ADVERTISEMENT

Half. Salem 35. Sherando 0

Sherando looks completely outmatched , they look like they are a great team they just look shell shocked
 
Feels like it should be worse honestly. Salem is definitely the better team, but I haven’t seen Sherando play this poorly in ages. No answers for Salem’s size, speed, or gameplan.

On the plus side, I just had the best soft pretzel I’ve had in years!
 
Unreal, not trying to say anything bad about sherando, but Jesus Christ!!!! Where’s the fight? Too young? Playing for next year? What’s the deal Hammy?
 
History repeats itself once again ... Sherando cannot run with the big dogs from down south. One just cannot see them ever winning a football state title as those teams down south have way to much talent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rev_Real
I was reading a local FB group discussion about Sherando IF they were up in Class 5 where they actually belong BUT for some reason, there is always a rezoning that takes place that keeps them down in 4A. Folks were talking about HOW would Sherando do in 5A ...
 
Sherando is very good and well coached BUT they need to be playing in 5A. Folks around Winchester are fed up with how they are always rezoning to keep from going into 5A.
 
With Sherando having the largest school population base within the NWD, whats that old saying, the more oysters to pick from, the greater chances of finding them pearls! :)
 
Sherando is very good and well coached BUT they need to be playing in 5A. Folks around Winchester are fed up with how they are always rezoning to keep from going into 5A.
I live a hour away from that area so don’t know the local area but you think they rezone an entire community just to keep Sherando 4A????
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shruikan
Are they really fed up about them not being in 5a? Seriously, they can’t win against the big boys in 4a and they want 5a boys? I don’t think so , get real, and get better, ball up and come play
 
  • Like
Reactions: homeNabroad
If you feel that Sherando is cheating the system and should be in 5A, please take it up with the VHSL or one of the other ADs in the Northwestern District. I'm sure there aren't many outside Stephens City who would be upset if Sherando was pushed to 5A so they wouldn't have to play us every year.

There have been a lot of re-zoning efforts in Frederick County, and in my opinion there's a lot more to it than football. But as far as football goes, I think it helps keep local rivalries intact. The latest word on the street is that the fourth high school has been delayed (again) and that the current favored way of going forward, as far as the school board is concerned, is to expand Millbrook. So ironically they might be in 5A before Sherando. Or if the new high school opens, they might all drop to 3A.

As for being unable to beat teams from down south, I have to disagree. It wasn't going to happen this year, that much is clear. That said, they have beaten good teams from the more traditionally powerful parts of the state in recent years.
 
Sherando on the way to Group AAA?

By Robert Niedzwiecki
November 2009
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Sherando High School’s athletic teams would move to the Group AAA Cedar Run District for the two-year cycle beginning in the fall of 2011 under a proposed realignment plan released by the Virginia High School League on Wednesday.

There are still a number of steps before the proposed changes become official, but one thing is clear from the start — Frederick County Public Schools is not thrilled about it.

“We’re in favor of Sherando remaining a [Group] AA program in the Northwestern District,” said Steve Edwards, coordinator of policy and public information for FCPS. “By moving up, there will be additional travel, and it will hurt our local rivalries.”

The VHSL aligns schools based on their enrollments to match teams against similar-sized opponents. The Warriors have not competed in Group AAA since the two-year cycle ending in 2001, when they were a member of the Commonwealth District.

Sherando athletic director Jason Barbe declined to comment on the VHSL’s proposal, referring all questions to Edwards.

The plan, outlined by the VHSL’s Redistricting and Reclassification Committee, would also move Dulles District schools Broad Run and Freedom (South Riding) into the Cedar Run District, which is part of Group AAA’s Northwest Region. Sherando, Broad Run and Freedom would join current Cedar Run schools Battlefield, Stonewall Jackson (Manassas) and Osbourn in a six-team district.

Current Cedar Run schools Heritage and Loudoun Valley would drop into the Dulles District as a result of a school enrollment decrease that will take place in the fall of 2010. That’s when two new schools in Loudoun County — Tuscarora and Woodgrove — will open.

