07 STAB Boys
Lacrosse attacks
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Offensive swagger Orange County rolls with the pitches to continue strong softball lineage. page 07
vol 7. issue 13 :: April 14, 2016
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07 STAB BOyS
LACrOSSe ATTACkS
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x’s and o’s
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Out of the cage Orange softball slugs away
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Intuitive attack STAB boys lacrosse finishes at the net
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Game time Monticello baseball rolls past Albemarle
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case for staying CHS’ Northington sticks with it
Offensive swagger vol 7 . issue 13 :: april 14, 2016
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Another transition Albemarle girls soccer leans on its youth
vol 7. issue 13 :: april 14, 2016
Orange County rolls with the pitches to continue strong softball lineage. page 07
S ta f f Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O n t h e Cov e r Orange County’s Hannah Jones M issio n Stat e me 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 tact Us [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-249-2032
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pregame
In full flight Albemarle senior Lindsey Earles attacks Covenant’s defense in the Patriots’ 18-8 win over the Eagles on April 13. Albemarle has already picked up win over Jefferson District foe Western Albemarle in overtime and gets its first crack at their other big JD rival in Monticello on April 19 before another meeting with the Warriors three days later. ✖ (Photo by Bart Isley)
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First Quarter
Another transition
Youth movement doesn’t change Albemarle’s success By Ryan Yemen
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Albemarle’s Makinna Winterton finishes off her first varsity goal in a 3-0 win over Monticello. (Ryan Yemen)
{ In 2018 AHS trusts } Breaking down the Albemarle girls soccer roster by grade
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Senior Junior Sophomore Freshman
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hen you lose two of the best soccer players in the area you don’t really get much a choice, you’ve got tap the youth and work it out. Sure the Albemarle girls soccer team looks different, but it’s still cruising.
Gone are 2015 Scrimmage Play player of the year Jazzy Loredo and first team All-SP and second team All-Group 5A standout Carmen Thomas. But the Patriots have graduated serious talent before and moved forward efficiently. It appears that Albemarle’s offense is going to be in good hands for quite some time. After all, it’s not often you wind up with a sophomore captain. “Coming into this season, we had no idea what the leadership would be,” said Patriots coach Amy Sherrill. “We went with three juniors and a sophomore and it’s been huge. They’ve been leaders on and off the field. The players chose them, they trust them to get the job done and trust them to speak for all the players.” Joining juniors Anne Ridenhour, Aiyanah Tyler-Cooper, and Hannah Eiden as captains is Madison Kersey. The sophomore midfielder is the link between the defense, led by Ridenhour, and offense, led by Eiden, and so far both units have been playing with remarkable cohesion. The Patriots are 4-0-1 and have outscored their opponents 20-1 with Atlee being the lone school to find the back of the net. Since that 3-1 victory, Albemarle’s posted four straight shutouts. “It’s been a big change from last year, but it’s been so much fun to see how all of this works,” Kersey said. “We have so many young players that can be those impacting players. The cool thing about this team is that no matter how young or old the player is, everyone is talking. That helps so much, makes us work together that much better.” One of those underclassmen starting to really leave her imprint on the game is Makinna
Winterton. The freshman had the first goal in a 3-0 win over a then undefeated Monticello team that had allowed one goal previously on the year. Winterton also had a pair of assists in a 8-0 romp over Orange County. With Eiden and sophomore Katie Schnell scoring with regularity, having Winterton as an extra offensive threat is a case of the rich getting richer. “Mak joined us as a freshman and wow, she is so fast,” Sherrill said. “She’s still raw so we’re trying to work on her technical skills. For her to net her first varsity goal, a game winning one at that (against Monticello) — we’re excited about what she brings.” Monticello has been Albemarle’s best test so far in the Jefferson District, and with games against Powhatan, Fluvanna County and Louisa County to follow, the Patriots have to wait until April 23 before they get a chance to play against archrival Western Albemarle. The Patriots have played in a pair of out-of-district meetings, finishing with a scoreless ties against former Commonwealth District rival Mountain View and the 3-1 win over Atlee. Within the JD, the Warriors were the lone competition for the Patriots with Albemarle beating them 4-0 in the first meeting, but finishing with a 1-1 tie in the second. This year, the two will meet twice in nine days. Yes, the Patriots have a younger look to them this year, but don’t expect them to suddenly feel like underdogs in any Jefferson District game. When your last loss in the district was in 2014, that starts to make a lot of sense. ✖
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College Update
We’ve gone digital But you can have it in print too!
