Volume 6, Issue 11

13 TANDEM BUILDS A SWIM TEAM

scr覺mmageplay THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SPORTS AUTHORITY

The Black Knight Way At Charlottesville, basketball is a top priority and the results show.

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VOL 6. ISSUE 11 :: FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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WHY D A S

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x’s and o’s 21 07 13

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A FAMILIAR STORYLINE Monroe basketball’s continued success

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CHARLOTTESVILLE 54 How hoops brings CHS together

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MAKING A SPLASH Tandem launches its swim program

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GAME TIME Fork Union basketball edges Woodberry

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#LIKEAGIRL Taking a look at the gender gap

vol 6. issue 11 :: February 11, 2015

The Black Knight way VOL 6 . ISSUE 11 :: FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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13 TAndem Builds A swim TeAm

At Charlottesville, basketball is a way of life and the results show. page 7

S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Charlottesville’s Kendall Ballard, Jordan Saylor M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T Local sports are the lifeblood of every community in America, and we’re here to reach beyond the basics and give compelling accounts about Central Virginia athletes to our readers.

CO N TAC T U S [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-249-2032

Community Partnership

Working hand in hand with Red Shoes Cville to support the Ronald McDonald House of Charlottesville.

Choose the Red Shoes Cville special at www.papajohns.com

PREGAME

High School Gameday There has been a lot of creativity the last few years on the high school basketball scene from local fan bases including various themes attire wise, chants and so forth. Against rival Madison County, William Monroe’s fan base set up a defacto EPSN Sports Center booth just days after the network’s College Gameday took over Charlottesville for the University of Virginia’s showdown with Duke. To read more about Monroe’s playoff hopes, turn to page 5. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)

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u va d e pa r t m e n t o f o r t h o p e d i c s

| When every backhand gets returned with a nunchuck to the elbow

from a little karate guy, it’s time to call in the specialists. At UVA, we’re experts at diagnosing and treating even the most severe orthopedic problems. Make an appointment today and see what one of the top orthopedic programs in the region can do for you and your little unwelcomed foe. | uvaortho.com/appointment

Orthopedics

First Quarter

Familiar storylines Monroe finishes exceptional regular season

By Ryan Yemen

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Jeff Early is averaging a double-double everytime he steps on the court for Monroe. (John Berry)

{ WEALTH DISTRIBUTION } Monroe’s top three leading scorers through its first 17 games.

EARLY

16.6 13.1

TERRY

11.6

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K AR A EL DER

WOOLFORD

ince its move to the Bull Run District, William Monroe has been the model of consistency, both in the BRD and in Central Virginia. Now, For the fourth straight time, the Dragons have put together a fantastic regular season.

Those four years also happen to coincide with Jeff Early and Keegan Woolford’s four years with the program. There are not too many better guard-forward duos right now than what Monroe has with its two celebrated seniors.

In Early, the Dragons have what’s made them so consistent over the years, a true power forward with double-double potential on any given night. That’s what Markell Williams provided Monroe during Early’s freshman and sophomore years where he would help spell the former Dragon. These last two years, Early’s stepped up in the wake left by Williams and been nothing short of dominant.

His 16.6 points per game combined with his 11.5 rebounds per game make the Monroe blueprint pretty simple — anything that happens inside will likely favor the Dragons.

How much Monroe can feed Early often depends on its outside shooting, and in Woolford, the Dragons have one of the area’s best sniper’s from the 3-point line. Woolford is averaging 13.1 points per game this year and when he’s in rhythm, defenses can simply throw everything and the kitchen sink into trying to stymie Early down low. And when Woolford is hot and defenses stretch out, he’s been excellent at distributing the ball back down to Early. At 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game, and the ability to slash and finish inside, Woolford has the kind of game that’s eerily reminiscent of another former Dragon, Gary Morris.

“We talked about as a staff how Jeff Early reminds us so much of Markel,” Monroe coach Mike Maynard said. “Keegan’s had an unbelievable year. He and Gary have that same

thing where they just both work their tail off.”

But Woolford and Early don’t have to do it all alone. Just as they were early in their careers, these two have a skilled set of role players surrounding them. In O’Brien Morton and Mark Williamson, Monroe has two big bodies to clean up on the glass and finish on the other end in the paint. Kam’ron McCain has been a solid defender. Anthony Terry’s ability to score from all over the court makes him a wildcard threat. So Monroe has all the tools it needs, especially now with a clean bill of health as it heads into the playoffs.

