Friday, September 25, 2009
Working together, Narrows plans to bounce back
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
Ray Cox
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Nothing like a 1-3 start to get the synapses cleaned out, the eyes cleared and the bruises throbbing.
The resulting positive frame of mind has infused members of Narrows High School's football team in the wake of last week's 21-16 setback against county rival Giles.
Maybe that's why guys are so fired up about Auburn's visit this evening and the remaining five contests in the regular campaign.
"After the Giles game, we all came closer together," Green Wave fullback Aaron Blankenship said. "I think we're going to have a great last six games, and that's going to carry us through to the postseason."
The last four of those clashes will be with fellow members of the VHSL Group A Mountain Empire District.
Fort Chiswell was on the verge of a breakthrough season (the Pioneers haven't been to the postseason since 1989) before getting bogged down in a 6-0 slipping and sliding competition with Chilhowie last week. Now the Fort is looking more like just another contender.
With traditional power Grayson County nowhere near its glory days, winless Galax way overrated in the preseason and Bland County blasted by 2009 graduation, it's anybody's title for the taking.
Narrows would seem to be in pretty good shape anyway given the expanded (two extra teams) Division 1 playoffs introduced this year. District championships are still special regardless of the postseason implications.
Green Wave coach Kelly Lowe isn't reading a lot into the supposed demise of the Fort as the league heavyweight.
"Fort Chiswell has got some great athletes," Lowe said. "They're going to regroup. They're still a very solid football team."
Too, Lowe isn't counting out the once mighty Blue Devils despite their recent unhappy history.
"Grayson played Glenvar to 6-0 last week," Lowe said. "Grayson is coming on. Galax hasn't won yet but they have some good athletes. They still have a chance to be pretty good. Bland has a win. It's going to be interesting.
"We still have three weeks to go before the district. A lot of things can happen before that."
Save for a 35-0 blowout victory at chronically undermanned Craig County, Narrows has been challenged to the utmost to date.
Archrival Giles is a substantially bigger school with a rich football tradition, not to mention 24 wins in the last 27 bouts with the Green Wave.
James Monroe, which led by a touchdown late in the game before winning 21-7, was a final four team in West Virginia last year. EastMont, which smoked the Wave 32-3 in Week 2, is undefeated and clearly the class of Division 1 Region C.
"EastMont got on us early but we were competitive throughout," Lowe said.
The opener was the worst night of the year in a lot of ways. Opening nights can be that way.
"When we play together, we can be a very good team, very hard to stop," Blankenship said. "But when we get to bickering, like we did against EastMont, we tend to lose our focus."
The joys of team building can occasionally be heartwarming, too.
On the other hand, on-the-job development of a promising young quarterback can result more in heartburn.
Nonetheless, it's been so far so good with junior gunslinger Brock Lusk, who heaved completions in 17 of 24 attempts resulting in a school record 296 yards and two TDs against Giles.
On the minus side of the ledger, the 6-foot-1, 155-pound son of Narrows basketball coach Todd Lusk also had a couple of interceptions against the Spartans. He tossed three picks against EastMont, to be expected given his team's early desperate circumstances.
All that said, a strong and accurate arm and leadership qualities are like a roll of C-notes in your shirt pocket: You can't hide it.
The Green Wave is still running the wing-T but can a return to a more heave-happy attack be in the future?
Lowe neither confirms nor denies.
"We do have a lot of good receivers we can throw to now," he said.
Teamwork, of course, is essential to any future hopes and schemes. Having 16 seniors on hand is a major asset.
"We've started working together a lot better," said Narrows lineman Zach Blankenship, a senior and the younger brother of Aaron Blankenship, also a senior.
"Last week, we played just amazing together. Everybody played their hearts out, blocked hard, ran the ball hard, did everything hard."
It's never a problem getting up for Giles. That same level of focus would also be helpful with Auburn tonight as well as next week at resurgent Covington.
A week's break and Bland visits freshly renovated Ragsdale Field, followed by Fort Chiswell. The last two games are at Galax and at Grayson County, mailing addresses that ought to be experiencing a brisk climate by that time of year.
As any veteran can testify, there's only one correct approach to potential hardships: stick together.
"We've gotten our heads together in the last couple of weeks," Aaron Blankenship said. "We're playing as a team now."