Madison’s Seale, Fluvanna’s Shaheen thriving at EMU By Ryan Yemen She gave Madison County a chance to win every game it played from when she was named the starting pitcher as a sophomore all the way through her senior season. On top of that, Lauren Seale could rake at the plate too. There’s been a steady line of former Mountaineers to go on and put together solid softball careers at Eastern Mennonite and Seale is well on her way to adding her name to that list. After playing in 27 games last year, both pitching and fielding, Seale earned second team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference honors. She threw 82.1 innings, went 5-5, had a pair of saves and a 3.06 earned run average. On the other side of things, Seale was a .346 hitter with a pair of doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI. As a sophomore, Seale wasted little time getting back at it as she was named the ODAC pitcher of the week in the third week of March for her 5-inning ho-hitter over Southern Virginia. She’s thrown 80.1 innings and is
7-2 on the year so far with eight complete games for the Royals. She has a 3.05 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts with 76 and has a strong 2.92 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. Offensively, she’s hitting .283 and has four home runs and 12 RBI. Of course, Seale isn’t the only underclassmen performing at a high level for EMU. Fluvanna County graduate Tiffani Shaheen has broken out as a true freshman in the outfield for the Royals, playing in all 32 games so far. She’s hitting .385 with two triples, four doubles, seven RBI, 29 runs scored and leads the team by more than double with her six stolen bases. All in all, the pair have helped the Royals put together a 23-9 record. EMU is also 10-4 in ODAC play, putting them just behind Virginia Wesleyan (11-1) and Lynchburg (8-3) with eight games left in the regular season, including a doubleheader with the second-place Hornets on April 17. ✖
BELOW » Madison graduate Lauren Seale (left) and Fluvanna alumnus Tiffani Shaheen are two underclassmen putting up big numbers for Division III Eastern Mennonite. (EMU Sports Information)
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OUT OF
the cage Story by ryan yemen | photos by grace wilbanks 07 :: @scrimmageplay
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When you’ve got this kind of pop in the lineup, you’re never out of a game. But there’s something about Orange County in the first half of its softball season, as if the Hornets are intentionally trying to make things more dramatic than needed. Rallies are a natural part of the sport, but Orange has engineered two come-from-behind wins in particular that really stick out. After falling to William Monroe 7-1 in the first week of the season, a week later the Hornets were in a similar hole but at home, down 8-1. Facing a second straight season sweep at the hands of the Dragons, Orange mustered eight runs and surrendered none to come up with an 9-8 win. Just a few weeks later against Jefferson District rival Louisa County, the Hornets were in a 6-0 deficit headed into the bottom of the fifth. In the fourth inning of that game, Orange left the bases loaded with one out and came away with nothing. Between the fifth and sixth innings against the Lions, the Hornets put together a five-run rally followed by a three-run spurt to complete an 8-6 come-from-behind spectacular win. The talent is obviously there. Getting a consistent result from inning to inning is the challenge. Nonetheless, with the regular season halfway over, the Hornets know when to unleash it, and as such, stay on top of the Jefferson District standings.
