Volume 5, Issue 18

13 FLUVANNA LAX ROUNDS THE CORNER

scr覺mmageplay THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SPORTS AUTHORITY

VOL 5 . ISSUE 18 :: JULY 11, 2014

Lasting mark Yet another 4x800 relay from Albemarle comes up golden on the big stage PAGE 7

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x’s and o’s 21 05 13

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SUMMER DEFENSE Albemarle 74 looking to make a run

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THE 4X800 Albemarle brings home a state title

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BAPTISM BY FIRE Fluvanna lacrosse blossoms

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GAME TIME Western girls tennis captures crown

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WHATEVER THE TEAM NEEDS Monticello’s Wagner steps up

vol 5 . issue 17 :: July 11, 2014

Lasting mark VOL 5 . ISSUE 18 :: JULY 11, 2014

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13 FLuvAnnA LAx rounds the corner

Yet another 4x800 relay from Albemarle comes up golden on the big stage 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 Albemarle’s Ryan Thomas (Tom Pajewski photo) M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T Local sports are the lifeblood of every community in America, and we’re here to reach beyond the basics and give compelling accounts about Central Virginia athletes to our readers.

CO N TAC T U S [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-202-0553

Community Partnership

Working hand in hand with Red Shoes Cville to support the Ronald McDonald House of Charlottesville.

Choose the Red Shoes Cville special at www.papajohns.com

PREGAME

Giving back

Monticello alumnus Mike Brown jokes with Mustangs coach Jeff Woody during Brown’s football camp. When he played at MHS, Brown was next to unstoppable.

That trend continued in college where he played at Liberty Univeristy. Now a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars and coming off a breakout sophomore campaign, Brown is giving back to the community that helped him along the way, teaching the game he loves to today’s youth. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)

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Family

Corner PRESENTED BY

ABOVE » For so many programs including Albemarle lacrosse (above), the time the team spends together during the offseason can be every bit as important as the time spent at practice.

Finding chemistry at camp By following a lot of local coaches on Twitter or on Facebook I’ve been able to see just how active and important summer, which is generally our slow time, is for local high school squads.

In particular, teams are bonding and learning together at team camps. Whether it’s Albemarle boys lacrosse or William Monroe and Monticello girls basketball or a host of other programs who’ve attended team camp together, it’s clear that teams are putting in some serious time toward development during the hot summer months.

That’s really encouraging, because too often today, development gets pushed aside or put on the backburner. Many collegiate sports camps have turned into one-day events that don’t allow for a lot of teaching and are more like one day recruiting combines where the camp’s leaders just roll the ball out there and get ready to play.

That’s obviously not how it has to be

though since a number of Central Virginia squads are spending time at multi-day team camps, focused on learning and teaching.

They’re also gaining the valuable benefit of the team chemistry that can be built in a camp atmosphere that’s unlike any other setting really. In that environment, there aren’t the distractions of every day life. You’re staying in the same place, eating the same food.

It’s a fantastic equalizer.

I never went to an actual team camp with our coach present, but I went with large groups of teammates to various camps, including Duke’s lacrosse camp one year with nearly everyone from my high school squad.

What happened in the dorms and in the cafeteria was just as important as what went on during practice sessions or on the field.

You learned who you could lean on and who had your back. You learned how to work together and how to communicate better.

Even guys you’d grown up with for years,

you’d learn something new about them that helped you understand them better.

A multi-day team camp may not be the norm these days in an environment that’s so focused on recruiting and individual development, but there’s no question that many teams could and do benefit from that specific, old-school approach. It’s a huge chance to build chemistry and learn something about your teammates before the season begins.

In an era of budgets being slashed across the board, something like that may seem like a luxury. But ask a team like Albemarle’s boys lacrosse squad if it’s a luxury. Just a couple of weeks after winning a state title in dramatic fashion, the 2015 edition of the squad was at team camp at Lynchburg laying the foundation for their title defense.

You can’t put a price on the benefits of a team camp because it can enhance every part of the high school sports experience and that really should be the goal of any program – making the experience better. ✖ Scrimmage Play and Triple C Camp partner up to cover family issues related to youth and prep sports in our Family Corner.

