Volume 5, Issue 17

13 WAHS BOYS SOCCER NEARS ITS GOAL

scr覺mmageplay THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SPORTS AUTHORITY VOL 5 . ISSUE 17 :: JUNE 10, 2014

No Fluke How Madison baseball put its outrageously dramatic playoff run together.

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x’s and o’s 21 05 13

05

FUTURE SET Louisa softball finishes strong year

07

FORMAL INVITATION Madison baseball crashes the party

13

ONE STEP AHEAD Western soccer’s dynamic duo

19

GAME TIME Albemarle soccer earns state bid

23

AVOIDING THE TRAP Today’s youth has grit too

vol 5 . issue 17 :: June 11, 2014

No Fluke VOL 5 . ISSUE 17 :: JUNE 10, 2014

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13 WaHs boys soccer Nears its goal

How Madison baseball put its outrageously dramatic playoff run together. page 7

S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Madison County’s Colin Shifflett 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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PREGAME

The chase

Albemarle senior Matt Crist doesn’t really care all too much about the individual accolades if you’ve ever talked to him. He does care about winning every game he can as a senior. Crist got a taste of both as he surpassed the 300-point mark for his career in the 5A South Zone championship against arch-rival Western Albemarle as he had two goals and three assists to lead the way for the Patriots. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)

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Family

Corner PRESENTED BY

ABOVE » Former Buckingham County star Cam Johnson was a workout warrior and after a post graduate year at Fork Union, is headed to Hampden Sydney to continue playing.

The offseason grind One of my middle school football coaches held an interest meeting each spring for potential and current players and their parents. It was a chance to get people plugged into the program and hand out his dreaded offseason workout program.

This thing seemed brutal as a seventh grader. Some long distance running, some sprint work and a bunch of other torture to prepare for what was apparently some kind of death march and not simply middle school football’s summer practice schedule.

My father took this packet as gospel and mapped out a route in our neighborhood that allowed me to start at our house and finish back at our driveway to complete the daily distance running requirement laid out in these forms.

He’d then encourage me to take off each day, wait for me to get out of sight or a little further into the route and then get in his car and try and surprise me. He wanted to make

sure I wasn’t just strolling down the street between short bursts of running past certain houses where I hoped that one of the girls from the neighborhood would see me putting in work to get ready for football.

Both tactics — trying to trick my father and impress the ladies in the neighborhood — were unsuccessful. I didn’t properly grasp what my coach and my father were trying to accomplish which was to take care of the basics so fatigue and being out of shape wouldn’t detract from my ability to contribute to my team. I figured I’d catch up near the end of summer, much as I did on school work by rushing to finish it all the night before.

That’s not how offseason training works though of course. You’ve got to get in the weight room regularly. Run regularly. You’ve got to figure out what’s going to make you better prepared to help your team or accomplish your goals as a player.

It’s a cliché, but there really are no short-

cuts when it comes to being prepared and working out when you’re not in season.

There’s no way to fake it. Believe me, I’ve tried. The best way to handle it is to make it fun. Look at how the players in the NFL do it, where they get together on their own time and workout as part of a position group or an offensive unit. You can make workouts competitive by creating situations where you keep score and reward yourself for accomplishing goals or assess punishments for not reaching them.

Obviously whatever you do isn’t going to change the fact that offseason workouts are hard, occasionally frustrating and certainly not as fun as playing games.

But they can make your games more fun and you can make your games more rewarding by putting in effort on the front end. In the sports world, things you can control are actually few and far between.

The effort you put in when nobody is watching? That’s something you can definitely control. ✖ Scrimmage Play and Triple C Camp partner up to cover family issues related to youth and prep sports in our Family Corner.

Bart Isley,

CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR

www.scrimmageplay.com ::

04

First Quarter Future Set

Young Louisa softball team finishes season, poised for more

By Ryan Yemen

C

Katie Harlow’s arm and bat were instrumental in Louisa County’s playoff run. (Ryan Yemen)

{ THOSE BATS } The Lions have four of their best bats returning for the 2015 season.