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Below, Kaitlyn Johnson
“It was just overwhelming. It was awesome. Looking at this team, we’ve got the talent to do that again.” Johnson
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When you look at this team, at the comebacks and overall start, it’s not any one player doing all the work. This isn’t a softball team built around one do-everything pitcher. “It takes all of us,” said Orange coach Doris Buzzell. “It’s about stepping up and playing together.” This is Buzzell’s first full group of seniors as a head coach. Buzzell has been involved with the program since 1996 and took over the top job from John Henry Ryder in 2013 after serving as one of his longtime assistants. In the first year running the show, Buzzell guided the Hornets to a monster season in a year where the majority of the other programs struggled adjusting to being placed in the Commonwealth District as a Group AAA Division 5 school. It was in that year that Aysha Richardson completely took over, stringing together no-hitters and flirting with a perfect postseason game, that the Hornets rolled to win the CD tournament, the Northwest Region championship and eventually a showing the Group AAA final four. It was a banner year, and one that Kaitlyn Johnson, now a senior, remembers quite well. “Going through to the state tournament as a freshman, it was just overwhelming,” Johnson said. “It was awesome. Looking at this team, we’ve got the talent to do that again. We’ve struggled the past two years to get out of (Conference 16). If we really keep working we can go so much further than we have.” The Hornets have gone through a good deal of retooling since Richardson left, but with five seniors on the roster and a core of young talent behind them, Orange is off to its best start since Buzzell took over at 9-1. Averaging six runs a game, the Hornets have an offense that can get opposing teams into trouble quick. Orange has speed, it has power and it has the ability to play a lot of situational softball. This is a versatile group in a sport where that means everything. A speedy center fielder, Johnson leads off for Orange and her on-base percentage of .529 is good for second on the team. She’s a patient hitter as she leads the team in walks. Behind her is Lexi Lomax who as a sophomore has become an offensive juggernaut, in addition to her solid defense at shortstop. Lomax is hitting .500 on the year, good for second on the team. She leads the Hornets in runs scored, doubles, is second in RBI, tied for the lead in home runs with two and has the lowest strikeout total. That said, her approach at the plate is about staying humble and embracing the old adage ‘trust the batter behind you.’ It’s clichéd because it’s true. “The whole lineup is capable producing hits so it’s not all up to the top of the lineup,” Lomax said. “I feel like I can go up there and go 0-for-3 and somebody is going to pick me up.” Of course, those days are rare and when you’ve got Virginia Tech signee Hannah Jones hitting third in the order, it’s easy to see why Lomax and Johnson scored 23 of their team’s first 34 runs. While Jones gets pitched around a good bit, especially when there are no runners on base, she’s found a way to make her imprint in more at-bats than you’d guess. Her reputation as a
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 soccercan team get was fueled its underclassmen medalist, we 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. ✖
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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)
Below, Hannah Jones
“It’s hard but you can’t come up thinking that someone isn’t going to pitch to you. that messes up your mindset.” - Jones
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hitter precedes her, but she’s not expecting to be walked. “It’s hard but you can’t come up thinking that someone isn’t going to pitch to you,” Jones said. “That messes up your mindset. You have to go up there looking to get their best pitch and finding a way to get a hit off it. Even if you’re good, you’re never so good that you won’t get at least a pitch to hit, especially in tight situations. You can’t walk Lexi and me too.” And so far, Jones hasn’t let them. She had no walks through the Hornets’ first nine games yet is hitting .438 and has 12 RBI, and two home runs. Picking up the pieces behind Jones is Terra Goode who just happens to lead Orange in batting average at .536 and RBI with 14. She’s got a home run to her name too. That’s just the first four batters — all of them hitting .304 and above — the challenge for opposing pitchers to start the order. After that, Buzzell has two more hitters hitting for great averages — sophomore Ashlee Brassart who’s at .368 and then a freshman