Bart Isley,

CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR

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First Quarter Summer defense Albemarle Post 74 picks up where it left off

By Ryan Yemen

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Keegan Woolford hits a solo shot in his team’s 12-1 win over Spotsylvania. (Ryan Yemen)

{ DIVERSITY } Breaking down the Albemarle Post 74 roster by high school

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2 Albemarle Monticello

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Western Monroe

K AR A EL DER

{PLAYERS}

he run that Albemarle Post 74 put together last summer in the American Legion playoffs was unprecedented. They won their fifth-straight District 13 title and went on to win the state title that had been so elusive before.

It resulted in the team earning the coveted trip to play in the Southeast Region tournament.

They made that trip, and with a team that was impressively young. With the bulk of the roster back in place, Albemarle is back at it again as started out this summer with a 15-0 record (as of July 8), quite an accomplishment considering the new additions and changes from last year.

“We’ve been throwing the ball really well and playing great defense behind them,” said Post 74 coach Mike Maynard. “Hitting wise we’re still moving guys back and forth trying to figure out who we want in each spot. I think we’re getting used to what everyone does.

This is a good group of kids.”

For starters, while Post 74 lost William Monroe graduates Jordan Gentry and Ryan Morris as well as Monticello alum Connor Lilley from last year’s squad, it returns a pair of Albemarle High graduates in Kyle Vidano and A.J. Willy. In recent Western Albemarle graduate Jack Maynard, this team has it’s ace back in the fold. Maynard had a truly remarkable year last summer and saw it carry over into the spring where he was All-State at Divison 3A and did not lose a single start.

Pitching behind Maynard are Dustin Knight and Jeff Early, both from Monroe and Albemarle’s Anthony Wood and Nick Parsons.

With Monroe’s Austin Batten playing at shortstop, Post 74 has Legion’s state player

of the year back in the fold. Batten along with Keegan Woolford bolster a lineup that can put up monster numbers on any given night.

With Woolford, Early, Maynard and Western teammate Henry Kreienenbaum have four different All-state talents that hit for extra bases.

Defensively, Albemarle’s seen Vidano play his patented gritty defense at third, Batten shine at shortstop and Eli Sumpter (Western) and Jack Decker (Monticello) anchor the other side of the infield at second and first respectively.

“We’ve gotten great leadership so far, Jack Decker, Eli Sumpter and Keegan Woolford have really been phenomenal there,” Mike Maynard said.

If Post 74 can win its sixth straight District 13 title, a double-elimination tournament (and so far there’s been little evidence to suggest that won’t happen again), the team will get a chance to travel to Purceville, Va to defend it’s state crown.

“Last year we saw what we’re capable of if we play the way we can,” Jack Maynard said.

“So we’ve got the same motivation, it’s the same thing and we just want to get back to winning a state championship and head back down to North Carolina again.”

During the regular season in any sport, teams complain about road trips. But starting in two weeks, each road trip this team makes will be the mark of a fresh victory. ✖

go online »

For more baseball coverage head over to our website at: www.scrimmageplay.com

College Update

We’ve gone digital

Former Albemarle standout excelling at Hampden Sydney

But you can have it in print too!

By Bart Isley Lee Carneal was a three-sport standout at Albemarle High just a couple of years ago, serving as a quarterback during football, a point guard during basketball and a key infielder during baseball season. He was even a finalist for Scrimmage Play’s Sportsman of the year award.

He’s down to one sport at Hampden Sydney, but he’s making a tremendous impact for the Tigers on the diamond.

Carneal wrapped up a sophomore year this spring where he started 37 games for the Tigers, batting .377 on the year with 10 doubles and 22 RBI. His .901 fielding percentage ranked highly among the Tigers regulars, and he assisted on a team-high 103 plays.

The performance was good enough to earn first team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference honors at second base. He also earned first team all-state honors from the Virginia Sports Information Directors.

Particularly impressive was how he closed out the regular season, going 8-for-13 with four doubles in the final full week. That included 3-for-3 and 2-for-3 performances against Emory and Henry.

