One game playoff for district champion

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Caleb McNeely@calebmcneelyy

In 2 years at Banner Christian School I have achieved one of my dream goals of 1,000 Career points in 50 games.. i love this team and i thank my parents for putting me in this position to succeed.. Forever Blessed! #Neighborhoodhero #Thankful

Dan Orlovsky openly prayed on NFL Live which is nationally televised for Damar Hamlin. I was watching the game when it happened. I thought the man was dead. Kudos to the NFL for finally doing something right, stopping the game, and allowing people to openly pray. I hope to God Hamlin comes out of this okay.

According to several friends in the know, Handley will name Sherando Football Coach Jake Smith a new football coach on Monday.

The Gladiators needed a win in the worst way and got it tonight in front of a capacity home crowd that was on hand to celebrate Little League night. Once again, just like at Wilson on Tuesday, the sophomore class did the heavy lifting in this one, which is just fine because their consistent performances this season have helped to build excitement for the future of the program.

There were some odd statistical quirks in this one. First of all, the Gladiators scored their 59 points in just a little bit over three quarters. That is because there was a lid on the home basket early in the game and RHS did not get a shot to drop until the 2 1/2 minute mark of the first quarter. Fortunately Waynesboro was not doing much better and it was only 4-0 at the time. Gabe Milo then dropped in that first bucket and added two more by the end of the quarter as RHS led 8-4 after one.

The next oddity was the fact that Riverheads failed to score from the foul line all night, so all 59 points came on made baskets. They only went to the line maybe 4-5 times but failed to connect, a subject that might be brought up in practice this upcoming week.

So as you can tell from that stat, the Big Red shot well again tonight from behind the arc. They knocked down 9 triples on the night, with the sophomore trio of Will Gardner, Henley Dunlap, and Jackson Brammer accounting for eight of them. As for final point totals, Gardner led the way with 16 including four triples, followed in order by Milo with 12 on six two-pointers, Dunlap with three triples and 11 total, and Brammer with one triple and nine total points.

Waynesboro had its own share of ups and downs tonight. After that 4-0 start, they went cold for the rest of the first period and well into the second and had only 12 points at the break as Riverheads knocked down five second-quarter triples, including one at the buzzer, to take a 29-12 lead into the locker room.

But once the Little Giants saw how easy the rims were in Greenville tonight, they warmed up considerably themselves in the second half and scored 40 points to make the final respectable. The Gladiators were never really in danger in the second half, but the Giants did hit enough triples of their own to whittle a lead that once reached as high as 23 points down to that final seven-point margin.

As the game entered its final minute, the Giants needed to foul if they had any hopes of getting back in the game. So in another rather odd situation, the score was already 59-52 with about a minute to go when they started committing those fouls. However they had not fouled at all up to that point, which meant that they had to slap or grab seven times before the Gladiators toed the stripe.

As a result, Riverheads only had one miss on a 1 and 1 down that final stretch and as the Giants raced up the court with the rebound, perhaps still feeling at least somewhat hopeful, senior Bennett Dunlap drew a charge at midcourt for Waynesboro's eighth foul. The clock was down to about 17 seconds by that time, so Coach Spears saw the writing on the wall and conceded the victory as the Big Red dribbled out the clock.

So if you like to see teams racing up and down the court and firing up three pointers left and right, then this was your game. Riverheads has averaged around 8-9 per game this season and earlier this year they set a new school record by hitting 14, and then broke that record with 15 a few games later. Waynesboro based on tonight has improved not only their three point accuracy but their overall play as well, as they were well into the season this year before they tasted victory.

Tonight's win ties RHS for fifth in the district with Stuarts Draft. Each is now 3-8 in district play but unfortunately for RHS, their season-ending game takes them to Staunton Monday night to face the first-place Storm. However it is now confirmed that Riverheads will in fact qualify for the Region 1-B playoffs, which will begin on Monday the 20th. Most likely the opponent will be Carver Academy but I am not sure if that is set in stone yet.

