8
SPORTS
NATIONALS OPEN SEASON THURSDAY
The defending World Series champion Washington Nationals play the first five games of the shortened 60-game regular season at home beginning with Opening Day on Thursday against the New York Yankees at 7:08 p.m. They’re off Friday, then host the Yankees Saturday and Sunday.
WWW.FAUQUIER.COM
Fauquier Times | July 22, 2020
ANGELO’S LIST Highland’s Brizzi is recommended pick by USA’s elite basketball programs By Fred Hodge
Special to the Times
Angelo Brizzi’s summer has been red hot. And we’re not talking about the lengthy span of sultry temperatures. Some of the nation’s top college men’s basketball programs have flooded the rising senior point guard from Highland School with scholarship offers, making him the most highly recruited boys player in Fauquier County history. Brizzi, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound left-handed shooter, currently holds 32 Division I offers, encompassing 16 states and the District of Columbia.
What makes Brizzi so special?
Angelo Brizzi’s package of longrange shooting, quick first step and deft ball-handling ability gives him many advantages. Brizzi has a quick release set shot, which means he needs very little space. The lefthander can hit from nearly 25 feet. Get too close to him and he will drive right past you to create other problems. He is smart, knows when to pass it back out and has finishing ability near the basket.
-Peter Brewington
By early April, he had 21 offers, mostly mid-major caliber. On April 9, his world changed when Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose Wildcats won the 2016 and 2018 NCAA championship, made an offer. More heavyweight schools followed. “It was crazy for sure. It came out of nowhere,” Brizzi said of the conversation with Wright. Georgetown also made an over-
FILE PHOTO
Highland point guard Angelo Brizzi got a basketball scholarship offer from Villanova in April, leading to more big-time offers. He’s the No. 3-ranked rising senior in Virginia by rivals.com and No. 23 point guard nationally by ESPN. ture the same day, with a small avalanche of offers following over the next 47 days. Brizzi gained nine total scholarship tenders from Power 6 conference schools plus a pair of mid majors. “It was a wild period of
time,” he laughed. Brizzi trimmed his list last week to his top eight. In alphabetical order, they are Arizona, California (Berkeley), Colorado, Dartmouth, See BRIZZI, page 9
Shorter seasons plan could save high school sports in ‘20-21 VHSL choosing from three distinct models
Next Monday, July 27, will be a fateful day for high school athletes across the state as they learn when they’ll play during the 2020-21 school year.
By Peter Brewington Times Staff Writer
Fauquier High baseball coach Matt O’Saben recently sent out a Twitter message to his prospective players to “get out of the Chick-fil-A line and pick up a bat and ball.” O’Saben and hundreds of other spring sports coaches want their athletes ready in case a practical plan to flip-flop fall and spring sports is adopted by the Virginia High School League. The VHSL will make a fateful decision involving the 2020-21 sports calendar on Monday, July 27. Three models are being considered: • Model 1 scraps football/volleyball/ field hockey/competition cheer for the entire year, but allows golf and cross country this fall. Winter and spring sports would follow with no restrictions. • Model 2 involves switching spring sports to this fall. Under this scenario, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, track and perhaps lacrosse would be waged this fall, with fall sports in the spring. • Model 3, which appears the most popular and realistic, involves condensing all three seasons into a tighter time frame. Winter sports would run from Dec. 14 through Feb. 20. Fall sports would run from Feb. 15 through May 1 and spring sports from April 12 until June 26.
COURTESY PHOTO
The benefit of Model 3 is that it buys more time for the pandemic to recede, with every sport likely to be included. However, schedules would be reduced to 60% of normal, with state playoffs expected to be eliminated. There could also be overlap issues for athletes interested in playing multiple sports seasons. On Tuesday, the 15 schools in the Northwestern and Dulles Districts which comprise Class 4 Region C said they would prefer to see the VHSL host cross country, golf, tennis, softball and baseball this fall. However, that is not one of the models. Of the models proposed, the region supports Model 3. Model 2, with spring sports moved to fall, doesn’t seem feasible due to the current state of the pandemic. Virginia is not cleared from Phase 3, and VHSL executive director Billy Haun has said all sports are a no-go while in Phase 3. On July 15, the VHSL announced football, volleyball, field hockey and competition cheer would not be
played this fall due to pandemic concerns, then announced the three options. Coaches processed the news, and have been weighing in. “Friday nights in the fall is a beautiful thing, but any opportunity they get to play I’m in favor of,” said Woodbridge High first-year football coach Alex Urquhart. “I’m excited to coach our kids in the fall or the spring.” Fauquier volleyball coach Diana Story is still worried about the pandemic. “None of the three scenarios are ideal for any of us because we are still dealing with the unknown from the COVID,” she said. “If and when we can play, I’ll get my girls ready to play. Everybody in the state of Virginia is in the same boat and is going to have to work with whatever comes down.” For many fall coaches, moving to a February-May window is a reprieve and gives them more time to practice. “We told our Falcons that we are basically in spring ball getting ready
for the season similar to how college football works,” said Fauquier High football coach Karl Buckwalter. “As long as we can continue to move forward then we are ecstatic.” With on-campus conditioning allowed in most parts of the state (although not in Prince William County), many coaches are enjoying interactions with players, although restrictive safety protocols are in place due to COVID-19. “Our players, staff, and athletic trainers have done a phenomenal job with the adjusted workouts. It has been a joy being back on the field with everyone again. We will continue to train until we hear otherwise from the state,” said Kettle Run football coach Charlie Porterfield. Woodbridge’s Urquhart said the Vikings are also getting a lot done, even if they can’t condition at school due to county restrictions. “A lot of what we’re doing is virtual. Position meetings, meetings for offense, defense and special teams, and character development lessons,” said Urquhart. “I feel like we have a very solid group of kids buying in. If we set our culture right, they’ll go in the direction we want then to go in.” Urquhart reiterated his support of Model 3. “I’m leaning toward Model 3 where everyone gets a chance to participate. The biggest thing for me is the sense that we get to play football and all the sports get to participate. We saw in the spring those sports getting cut. Those kids deserve an opportunity to play,” said the Vikings’ new football coach.