“Until we got O’Brien healthy, it was just Jeff and Keegan,” Maynard said. “Terry continues to develop and he’s young, so he’s streaky, But yeah this team, it reminds me a lot of two years ago.”

So the comparison is easy to make between this team and the one it fielded just a short while ago. And of course with the Dragons advancing to the Group 2A final four back in the ’12-’13 season during Williams and Morris’ senior years, it begs the question what does Monroe’s current dynamic duo have in store for a post season run. The Dragons’ 16-6 record put them in prime position for Conference 28 play as the second seed meaning they won’t have to beat both Loudoun Valley and John Champe to advance to Region 3A East play.

With the Bull Run District tournament underway, the Dragons will get one final tune up before they jump into the win-or-go-home stage and see if they can put together another storied playoff run. ✖

go online »

For more basketball coverage head to our website at: www.scrimmageplay.com.

College Update

We’ve gone digital But you can have it in print too!

Former Maverick finishing strong collegiate career

By Ryan Yemen In her time with the Miller School, Ashley Bowles personified the progression of the girls basketball program. The most explosive guard on a team filled talented forwards, Bowles led the Mavericks to a VISAA Division III championship as a junior, then helped the program transition to Division II and win the school’s first state title in that classification as a senior. A two-time All-Scrimmage Play first teamer, Bowles decided to head to Davis and Elkins in West Virginia to continue playing basketball at the collegiate level.

It was last season as a junior for the Senators that Bowles had her breakout year.

She started 27 of 29 games last year and averaged 10.5 points and four rebounds per game. It was a strange campaign for Bowles and D&E as they lost seven of their first eight games and 11 of the first 13 games but went on a tear in the second half of the season to

finish with a winning record at 15-14.

Now in her final year with the Senators, Bowles leads the team in minutes per game and has started all of the team’s first 20 games.

She’s averaging 12.4 points per game, up from her total last year. Bowles is also shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 38.3 from beyond the arc. More than just a shooting guard, she also is second on the team in rebounds per game at 5.2. Davis and Elkins sits at 11-9 as it heads into the home stretch of its regular season schedule before beginning the Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament in March.

If all goes well, Bowles will have a chance to help the Senators finish with a fourth straight winning record. Now as she finishes her career at Davis and Elkins, Bowles has an opportunity to help that program take the next step just like she did at Miller four years ago. ✖

HOW TO GET A PHYSICAL COPY OF SCRIMMAGE PLAY Step 1 :: Click here and head to the MagCloud version of the magazine.

It’s going to look like this below:

BELOW » Miller graduate Ashley Bowles is in her senior season with Davis and Elkins. (Sam Santilli)

Step 2 :: Click the Buy Print button next to the magazine and follow instructions to order Step 3 :: Wait patiently by your mailbox Step 4 :: When it arrives, take it out and read or stash away to your heart’s delight!

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Basketball just has a way of bringing out the best in Charlottesville. If you dissect either program, whether it’s Jim Daly’s girls team or Mitch Minor’s boys squad — they’re both known for their speed, hustle and relentless pursuit of the ball. Pressure is the name of the game for the Black

Knights. It’s nothing new, it’s not an accident, nor is it coincidental that both programs have a similar look, similar style.

“I was an assistant here a while before I became the coach and so you

see a lot of similarity in the vocabulary,” Daly said. “If you say ‘54’ to anyone that’s played basketball here at Charlottesville, they’ll know exactly what that means. It goes back to Mitch and the boys and then for the girls with (former coach) Harry Terrell. There are certain things that work and when you find them, you stay with it.”

While the idea is simple at Charlottesville, the execution is anything but.

To play ‘54,’ a full court zone trap, you need to have five players on the floor that are all buying in to applying as much pressure as they can. Some of that involves intuitive timing, but more than anything else, it requires a neverending motor. If you look at the two senior leaders for the two respective programs, it’s not hard to understand why both programs are playing so well.

Kendall Ballard’s height and ability to finish through contact make her a force underneath the basket, but it’s her grit defensively, whether off the glass in the rebounding department or her never ending quest to create a turnover.

Conversely, Jordan Saylor’s raw speed, hustle, 3-point shot, vision and his acrobatics down low make him one of the best two-way players in the area.

These two athletes fit the mold of a Charlottesville basketball player perfectly.

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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Left, Jordan Saylor, right, Caleb Gage

“It comes down to having the same coaches and then our style, these are just the type of athletes we, always have, always have had.” — Minor

The history of Black Knights basketball is awfully rich.