.615 .479

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05 :: @scrimmageplay

HARP E DER KSAR A EL

FLETCH ER

HA RLOW

TALLEY

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hrissy Cromer was the connection between the first Louisa County softball team under Dan Barrett’s tutelege and the one that looks poised to be solid for years to come. She was the bridge between eras, and a solid one at that.

The senior catcher did her part, guiding a new pitching staff and playing exceptional defense behind the plate while also hitting well and running the basepaths like a true veteran.

With the Lions falling in the 4A North Region semifinals, just one win shy of making the state tournament, Cromer, just one of three seniors on the team, finished with 10 RBI and had a perfect fielding record. She was first team All-Jefferson District and Conference 23. She’s leaving the Lions to play at Mary Baldwin and heading out of Mineral with the program in exceptional shape, as good or better than when she found it.

And this year she found herself a senior amongst youngsters, but who aged quickly.

“The freshman just they just had to go with the flow and not let their heads get down, they had to keep their heads up,” Cromer said. “The girls really wanted to make this worthy for the seniors. They’ve done all they can to make us be able to play a little bit longer (in high school). I really appreciate that.”

The freshmen, that’s the interesting part of this Lions squad. The addition of Hannah Fletcher, Taylor Robinson, Abbey Hudson and Amber Lanch actually made this team stronger. Fletcher’s timely hitting was equal to her glove at second base where she drove in 14 RBI and fielded almost flawlessly at .976.

Robinson’s power was evident all season long and her 2-run homerun in the Conference 23 finals paved the way for a Louisa win over Fluvanna. Of those four freshmen, three of them earned All-Conference 23 honors, paving

the way for a bright future.

Ahead of the Class of 2017 are Lindsey Talley and Katie Harlow who will graduate next year. The leadoff and No. 3 hitters respectively anchored the Lions offense. The lefty, Talley, hit for an absurd average of .613 and was 13 for 14 in stolen base attempts. Harlow made waves in the three spot hitting .479 and driving in 13 runs during the regular season. She also took over as one of the team’s primary pitchers, going 8-2 on the year and posting a 1.04 ERA during the regular season. But it was the trust in defense, team speed that got Louisa through to the 4A North tourney.

“I’m not a fast pitcher and sometimes that doesn’t work,” Harlow said. “So if I don’t have trust in my defense, there’s no reason for me to even step into the circle.”

And the defense was there for Harlow and anyone else who took their turn pitching as six different players for the Lions fielded at an .824 rate or better.

“I’ve always prided myself on our team defense,” Barrett said. “When we make those plays, it’s just a little tug on my heart.”

He’ll have the bulk of that defense back minus Cromer, Sam Madison and Morgan Kocolis of course. But Barrett will also have a team made up of most underclassmen save for Talley and Harlow who will be seniors. By the roster, this should have been a rebuilding year for Barrett. It was the opposite, the Lions held serve, and as good as 2014 was, 2015 could be much better. ✖

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Western girls lacrosse leans on depth

But you can have it in print too!

By Bart Isley The 2014 edition of the Western Albemarle girls lacrosse team doesn’t have that one top-of-the-line scorer that the Warriors have had in years past. There’s no Bridget Shaffrey, Ellen Shaffrey, Jordan Haws or Abby Wheeler to lean on when you have to have a goal.

Instead, Western gets it done by staying true to the offensive system and attacking from a multitude of angles with an array of scoring options.

Faris Wallenborn, Ellie Allen, Sammie Magargee or Olivia Rentz can come up with a big day at any given time for the Warriors.

They’ve all put together three and four games at one time or another and if a defense tries to focus on limiting any of the four, the other three are bound to make them pay.

But they’re far from the only ones that can get it done offensively for the Warriors.