With tonight's loss, Waynesboro drops to 2-9 in district play and will finish in the Shenandoah basement. Even if they pull a shocker in their season finale against Wilson, they would still finish in last place due to Riverheads having swept them this season.

In tonight's JV game, Riverheads trailed by 1 at the break, but came out strong in the third quarter to take control of the game, and although Waynesboro hung tough and would not let it get out of hand, RHS won 38-28. As for the Lady Gladiators, they lost at Waynesboro tonight 68-60 and my sources tell me that eliminates the Big Red ladies from regional play.

So we have the season finales on Monday, with a week's break between the start of regional play. To help fill the time, Gladiator fans might want to consider a trip down to Salem on the 17th-18th to watch the Big Red's Region 1-B champion wrestling team in action at the state meet. Could this be the year that they finally dethrone perennial power Grundy?

Middlesex 75 Charles City 55
Twin Springs 74 Rye Cove 37
Carver Academy 73 Mathews 55
Westmoreland 63 Northumberland 53
Eastside 72 Thomas Walker 39
Riverheads 59 Waynesboro 52
Buffalo Gap 53 Stuarts Draft 49
Altavista 87 Dan River 66
Grundy 64 Holston 48

Devils finish 21-0 in the regular season.

The Hawks improve to 21-0 on the season and host Warren County on Monday.

Several recent VHSL meeting agendas and minutes have been quietly posted on the VHSL website in the past week or so. Two things that struck my eye. The first is that the second game on State Championship Saturday is now kicking off at 5:00PM. The other is that tickets are now $12 for the state semifinals and finals.

The 4:30PM kick was already ridiculous. And for many years after moving to neutral sites in 1998, the second game kicked off at 4:00PM which was fine and made things bearable for those wanting to watch both games.

Now, if you want to stay for both games at a single site, this makes for a much longer day with the 5:00PM Kick for Game 2. And of course, the VHSL has a pretty strict no re-entry policy which makes this even more annoying.

More ineptitude by the VHSL. Other states have four hours in between games and there are no issues. But you can tell that the VHSL runs the events as bare bones as possible so I'm not shocked. They said they need more time to turn around the facilities, but that would easily be accomplished if they increased their game management staff.

Location this year? Roanoke College?

Bleeding Navy got me to thinking about something with his reply to my post over on the Amherst Coach thread. I was saying how critical it was to have intangibles like team chemistry and team leadership to make it all the way to the top. BN said that having a few studs doesn’t hurt. So I want to ask you the following.

What stud, what freak of nature, have you seen that was an honest to goodness game changer when he was on the field? But, you have to include this criteria. Withou him, the team was just decent to ordinary. We are talking high school football here, but nowhere is it more obvious than in basketball. Let’s keep it to football, it I will break my own rule and I will use three basketball players to illustrate what I’m speaking of. Moses Malone and Frank Mason from Petersburg, and Megan Walker from Monacan.

The first two that come to my mind are Clayton Cheatham from Hanover and TreVeyon Henderson from Hopewell. Adam Morgan from Dinwiddie fits that bill as well.

Who do you remember that meets this criteria?

Rappahannock lost to Colonial Beach tonight and Essex beat King and Queen, so it could make for an interesting regional tournament


Girls Rankings (as of Feb. 10, 2023)

1. Rappahannock (113) 5.95 (15-4)
2. King & Queen (100) 5.88 (14-3)
3. Essex (61) 4.07 (7-8)
4. Colonial Beach (70) 3.50 (8-12)
5. Westmoreland (62) 3.44 (7-11)
6. Mathews (75) 3.41 (7-15)
7. Northampton (32) 3.00 (3-9)
8. Middlesex (42) 2.80 (4-11)
9. West Point (36) 2.11 (4-15)
10. Chincoteague (7) 0.78 (0-8)

UNOFFICIAL 1A REGION A GIRLS BRACKET

Quarterfinals (Feb. 21, 2023)
#8 Middlesex at #1 Rappahannock
#5 Westmoreland at #4 Colonial Beach
#6 Mathews at #3 Essex
#7 Northampton at #2 King & Queen