Charlottesville has more Jefferson District titles on either side than anyone else in the JD. There are no down years — there might be rebuilding years — but the expectations for both the boys and girls are that they will compete at the top of the JD, and they do. Continuity has a lot to do with that. While Jim Daly is the second coach for the girls since Terrell stepped down back in 2010, he and his predecessor, Dee MitchelsonShaver, have been involved in basketball at the school for a long time. On the boys side, Minor took over for legendary coach Kenny Leatherwood after years as an assistant. The bottom line is that the product at Charlottesville is locally grown.

“We’ve just got a lot of people who’ve built these programs still out there helping,” Daly said. “Taber Martin was a coach for 12 years here and is out there coaching 3rd and 4th grade AAU teams and running the city league. So there’s lots of talk among the coaches, people helping us get our finger on the pulse.”

The systems in place are much older than the athletes on the floor and as such, any of those athletes that grew up in the Charlottesville school district and participated in the basketball programs are fully aware of what is expected at the high school level. And the coaches are ready, waiting.

“It comes down to having the same coaches and then our style, these are just the type of athletes we always have, always have had,” Minor said. “It might change a bit, but we try and keep up the same pressure every year.”

And the two programs feed off the similarities between the programs in addition to the friendships groups of student athletes naturually develop. In Charlottesville’s case, they train together.

“I mean the girls workout with us during the summer,” Saylor said. “Everyone is coming to the gym together and playing against each other. Basketball is just our sport (at CHS). We love it. The atmosphere here is always great. Our fans come out and they stay for the whole game.”

The expectations of success for both teams reach beyond that of the coaching staff. The Charlottesville fan base is a massive part of the basketball culture at the school. Alumni from years and years back show up to the games on a regular basis. Parents of athletes that have long since graduated attend regularly as well. The CHS student section is loud, creative and yet amazingly respectful (which isn’t always the case when teenagers amass in such a small enclosure). This fan base as a whole reaches a wide and diverse demographic that is unique. The gym is relatively small compared to a lot

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ACADEMIC EDGE

S P O N S O R E D

B Y

H A R G R AV E

M I L I TA R Y

A C A D E M Y

ORANGE COUNTY’S MADISON BARBER

Madison Barber gets referred to on the Orange County girls basketball team quite often as something entirely different than “Madison.”

“Madison’s nickname on the team is ‘Mom’,” said Orange head coach Dave Rabe. “She cares so much for the people around her and is overall just a great person.”

Barber also knows her role on a team packed with potential scoring options, and she plays it perfectly, picking up rebounds (she’s fourth on the team in that category) and playing solid defense in the post. The senior forward has helped push the Hornets into fourth place in the Jefferson District and has helped set the table for a potential playoff run.

Hard work is a big piece of what’s helped make her a big contributor, and it translates into the classroom too. She sports a 3.37 GPA, has been all-Conference 16 volleyball player the last two years and plans to head to a four year college and study sports medicine next year.

In all aspects for Barber, it’s all about the team.

“She works hard not only to reach her academic and athletic goals, but to help encourage and push others to reach their goals as well,” Rabe said.

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“There’s a big mutual respect between the two programs, both players and coaches. We are their biggest fans and they are ours.” — Daly

of the other gyms in the Jefferson, whether it be at Western Albemarle or Fluvanna County. So when the Black Knights play one of their rivals — and in hoops, they are rivals with everybody — it’s standing room only. The fans are right on top of the game and when Charlottesville is playing well using its frenetic pace, the place is deafening.

“It gets electric,” Ballard said. “It’s so much fun having a crowd like this that supports you.”

And when the scheduling allows, a lot of those fans are the athletes themselves. More often than not, the girls and boys play at opposing sites, making the games where the two play right after the other or when one plays a day before that much of a bigger event.

“There’s a big mutual respect between the two programs, both players and coaches,” Daly said. “We are their biggest fans and they are ours. The boys were excited that they had a Thursday game before our senior night so that they could come out and watch us play. I mean Jordan Saylor is always the first person to talk to me about our games. I think it says a lot about these kids, just how much they appreciate each other.”

And what’s not to appreciate. The boys, led by Saylor, Mica Girastantas and Caleb Gage put on a show every night.