The R&R plan would also affect the membership of both local districts.

The Northwestern District would remain at five members, with former member Central replacing Sherando. The Bull Run District would increase its membership from six to seven teams with the addition of Stonewall Jackson (Quickburg).

As far as Sherando, Edwards said an upward move in classification was something the school system has seen as a possibility for a while because of Sherando’s growing enrollment.

When the final adoption for the two-year cycle beginning in 2009 was released on Sept. 18, 2008, Sherando’s enrollment of 1,526 made it one of the largest Group AA schools in the state. VHSL’s latest enrollment figures have Sherando at 1,571. On the VHSL’s membership page, all schools with an enrollment of 1,535 and above are classified as Group AAA.

James Wood has the second-largest enrollment among local schools with 1,292. Millbrook has 1,269 students, and Handley has 1,071, according to figures provided Sept. 30.

With an enrollment of 754, Clarke County is currently listed as matching Wilson Memorial as the largest of the Group A schools, meaning the Eagles will remain in that classification by a narrow margin.

The VHSL stated in a press release that there will be a meeting on Jan. 26 to consider modifications to R&R’s proposal, which will be presented to the VHSL executive committee on Feb. 24.

Edwards said FCPS will explore possibilities and study enrollment numbers prior to that meeting so a case can be made to keep Sherando in the Northwestern District, but he added that it’s difficult for any outside group to change the VHSL’s mind in regard to realignment.

“The VHSL is very much in control of the process,” Edwards said.

Edwards said maintaining the current rivalries, which are aided by the built-in scheduling that comes with similar conference affiliation, is important. But the first concern Edwards mentioned was the additional travel that would be involved with a move to the Cedar Run District.

“That’s an important concern we have for our student athletes,” Edwards said.

The farthest trip Sherando currently has to make within the Northwestern District is to Skyline, located in Front Royal (15 miles). In the Cedar Run, Sherando’s average trip would be 49 miles, with Freedom the closest at 41 miles and Osbourn, located in Manassas, the farthest at 57 miles.

If Sherando is moved up, the Warriors would almost certainly move back down to Group AA if a fourth Frederick County High School is opened.

Currently, that project is ranked third in priority on the Frederick County School Board’s Capital Improvement Plan. The CIP is used by the board and the Board of Supervisors as a planning tool for allocating funds, and it is often adjusted.

The CIP currently calls for construction to begin on a new high school in July 2012 and for it to open in July of 2014 (at an estimated cost of $55 million). But that’s a loose timetable, not a certainty.

“We don’t have the funds right now for a fourth high school,” Edwards said.

For now, all Sherando can do is hope it’s allowed to remain in Group AA and the Northwestern District.

“We’ll see if we can present a strong case before the VHSL makes the jump final,” Edwards said.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at
rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
 
Last edited:

They want to stay Sherando students unhappy over possible rezoning


By Danielle Nadler
February 2010
The Winchester Star

Stephens City — After a 45-minute bus ride Wednesday, about a dozen Sherando High School students hung around their stop in Mountain Falls Park, chatting about the day.

The conversation turned to the possibility that the Frederick County School Board may rezone their rural neighborhood.

Sherando High School freshman Cynthia Thomas of Mountain Falls started a petition drive Thursday for those who objected to the proposal to send about 60 students from Sherando to James Wood High School. She collected 59 signatures her first day.


This would require the transfer of about 60 Sherando students who live there to James Wood High School as early as next fall.

The students rattled off reasons why they oppose a change in schools in the middle of their teen years. The feeling, they say, is nearly unanimous among those who would be affected by the rezoning.

“I feel like they’re ruining my life, in a way,” said Sherando freshman Cynthia Thomas, who has started a petition opposing the rezoning. “I love my teachers and my friends at Sherando.”

The School Board is considering rezoning the Mountain Falls Park and Wardensville Grade areas in the western section of the county.