Hannah Weyher, a relative unknown for the Warriors who wasn’t among the nine Western players who earned AllCharlottesville Group honors, stood tall against Salem in the South Zone championship notching a hat trick to help boost the

Warriors to a 10-9 win and the chance to host a state semifinal. Kate Snyder, scored the game-winner for the Warriors with under two minutes to play.

A game before that, Hanna Schuler had a pair of critical goals and an assist for Western in the clash with Douglas Freeman that earned a spot in the state tournament for the Warriors.

It seems that each game, some new member of the lineup is stepping up for the Warriors.

“I love the balance,” Western coach Tara Hohenshelt said after the Warriors beat E.C. Glass in the first round of the South Zone championship. “I think we are so fortunate that we have a starting lineup and an entire bench of talented players. We can get a lot of people in and run a lot of bodies and the level of intensity and play never drops.”

Each one of those Western players is a threat to do some serious damage, which makes life extremely tough on the opposing defense. There’s just too much to account for.

Now that group of Warriors gets to take on the ultimate test in the state semifinals. ✖

BELOW » Western Albemarle’s Ellie Allen is just one of many potential scoring threats for the Warriors (Ashley Thornton).

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06

Formal Invitation

Story by Ryan Yemen — Photos by John Berry

D

avid Londrey is in his third year as skipper for Madison County. None of this seems strange to him, that his team went from 9-9 during the regular season to the state final four. It’d be coach speak if you didn’t know him, or know that the Mountaineers have always been better than their record since he took over. This is a talented team and in the last two years, bad bounces and strange circumstances haunted this club, keeping them from reaching their true potential. This year during the regular season,

the story looked similar. But then something happened — the postseason. Win or go home. Every time it mattered, Madison went home, but happy, ready for the next opponent. The last place team in Conference 35 endured it all to put together the most improbable run any team has in recent memory. This team is headed to Salem to the VHSL 2A state tournament, it’s sixth road trip in seven games. And the trail of upsets the Mountaineers put together on their travels have made them one of the most intriguing teams Central Virginia has ever seen. It didn’t happen by accident. It didn’t happen by redesign. It was sticking with the program. And now it just so happens they are currently the shining example — as the popular saying goes — of why you play the games. Sometimes, you just never know.

It would have been easy to for Londrey to try and change things up heading into the postseason. But he was satisfied with his team’s effort. His message was simple in a game that rewards consistency. The law of averages eventually factors in and Londrey, when his team has won or lost, always acknowledges that.

Baseball, at the end of the day, is a mystery and you can never point to one simple thing. There was no rally cry for Madison as it headed to face George Mason in the Conference 16 tournament. Rather, it was a plea to stick with what this team’s worked on all year long.

“Truthfully, all year long I told the guys that they just had to keep doing what they had all year long, that our record had nothing to do with how we were playing,” Londrey said. “(At 9-9) our record, seven of the losses were by one or two runs. It wasn’t a struggle for us to improve, it was a struggle of staying on track because I really felt we were playing great baseball. We were always one hit or one error away from a completely different record. The baseball gods will come around.”

CONFER ENCE 35 QUA RT ER FIN A L S Madison County 6, George Mason 5

“That was the icing on the cake, he hit the third fourth and fifth run in.”

— Londrey

The Mountaineers’ start to the playoffs was pretty rough. By the end of the first inning, they faced a 4-0 hole. However, a 3-run home run from Sam Taylor in the third inning changed everything. They were off and running.

“That was the icing on the cake, he hit the third, fourth and fifth run in after we got two just prior,” Londrey said.

Up 5-4, Madison watched Mason rally to make it 5-5. The previous meetings between these two had the Mustangs edge the Mountaineers late. This time was different. Two singles, a walk, a fielder’s choice and a Nick Smith RBI sac fly gave Madison the edge, 6-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

The Mountaineers’ clutch offense is the easy target in this story, but the underlying heartbeat of the playoff run is the starting pitching. Londrey has two good ones in senior Colin Shifflett and junior James Graves. In what became a game of dueling banjos, Shifflett threw the first of three straight complete games for Madison. He gave up just two walks to Mason, threw 116 pitches.