Aside from the stingy press they run up front, Saylor and Girastantas launch 3-pointers with amazing results. Gage is as nifty getting into the paint and then managing to work through traffic to get a clean shot as you’ll find for a guard his size. Kendall Dennis, DeAndre Bryant and Troy Hughes provide the presence in the paint. The trio of guards handle the business of what amounts to an all-out-blitz of creating turnovers, fast break points, no-look passes and of course, big time 3-pointers. This is a team that swept the Jefferson District regular season, and was rarely challenged along the way. The favorites by some to be the JD champs coming in, the Black Knights were that and then some this year.

The girls put together an exceptional regular season as well and appear to be peaking at just the right time. While Ballard is the engine that drives this team, she has her share of help. Alaijah Ragland’s ability as a 3-point shooter mean that the Black Knights are never too far from putting together a big run. Bri Jordan’s defense, both in terms of creating turnovers and then also rebounding, has been a huge boost for this team. The JD for the girls has much more depth than in years past with Monticello at the top and then Charlottesville, Albemarle, Orange County and Fluvanna all battling each other to keep pace with the Mustangs. The Black Knights picked up a pair of big wins before heading into the JD tournament with home wins over Orange and then

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FUNCTIONAL MOVEMEN Warriors ready for another run = = = = = = = = Does An Injury Western AlbemArle

WArrIOrs

Jefferson district, 2012 record: 10-2

BEFORE YOUR ATHLETES START TRAINING FOR SPO

In basketball, a squad can be a one-man team. One also returns and should continue to see carries after Daly,ofbelow, Mitchstyle Minor guy can lift the other five on the court. Football is a Above, showingJim flashes a hard-nosed in 2012. completely different story, but Western AlbemarWith Donte Henry paving the way at tackle — he le’s Kent Henry, who was the area’s top passer and earned first team All-Jefferson District honors as a Monticello, the latter being arguably the biggest win of the season. one of the area’s most dangerous rushing threats junior — Western should be able to cope with the So when you put these two products together, what you have is a more than in 2012, is as close to a completely game-changing graduation of Tommy Mullin and Patrick Maupin’s just a girls and boys program. What you have is a brand. force as we’ve seen in some time. transfer to Blue Ridge. Look for several young stand“We definitely have the same style and I think that’s just a school thing,” He’ll have options in the passing game despite the outs to factor into the mix.

Ballard said. “We watch each other play as much as we can and we both have just graduation of Daniel Kuzjak, who led the area in receivDefensively there are a few more holes to conthese really quick players that know how and want to get up and down the floor to ing yards as a senior. Playmaking wideout Nic Drapanas tend with. The secondary should be a strength — Drapressure.” is back after scoring 16 receiving touchdowns in 2012 panas and Hearn are both heady, speedy defensive And when a brand like that is embraced wholly by the community, what you and Steven Hearn, who hauled in 589 yards and four backs. They’ll need to use Henry defensively too, get is an environment that transcends just the product on the court. Few schools touchdowns last year is also back. Drapanas will have to as a rover-style role that Kuzjak filled last year. But can claim to have such talent, consistent results in both programs. And even fewer shake off an injury that kept him on the sidelines most Mullin’s graduation, and Dom Christmas’ graduation schools rally around that, around this sport the way Charlottesville does. of camp, but that could end up paying dividends for the as well, will be felt more significantly at his middle “I noticed my freshman year just how much this school comes together during Warriors if Henry develops a rapport with the rest of the linebacker spot. A variety of linebackers like Haws, basketball,” Ballard said. “I really love how this sport is this unifying force here.” receiving corps, including 6-foot-3 basketball and soccer Logan Sprouse, Alex Cassell and Matthew Mullin, It’s been that way for a long time for the Black Knights. And while this season standout Chase Stokes, who’ll join the gridiron Warriors Tommy’s younger brother, should see time in the is hardly over for either side as they both expect to make nice long playoff runs, this year for his senior year. heart of the defense. the idea at Charlottesville is that the tradition will continue long after this crop of While Henry will likely remain the main rushing Head coach Ed Redmond, now in year two, will seniors graduates in the spring. ✖ threat, Oliver Herndon, a talented lacrosse player surely be up to that task as the Warriors look to build who broke his ankle during football’s preseason on last year’s 10-2 record. With Henry and the other last year, is among the candidates to play tailback pieces that are coming together, the stage is potenin the Warriors’ single back system. Justin Haws tially set for a deep playoff run. ✖

Have You Sidelined?

