Sunday, August 02, 2009
High school notebook: 10 things of note in the 2009 prep football season
The Roanoke Times I File 2000
Former Bath County coach Chris Jones (above) takes over at Franklin County.
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1 Nice ring to it
William Fleming hired a coach in 2006 with a pair of state championships in his pocket.
Patrick Henry and Franklin County have followed suit.
PH's Brad Bradley and Franklin County's Chris Jones headline this year's group of seven new head coaches at Timesland schools.
Bradley, a Salem graduate, won a pair of Group A Division 1 championships at William Campbell; Jones, a West Virginia native, led Bath County to the Division 1 title in 2001 and Heritage-Lynchburg to the Group AA Division 4 state crown in 2002.
Those state titles match the two won by William Fleming coach Rob Senseney, who led Gretna to back-to-back Group A Division 2 championships in 2003-04.
The other first-year coaches in Timesland this year are Scott Weaver (Hidden Valley), Bobby Dalton (Martinsville), H.S. Ingo (George Wythe), Chris Gardner (Parry McCluer) and Mancino Craighead (Carlisle).
Two 2008 head coaches will be assistants at other schools: ex-Hidden Valley coach J.R. Edwards at Salem and former Martinsville coach Matt Foutz at Franklin County.
2 Time to change partners
A new two-year VHSL scheduling cycle begins in 2009 and the noteworthy changes include a nine-game schedule for William Fleming and two old rivals playing each other for the first time in 18 years.
Fleming lost three opponents from 2008 -- Northside, Heritage and a nondistrict game with Franklin County. The Colonels were able to pick up only Pulaski County and a second game against E.C. Glass, making them the only Timesland team without a 10-game schedule.
Elsewhere, old Roanoke Valley District rivals Salem and Franklin County will meet for the first time since 1991 on Sept. 11 in Rocky Mount.
Other new matchups this year include Pulaski County at Radford (Aug. 28), Patrick Henry at Hidden Valley (Aug. 28), Northside at Jefferson Forest (Aug. 28), Christiansburg at Floyd County (Aug. 28), Amherst County at Pulaski County (Oct. 2) and Amherst County at Bassett (Oct. 9).
3 Movin' on up
If Patrick Henry returns to the VHSL playoffs for the first time since 2000, the Patriots will have to do it in the state's highest classification.
PH was bumped up to Division 6 in the Northwest Region, based on enrollment numbers from the March 31 Average Daily Membership figures reported by the Department of Education.
Patrick Henry's 1,898 students in grades 9-12 were two more than Massaponax, the last school that made the cutoff in Division 5.
The only other changes this year involving Timesland schools are in Group AA Region III where Lord Botetourt moves up to Division 4 and Rockbridge County moves down to Division 3.
4 Stimulus package
More Timesland schools will share in the playoff wealth in 2009.
The Northwest Region in Group AAA along with Group AA Region IV and Group A Region C will feature expanded playoff formats.
All three regions will let six teams qualify in each of their two divisions, up from four teams last year. The regions will employ the same format used by Region III in the past two seasons.
District champions will automatically qualify. The VHSL Rating Scale will be used to determine the wild-card berths and all the seedings. The top two seeds will earn a first-round bye.
The playoffs in those regions will begin the weekend of Nov. 13-14.
5 Oh, brother!
Running back Nubian Peak led Pulaski County to the Region IV Division 4 title before signing a scholarship with Virginia Tech.
His younger brother, Tahrick, will try to follow in those footsteps.
Tahrick Peak, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound linebacker, made an oral commitment to Tech this spring.
Peak is one of two Timesland players to commit to Tech's 2010 recruiting class, following Rockbridge County lineman Caleb Farris.
Northside linebacker Nick Sigmon picked up an offer this summer from Division I-AA Liberty University.
Other possible Division I recruiting targets include Liberty defensive lineman Brandon Sparrow and Galax linebacker Devae Goins.
6 Oh, brother! II
These guys certainly fought for the biggest piece of chicken or for the shiniest toy at Christmas.
This fall brothers Matt and Kevin Saunders will go head-to-head for a football victory when Matt's Radford team visits Gretna on Sept. 25.
The game was scheduled before Kevin Saunders took the job at Gretna, which owns a 28-game winning streak and has won the last two Group A Division 2 titles.
Radford finished 7-3 in 2008 and did not make the Division 2 playoffs.
7 New neighborhood
Staunton River has rejoined the Blue Ridge District after spending the last 19 seasons as a member of the powerful Seminole District.
The Golden Eagles hope to find the Blue Ridge more hospitable than the Seminole, where all seven schools including new member E.C. Glass have won at least one VHSL football title since 1988.
In the last nine seasons Staunton River managed just a 13-77 overall record and a 4-52 mark in the Seminole.
Staunton River has only two winning seasons in its 45-year history and one playoff berth when the Golden Eagles finished 10-2 under former coach Bob Gray.
This year's Staunton River schedule includes games against Northside, Lord Botetourt, Tunstall and James River in place of Amherst County, Brookville, Heritage and Rustburg.
8 NFL connections
Two former NFL players have joined Timesland coaching staffs.
Jermaine Hardy, an ex-defensive back for the Carolina Panthers, has rejoined William Fleming's staff after helping the Colonels on a part-time basis in 2007. Hardy starred at Fleming and at Virginia before appearing in three games in 2005 for the Panthers.
Former UVa offensive lineman Mark Dixon will be an assistant coach this year at Galax.
Dixon, a Jamestown, N.C., native, spent five seasons with the Miami Dolphins after playing for several years in the CFL. He was an Associated Press first-team All-American at offensive guard for UVa in 1993.
9 Making waves
Salem football has a new home.
No, Salem Stadium hasn't been torn down. The Spartans have changed radio stations.
All Salem games including the Aug. 28 scrimmage against Turner Ashby can be heard this fall on WGMN-AM 1240. Play-by-play man Ron Meyers said the Salem games are moving from WFIR-AM 960 because he could not find enough advertisers to stay with WFIR.
Meyers said he will also broadcast 16 Salem boys basketball games on WGMN and is hoping to work a deal to air several Cave Spring basketball games this winter.
10 Streaks and stats
North Cross owns Timesland's longest current winning streak at 11 games. The Raiders rolled to the VIS Division III title after dropping the season opener to Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot.
n Bath County has won or shared the last nine Pioneer District titles.
n Staunton River will begin the season with a 25-game losing streak. Magna Vista (20), Covington (12) and Grayson County (11) also have double-figure streaks.
n Giles has Timesland's longest streak of playoff appearances at six seasons. Fort Chiswell has the longest drought: 18 years.
n William Byrd senior Derrick Palmer is Timesland's leading returning rusher after gaining 2,001 yards on 306 carries in 2008. The leading returning passer is Radford junior Dontae Carter at 1,431 yards. The top returning pass catcher is George Wythe's Brandon Atwell at 48 catches.