Knowing when it’s crunch time and how

to take things to the next level are part of Carneal’s DNA. On senior night during football, he had one of the more memorable outings that year, scoring twice on the ground and twice through the air while also recovering a fumble and making a key interception.

Carneal was also a key member of American Legion Post 74’s club for a couple of years, and was instrumental in the turnaround that Mike Alley orchestrated in the AHS football program, quarterbacking for Alley’s first win as well as that fateful senior night performance in a victory over Massaponnax that was one of the highlights of Alley’s tenure as the head coach.

While HSC baseball’s year ended with twostraight ODAC tournament losses, Carneal and his teammates should be able to springboard into next season, with rising seniors and AllODAC honorees Jeff Gray, Christian Hamlett, Spencer Whiles all back in the fold.

If he can even scratch the surface of what he did as a sophomore when he enters his junior year next spring, Hampden Sydney could get another massive boost from the former Patriot. ✖

BELOW » Albemarle graduate Lee Carneal has performed well at the plate early in his career at Hampden Sydney. (Hampden Sydney Sports Information)

HOW TO GET A PHYSICAL COPY OF SCRIMMAGE PLAY Step 1 :: Click here and head to the MagCloud version of the magazine.

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Baptism 7 :: @scrimmageplay

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Fire STORY

BY

E

BART

ISLEY

|

PHOTOS

BY

TOM

PAJEWSKI

ATING BREAKFAST WITH FLUVANNA COUNTY’S BOYS LACROSSE TEAM SOUNDS, FRANKLY, DELICIOUS. “WE’VE GOT CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES, CINNAMON WAFFLES, ORANGE JUICE, GRAPE JUICE, EVERYTHING,” SAID

JUNIOR AUSTIN EARLY. WHILE THE SPREAD IS FANTASTIC, IT’S THE TEAM BONDING THAT, IN PART, HAPPENED BECAUSE OF THOSE BREAKFASTS THAT ALLOWED A FLEDGLING FLUVANNA PROGRAM TO CLIMB OUT OF THE LOCAL LACROSSE CELLAR AND MAKE SOME NOISE THIS YEAR AGAINST SOME POWERFUL OPPONENTS. “WE ALWAYS HAVE MORNING BREAKFAST — THAT GETS US ALL TOGETHER,” SAID SENIOR MATT FRAGOLA. “WE BRING FOOD AND JOKE AROUND UNTIL WE GO TO CLASS. IT’S A LOT OF FUN, JUST BUILDING THE CHEMISTRY.” THREE YEARS AGO, FLUVANNA LAUNCHED ITS VARSITY BOYS LACROSSE PROGRAM AFTER FIELDING A CLUB TEAM IN THE COUNTY AND AFTER YEARS OF HARD WORK AND DILIGENCE FROM MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL LACROSSE

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Above, junior Jake Mooney

“It’s been rough but we’ve all grown as a team together and now you see a bunch of different niches.”

— Early

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community. The Flucos took their lumps in that 2012 season under thenhead coach Rich Little, going without a win as Fluvanna got its legs under it against the area’s best (and frankly, some of the state’s most formidable) programs. The second year, Matt Taylor took the helm and the Flucos got their first victory as a program. But competing in the district still seemed to be just on the horizon for Fluvanna — the Flucos appeared to have a long way to go.

That changed under new head coach Norman Gee, who took Fluvanna to another level and helped the now more seasoned squad put all the pieces together.

“We haven’t had a steady head coach,” Fragola said. “The first year it was just trying to get all the guys settled in. The second year it was just working on the fundamentals and the third year we started actually playing as a team. (Coach Gee) has made us who we are.”

Fluvanna kicked off the year with five straight wins, beating Fork Union Military Academy and Culpeper twice each as well as smashing Eastern View 19-7. The Flucos appeared headed back to earth, however, when they traveled to Crozet and got hammered 18-2 by Western Albemarle. It would’ve been understandable if the Flucos had simply slinked back into the basement of area lacrosse after that. They faced few expectations and looked to be still a long way from competing with squads in the VHSL’s newly-minted Charlottesville Group. But after a weekend off, the Flucos bounced back, beating Charlottesville 10-6 on the road for what was, at that point in the year, the biggest victory in the program’s history.