Board members will hear comments about the issue during a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday in the school district’s administration building, and many of the students from the affected areas say they plan to attend.

One of the reasons the board is considering the option: To reduce Sherando’s student population so the school can remain in the Group AA Northwestern District for athletics.

Its current enrollment of 1,569 students puts it over the threshold — meaning a move into Group AAA beginning in fall 2011.

That would mean more expenses for the school district to transport teams to schools farther away — along with the disruption of some local sports rivalries.

The division got a bit of bad news Tuesday, when the Virginia High School League’s Redistricting and Reclassification Committee ruled that it did not have enough information to approve Sherando’s initial request to remain in Group AA.

The school system can appeal the decision before the organization presents its final plan in May.

Regardless of how the bid to remain in Group AA turns out, the county School Board may rezone Sherando’s attendance area anyway.

Several students at Sherando High School are protesting the possible rezoning.

“The rezoning is about more than VHSL competition. It’s about overcrowding at our school and better distributing students,” Sherando Principal John H. Nelson said, adding that the school is about 11 percent over its 1,400-student capacity.

The School Board will consider allowing current Sherando juniors to finish their senior year at the school.

But those students may have to provide their own transportation, if the board follows its procedures from similar past situations, according to board Chairman John Lamanna.

That will make it tough for Sherando junior Haley James, who does not have a car.

“I have a feeling I’ll be wearing yellow and blue my senior year,” the 17-year-old said, referring to James Wood’s colors. “A lot of us don’t have our own transportation.”

Haley added that she understands the School Board’s motives.

After all, Frederick County is facing its third consecutive year of budget cuts, pushing plans for a fourth high school farther away.

The division’s Comprehensive Improvement Plan — a tentative schedule — calls for the construction of a fourth high school to start in 2012, with a 2014 opening.

School Board Vice-Chairman Stuart Wolk compared the possibility of rezoning the district to putting a Band-Aid on something that needs surgery. But he believes it is the best choice in this case.

“What we need is a new high school, but with this economy, that’s not going to happen right away,” he said.

Schools Superintendent Patricia Taylor agreed that the rezoning is needed, because it would allow all county middle school students to attend James Wood High School — reducing the number of middle schools feeding into Sherando from four to three.

Haley, who was separated from most of her friends and classmates at Frederick County Middle School to attend Sherando, said she spent her freshman year working to make new friends.

And she plans to do the same thing during her senior year if she is transferred again.

“I’d miss art club, my friends, and my teachers, but there are bigger things out there than my needs,” Haley said. “We’re just going to have to build ourselves back up again.”

Sherando opened in 1993 with 1,150 students to relieve James Wood from overcrowding.

It’s since become the county’s largest high school.

Millbrook High, which opened in 2003, has 1,270 students; James Wood, which opened in 1950, has 1,294 students.

— Contact Danielle Nadler at
dnadler@winchesterstar.com
 
Sherando Placed In Group 5A
VHSL realignment may make success difficult

Posted: June 24, 2016

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY — Sherando High School has been placed in Group 5A for athletics and activities in the updated alignment plan for the 2017-18 school year released by the Virginia High School League on Thursday.

As things currently stand, Sherando would be the seventh-smallest of the 56 schools projected to be in Group 5A. Sherando entered the current alignment cycle that began in 2015-16 as the fourth-largest Group 4A school.

With the realignment, Sherando likely would have a tougher road to success.

"Would we be one of the smallest schools in 5A? Absolutely," Sherando Coordinator of Student Activities Jason Barbe said. "But you play where you belong."

Schools have until July 11 to request an appeal to the VHSL. Barbe said he does not know if Sherando will appeal, and added he doesn’t know what basis the school would have to appeal.

The VHSL alignment committee will meet on Aug. 4 to consider final appeals. The alignment committee’s final plan will be presented to the VHSL executive committee on Sept. 21.