Londrey thought about pulling him because of the pitch count after the sixth but the senior would not budge.

He was finishing this game off, and he did so to get his team on to the next round.

CONFER ENCE 35 SEMIFIN A L S Madison County 3, Page County 0.

Not to be outdone, James Graves took to the hill in the ever important C35 semifinals where a win would

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“Both James and Colin just go after batters, they throw strikes,” Londrey said. “Our defense behind them has just played phenomenal.

They make plays and our pitchers know that.”

Graves was on point, and with Shifflett playing stellar defense behind him, Madison had arguably its finest showing of the year. Shifflett pulls off a double play on what should have been a bloop single over second base and then Ashton Weakley, in the seventh inning with one on and nobody out, of all situations, tracks a ball in left center and launches without thinking, hits Shifflett for another double play.

“That’s just heads up basball,” Londrey said. “We’re definitely not the biggest team, but we can play smart baseball. That matters.”

Graves threw 101 pitches and earned the complete game win as he struck out seven batters and walked just two. Offensively, Madison thrived on small ball. Graves had an RBI sac-fly in the fourth to break the scoreless tie. Shane Aylor was hit by a pitch in the fifth, reached second on a sac-bunt and scored on an error. To make it 3-0, Nick Smith dropped a squeeze bunt to score Colin Shifflett.

The Mountaineers had their playoff momentum going, and won a game where they had just four hits.

2 A E A S T R EGION Madison County 5, East Rock 3 Hitting in front of Sam Taylor every night is Dylan Berry. The Mountaineers’ catcher bats right handed in the three spot, and the lefty, Taylor hits fourth. Madison’s opponents have to pick one of the two to pitch to. Against East Rockingham, both sluggers got the pitch they wanted to see.

Berry’s 2-run homer in the fifth inning tied the Mountaineers up

“Both James and Colin just go after batters, they throw strikes.”

— Londrey with the Eagles at 2-2. A Nick Smith RBI single made it 3-2. And with two outs in the sixth, Taylor delivered a 2-run triple to make it 5-3.

“Those two (Berry and Taylor) have just been amazing for me all year,” Londrey said. “They square the ball up on a regular basis. It’s a nice 1-2 punch. It’s righty-lefty and so nice to have as a coach.”

The winning pitcher? Shifflett as he surrendered just four hits and two walks and earned the victory by throwing just 82 pitches over seven innings. That’s an average of just under 12 pitches per inning. It’s what every coach, pitcher and defense yearns for — short innings.

That doesn’t come without defense. In the fifth inning Madison is down two. Taylor who plays at first base is playing in with two runners on.

He makes a diving play to save two runs. Madison then catches a break when a throwing error forces the Eagles to be aggressive on the base paths and Taylor comes up with a rope at the plate to save another run.

“It was just one hell of a play,” Londrey said. “Those kind of plays are the highlights, the defense keeping that team to just three runs.”

The win sets up the Mountaineers just 21 outs away from earning

a state bid. But their opponent in the next round is of note. It’s a four hour drive away from Madison and it’s Nandua, the team that ended William Monroe’s state title bid in 2013. It took 24 outs.

2 A E A S T R EGION SEMIFIN A L S Madison County 9, Nandua 6 It’s the seventh inning and Madison has three outs work with to get three runs to try and prolong the game. The team is on the last legs of life support as far as the odds go in baseball.

“It was simple, we had to get one at a time and so we just needed base runners,” Londrey said. “We needed to get that to cause havoc.”

Freshman Chris Smith hits in the leadoff spot. He is the future of Madison baseball and his coach says he has “the highest baseball IQ of anyone I’ve had come through this program.” He wears one, gets hit by a pitch and suddenly, the Mountaineers have life.

“Can’t ask anything more from him than that,” Londrey said. “He takes that third pitch and gets on base.”