“I give all the credit to the team, we’ve come together,” Early said. “When

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Above, senior Matt Fragola

you looked at the program two years ago you saw a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. It’s been rough but we’ve all grown as a team together and now you see a bunch of different niches.

Plenty of niches and plenty of playmakers. Many of the Flucos’ players simply grew into their roles this year and flourished.

“You see Jake (Mooney) who’s got over 50 goals and is a finisher,” Early said. “You see Matt (Fragola) who can dodge anyone and I can step in from outside. You’ve got a great goalie Luke Norcross who’s come up through the program, rock solid defenders like Johnny Douma who’s graduating. It’s the guys coming up together. We haven’t always had the same coach but we’ve always had the same kids. I’m proud of this team. We’ve earned it.”

The rest of the year was a bit of a roller coaster as the squad endured a drubbing at the hands of eventual state champion Albemarle High, but also put together some monster wins. A particularly huge victory came right after that Charlottesville High victory when Mooney notched a hat trick in a 9-8 victory in late April against Monticello.

That vaulted the Flucos into third place in the Charlottesville Group standings and made them a potential spoiler candidate for a berth in the zone playoffs.

Fragola and Early played a huge role in that victory too, scoring two goals each with Early also finishing with a pair of assists. Early emerged as a do-it-all presence over the course of the year and had

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“We haven’t always had the same coach but we’ve always had the same kids.” - Early

nine ground balls on the night for the Flucos. Even Norcross came up big with 11 saves in the cage against the Mustangs, a high-water mark for the year.

The Flucos went on to finish fourth in the Charlottesville Group just behind Monticello after a 13-12 loss to the Mustangs closed out the regular season. Fluvanna followed that up with a win over

FANNING THE FLAMES

Like Fluvanna’s boys lacrosse program has learned, it’s no easy task to either turn a program around or build it from scratch. Here’s a look at two programs that have made the leap in the last five years and sustained that success and two that could be the next to make that move.

CHS Field Hockey The Black Knights’ ascension to the top of the area field hockey heap has followed the steady emergence of Kendall Ballard, the recent Ohio commitment and one of the most gifted local hockey players in at least the last decade. The Black Knights get one more season this fall before starting the post-Ballard era.

Above, junior Austin Early

Charlottesville in the Group playoffs, one of the many firsts this year for the Flucos -- the first postseason victory for the program.

Their season ended at the hands of the Patriots in the group semifinals, a game that got out of hand for Fluvanna late in the first half after a series of critical mistakes, but it was close up until that point.

“It’s been pretty special — we started the program and to be able to finish with (the younger guys) them — I’m glad I got to be a part of this team and how we did so well,” Fragola said. “To go win nine games and have a positive record (in just three years) is pretty unheard of usually.”

And while the Flucos were happy with what they accomplished, they clearly felt like they had left something on the table after going 1-2 over their final three games. That may have been the most telling sign that Fluvanna lacrosse was starting to arrive — just competing wasn’t enough, the Flucos expected to win.

The big question is what happens next year. With players like Fragola moving on, can the Flucos weather the change unlike other upstart programs have done and continue their upward trajectory?

The first step? Probably keeping those chocolate chip pancakes coming. ✖

MHS girls basketball The Mustangs took a massive leap forward when the freshmen duo of Molly Shephard and Meghan Comer took the court at Monticello and immediately helped accelerate an ongoing program rebuild. Monticello rode Shephard and Comer to the state semifinals as sophomores, and the Mustangs could be even hungrier in 2014-2015 after an early exit in the Conference 29 semifinals last year.

Madison baseball Sometimes a tremendous, fairytale season can be just the sort of breakthrough that a program needs, and Madison just experienced that this spring with a state semifinal run after being seeded last in their conference. But how they did it — by doing things the same way and maintaining their identity after an unsteady regular season — might be the best indication that coach David Londrey is building the right kind of program.