in Lindsey Slaughter who’s having a breakout year hitting ninth and playing second base. “She’s my youngest girl but I’m really impressed with the way she handles herself,” Buzzell said. “She’s been hitting ninth for us and playing second base, just doing a really nice job. She’s just strong and that’s a coaches dream having that from somebody so young. At first we’re wondering, okay she’s going from basketball to softball, let’s see how it goes. But she came out hitting and fields a really good second base, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.” Slaughter’s line of a BA at .370, nine runs scored, six RBI, a triple and two doubles with just three strikeouts is killer for pitchers looking for a quick out at the bottom of the order. In many ways, it’s like having two leadoff hitters, and as such, it’s easy to see why the Hornets rally quite well the second and third time through the order. “When all of us are on, it’s going to be a good day,” Jones said. “When we’re all on, we know we’re going to win.” So it’s getting to that stage like they did against Monroe and Louisa late in the games, that’s the key. The person reminding them of that each and every at-bat is assistant coach Skeeter Lutz. He was an assistant for the boys baseball team in 2009 that made the Group AA quarterfinals. He’s an assistant under Dave Rabe for the girls basketball team in winter. Buzzell’s daughters have played for Lutz and the two have put Orange in a position to win since they started working together. One of the game’s great vocal presences, Lutz coaches third base for Orange with personality. “Skeeter gets after the girls, reminds them they have to be ready for each and every pitch,” Buzzell said. “He’s always on them, but it’s a positive message and strong voice. He gets into the games and just goes out there and enjoys it.” As good as this team is hitting, there are always going to be three facets to the game. In Orange’s case, its defense and the pitching it gets from Courtney Wright can get lost in the mix. Wright is a senior who came to Orange last year after playing
Below, Courtney Wright for Covenant. She’s become Buzzell’s go-to arm and has shown grit by staying in games after some ugly innings to come out victorious. “She throws hard and does a really nice job of being tough,” Buzzell said. “Sometimes she’ll struggle with her accuracy but she sticks with it and battles.” Wright shut out a strong-hitting Madison County team 3-0 and has helped her team hang on to close leads — the Hornets have four wins by 2-runs or less. That wins over your teammates’ confidence. “No matter the situation, her face is exactly the same,” Jones said. “I love Courtney so much, she’s just so tough. She’s awesome. She’ll go far in softball.” So now for the rest of the regular season, Orange is getting prepped to try and get out of Conference 16 play and into the Region 5A North tournament. With early games against Monroe and Madison in the out-of-District portion of their schedule in the books, the Hornets are now hoping that Louisa, Powhatan and Monticello are able to keep them on their toes… but obviously not too much. “I think the pitching we’ve seen so far is really going to help us prepare for the Conference,” Johnson said. “We know we can be great. Once we start doing the things we know we can at the beginning of games we’ll be in good shape. It’s a mental thing. We’ve had some struggles early but once he get in the head of the pitchers we really start putting pressure on defenses and good things come out of doing that.” Orange has until the third week of May finish ironing everything out. Given the way it has managed the first half of its schedule, if this team is only getting better down the road, the box scores are going to sport some Hornet-friendly crooked numbers. ✖
“No matter the situation, her face is exactly the same. I love courtney so much, she’s just so tough” - Jones Left, Lexi Lomax. Right, Lindsey Slaughter
Intuitive Attack
Story and photos by bart isley 13 :: @scrimmageplay
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here is something inherently unpredictable, something tantalizingly fluid and creative embedded in the St. Anne's-Belfield's boys lacrosse team's offense when it's clicking. With a dazzling array of weapons, the sum of the Saints' parts has to be pretty impressive to be better than the parts themselves and the sum is just that. The offense doesn't look regimented because it isn't. It looks natural and exciting because it is. But it's built on a simple foundation. Talent and trust. "It's a matter of continuity, you've had basically the same group for three years," said STAB coach Bo Perriello. "It becomes a little intuitive. They spend so much time outside of practice working together, it's (about) getting to the point where you can anticipate and react to what you expect the other person to do." www.scrimmageplay.com :: 14