Weakley draws a walk on an eight-pitch at bat. With runners on first and second, Madison has nobody out. Berry steps in and reaches base on an error on ball hit to the shortstop. Smith scores and the margin is now just two with the tying runner on first base. Taylor hits a shot to centerfield to advance the runners. Shifflett drives in a run on a ground ball out. Then Graves delivers an RBI single. It’s 5-5, but Madison has to get out of the seventh.

Graves threw the first five and a third innings and junior Austin Kelliher pitched well and got Madisoninto extra innings.

In the eighth, the small ball game was over. Weakley delivers an RBI double only to have Berry do the exact same. Taylor then cranks a 2-run jack. All four of those runs were scored with two outs.

“Do you see the trend?” Londrey joked. “If you’re following, that’s how we’ve gotten things done.”

Of course there is the matter of getting out of the eighth. A triple with one out followed by an RBI single doesn’t make too much of a difference. But with the Mountaineers running out of arms, Londrey turns to Nick Smith, the sophmore. He needs to get just one out.

He induces a pop fly out to Berry behind the plate and just like that, Madison was heading to the 2A tournament in Salem.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN No baseball team is without its own superstitions. Much was made of Madison’s regular season record and when the Mountaineers won, opposing teams were quick to call it a fluke. So in the playoffs, the team’s resident fishermen -- and there are a bunch of them -- went tongue-incheek with it. The Mountaineers bought fluke fishing lures. They carried those with them in the Conference 35 playoffs until they fell in the finals to Strasburg. Those flukes were bad luck, it was time to get new ones.

They did, and after two wins the luck wore out again as they fell in the 2A finals, again to Strasburg. They’ve bought new ones now. Two wins in Salem gives them a state title. They go up against Virginia High on Friday June 13th, a team much like Nandua that was considered a favorite to compete for the crown. It happened once, it could happen again.

And so the coach who played at Virginia Tech is taking his team to Salem with the hopes he gets watch the magic happen again, like with Nandua.

“There was really nothing I could do as a coach against Nandua,” Londrey said. “I just had to sit back and watch. Double, double, homerun. I’m not doing that. They are, I’m just watching it.”

This year, Londrey has the best seat in the house. ✖

1 A step

A

head N

S TORY by BART ISLEY

PHOTOS by ASHLEY THORNTON and KEITH GEARHART

early every time his foot touches the ball, it feels like something thrilling is about to happen.

With a dizzying array of moves, quickness and savvy, he can find ways to score from all over the field, whether it’s bending a ball in from 35 yards out or finishing off a rebound from point-blank range.

Forrest White has exploded this season for a state record number of goals in a year. He’s now the career record holder in points and one of the most dangerous and productive offensive forces to blow through Central Virginia in years.

The Western Albemarle coaching staff’s bold move in the early stages of the season to move their long-time central midfielder and the reigning Scrimmage Play player of the year up to striker played a big role in the incredible leap the already impressive senior took this year. But just as importantly, there’s someone floating around that midfield still who knows exactly how White’s brain works and makes a lot of the things White does pay off for the Warriors.

“

They compliment each other so well — it’s telling that both of them were starters in the center midfield for us as freshman — Rittenhouse

“We’re just a step ahead of everyone,” said Western senior Michael Nafziger. “He’ll make runs that no one else will make but that I’m looking for.

I think we can find connections that really surprise a defense. It’s just a half step before someone else would make the run, he’ll make those runs and I can reward him for them.”

Nafziger and White have played together in club and varsity high school soccer since they were 10 years old. In the process, they’ve learned to pair their own strengths and weaknesses to create the kind of harmony that every soccer team strives for but often struggles to attain.

“Because they’ve been so consistent and reliable we’ve been able to get Aidan (Sinclair) on the same page, we’ve been able to get Collin (Moore) on the same page — our midfield is really our strength,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “It’s some of the best combination ball we’ve seen (at Western).”

White and Nafziger played next to each other on the varsity from the first time they took the field for Western Albemarle, starting side-byside as freshmen. Turning over the reigns of the central midfield to a pair of ninth graders was an intriguing move for Western, one of the area’s most consistent boys soccer programs.

“They complement each other so well — it’s telling that both of them were starters in the center midfield for us as freshmen,” Rittenhouse said. “That was in Fluvanna’s hey day.”

The Jefferson District in 2011 presented a particular blend of challenges with Fluvanna’s physical, aggressive unit and a Charlottesville squad that was loaded speed and solid play also at the top of the heap in the district. Neither shied away from the challenge, pushing Western to a district title, the Warriors’ first championship in five years. White earned first team All-Jefferson District and second team All-Region II honors as a freshman while Nafziger joined him as a sophomore on the first team All-Region II and All-JD squads. As sophomores, they’d already cemented themselves as one of the state’s best midfield tandems.

When Western basketball standout Chase Stokes, another long time club teammate of Nafziger and White’s returned to the pitch in 2013, things jumped to another level.

Last year White and Nafziger repeated as AllRegion honorees and had Western on the cusp of a strong playoff push before Briar Woods upended the Warriors in penalty kicks in a loss that stung a

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“

He’s so consistent and dependable and when you can bring that into the midfield, he just makes everyone around him so much better — Rittenhouse

Western squad that had big plans in mind.

Western could’ve hardly imagined what was going to happen in 2014, but despite the unblemished record they’re carrying into the state semifinals, things haven’t been as easy as that undefeated mark indicates. The Warriors endured an early season injury to Jake Lee, a stalwart defender who helped anchor Western’s lockdown defense that allowed just 10 goals in 19 games in 2013.

“It’s definitely a big loss, he’s a great player but you’ve got to adjust and it is nice that with our depth we could adjust,” White said.

Western started shuffling, including pushing White to left back in one move that didn’t last long. Eventually Western found answers there (including the emergence of Jamie Ingersoll).

“That was a huge one (losing Lee),” Rittenhouse said. “We shuffled a lot of people around.”

But they needed to find some more scoring punch instead of living by the skin of their teeth in 1-0 games. That’s when they were particularly grateful that Stokes had returned the year before to the pitch. He’d played some striker, but the Western coaches hatched the idea of moving White up top and putting Stokes into the midfield.

White’s move almost immediately paid dividends, changing almost entirely how teams had to play the Warriors and treat the suddenly explosive Virginia Tech-bound forward who was pouring in goals at an unprecedented rate.

“I hadn’t played forward since I was 10, so I didn’t think I’d be playing forward but it’s worked out well,” White said.

Nafziger and Stokes have worked nicely in the midfield to help

Western Albemarle will look to ad to its Jefferson District, Conference 29 and 3A Region West championships with a state title.

the Warriors maintain their possession-oriented style of play while setting the table for White to do his thing up top. White notching a hat trick became about as routine this season as afternoon thunderstorms postponing spring athletic events.

Nafziger’s wizardry in the midfield made a lot of that possible as he continued to play up to the high expectations he set as a breakout star. He gives the Warriors a hard edge in the midfield and should be a contributor out of the gate next year when he heads to academic powerhouse Swathmore, a Division III program.

“There are reasons he’s been our MVP some years,” Rittenhouse said. “He’s very, very reliable. He’s so consistent and dependable and when you can bring that into the midfield, he just makes everyone around him so much better.”

With White’s dynamic approach and Nafziger’s ability to help Western take advantage of the striker’s savvy, Western slipped past a hard-nosed, physical Blacksburg program in the Region 3A West final to win the school’s first region title since 1996, which is also the year of the program’s lone state title.

“It’s a lot of practices that you work in the hot sun and it’s for these moments … I think we have something going on here,” Nafziger said. “I don’t think you can chalk it up to one moment. It’s the culmination of four years.”

It certainly feels like something special is happening when White has the ball at his feet. Nafziger and the rest of the Warriors have shown this year that he’s not the only one that can dazzle.