Covenant volleyball They may not make the leap this year, but Covenant’s volleyball team has an extremely experienced, knowledgeable coach in place in Robert Rhodes, and with his tutelage, the Eagles could find similar success to what they’ve found in both field hockey and girls lacrosse, teams that have competed for state titles repeatedly over the years. www.scrimmageplay.com ::

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the 4X 800 story by ryan yemen photos by tom pajewski, ashley thornton, dan thompson and Jonathan Coopersmith 13 :: @scrimmageplay

R

yan Thomas did not need to worry about his legacy as he approached the outdoor track and field circuit.

Between cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring, the Albemarle standout has lit it up since he was a freshman. Maybe

there’s something in the water at Albemarle, or if you ask Thomas or any of his counterparts, the coaching staff the Patriots lean on are geniuses. But when you look at the last half decade at Albemarle you can’t help but notice how there’s always one exceptional middle distance runner at the school. And every so often, there’s more than one. Sometimes, there are four.

Five years ago, it was Zach Vrhovac, Garrett Bradley, Luke Noble and Anthony Kostelac that set the local track and field community on fire when they set a junior national record at Penn Relays. That state title 4x800 team became instant legends.

Ryan Thomas was in seventh grade when that group made it’s impact. Much in the way that Thomas was the senior leader and front runner for Albemarle this year from fall to spring in all running sports, that was Kostelac not so long ago. Kostelac graduated in 2010 and that gave way to Adam Visokay who became the next primetime runner for the Patriots. But since Visokay graduated in 2012, Albemarle has been centered around Thomas. He’s got more individual accolades than you can possibly imagine. Going out a champion in the last meet of his high school career was a goal of his, and on some level, an expectation. That he got to share it with three teammates, though, that was different. That was communal.

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“it’s funny looking back now as a lot of them basically looked at me like I was crazy.” Lorenzoni

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That Thomas, Zach Gentry, Ben Gersbach and Noah Smith came away with the 4x800 Division 5A state championship was no accident. It was a methodical occurrence, one that required time given how young this group was. In fact, between the classes of 2014 (Thomas), 2015 (Gentry), 2016 (Gersbach) and 2017 (Smith) each had a representative. In the outdoor season they shaved 16 seconds off their total team time between their regular season PR and the state meet. In the end, they put together the third-fastest Albemarle time ever, coming just shy of the records set by the celebrated times the 2008 and 2009 squads put together.

But for these four they had to get through the winter and that was truly a challenge.

“I felt as though we never reached our full potential in the indoor season,” Thomas said. “I don’t think that we were ready to peak like we were for the outdoor season. And with this winter with the weather he had it was really hard for us to get in consistent training and be able to just get the dynamic right for the relay team. We couldn’t get the workouts or the belief you need for a successful relay team down. We’d see each other maybe once a week. In the outdoor season, we truly jelled.”

In his first season coaching the 4x800 team, Adrian Lorenzoni saw something in the winter that made him particularly excited.

He obviously saw the talent with his older runners, but he saw great potential depth in his younger runners too. The foundation was there, it just needed the right pieces.

“Going into indoor track I was pretty excited about what our 4x800 could do as we had a solid group of kids returning,” Lorenzoni said. “Ryan Thomas had been a state champion in the 1000 and All-State many times and Zach Gentry had been All-State in cross country and we had a bunch of young talent that I thought could potentially help out a lot. Throughout indoors there was about six guys fighting for the top four spots and I think competition like this between teammates is incredibly key for a team to succeed. Halfway through indoors, I remember telling the guys that I believed they had a legit shot to win a state title, and it’s funny looking back now as a lot of them basically looked at me like I was crazy.”

In the end it would be Gersbach and Smith that rounded out the team. For Gersbach, the opportunity to be a part of this relay team was something that he’d been waiting for.

It turns out, this spring was his and Smith’s track and field breakout showing.

“I remember always wanting to be on the 4x800 team but being told that I would have to wait a year,” Gersbach said. “I wasn’t sure that would happen, but this season it did and it was just awesome.”

With Smith, the Patriots had a bit of an unknown commodity. While he’d competed as eighth grader he and Gersbach joked this year about how the two never thought they’d be both running for this relay team. If the team had a secret weapon, it was Smith and his leg set the tone in each race.

SUPPORTING THE FUTURE SPORTS STARS OF TOMORROW Best of luck to our 2013 student athletes as they embark on their college careers.