The VHSL has 316 schools divided into six groups for postseason purposes, with Group 6A featuring schools with the largest enrollments.

Sherando currently competes in Group 4A, along with Handley, James Wood and Millbrook. (Clarke County competes in 2A.)

The organization voted this year to start aligning schools based on enrollment numbers every four years instead of every two years. But at the midway point of the four-year cycle, the VHSL can make alignment changes to schools such as Sherando that experience a large enrollment change. The 2017-18 school year is the midway point of the current alignment cycle.

Based on the March 31 average daily membership enrollment figures provided to the VHSL by the Virginia Department of Education, Sherando is the only local school slated to move to a different classification. Sherando’s average daily enrollment figure is 1,533, above the cap of 1,526 needed to stay in Group 4A. In the enrollment figures from March 31, 2014 — which are the basis for the cycle that began in 2015-16 — Sherando’s figure was 1,428.

In the three-group model that preceded the six-group model that the VHSL adopted in 2013, a switch to a different group meant a school would also have to change the district it competes in, but that is no longer the case. Sherando can still compete in the Northwestern District with the other three Winchester-Frederick County schools.

Barbe said he wasn’t surprised by the news that the VHSL had slotted Sherando, which opened in 1993, into 5A.

"Ever since the mid-1990s, we’ve pretty much always been right on the border between classifications," Barbe said.

Even though Sherando was a Group AA school for virtually all of its time in the old three-group system, it did move up once. Sherando was in Group AAA in the two-year cycle that began in 1999 before returning to Group AA in 2001.

Sherando was slated to move to Group AAA again for the two-year cycle beginning in 2011. That changed when Frederick County approved high school spot rezoning in 2010, which sent about 60 students into James Wood’s school zone. As a result, Sherando was able to stay under the average daily membership figure required to remain in Group AA.

Sherando appealed that time because by moving to the Group AAA Cedar Run District, the school’s travel costs would have tripled and the time Sherando would have spent traveling would have increased dramatically. Sherando’s average one-way trip would have been 49 miles.

Schools now are no longer forced to switch districts by moving to another classification. The Northwestern District actually is looking to expand from five to 13 teams (the request has not been discussed yet by the VHSL Redistricting & Realignment Committee) and Barbe said Thursday that the school still plans on being a part of it even if the Warriors are the only 5A school in a district of 4A and 3A schools.

In addition to travel costs, Sherando also was concerned in 2010 with having to remove students from school more often to attend athletic events, and limiting their study time with long road trips.

"If classification has an effect on education, that’s a problem," Barbe said. "But this is a different VHSL than the one we had four years ago."

Though the VHSL has moved Sherando into 5A, it is one of five schools that have not been placed into a region in the 2017-18 plan. (That year will mark the elimination of the current conference format. The postseason will start with region competition starting in that year.)

VHSL communication directors Mike McCall said Thursday he didn’t have specifics on why certain schools weren’t placed into regions.

But he did say the openings of new schools could have an effect on the enrollment figures of other schools, and therefore have an impact on where they’re supposed to be grouped. For example, Charles J. Colgan — a school in Manassas — is set to open this fall and is slated to be a Group 6A school.
 
Virginia High School League: Sherando Likely Will Remain In Group 4A
Posted: August 5, 2016

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

The Winchester Star

By a vote of 13-0 on Thursday, the Virginia High School League alignment committee unanimously approved Sherando High School’s request to stay in Group 4 and not be moved up to Group 5 beginning in the 2017-18 school year.

Also on Thursday, the VHSL also unanimously approved the Northwestern District’s request to expand from five to 13 schools starting with the 2017-18 school year. Sherando, Handley, James Wood and Millbrook are current Northwestern members.

Sherando coordinator of student activities Jason Barbe said in a phone interview that the alignment committee agreed with the appeal because the school presented data at Thursday’s hearing in Charlottesville that showed that the March 31 ADM (average daily membership) number provided to the VHSL by the Virginia Department of Education was incorrect.

