s St. Agnes 26 In the past, Blue Ridge has beaten the teams its supposed to but, more often than not, lost to the teams that they weren’t supposed to beat. The St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes game in early October changed all of that. The Barons proved they were a legitimate state title threat by knocking off SSSA, then the No. 1-ranked squad in Division I of the VISAA. The Barons were down three points with under a minute to play but quarterback Tristan Allen connected with wideout P.J. White three times on the final drive, capping it with a 10-yard touchdown that gave Blue Ridge a huge feather in its cap as the season moved on. It suddenly set the stage for the Barons’ eventual state title run. It also signified that under Orlando Patterson, Blue Ridge was going to play big-time football on the biggest stage. They certainly did that Saturday in October and it set the tone for the rest of 2012.

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No. 2 10.26.12 Goochland 28, Buckingham 27 (F/OT) With the James River District title on the line, Buckingham and Goochland locked up in a clash of run first, run second teams. It was a throwback football game that went to overtime where a goal line stand by Goochland on a 2-point conversion attempt that secured the win. As Joe Fowler put it afterward, the Bulldogs proved they have “ice water in their veins.” The stuff at the goal line on the 2-pt gave Goochland the James River title and a 28-27 win. It also allowed them to survive a terrific Kyree Koonce performance where the sophomore running back ripped off a 196-yard, three-TD night on 18 carries as the Bulldogs made a point to try and bottle up Kenneth Johnson, BCHS’ other 1,000-yard rusher. On offense, Goochland had to rally just to get it to overtime, including a completion from freshman quarterback Reid Chenault to Nathan Adams on fourth and 15. It was an absolute thriller between two stout playoff squads.

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No. 1 10.12.12 Western Albemarle 50, Charlottesville 49 It was essentially the Jefferson District title game, and it proved worthy of a championship as the Warriors and Black Knights went at it back and forth from the opening snap to the final whistle. Charlottesville put together an incredible effort on the ground, with Rashard Davis going for more than 300 yards while Chris Thurston went for more than 200. But they couldn’t edge out the Warriors, with quarterback Kent Henry unleashing a 143-yard effort through the air and 205 yards on the ground while totaling six touchdowns. The Warriors’ defense, a stout unit that struggled with the Black Knights’ ground and pound approach after halftime, came up with a stop when it had to have one, on a two-point conversion, as a CHS pass fell incomplete. It was a wild track meet that signaled that the Black Knights were going to be a major factor going forward and reinforced that Western Albemarle is always most dangerous in the fourth.

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