So then it comes down to a coaching staff that has the confidence to let that happen. To take advantage of that. To essentially cede control to the players who’ve proven they’re worthy of that trust. “From a coaching perspective, you get to the point where you don’t want to hold them back,” Perriello said. “Scripting it too much can be kind of putting the reins on. Why not just let them do their thing?” The Saints are powered by a returning core of offensive threats that are as good as any in recent memory locally. All five of those returners are Division I lacrosse commits, stretched over three classes, with seniors Phillip Robertson and Josh Reiss combining with juniors Javon Johnson, Jack Schultz and Joe Robertson for an almost entirely intact offense from a year ago, a rarity in high school lacrosse. They’re not just returners either, they’re highly regarded returners. Phillip Robertson is headed to Princeton after switching to the Tigers from an earlier pledge to North Carolina while Reiss will join Lehigh’s squad next season. Johnson has verbally committed to Michigan while Jack Schultz is committed to Princeton and Joe Robertson is a Johns Hopkins pledge. Stepping in for the lone departure (the graduated Brodie Phillips who has seen action in nine games for Dickinson College this season) is freshman Connor Shellenberger, who has already verballed to Hopkins. That’s six Division I talents coming together on offense, most of them for the second straight year after last year’s state title run in which the Saints were seeded sixth in the state tournament. “It’s definitely a crazy group,” Schultz said. “If we play team ball, we all have the skills, so if we put it all together, it can be pretty lethal.” They’re also almost entirely attackmen by trade, with Reiss as the lone true midfielder. Johnson and Shellenberger have usually been on attack on other squads, but with the Robertsons and Schultz, who is
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"It's definitely a crazy group, If we play team ball, we all have the skills, so if we put it all together, it can be pretty lethal." - J. SCHULTZ sometimes jokingly referred to as the other Robertson brother, now in their third season playing attack together, nobody wanted to break that group up. “We’re real comfortable with each other,” Joe Robertson said. “Every day, every week we’re out there shooting with each other. We have the consistency with each other where if I dart it in there then I know that they’re going to catch it, I know they’re going to finish it.” But Johnson and Shellenberger are too talented to leave on the sideline, so they’ve been worked into the midfield rotation, which creates a unique challenge for opposing defenders. Johnson in particular, with a major confidence increase over last year, is clearly one of the most creative offensive players in the state. He made an underhand flick pass on the outside edge of the crease against Loyola-Blakefield that was from an angle that barely made sense, but it worked perfectly, finding the open man for an easy goal. Shellenberger, on the flip side, has a powerful, accurate shot that Phillip Robertson indicated was one of the team’s best.
Academic Edge
s p o n s o r e d
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Monticello’s Tucker Wren
Tucker Wren is a top-notch student, but one of his defining characteristics is the way he responds to adversity. Wren, a senior, didn’t get the start for Monticello’s boys soccer team earlier this year in the squad’s season opener. Instead of sulking, Wren stayed locked in. “His response when he stepped on the field was outstanding,” said Monticello coach Deesh Bhattal. “He sat on the bench, absorbed the information he was given and when he went on the field, he has not stopped performing for us. He has given his best effort no matter what role he has been asked to play.” That’s a been a variety of roles, from defense to forward as Bhattal looks to re-work the program in his first season at the helm. Wren, who also earned varsity letters as a freshman and sophomore in indoor track, fills a variety of roles off the field as well. He’s a member of the National Honor Society and the secretary/treasurer of the German Honor Society. He’s posted a 4.0 GPA and is now choosing between attending Mary Washington or James Madison in the fall.
About Hargrave Military Academy Hargrave believes individual achievement is a gamechanger for all students, both on and off the field. With a college acceptance rate of 100% and a heavy emphasis on academics, your son will have competitive advantages ahead of his peers including leadership and character development.