On June 23, it was announced that Sherando’s March 31 ADM number was 1,533 — seven higher than the cutoff of 1,526 required to remain in Group 4 — and that the school would move to Group 5 for at least two years. But an investigation by the school and Frederick County Public Schools revealed that Sherando’s ADM should be 1,522 based on a variety of factors.

In reality, Barbe said Thursday’s hearing wasn’t an appeal, but rather a presentation to show the numbers say Sherando is a Group 4 school.

"The number for the average daily membership is based on every day of the school year from the first day up until March 31," Barbe said. "I felt pretty confident from the beginning that our ADM number that the state had us with wasn’t correct.

"The correct data was in use [Thursday], so instead of being just over the 1,526 cutoff, we were just under the 1,526 cutoff, and we’re a 4A school that we should have been all along."

At the time of his phone interview, Barbe said he didn’t have specific data with him to explain why the Virginia Department of Education had Sherando with an ADM number that was 11 higher than it should be.

But for example, Barbe said any student that turns 19 by Aug. 1 of a given school year should not be factored in a school’s ADM number.

Barbe said students who don’t physically attend a Frederick County school but are the school division’s responsibility are not supposed to count.

"[School districts] are funding [the students’ education], and therefore the state counts them as part of your membership," said Barbe, who was joined in Charlottesville by Sherando Principal John Nelson and Superintendent David Sovine.

The action taken Thursday by the alignment committee still must be approved by the VHSL executive committee, which meets on Sept. 21, before it becomes official. Given the unanimous votes on the two cases involving local schools, the executive committee likely will approve the alignment committee’s action.

The VHSL has 316 schools divided into six groups for postseason purposes, with Group 6 featuring schools with the largest enrollments.

Sherando’s ADM number of 1,522 is larger than any VHSL school currently slated to be in Group 4 in 2017. Sherando would have been the seventh-smallest Group 5 school based on the plan released by the VHSL on June 23.

Competing against larger schools in Group 5 would be more of a challenge than competing in Group 4 for Sherando, but over the last six weeks Barbe has repeatedly said Sherando didn’t have a preference.

"I’ve said all along that’d we be pleased to be where we belong," Barbe said. "We’re where we belong, so we’re good with that."

As for the Northwestern District, the plan calls for current Northwestern schools Sherando, Handley, James Wood, Millbrook (all Group 4) and Skyline (Group 3) to be joined by six schools from the Evergreen District (Group 4 schools Fauquier, Kettle Run and Liberty and Group 3 schools Brentsville, Culpeper and Manassas Park) and two Group 3 schools from the Bull Run District, Warren County and William Monroe.

Millbrook coordinator of student activities Scott Mankins said he was pleased with the unanimous vote.

"This is going to be so much better for scheduling," Mankins said. "With the [current] five-team district, that gives us four guaranteed football games and eight in everything else (two against each school). It’s getting increasingly harder to schedule nondistrict games [with so few guaranteed games], especially in soccer. West Virginia plays in the fall, so we can’t pick up those Panhandle schools like we do in other sports.

"By bringing in more schools, we can lock in more games. From a scheduling standpoint, this is going to be good."

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1
 
Sherando is very good and well coached BUT they need to be playing in 5A. Folks around Winchester are fed up with how they are always rezoning to keep from going into 5A.
They do have talent but I wouldn’t go as far as being well-coached. I think the talent had pushed them to the playoffs. For all of these years. Hall always runs the same run plays even when he’s down by 28+ points that’s not good coaching. Maybe the talent will help them do something next year but with Hall at the forefront, they most likely won’t when a title.
 