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“We knew that he had it in him, but none of us were sure what he was truly capable of,” Thomas said. “His leg at states was just beautiful. It really got us off to such a great start.”

At the state meet the freshman went from ninth place to first as if he was a pace horse. His time of 1:59 put the Patriots in amazing position as they had a veteran running behind him. That veteran was Gentry.

“Number one, we had more talent this year, there’s no getting around that, we had the depth,” Thomas said. “But also the guys really believed that we could do great things. That’s big. You’ve got to believe that when you’re on the starting line that the other guys on the team can get it done and win. That was the reason we won in states.”

“Adrian felt like if Noah was able to hand off a lead to me, it’d be safe for the other guys behind me,” Gentry said. “That was a big compliment.”

Gentry delivered on all counts. His split of 1:59 matched Smith’s. While he’s geared more as a long distance runner for say the 3200, that didn’t stop him from giving the 800 a shot, although he only participated in the relay events there for Albemarle, making his time even more impressive.

“I have to say that the 800 is probably the most painful race to run,” Gentry said. “It’s just a little bit less than a sustained sprint the whole way through. I don’t have the kind of kick that Ryan Thomas does, so my strategy is just to try and move up the

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“Number one, we had more talent this year, there’s no getting around that, we had the depth.” - Thomas race any way I can, not to rely on the finish the way he can.”

But there was still a runner standing between him and Thomas.

And the team giving Albemarle all the trouble is Deep Run who won the state championship during the indoor season. They have a Ryan Thomas too by the name of Mathew Novak. There is no wiggle room for Albemarle. Gersbach delivers with a split of 2:00 and puts three seconds and change between Albemarle and Deep Run. “You don’t start feeling anything until about 300 in and then it hits you,” Gersbach said. “It slowly hits you over the next 300. The last 200, you can’t feel anything at all. It’s all mental from there.”

The first three have delivered. Thomas is up, it’s the last leg and he gets the baton from Gersbach with little space separating the Patriots from first place. The senior comes out patient.

“The first 400 was so smooth and a lot of that had to do with getting the baton in second place,” Thomas said. “I was biding my time. I didn’t have to come out going super hard. So it hit me at about 500 that I had the lead. I didn’t expect that, it was just my body telling me I was ready to go faster.”

It’s a strange place for a runner. First place so often leads to second, particularly in the 800. Runners are notorious chasers, they excel when there’s something tangible in front of them, not just empty space. It’s not the case for Thomas in this last leg.

“I made my move and now I had to go for it, you have to in the 800, you can’t give the opponent any hope,” Thomas said. “The last 50 meters were probably the most painful thing because time was moving so slowly. I could see my teammates yelling and screaming. I knew I had the room but it was such a mind over matter deal. I’m sure my form was terrible but it was ‘get your body across that line with the baton.’”

He did. And in his 1:53 split, Thomas simply blew the doors off the race. It was a farewell tour as he heads off to run for Columbia next season.

“It was weird because it felt so normal,” Gersbach said of watching first place finish happen.

On the car ride home from the state meet, the four celebrated

like you’d expect, listening to Queen’s “We are the Champions.”

“This is my third state title, but it was the sweetest,” Thomas said. “It was because it was with these three guys. It was a shared moment. I shared a hug with these guys who had been through the same thing, putting in the time, the workouts, the effort. And the car ride home was the most fun thing ever. It was ust screaming and yelling, blaring music. But after a bit, it’s back to business. You celebrate, have fun and now it’s time for these guys to get the next one.”

Behind him, Thomas leaves the baton to three runners all clearly capable of chasing his 1:53. This group’s time of 7:53 is almost perfect. It puts them in the company of the 7:30 time run in 2009, but not there yet. Next season the Patriots have to replace Thomas, but as difficult as that is, it was just so with Kostelac and Visokay not long ago.

“These guys have more potential that they’ve showed,” Thomas said. “They can achieve even more. They can all drop time.”

So now Gentry, Gersbach and Smith head into cross country season with the core in tact this fall. Time will tell if they can make history repeat itself again next spring. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise. There’s just something about the 4x800 when Albemarle lines up.