The Academic athlete of the issue is selected by Scrimmage Play’s staff with the consultation of coaches and athletic directors. To nominate an athlete email info@scrimmageplay.com
1-800-432-2480 | www.hargrave.edu Im p r o v e d g r a d e s / 1 0 0 % C o l l e g e A c c e p t a n c e f i n d u s o n fa c e b o o k
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"We have so much firepower on offense, we just try and get the matchup, especially with the short stick. We have six guys who can score and that can't put six poles on us." - J. Johnson 17 :: @scrimmageplay
With that kind of attack background percolating through the midfield, any one of the six players can essentially play anywhere within the offensive framework. They’re all equally adept scoring threats from any of those spots, whether it’s behind the cage from up top, wherever they end up. Essentially, whoever draws a short stick defender is going to likely get a chance to make a play. They’re all quick, they’re all strong shooters who have good shot selection instincts, they’re all good at moving the ball to the open man. Eventually, they’re going to catch a defense in a bad rotation or a bad matchup and take advantage. “We have so much firepower on offense, we just try and get the matchup, especially with the short stick,” Johnson said. “We have six guys who can score and they can’t put six poles on us, so we’re going to have some kind of matchup.” Phillip Robertson is one of the only players that seems to have a more defined role as the offense’s table setter and de facto quarterback. “I think Nate (coach Nate Rullman) has been doing a really good job this year of kind of teaching me what to call and what to look for,” Robertson said. “I think my IQ has gone up a lot this year, just knowing what sets to go into and reading a defense.” Even within that role, he will often execute at unexpected spots or he’ll serve as a decoy to allow some other part of the offense to open up. Unlike STAB teams in the past where there were some pretty clear finishers and distributors, everyone can do a little bit of everything. Last year’s statistics bear that out where the three attackman had pretty similar end-of-season lines with Phillip Robertson scoring 39 goals while notching 15 assists, Joe Robertson had 36 goals and 10 assists and Schultz had 28 goals and 12 assists. Even their shooting percentages were tightly clustered with Phillip at 29 percent (while battling back injuries a good portion of the year), Joe at 35 percent and Schultz at 40 percent. That’s startling balance for an offensive unit, and it makes the Saints increasingly difficult to defend. Matching up with two big-time threats on attack is hard enough. Eventually you’re going to run out of quality longstick defenders. That balance is also where the trust part of the equation comes in. It’s often hard for quality players not to try and take a game over when they’re less confident in the players playing alongside them. But STAB’s offensive players clearly know that everyone is capable of making the play, which opens up a different possibility, the chance to create a particularly dynamic offense. There aren’t a lot of new plays out there for lacrosse offenses to run, and an offensive unit can become predictable and easily scoutable by opponents if they run a set offense. Set plays will work sometimes, but if you have the talent and the lacrosse savvy to do it, running more inventive, improvisational offenses is usually the best way to go about things. That requires a level of comfort, confidence and creativity that most high school
Joe Robertson
teams don’t possess, which too often leads to one player taking the gross majority of the shots or the ball not moving the way it should through the offense. When each player trusts everyone else to make the play, great things can happen. “I think what we’re just trying to recognize that we have punching power all over the field and get those assisted goals and try to play as a team,” Reiss said. The question then becomes, can the rest of the Saints’ squad catch up. While the offense has everyone back from that 2015 title run, that isn’t the case on the rest of the roster. Replacing Eric Buhle, the tremendous keeper who’s now at Richmond and was essentially perfect during the state tournament run (stopping an astounding 80.4 percent of shots) isn’t going to be easy, though senior Patrick Blake joining the squad at that spot is an unexpected boost. They also have to work in an entirely new faceoff group, and that offense can’t get going without a sizeable portion of faceoff wins by Magnus Gold, who steps in for Austin Park, who held a 56 percent advantage on faceoffs last year. The defense brings back two strong defenders in Kareem Johnson and Pierce Bower, but beyond that it’s a lot of talented new faces that are a bit unproven. The Saints have dropped two critical games early to in-state opponents that are state title contenders with a narrow loss to Paul VI and a frustrating home loss to St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes. But hanging with the nationally-ranked Loyola Blakefield team that traveled to take on the Saints in late March gives reason to think that STAB should only get better as the season continues and perhaps another postseason run could be in the offing as the defense and
"I have a little piece of paper in my locker and THe last line is just 'Enjoy this last season and have fun with joe'." - p. robertson faceoff situations work themselves out. There’s also a sense that the Saints, and in particular Phillip Robertson, get the magnitude of what will be his final run, both with the Saints and with his brother as they’ll play at different colleges after graduating. “It’s what motivates me every day, I have a little piece of paper in my locker and the last line is just ‘enjoy this last season and have fun with Joe’ so I realize that it’s probably the last time playing competitively (with him),” Robertson said. “So I’m just trying to enjoy every game.” So maybe add motivation to STAB’s talent and trust. That’s a pretty strong set of ingredients to work with, and that motivation may be just the charge the Saints need to ignite another title run. ✖ www.scrimmageplay.com :: 18
Game Time Monticello 13, Albemarle 3 By Ryan Yemen
Carter Lee picked up the complete game win over Albemarle. (Ryan Yemen)
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For the most part, the offense has been there since week one. For Monticello baseball, finding the quality starts has been the key. Carter “Goose” Lee’s approach is about having his team play defense behind him. On Tuesday, after Albemarle took a 3-0 lead in the first two innings, the Mustangs starter and his defense found a rhythm. Lee went the distance to earn the complete game victory as the Mustangs rallied to take a 4-3 lead and then blew up in the bottom of the sixth for a 13-3 run ruling over the Patriots. “Caps off to Albemarle — they executed in the first two innings and took it to us,” said Monticello coach Corey Hunt. “We made a few adjustments and the guys got a few clutch hits here and there, we got a few clutch pitches from Carter Lee who settled in on the mound (then we made) the defensive plays and you find yourself back in the ball game. So it took all of us tonight to beat that club.” Monticello started out in a 3-0 hole after Nathan Toney and Ryan Porter reached on a walk and error. A sacrifice from Jacob Nash and an RBI fielder’s choice from Scott Reid made it 2-0 in the first. Then in the top of the third an error put Porter on base and Nash hit an RBI single to make it 3-0. Lee was on point from there though. He retired ten of the last 12 batters he faced, giving up just two singles in the process and inducing seven ground ball outs along the way. “I was just pitching for contact with the fastball working,” Lee said. “I know I’ve got fielders that could play catch and get the outs. It’s good to know they’ve got my back so I’ll keep on pitching for contact.”
Offensively, the Mustangs came to life in the bottom of the third. Bryce McGlothlin was hit by a pitch and Lee singled in the next at-bat. After an RBI single from Tristan Winn and RBI fielder’s choice from Jacob Byrnes, the Mustangs had the Albemarle lead down to 3-2. In the sixth, Monticello cut loose for 11 runs to win the game. Tyler Walker led off with a single. Then Kevin Jarrell followed with a single. McGlothin drove in two on a single to give Monticello the lead. After a fielder’s choiace, Lee drove in two more runs on a double. Winn hit an RBI single in the next at-bat. A walk and Walker RBI double then followed. Jarrell reached on an error and after another walk, an RBI single from McGlothin and a walk with the bases loaded to Lee, the Mustangs walked off with the run ruling. “It was the old saying of hitting is contagious and it’s always easy to go to the plate after the last guy has a good at-bat,” Hunt said. “We keep the quality at-bat charts each day. We want our guys to have quality at-bats and it’s easy to follow up a guy that does that. The last few innings we did a good job of that. You’re not always going to have hits, always going to have runs but you can have a quality at-bat with each approach at the plate.” On the day for Monticello, McGlothlin finished 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored. Walker was 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Jarrell was 1-for-3 with three runs scored. Lee went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. For Albemarle, Porter was 1-for-3 with two runs scored but reached base in all three atbats. Nash finished 1-for-3 with two RBI. ✖
team Spotlight Western Girls Basketball In what has become an annual tradition, the Warriors are helping raise money for The March of Dimes, a charity founded by FDR in 1938 that helps with health care for pregnant women and children. The walk is April 30 and Western has participated in the event since 2012. Outstanding work, Warriors. Keep it up and good luck!