  • Like
Reactions: anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b
They do have talent but I wouldn’t go as far as being well-coached. I think the talent had pushed them to the playoffs. For all of these years. Hall always runs the same run plays even when he’s down by 28+ points that’s not good coaching. Maybe the talent will help them do something next year but with Hall at the forefront, they most likely won’t when a title.
In today’s game I thought they were trying to be too diverse. You don’t beat Salem by tricking them with a bunch of formations and personnel packages and that is what they kept trying. Regardless, it would not have mattered what plays they ran this game... it was just a huge mismatch. To be honest is looked just as one-sided as the Salem/Millbrook playoff game last year.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BigBWincCity
Well I give you props for what seems like a very long in depth following of Sherando... after reading the articles it looks more to me that the area is growing faster than they can handle and have to agree with Shruikan, looks like more to it than football.
 
For everyone's information, this is not something Sherando wants. No one at Sherando is keen to go to 5A. It would be bad for competition and bad for travel reasons, since the closest 5A schools are around an hour away. A small amount of posters bring this up every year and it's still about as relevant as Salem supposedly recruiting (i.e. superstition).

To be clear: No, there is not a conspiracy in Frederick County to stop Sherando from going to 5A. It's absurd. If Sherando hits the threshold to move to 5A, we will move to 5A. Until then, you Handley fans get to look forward to playing us for a long time to come! :):p
 
Let’s everyone calm down!!!!!!


Sherando isn’t going to 5a. Just a statement , like 4 years ago, they will be fine and probably win states next year.
 
For everyone's information, this is not something Sherando wants. No one at Sherando is keen to go to 5A. It would be bad for competition and bad for travel reasons, since the closest 5A schools are around an hour away. A small amount of posters bring this up every year and it's still about as relevant as Salem supposedly recruiting (i.e. superstition).

To be clear: No, there is not a conspiracy in Frederick County to stop Sherando from going to 5A. It's absurd. If Sherando hits the threshold to move to 5A, we will move to 5A. Until then, you Handley fans get to look forward to playing us for a long time to come! :):p
You just said in the same list why they don’t wanna go to 5a. And yet you wanna play in 5a case on why they shouldn’t? Shut up. They should’ve been 5a (cookie dicsrcrit)lucky for the warriors , they should’ve lost to liberty twice if they had good coaches but that’s another thread ,those that WATCH FOOTBALL know why ,skyline beat them 3 years ago. They are living on schedule and down fall of nw district wake up man
 
They do have talent but I wouldn’t go as far as being well-coached. I think the talent had pushed them to the playoffs. For all of these years. Hall always runs the same run plays even when he’s down by 28+ points that’s not good coaching. Maybe the talent will help them do something next year but with Hall at the forefront, they most likely won’t when a title.
Hall is a greater coach. Don’t start talking that sh!t
 
You just said in the same list why they don’t wanna go to 5a. And yet you wanna play in 5a case on why they shouldn’t? Shut up. They should’ve been 5a (cookie dicsrcrit)lucky for the warriors , they should’ve lost to liberty twice if they had good coaches but that’s another thread ,those that WATCH FOOTBALL know why ,skyline beat them 3 years ago. They are living on schedule and down fall of nw district wake up man
Sorry Rev you lost me on that one :p you say calm down then go on a rant that you didn’t spell check... lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rev_Real
For everyone's information, this is not something Sherando wants. No one at Sherando is keen to go to 5A. It would be bad for competition and bad for travel reasons, since the closest 5A schools are around an hour away. A small amount of posters bring this up every year and it's still about as relevant as Salem supposedly recruiting (i.e. superstition).

To be clear: No, there is not a conspiracy in Frederick County to stop Sherando from going to 5A. It's absurd. If Sherando hits the threshold to move to 5A, we will move to 5A. Until then, you Handley fans get to look forward to playing us for a long time to come! :):p
To be clear, sherando will keep playing close game with Martinsburg every year and keeep va a little worried about them in 4a cause they play Martinsburg ..... shut up man , If they can’t do it in 4a then just let it be a loss, don’t make excuses
 
Honestly I wish Sherando would get moved to a tougher district instead of playing the same easy games they do each year, maybe they could develop a game strategy that would help them when facing teams like Salem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rev_Real
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT