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Shenandoah Race Tightens with Road Wins by Riverheads and Stuarts Draft

longtimerhsfan

VaPreps All Region
Dec 12, 2006
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Although it certainly won't be the focal point of this thread, Stuarts Draft posted the biggest shock of the Shenandoah District season by completing a sweep tonight over Wilson, winning 60-52 I believe it was. Ironically their two victories over the Hornets are Wilson's only losses, as the Green Team had entered tonight's action in sole possession of first place. So here in the next day or so, we may have to have an in-depth discussion about whether the first-place Hornets are really the best team in the league, or the last-place Cougars that just beat them, or could it be one of the other four teams?

Interestingly enough the road team won the other two games in district play tonight as Fort Defiance swept its series with a solid 68-51 win at Buffalo Gap and in our primary topic of discussion, Riverheads squeeeeezzzzed by Staunton 40-39 in the Paul Hatcher gymnasium. So just like we have seen with college ball this year, the absence of a boisterous home crowd can sometimes create a more even playing field.

Before I get to the praise that the Big Red deserves, first a little bad news. As I have already mentioned in another thread on the 2-A site, the livestream tonight was preposterous. Starting at 5:30, when one tuned in to the JV game if desired, the "scoreboard" and I use the term loosely, read 0-0 with 30:00 minutes left in the first quarter, and the $@#&^&&@&% stayed that way all night long, through BOTH GAMES.

Now that would have been halfway tolerable if we had a game where one team was whomping the other and/or if the picture was decent. But no, tonight we had a game that went down to a final shot plus we had the usual freezing. At least I assumed we did, because once I saw what it was going to be like, I watched the game on my I-phone. The players were the size of M & Ms and the scoreboard was what it was, but at least there was no freezing.

So once again, as I have been suggesting all season, I hope these coaches and administrators are letting the NFHS know that things are not going well around here. We need to have these bugs ironed out before playoff time.

OK about the game itself.....well as near as I could tell from my compromised vantage point, it was an ugly mess on the part of both teams. Staunton could not throw it in the ocean for the entire first half and trailed 27-14 at the break. Riverheads on the other hand, could not throw it in any one of two or three oceans in the third quarter and only scored ONE point in the entire period, which enabled the Storm to "storm" their way back into contention and even briefly take the lead.

However to Riverheads' credit, once the home team grabbed the lead, they kept their composure and eventually scored the winning bucket with 7 seconds left. (How do I know it was 7 seconds if there was no functioning clock you may ask...........thanks to Steve Cox our dependable News-Virginian sports reporter for that detail.)

Staunton had taken the lead twice in the fourth quarter, at one point leading by three, but things see-sawed down the stretch and with The Storm leading 39-38, the Gladiators worked their way inside for the winning bucket by Tye Morris, who most likely earned Coach Coffey's Player of the Game award tonight. The Junior Forward came alive in the final quarter, scoring all eight of his points, and although assisted on some of the baskets of course, appeared to almost single-handedly save the game for RHS.

Once he put the visitors ahead, the ending came down to that kind of drama you see on TV all the time. The Storm moved the ball to half-court and called time out. Riverheads had a foul to use and gave it. Staunton then had one final chance at a winning bucket but it came up short, and ironically, due to the quiet atmosphere in the gym, it was not even that obvious who had won and certainly not what the final score was. Again thanks to Mr. Cox for some of those details.

Due to the low-scoring nature of the game, neither team had a double-figure scorer. For RHS, Adam Painter led the way with 9 and D'ante Gray matched Morris' 8. Another interesting tidbit is that Riverheads continued its stellar play in Paul Hatcher as this was their second win there in four tries and they came within a rimmed-out buzzer-beater of a third win. Only once have the Leemen/Storm defeated RHS comfortably on their own floor and even that time, they had to come from behind to do it.

While all this agony was unfolding in Staunton, things were much calmer down in Greenville where the Lady Gladiators easily swept both games from Staunton, making it a three-out-of-four night for the country boys and girls over their big city counterparts.

Some sources say that the Riverheads boys have a home game with Alleghany tomorrow night, which will of course be tonight by the time you read this. But other sources do not have that game listed. In all honesty, I could use the rest and the team might feel the same way! Regardless, the Gladiators most definitely host Fort Defiance Friday night in an effort to sweep the series from the Indians and stay in contention for the above-mentioned district honors.

As for NFHS, come on guys.......you know you can do it!!!!
 
Although it certainly won't be the focal point of this thread, Stuarts Draft posted the biggest shock of the Shenandoah District season by completing a sweep tonight over Wilson, winning 60-52 I believe it was. Ironically their two victories over the Hornets are Wilson's only losses, as the Green Team had entered tonight's action in sole possession of first place. So here in the next day or so, we may have to have an in-depth discussion about whether the first-place Hornets are really the best team in the league, or the last-place Cougars that just beat them, or could it be one of the other four teams?

Interestingly enough the road team won the other two games in district play tonight as Fort Defiance swept its series with a solid 68-51 win at Buffalo Gap and in our primary topic of discussion, Riverheads squeeeeezzzzed by Staunton 40-39 in the Paul Hatcher gymnasium. So just like we have seen with college ball this year, the absence of a boisterous home crowd can sometimes create a more even playing field.

Before I get to the praise that the Big Red deserves, first a little bad news. As I have already mentioned in another thread on the 2-A site, the livestream tonight was preposterous. Starting at 5:30, when one tuned in to the JV game if desired, the "scoreboard" and I use the term loosely, read 0-0 with 30:00 minutes left in the first quarter, and the $@#&^&&@&% stayed that way all night long, through BOTH GAMES.

Now that would have been halfway tolerable if we had a game where one team was whomping the other and/or if the picture was decent. But no, tonight we had a game that went down to a final shot plus we had the usual freezing. At least I assumed we did, because once I saw what it was going to be like, I watched the game on my I-phone. The players were the size of M & Ms and the scoreboard was what it was, but at least there was no freezing.

So once again, as I have been suggesting all season, I hope these coaches and administrators are letting the NFHS know that things are not going well around here. We need to have these bugs ironed out before playoff time.

OK about the game itself.....well as near as I could tell from my compromised vantage point, it was an ugly mess on the part of both teams. Staunton could not throw it in the ocean for the entire first half and trailed 27-14 at the break. Riverheads on the other hand, could not throw it in any one of two or three oceans in the third quarter and only scored ONE point in the entire period, which enabled the Storm to "storm" their way back into contention and even briefly take the lead.

However to Riverheads' credit, once the home team grabbed the lead, they kept their composure and eventually scored the winning bucket with 7 seconds left. (How do I know it was 7 seconds if there was no functioning clock you may ask...........thanks to Steve Cox our dependable News-Virginian sports reporter for that detail.)

Staunton had taken the lead twice in the fourth quarter, at one point leading by three, but things see-sawed down the stretch and with The Storm leading 39-38, the Gladiators worked their way inside for the winning bucket by Tye Morris, who most likely earned Coach Coffey's Player of the Game award tonight. The Junior Forward came alive in the final quarter, scoring all eight of his points, and although assisted on some of the baskets of course, appeared to almost single-handedly save the game for RHS.

Once he put the visitors ahead, the ending came down to that kind of drama you see on TV all the time. The Storm moved the ball to half-court and called time out. Riverheads had a foul to use and gave it. Staunton then had one final chance at a winning bucket but it came up short, and ironically, due to the quiet atmosphere in the gym, it was not even that obvious who had won and certainly not what the final score was. Again thanks to Mr. Cox for some of those details.

Due to the low-scoring nature of the game, neither team had a double-figure scorer. For RHS, Adam Painter led the way with 9 and D'ante Gray matched Morris' 8. Another interesting tidbit is that Riverheads continued its stellar play in Paul Hatcher as this was their second win there in four tries and they came within a rimmed-out buzzer-beater of a third win. Only once have the Leemen/Storm defeated RHS comfortably on their own floor and even that time, they had to come from behind to do it.

While all this agony was unfolding in Staunton, things were much calmer down in Greenville where the Lady Gladiators easily swept both games from Staunton, making it a three-out-of-four night for the country boys and girls over their big city counterparts.

Some sources say that the Riverheads boys have a home game with Alleghany tomorrow night, which will of course be tonight by the time you read this. But other sources do not have that game listed. In all honesty, I could use the rest and the team might feel the same way! Regardless, the Gladiators most definitely host Fort Defiance Friday night in an effort to sweep the series from the Indians and stay in contention for the above-mentioned district honors.

As for NFHS, come on guys.......you know you can do it!!!!
 
Thanks for the details longtimer. Alleghany has opted out of Winter Sports. Enjoy your night off!
 
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