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MAKING A SPLASH Story by Bart Isley Photos by Ashley Thornton

>> >>

Often we live very distinct lives within one life, with a circle of school or work friends, our families, maybe a sport or a hobby

that creates yet another group of friends. Things happen in those different spheres that don’t interact, relate or impact one another and that can be a challenge. Merging them often seems even more treacherous. Anyone who has introduced two people who both consider themselves to be your best friend knows that feeling.

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iles Rodi had, among other aspects of his life, Tandem Friends School’s close-knit community and swimming, and he thought it would be nice to bring those two major parts of his life together.

Rodi attended Tandem through eighth grade but decided to go across the street to attend high school at Monticello before his ninth grade year.

“I just needed to branch out and meet new people,” Rodi said.

He joined the Mustangs’ swim team, and was an impact swimmer for a Monticello program that was on the rise with eventual Hampden Sydney swimmer Ryan Mitchell helping ignite the Mustangs and make them a factor in the Jefferson District picture. Rodi, who started swimming year round in sixth grade, was a big part of that, and actually tied for the high point award at the Jefferson District meet as a sophomore with Western Albemarle teammates Danny O’Dea and Alex Rayle. He won both the 200-IM and 500-free Jefferson District titles that year. He followed that with a third-place finish at the Region II meet and an appearance at the state meet.

“It was a lot of fun because it was the first time I’d been on a big team and the people who I was on the team with I’d see at school,” Rodi said. “It was more meaningful that way. It was definitely some of the most fun I ever had on a swim team overall. There was a lot of camaraderie.”

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Tandem’s swim program has expanded from 12 to 18 swimmers this season and will compete in the state meet.

Shortly after that season, however, he decided he was going to return to Tandem, mostly for academic reasons, but he wasn’t ready to surrender the swim team, which had been a valuable, rewarding part of his high school experience for two years. So he started to run an idea by two Tandem classmates who also swam for the City’s Jefferson Swim League team that Rodi swam for in the summer, Josh Payne and Tommy White.

“I came into Tandem thinking I was going to start a swim team,” Rodi said. “We kind of chatted about it over the summer and they were like ‘oh, good idea.’”

With that spark ignited, Rodi went to work on making sure the Quakers got their own team. He enlisted the help of his mother, Tandem math teacher Lisa Grove as a faculty advisor, and they pitched the idea to Andy Jones-Wilkins, the head of school at Tandem. Jones-Wilkins, who is an accomplished ultra-marathoner, has put an emphasis on growing Tandem’s no-cut athletics program and gave the swim team his support, with the school pitching in for lane space at Smith Pool so that Tandem had a place to practice.

That’s no small give, to be clear. Lane time is expensive and schools aren’t likely to recoup any part of a swim’s team’s expenses unlike a basketball or football team. So for Tandem to step in and support a fledgling team like the swim squad that’s the brainchild of a student is kind of remarkable, even if Rodi doesn’t want to overstate it.

“It can seem very ‘whoa, that was a big thing that happened,’ but actually thinking about what I had to do to make it work, as long as

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“As long as you can get other people invested in something, it really doesn’t take that much.

People wanted to do it, so it happened.” — Rodi you can get other people invested in something, it really doesn’t take that much,” Rodi said. “People wanted to do it, so it happened.”

One thing Tandem didn’t have to put money into is a coach, and that’s because they had Rodi. It’s a pretty impressive thought to decide to create a high school swim team from scratch. It’s another to think you’re capable of serving as its coach as a high school junior.

That owes in part, however, to the empowering structure of the JSL summer swim circuit in Charlottesville where most every team utilizes older swimmers as coaches for younger swimmers. Rodi, White and Payne had all served in that capacity, so Rodi felt like he could handle the job, even though he’d be coaching his peers like White, Payne and Matthew Porter.

At Blue Ridge School you can choose both.

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Tandem’s swim team is home to a variety of competitive levels, from highly competitive swimmers down to beginners.

“I coached for the City the summer before that and that was my first year coaching,” Rodi said. “I was definitely apprehensive about it, because coaching little kids is different from coaching your peers… it’s tricky. You have to be diplomatic, but motivational. I was nervous about it but I wanted to make it happen badly enough that I was kind of willing to put myself out there to coach the team.”

They’ve found a way to make it work, with Jones-Wilkins’ wife Shelly, serving as coach for beginning swimmers, while Grove handles an intermediate group and Rodi coaches the team’s most competitive swimmers. They functioned as a club last year, and swam in just one competitive meet, the Ben Hair meet at UVa’s AFC. “I thought, if we’re going to swim any meet, let’s do this one,” Rodi said. “It’s a lot of fun, it’s a great facility. For a lot of kids on the team it was going to be their first meet experience and their only meet experience that year so I wanted to make it memorable.”

This year, however, they became a full-fledged varsity team, joining the Delaney Athletic Conference and the VISAA as a swim squad. There’s still an incredibly organic quality to what they’re doing though, as there often is at Tandem. A few years back, a lacrosse team that was in the DAC championship game was recruiting players during lunch to join, even if they hadn’t picked up a stick in awhile, if ever. The swim team is no exception.

“I think last year for (the Ben Hair meet) We only had like two girls on the team but we went around and said, ‘hey, you swam summer that one year’ and we got two or three girls who weren’t even on the team to swim in the meet,” Rodi said. “That’s a pretty distinctly Tandem thing.”

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“It was going to be their first meet experience and their only meet experience that year so I wanted to make it memorable.” — Rodi That kind of occurrence is part of the magic of blending worlds.

Suddenly the whole community has to come together to help make an idea happen, and that forges new interactions and new friendships that might not have been possible otherwise. White got involved in recruiting swimmers early on and he also plays basketball for Tandem.

“It wouldn’t have been nearly as successful at the beginning without him,” Rodi said.

Rodi and the rest of the Quakers’ swimmers, be it Porter and his ability to rip through the 50-free or Payne’s continued emergence as a strong year-round swimmer or Sam Corken and Alec Simon who’ve improved drastically, had a small tribe. Tandem gave that tribe a

home and a place to grow.

Swimmers always seem to be looking for a tribe. Maybe it’s the silence underneath the water, the monotony of the training or just that general need to belong, but swimmers always seem to be seekers. Many of them talk about what they do with their swim friends on the pool deck or even away from it with as much reverence as what happens in each lane. Or, if they are talking about the actual craft of swimming, they talk about relays as if they’re by far the most important aspect of a meet.

“I think it is,” Rodi said. “Because swimming is not really a team sport, but almost all my best times have been swum in a relay and that’s true of a lot of people. There’s just something much more motivating about it and it’s almost like we can bring the relay dynamic to practices because we’re all just swimming for each other.”

The Quakers’ relay team will compete in the state meet, with Payne, Rodi, Porter, White or Alec Simon teaming up in some quartet. That’s a pretty incredible climb for a team that didn’t even exist two years ago.

Not being afraid to take on a challenge worked for Rodi. Sometimes when you bring two worlds together, uncertainty gives way to growth and community building.

“It’s been really fun to watch happen and see how supportive people can be,” Rodi said. “People can all come together to make it work and seeing all that has been fantastic.” ✖

TEAM SPOTLIGHT CHS BOYS BASKETBALL On the Thursday before the Super Bowl, Charlottesville High football players Malik Bartee, Larry Anderson and Hannibal Reid went to We Care Day Care to hang out with some young fans as part of the school’s Super Bowl and safety week. The group read stories, answered questions and enjoyed a snack. Well done Black Knights, way to support your community.

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Game Time Fork Union 57, Woodberry 53

By Liz Keller

Fork Union’s Jared Armstrong finished with 18 points in a critical win over WFS. (Nick Bajis)

19 :: @scrimmageplay

The Fork Union basketball team has come a long way since it opened the season with a paltry 3-4 record. FUMA has now won 8 out of its past 10 games, including a 57-53 win over visiting Woodberry Forest.

The Blue Devils used a stifling defense and executed their gameplan to nearperfection down the stretch to elude the Tigers on Wednesday.

Fork Union has reeled off three straight wins and is tied for first with St. Anne’s Belfield atop the Prep League standings and seems to be peaking at the right time with three reglar season games remaining, including a Feb. 11 showdown in Charlottesville against STAB. “We have to finish strong. There are no easy games in the Prep League,” Fork Union coach James Pelham said. “Every game is going to be close, we just have to be mentally tough enough to get these last couple of wins.”

The Blue Devils (10-6, 7-2) appeared in trouble in the fourth, as they trailed by six points. However, sparked by a pair of baskets

by Jared Armstrong, Fork Union went on a 14-2 run. A quick steal by Lewis Freeman led to a basket in transition from Detwon Shelton to tie the game at 46-46 with 4:12 to play.

Fork Union took a lead it would not relinquish on another basket by Armstrong, as the Blue Devils exercised patience on the offensive end, working the ball around the floor to burn the clock. The strategy paid off, and with under a minute remaining, Freeman found Adisa Gittens-Smith under the basket, who finished the play with a nifty layup.

Freeman came up big for the Blue Devils on the other end as well, grabbing the defensive rebound on each of Woodberry’s next two attempts. Freeman, who had three assists in the final 1:28, dished the ball to Armstrong for the finish as FUMA took a 54-48 lead.

“We got really impatient on offense,” Woodberry coach Craig Dawson said. “FUMA isn’t a team you want to get in a track meet with, especially in their own gym. We did a good job of controlling the pace in the first half. In the second half we started out doing it, but then we got antsy. ” The Tigers (9-8, 4-5) ended their fiveminute scoring drought with a 3-pointer by Hawk Swearingen with 11.6 seconds remaining and cut the lead to two on a wide-open shot from Joe Foley with 2.5 seconds to play. The visitors, which led by as many as seven points in the second half, went 2 of 14 from the floor in the game’s final six minutes.

On the ensuing inbounds play, Freeman got the ball to Gittens-Smith again, who converted the easy basket as time expired.

“Every timeout I called, I never talked about offense. The whole time it was about defense,” Pelham said. “I told the guys, defense will win the game. For us to go on a 14-2 run, that shows that we were tough enough to gut it out and not worry about offense and focus a lot more on defense.

Our energy was a little down tonight for some reason, but we were able to persevere.

Sometimes you’ve got to win that way.”

Armstrong paced the Blue Devils with 18 points and Aundre Hyatt had 16, most of which came in the first half. The freshman forward also had several critical blocks down the stretch to help seal the win. Freeman reached double figures with 14 points.

Armstrong paced the Blue Devils with 18 points and Aundre Hyatt had 16, most of which came in the first half. The freshman forward also had several critical blocks down the stretch to help seal the win. Freeman reached double figures with 14 points.

Woodberry’s Luke Neeley led all scorers with 19 points, while Foley finished with 11.

Swearingen chipped in with 9 points. ✖

See a photograph you like?

Defensive stand Warriors goalie has more than one trick | By Ryan Yemen

At Scrimmage Play we pride ourselves on offering the best possible graphics Two years ago the Western Albemarle boys to Shin, who doubles as a Junior National Judo soccer team get was fueled its underclassmen medalist, we can our byhands on, in both our but has developed into one of the with sophomores and freshman bearing the area’s most versatile goalkeepers. magazine as well as at our website at brunt of the work load.

The netminder has shown he’s capable of Now two years later, forwards Aaron Myers making big saves, particularly in the team’s www.scrimmageplay.com and Alex Nolet, as well as senior defender two ties. In the first game of the season, Tom Rogers are all in their senior seasons and looking to earn a Region II bid, something that Orange County snatched away from them in the Jefferson District semifinals last season.

After the first month of play, the Warriors seem to have the defensive side of the equation figured out and junior goalkeeper Kai Shin is a big part of that.

Before Western went on its spring break, none of its four opponents were able to score more than once, a testament to the team’s play in the middle of the field, but also a nod

Shin endured wave after wave of Albemarle attack, but stood tall and showed no rust in the 1-1- tie.

But while Shin’s on the field because he can make stops, his strong leg has also been of great use as he’s able to easily clear the zone but also spark fast breaks all by himself.

The Warriors averaged a little over two goals per contest before the break, but if that average starts to increase, don’t be surprised if it’s because of Shin’s ability to contribute to the transition game. ✖

We want to make sure that our readers have the same opportunity to have these photos. If something catches your eye in either the magazine or on the web, you can order the photograph for yourself.

Whether it’s a 4x6 glossy print or a 13x11 mounted photo, we’ve got a full range of possibilities for you to choose from.

Simply visit our smugmug website at

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Western Albemarle’s Kai Shin hauls in a shot during his team’s 1-1 tie with Albemarle that kicked off the soccer season for both squads. (Frank Crocker)

Success stories begin here.

Success Story: Fletcher Arritt Fletcher Arritt’s ties to Fork Union run deep. His ties to basketball stretch far and wide. Upon his retirement in 2012, USA Today called him “the best coach you haven’t heard of.” Arritt might go about his business quietly, but his efforts have made an unbelievable impact and as such, he became a member of the Virginia High School Hall of Fame this April.

Back in 1959, Arritt arrived at Fork Union from Fayetteville, WVa. As a postgraduate basketball player, he was a captain while also participating in track and field.

From there he went on to continue his basketball and track and field career at the University of Virginia.

Just a few years later, he returned to FUMA, now as a teacher and coach. In 1966 he taught biology while also coaching basketball, track and football. In 1970 he took

over the postgraduate basketball team. Since then, more than 500 players have gone from his program to play in college and more than 200 of those played Division 1 basketball. Seven of those players made it to the NBA. In his time as the PG basketball coach, Arritt turned FUMA into one of the country’s elite programs. In 42 years coaching, he won 890 games and lost just 283 times.

Fletcher Arritt found his way to Fork Union just after high school and then found a way back to help FUMA, its students, and so many of his colleagues in a way that cannot be understated. Arritt’s journey is one of hard work and integrity. He is an example and creator of the Fork Union way, and as such, it’s not a surprise he’s now in the Hall of Fame.

Fork Union Military Academy is the leading Christian military boarding school for boys in grades 6 - 12 and PG. www.forkunion.com — 1-800-GO-2-FUMA

Overtime

#playlikeagirl

How one Super Bowl commerical got it right

I

’m not even going to pretend. I desperately need my daughters to play, learn from and ultimately enjoy sports. My son is old enough that we’ve already figured out he’s going to at least relish sports on some level.

That’s great and I’m thrilled about it. Him playing tee-ball was one of my favorite experiences as a parent, in part because he struggles sometimes and seemed to learn a lot.

But with my daughters, I feel like it’s more imperative. I need them to play, and it is a lot more about me than it is about them. It’s not just so I have something to relate to them about and so they’ll speak what’s become my language after playing or writing about sports for nearly three decades. It’s not because I have any illusions about college scholarships or vicarious glory on the field. I know the math on the first of those two and I’ve seen the attendance statistics (and salaries) for the WNBA with regards to the other.

It’s not any of those traditional impulses that lead a lot of folks to push their kids into sports. For me, it’s fear. Plain and simple, I’m afraid for my daughters in a way I’m not afraid for my son. I’m afraid because the world already seems intent on telling my oldest daughter exactly who she should be and how should she should do it and she’s only four.

The pink aisles at Target and Disney’s princess franchises (why can’t we get a Disney story that happens in a representative democracy by the way?) get a lot of blame, but they’re just symptomatic of what society already does. My oldest daughter recently, at my prompting, started getting into Star Wars, and predictably she’s drawn to the female characters. This is a child who proudly proclaims that “it’s girl time” if I go to the store and she’s left with just her mom and baby sister. But she likes that the women in Star Wars fight, that they are pretty awesome a lot of times and so at preschool she tried to join in on the Star Wars game that’s predictably populated by boys. One boy, according to my daughter, was cool with her playing but didn’t want her to be a girl character, he wanted her to be a boy character because he doesn’t like the girls. The irony of playing with a girl while declaring you don’t like them was of course lost on the four year old.

On one level, I was frustrated with this kid, trying to tell my daughter what she was going to be and acting like Leia or Padme were somehow less engaging characters (okay, I’ll give him Padme) just because they’re female. On another level I was happy he saw that just because you’re a girl, it doesn’t mean you need to be the girl character. My daughter should be able to be Chewbacca if she wants to be — it’s her choice.

That’s why when I saw the #likeagirl Super Bowl commercial, it struck a nerve. Sure, it’s a feminine hygiene commercial. But ignore the fact that the #likeagirl Super Bowl commercial is shilling for feminine products for a second, and when it’s stripped of the commercialism that it’s drenched in, it hits exactly at the core of the challenge female athletes face every time they suit up. The way they play, the way they throw, the way

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“My daughter should be able to be Chewbacca if she wants to be — it’s her choice.” they catch, the way they run, has traditionally been an insult in the sports world. That makes what they do empowering like few other pursuits. I want my daughters to play sports. I need them to play so they know they can do whatever they want to do. To understand that they can stand on their own, that insults only have power if you give them power.

I’m sure there are other ways to learn those lessons, but I’ve seen it work in sports.

I know it can happen there and I’ll know they’ve been given at least a chance to do that if I get them plugged in there. And if they can be a small part of making sure #playlikeagirl isn’t an insult used by one person, even better. ✖

Bart Isley

CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR

back talk »

How did the #plikeagirl ad impact your thinking, or did it?

Email: bart@scrimmageplay.com

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The winter edition of All-Scrimmage Play will be coming soon.