As a unit, they’ve been spectacular all year. Now all that’s left is to finish it off. ✖

Game Time Albemarle 5, T. Jefferson 1

By Luke Nadkarni

Albemarle’s Marcel Berry celebrates his early goal in a routing of TJHS to earn a state bid.

(Ashley Thornton)

19 :: scrimmageplay

Albemarle’s boys soccer team continued its improbable run through the playoffs Wednesday night, overcoming an 80-minute weather delay between halves to dismantle visiting Thomas Jefferson 5-1 behind a balanced offensive effort in the 5A North Region semifinals. With the win, the Patriots clinched a spot in next week’s 5A state tournament, their second trip in three years after the program’s 2012 state title run.

Kevin Salazar led the way for the Patriots with two goals and an assist while Adonis Krasniqi, Marcel Berry and Brendan Moyers each totaled a goal and an assist each in the romp.

“It was a pretty close game for the first half,” said Albemarle coach Jeff Balnave.

“After the break our guys came out refreshed and fired up, and we knocked [the ball] around and scored a bunch of goals. It was great to watch.”

Albemarle struck early when Krasniqi found Berry six minutes in, and the William and Mary commit beat Jefferson goalkeeper Ryan Morris for a 1-0 lead. The Colonials equalized at the midway point of the second half, with Jackson DuBro doing the honors from point-blank range to tie it at one. This came a minute after AHS goalie Matt Natale made a spectacular diving save on a Jonathan Colen penalty kick.

The score remained tied until the very end of the half. With time winding down, the

Colonials were called for a foul on their half of the field, drawing a free kick. The clock showed no time, but after some confusion, the officials put five seconds on the clock and that was just enough time for Moyers to float the free kick into the box for Salazar, who headed it in to give Albemarle a lead it would not give up.

“I knew Brendan was going to play that ball, so I made the run,” Salazar said. “I just let it hit my head.”

As the teams prepared to take the field for the second half, a thunderstorm hit, clearing the stadium and leaving the rest of the game in doubt. After an hour and 20 minutes, the teams returned and midway through the half, the Patriots blew the game open as quickly as the lightning that had earlier illuminated the sky.

“I didn’t really ask them to do much of anything [during the break],” Balnave said. “I didn’t talk to them much. I just let them play their music and be loose.”

Moyers got the merry-go-round started at the 23:08 mark, with his shot from just inside the box deflecting off a Jefferson defender and into the back of the net. Three minutes later, Salazar fed Krasniqi, who floated it over Morris’ outstretched arms to make it 4-1.

Salazar put the icing on the cake with 13:16 remaining, taking a pass from Berry after a long run and finding the bottom right corner for the final margin.✖

STUDENTS FIRST

CHAMPIONS NEXT

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TEAM SPOTLIGHT ALBEMARLE B OYS L AC RO S S E The Albemarle boys lacrosse team already has a trio of titles to their name this year as the Patriots are the regular season district champions, the Charlottesville Group champions and the South Zone champions, the last of which earned them the chance to host a state semifinal game! Congratulations to the Patriots!

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The Mustangs’ standout defender, who’s bound for St. Mary’s in California to keep trying to shut down offensive players as a member of the Gaels’ Division I lacrosse team, is also obviously adept at getting things done in the classroom too. O’Connor, who earned first team All-Charlottesville Group honors this year, was named an Academic All-American along with junior teammate Bailey Mincer and several other local players who picked up the honor. That award wrapped up a stellar high school career for O’Connor and should set the table for big-time success in the years to come out in California.

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Overtime

Avoiding the trap

Today’s athletes are tougher than they get credit for

M

y son Jack was definitely not paying attention. He’d already made a throw to second and had turned his attention to the dirt around the pitcher’s circle and drawing in it.

The second baseman (or one of our second basemen, positions are merely a suggestion in tee-ball) tossed the ball back in and it crashed into Jack’s temple, glancing off the side of his head.

He’s five, so, predictably, he flipped out and started to cry. For a second. I got to him from my post in the outfield quickly and once I saw he was fine, talked him into relaxing and staying in the game. He did, without missing an at bat. He said a couple of things to me and then turned back to field his position.