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Best of luck to our 2015 student athletes as they embark on their college careers. Jake Allen
Baseball
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Overtime
Case for staying Charlottesville’s Northington stays true to his roots
I
t’s become pretty common for high school athletes across the nation and locally to change or switch schools nominally for a lot of different reasons, but largely because of a specific sport. Because they want to have a certain coach or join a certain team or they perceive that they can increase their recruiting profile with a move. I’m totally in favor of student athletes and their families being able to move or change their situation to find the best environment for that student to thrive. I’m also in favor of college student athletes, who remain unpaid by the way, to choose where they want to play and then later change their mind about where they want to continue their career. But sometimes, everything else gets lost in the pursuit of something specific and, in the grand scheme of things, often small. Too often one aspect of a high school student’s life holds too much sway over everything else and in a mad pursuit of something that isn’t attainable or isn’t worth the pursuit. That hasn’t been the case for Banks Northington. “I really am grateful for all the people that have helped me along the way and all my friends that have been supportive of me,” Northington said. Northington has stayed put at Charlottesville during the last four years playing for a baseball team that has struggled at times to compete and is only slowly coming back around now under the steady hand of second-year head coach Eric Lane. Northington plays for a top-notch travel baseball team, a squad that has allowed him to play next to athletes who now suit up for Bucknell and Cal-State Fullerton among other strong baseball programs, but during the high school season there have been times where teams have been able to completely pitch around Northington and take their chances with the rest of the Black Knights’ often-inexperienced lineup. Northington and his teammates continue to work to overcome that adversity. “We’re working our tails off,” Northington said. “It came together last year and it’s going to come together again this year.” In our last edition, we profiled STAB’s Javin DeLaurier, a great example of an athlete who stayed at the school he started at instead of seeking brighter lights elsewhere. In the process, the program reached new or rarely seen heights and everything worked itself out. But sometimes, the wins don’t necessarily come for a program even when a great athlete stays. Certain sports are much harder to elevate overnight than basketball where 2-3 players can transform things. Baseball requires a different culture, an established pipeline and serious, serious depth in the field, at the plate and on the mound. It just isn’t easy to turn things around in baseball, particularly at a public school. But your high school experience should be about much more than what goes on with a single sport or how you feel about playing time or recruiting opportunities. For Northington, those other things -- friends, academics, environment -- outweighed sports. “The whole school itself from the education to the friends I have here to the coaching staff, I’ve just been pretty happy no matter what the results have been,” Northington said.
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“I’ve just been pretty happy no matter what the results have been.” Next year, Northington will head to Gettysburg to play baseball. He’s played with elite players during the summer travel season, making friends with guys who play across the country. He’s also played some good golf as one of the Black Knights’ top players. He spent some time on the lacrosse field for CHS as well. In the meantime, he’s also helped put the CHS baseball program on more firm footing as Lane continues to re-tool. In short, he’s had a full, rich high school experience, and that’s worth more than a few more wins in baseball for Northington. “Being able to see all these different types of kids and seeing where they’re coming from,” Northington said. “It’s just more of a real-world experience.” Too often that isn’t the most important goal for student athletes. Too often the short term takes control of the long term. But sometimes the best move is no move at all. ✖
Bart Isley,
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Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Eddie George It was a big decision, but after starring for the Fork Union prep football team as a junior and senior, Eddie George thought a post graduate year at FUMA would help him get to the level he desired. The results speak for themselves. In his PG year, George rushed for 1,372 yards and right to a scholarship to play for an elite national program in Ohio State. In four years for the Buckeyes, George was a man possesed, making the most of his 6-foot-3inch frame and running for 3,768 yards and 45 touchdowns. In 1995 as a senior, George rushed for a school record 1,927 yards and 24 touchdowns en route to the Heisman Trophy where he was able to edge Tommy Harrison for the nation’s most outstanding
player award. In the National Football League, George made a equally large impact. He was the 14th overall pick in 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans). He made four Pro Bowls while playing for the Oilers/Titans, including the 1999 season where Tennessee fell just short of winning Super Bowl XXXIV to the St. Louis Rams. George played up until 2005. His career totals speak to how hard he run in the short time he played — he has 10,441 rushing yards, 268 receptions, 2,227 receiving yards, and 78 total touchdowns. He has a succesful broadcasting career now as a college and professional football analyst. In the end, his decision at Fork Union was the first step on what’s been a long and successful journey.
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