“There’s always the expecations,” Thomas said. “You know the history and you know can be a part of it. You want to live up to the legacy. We’re here to run fast.” ✖

www.scrimmageplay.com ::

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Game Time Western Albemarle 5, York 1

By Bart Isley

Western Albemarle’s Emily Kochard helped the Warriors bring home a state title.

(Ashley Thorton)

Western Albemarle’s Maggie Roesch knew she could outlast York’s Courtney Jenkins if she couldn’t overpower her. So she settled in for the long game at No. 5 singles.

Western girls tennis huddles just minutes after winning the program’s first state title.

Western girls tennis huddles just minutes after winning the program’s first state title.

Photo: Ashley Thornton “I thought her game was very fast and she had a lot of winners so that was hard to deal with,” Roesch said. “She eventually started making more and more mistakes I think me keeping my cool definitely helped break her down a little more.”

It worked perfectly as Roesch bounced back from a 6-2 first set loss to win 7-6 (including a 10-0 tiebreaker and 6-0 in the final set. Just like that, the senior put Western Albemarle on the cusp of winning the school’s first girls state tennis title.

Then Stephanie Barton took care of business at No. 4 singles and that was it.

Western defeated York 5-1 to claim the Group 3A state tennis title.

“Each year we’ve progressed and we really wanted to win this year and it’s so incredible that we did,” said Western senior Emily Kochard.

Kochard came up huge at No. 1 singles, rolling in her opening set 6-2 and then gritting through a 6-4 second set.

“I just wanted to come out strong and be patient with all my points,” Kochard said.

“In the second set I was kind of struggling a little bit and rushing so I just tried to stay composed.”

19 :: scrimmageplay

Shortly after Kochard wrapped up her win, sophomore Maddy Ix proved her usual steady self with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Lauren Kearns fell at No. 3 singles against a challenging York opponent in Kristin Dantzler and with three complete, Western was up 2-1. No. 6 Savannah Diamond then kicked things into overdrive with a 6-0 victory in the second set that followed a 6-3 win in the opening set, assuring Western of, at worst, a split going into doubles.

That left it up to Roesch and Barton.

Roesch, who couldn’t stop smiling after her match, completed an incredible senior season and what was actually her first stretch as a full-time member of the Western lineup.

“I was just thrilled in the third set, even when I was up 2-0 I knew,” Roesch said. “I was like ‘this is it.’ I knew.”

Roesch’s efforts helped motivate and focus Barton as all eyes turned to her at No. 4 singles in the midst of a tough second set that followed a tie-breaker in the first set.

“This was my third year and every year we’ve been close — last year (a loss in the state final) was a big disappointment,” Barton said. “So I felt the pressure to redeem myself. I took a lot of deep breaths.”

After giving up a handful of match points, she locked in and closed out the match and the championship for the Warriors.

“I trusted my shots really and I kept telling myself ‘just get it in’,” Barton said.

Barton did enough of that to get the victory, sealing the title for the historymaking Warriors. Western completes a 24-0 run through their 2014 slate with the victory.✖

STUDENTS FIRST

CHAMPIONS NEXT

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TEAM SPOTLIGHT ALBEMARLE B OYS L AC RO S S E No Albemarle team had ever played in a state title game before. The Patriots overtime win over Loudoun County gave the program it’s first ever state championship in come from behind fashion thanks to a deterimined group of seniors. Congratulations to the Patriots on their amazing season and Division 5A championship!

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MONTICELLO’S JACK DECKER

Jack Decker caught almost every single inning for Monitcello this year as the Mustangs managed to rebuild on the fly and again compete at the top end of the Jefferson District.

Of course this was Decker’s junior year. Not only did he have to juggle school work and sports, he also had to find the time to prepare for his SATs and also for his Advanced Placement exams.

As he looks to continue to play baseball at the collegiate level in the future, Decker got the job done on the diamond and in the classroom to greatly help his cause. His 3.8 GPA makes him a model student and as he continues to improve in baseball, he’s giving himself an excellent opportunity to achieve his goal of being a student athlete at the next level.