I told him later it was the most proud I’d been of him all season. Sure he’d had some solid hits, some great defensive plays and he’d generally, I think, been a pretty good teammate.

He also learned that it was okay to play with some flair, rocking bright red batting gloves, deciding he was going to slide into every base, throwing dirt in the air when he took the pitcher’s mound like LeBron James and finally rubbing dirt in his hands before an at bat like he’s a professional player or General Maximus from Gladiator. All without a single suggestion from me or anyone else.

But in that moment when he dealt with a ball bouncing off his face, he proved that kids can be tough. There is pervasive idea that a lot of people my age and older have ... a trap that we can easily fall into that “kids these days” have it easier than we did and they aren’t as tough. That they don’t have any grit.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, because honestly, our video games were awful back then compared to what’s out now. Go play Duck Hunt for awhile and you’ll see we had to be outside more. You can only shoot a duck with a plastic gun and make a dog laugh but so many times.

But just because video games are more engaging (and we’re completely jealous, honestly) and student athletes spend more time in front of a screen doesn’t mean high school and youth sports athletes aren’t tough. Look at Albemarle boys soccer’s resilience in the North Region quarterfinals where the Patriots never quit and tied the game with under a minute to play. Look at Madison County baseball, a team that could’ve easily packed it in as the last place team in their conference. Instead, they’re still playing. Look at the Western and Albemarle girls soccer teams that endured injuries all season long, forcing the remaining players to stay mentally tough while they changed roles or had to step up. Heck, there’s a Western boys soccer player competing while wearing a cast on his arm right now.

Clearly there are a bunch of coaches and parents in Central Virginia who’ve helped properly guide this generation and give them the tools to be tough. In turn, that group of student athletes has developed that capability on their own. They’ve learned a setback isn’t the end of the world. They’re not going to quit and roll over.

Your children look to you to protect them, especially when they’re young. I’ve made it a point to try and foster independence in all my kids, but that instinct to look for protection

22 :: @scrimmageplay

“They’ve learned a setback isn’t the end of the world. They’re not going to quit and roll over.”

from your parents is strong.

That’s why the first thing Jack said to me when I reached him was “You’re supposed to tell me the ball is about to hit my face.”

As a dad, I can prepare but I can’t always protect. We’ve got to hope that preparation is enough.

That day, it was enough. Hopefully it’ll continue to be enough. ✖

Bart Isley,

CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR

back talk »

What do you look for to get that extra motivation? Contact Bart at: bart@scrimmageplay.com

Success stories begin here.

Success Story: John Dorsey Getting knocked down and getting back up is one of the great signs of success. A Fork Union graduate in 1980, John Dorsey went on to start at linebacker at Connecticut before becoming a fourth round pick by the Green Bay Packers in the 1984 NFL Draft. However, a freak injury to his knee while warming up for the Packers’ season opener in 1989 ended his playing days well short of where they should have been.

Dorsey stayed on his path to have a career in the NFL though. He started anew as a college scout for the Packers and within six years was the head of the department.

In 1999 he took the job as Director of Player Personnel for the Seattle Seahawks. A year later he returned to his old post at Green Bay. It was Dorsey who played an instrumental role in landing future star quarterback

Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick in the 2005 draft. Dorsey built a name for himself by helping on that selection and other notable picks such as Greg Jennings out of Western Michigan, B.J. Raji out of Boston College and USC’s Clay Mathews.

In the 2013 offseason, Dorsey reunited with Andy Reid who he worked with when he first got started in Green Bay. Dorsey was named just the sixth General Manager in Kansas City Cheifs history with Reid getting tabbed as the head coach.

Together the two made a splash as Kansas City went from having the worst record in the NFL to owning an 11-5 mark and making the playoffs.

It’s been a long road for Dorsey since his time at Fork Union, but through persistence and hard work, his NFL career is still thriving almost 30 years after it began.

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