Semifinals- Feb. 23, 2023
Finals- Feb.25, 2023

Boys Standings as of Feb. 10, 2023



1. Lancaster 7.05 (141) (20-0) With Win 7.05, With Loss 6.71

2. Middlesex 6.67 (140) (19-2) DONE

3. Northampton 5.59 (123) (15-7) DONE

4. Westmoreland 5.44 (98) (12-6) With Win 5.53, With Loss 5.16

5. Essex 4.57 (96) (12-9) With Win 4.68, With Loss 4.36

6. Charles City 4.18 (92) (10-12) DONE

7. Mathews 3.54 (78) (10-12) DONE

8. Northumberland 3.41 (58) (8-9) With Win 3.61, With Loss 3.22

9. Rappahannock 2.60 (52) (6-14) With Win 2.81, With Loss 2.48

10. Chincoteague 2.56 (23) (2-7) DONE

11. Colonial Beach 1.93 (31) (3-13) With Win 2.24, With loss 1.82

12. West Point 1.31 (25) (1-21) DONE

13. King & Queen 0.86 (18) (2-19) DONE



Remaining Games



Friday, Feb. 10

Colonial Beach at Rappahannock

Lancaster at Essex

Westmoreland at Northumberland



1A Region A seeding and scenarios



#1 Lancaster (Locked)

#2 Middlesex (Locked)

#3 Northampton (Locked)

#4 Westmoreland (Locked)

#5 Essex (Locked)

#6 Charles City (Locked)

#7 Mathews

#8 Northumberland



Scenarios



#7/8 Seed

Northumberland moves to seventh seed with win, Mathews falls to eighth.

Mathews remains at seventh with Northumberland loss, Northumberland falls to eighth.



*Rappahannock, Colonial Beach, West Point, and King & Queen are all mathematically eliminated.

Catholic is one-step closer to winning the TCIS regular season title after defeating Cape Henry 64-46. The Crusaders are 8-0 in the TCIS with one game left to play. A win over Peninsula Catholic next Wednesday will secure the regular season title.

Senior C.J. McPherson scored 24 points including four treys for Catholic who never trailed after taking a 9-7 lead in the 1st quarter. They led by seven after the 1st quarter and doubled that to 14 (37-23) at halftime.

The Crusaders used a full court press throughout the game which limited the effectiveness of the Dolphins point guard A.J Sweeney. The pressure forced several turnovers leading to transitions threes.

Catholic was 8 of 18 from three while Cape Henry made only three the entire game. They structed the margin to 21 after the 3rd quarter before slowing down the game in the final half of the quarter.

Josiah Rickards added 13 points and four assists and McPherson added nine rebounds. Senior Jaiden Cancela came off the bench and provided a spark with his defense while contributing eight points, a 3-pointer, five rebounds and four assists. Freshman Kosi Mgbejiofor (6-foot-10) had three blocks, a dunk and five rebounds.

Cape Henry was led by sophomore Martez Harris with 11 points while sophomore Sebastian Whitfield nine points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Nm

1) Good Counsel- top national private from the WCAC that finished 2022 as the #58th ranked team in the country

2) Quince Orchard- 2x defending Maryland State Champion at 4A (their highest level of competition)

3) Martinsburg- down (for them) last year, but still own NINE state championships in the last 13 seasons.

4) Madison- ALWAYS a battle and a team that will be in the 6A conversation.

Coach Thompson is not playing with these games. They will be more than battle tested and ready to make a run when playoff time comes... again.

Congratulations to the @ATLRaiderNation Gymnastics Team as they took home the Regional Championship for Class 1-4. The team will move on the to @VHSL_ State Championships next weekend at Lightridge High School.
Great Job Ladies!!!
#WeAreAtlee
@HanoverSchools
hanoversports

Has Clover Hill made a hire for their Head Coach position? I haven't seen anything in the media.

Daron Wilson
Jonathan Vernon
Josiah Persinger
Peyton Lewis
Recorded Salem Record and have the number One time in nation this year in 4x2 relay.

Northampton locks up 3rd seed with the win

Nm