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Overtime

Anything the team needs MHS senior rises to occasion during rebuilding stage

T

yler Wagner’s measurables may not blow you away. But he’s exceedingly good at what coaches ask him to do and he’s mastered many of the roles he’s been asked to play.

During the fall, Wagner was a tremendous change-of-pace tailback for Monticello High school, making up part of a four-headed monster early in the year along with T.J. Tillery, Kyree Koonce and Darian Bates that never allowed opposing offenses to key on a single back in the Mustangs’ offense. When Koonce went down with an injury, Wagner stepped up, finishing the year with 546 yards and three touchdowns at a 6.0-yard per carry clip bolstered by his physical, hard-nosed style.

But Wagner’s number one game is lacrosse, and that’s where things didn’t exactly go as planned for the Monticello senior. In the previous couple of seasons, Wagner emerged as one of the area’s top face off specialists, dominating the battle of will, leverage and guile at midfield that starts every game and follows every goal.

For an elite team, a dominant faceoff specialist can be a game-changing piece of the puzzle. They can get the ball to a standout offense quickly and efficiently, But a team like the one Monticello fielded this year in coach Tucker Tapscott’s first season — a squad almost completely rebuilt around a large group of underclassmen — can struggle to take advantage of such an incredible edge.

Wagner knew going into 2014 that he was going to be back to square one with a number of his teammates. He knew that instead of trying to fuel a run at any kind of title, he was going to be trying to mentor and bring along the next wave of Monticello lacrosse players.

It didn’t seem to faze him, at least on the field. He won 59 percent of his 234 faceoff attempts, a staggering win percentage considering the lack of experienced help on that unit. He scooped up 95 ground balls on the year and poured in 23 goals (on just 57 shots) while dishing out 15 assists.

His efforts on the faceoff single-handedly kept the Mustangs in games at various stages of the season, helping the young players around him like Andrew Gibson, Keenan Haan, Tony Talbert and Daniel Hummel develop as they had chances and possessions on offense.

Those were valuable opportunities to learn and improve on the offensive end that, without Wagner, wouldn’t have happened.

Yet there’s something bittersweet about the fact that the most long-lasting fruits of Wagner’s labor won’t be realized until he’s suiting up for Hampden-Sydney’s boys lacrosse team as part of a large local contingent headed to Farmville to play for the Tigers next season.

Too often that group that buys into a new coach’s method and lays the groundwork for future success gets forgotten. The guys and girls, like Wagner, who stick it out and help set the table for success they won’t get to directly enjoy.

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“That class can hang their hat on the strides that Monticello takes next year.”

But Wagner, his fellow senior starter William Snipes and the four other members of that class can hang their hat on the strides that Monticello takes next year and know they had a hand in that. They can take pride in the fact that he stayed with the Mustangs and helped paved the way for the next step.

“I couldn’t be more proud as a coach to have such a good group (of seniors) in my first year,” Tapscott said.

Yet again, Wagner has mastered a new role -- being the bridge to a new chapter in the program. ✖

Bart Isley,

CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR

back talk »

What senior class went above and beyond their duty? Contact Bart at: bart@scrimmageplay.com

Success stories begin here.

Success Story: Marquis Spruill Marquis Spruill was, physically, a ridiculously talented high school athlete. He could do 16 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. He clocked a 4.65 40-yard dash at 220 pounds and he was 6-foot-1. He could do 15 pull-ups.

But he couldn’t get a Division I scholarship offer.

That’s where Fork Union became a part of Spruill’s success story. Postgraduate coach John Shuman worked Spruill out in his home state of New Jersey and then brought the linebacker south to FUMA. During his stint at Fork Union, Spruill earned a shot in a BCS conference, accepting an offer from Syracuse after earning offers from James Madison and Temple.

Four years later, Spruill finished his career with Syracuse as a four-year starter, a team captain and picked up All-ACC honorable mention offers as a senior.

He’s also second all-time at Syracuse in tackles for a loss. That and his performance during the pre-draft process was enough to give Spruill his dream shot when he was drafted in the fifth round by the Atlanta Falcons. Spruill has had quite the ride, from no scholarship offers to an opportunity in the NFL in just four years, with a key stop along the way at Fork Union.

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