| The News & Advance
8/2/99 The Brookville High School football team has a long history of going to postseason play but last year the Bees were 6-4 and stayed home. "We talked about it today - one of our goals it to get back to the playoffs,"
said Brookville second-year coach Bobby Johnson Monday after the Bees joined
13 other area schools in beginning practice for a new season.
Rustburg, under coach Mike Scharnus, proved that last year. The Red Devils were third in the Seminole standings but came on strong in the second half of the season, beat Brookville in the regular season finale to qualify for the playoffs and went to the Division 3 state championship game before losing to Nottoway. It'll be even tougher getting out of the district this year with the addition of Amherst County, which went to the Group AAA, Division 5 title game against Hampton last fall and had a 13-1 record. The Lancers, under veteran coach Mickey Crouch, are loaded again this year which is why many observers pick them as the preseason choice to win the Group AA, Division 4 state title. Among the Amherst starters returning are quarterback Chris Carpenter, wideout Warren Braxton, running backs Jason Cox and Trae Toliver, linemen Billy Black and Gary Liggon and kicker Noah Crouch. Area football teams have nearly four weeks to get ready for their season openers on Aug. 27. Buckingham opens Sept. 3 against Fluvanna - therefore the Knights do not begin practice until Aug. 9. Virginia High School League rules dictate that each school must have 20 practice dates before its first game. The Aug. 27 openers will include Heritage vs. E.C. Glass at City Stadium;
Salem at Brookville; Patrick Henry (Roanoke) at Jefferson Forest; Amherst
at William Fleming; Martinsville at Rustburg; Staunton River at Altavista;
Monticello at Nelson; Randolph-Henry at Appomattox; William Campbell at
Liberty and Bassett at Gretna.
When practice began Monday, Johnson's big concern was to find a quarterback to replace three-year starter Jason Brown and a running back to fill the shoes of the graduated Brian Hicks. Junior Chad Steuck and sophomore Scott Nixon will probably battle for the quarterback spot while Dejon Kennedy, Lemar Kennedy and Michael Callaham are candidates at running back. "We actually have a lot of starters back because we only had 11 seniors on the team last year and we have just 12 this year," said Johnson who must also find a replacement for wideout Ben Maddox. "Our offensive line returns almost intact." Johnson said the cooler weather that is predicted for this week will be a blessing for his players. "They can get in their conditioning before putting on the pads next week," he said. Jefferson Forest coach Ed Landis, whose Cavaliers finished 7-4 last year after a postseason loss to Salem, has six starters returning on both sides of the ball. However, all-star defensive back and quarterback Jerton Evans has graduated and Monday Landis was taking a look at Brian Neal at quarterback. The Cavaliers, who had 60 candidates for the first day of practice, have Derek Neal and Nathan Hagerty returning in the backfield and Doug Jones is one of the prospects to replace the graduated Jay Chapman in the backfield. Heritage coach Pem Apperson, whose Pioneers were 10-2 and won the Seminole title a year ago, has high hopes for junior Joey White who figures to replace Alex Lucy at quarterback. The Pioneers will have Quincy Slaughter and Ronell Rucker in the backfield and all-district tight end Derek Screen may see action there also. "The key for us will be how much we develop during the four non-district
games," said Apperson whose team faces E.C. Glass, Tunstall, Patrick County
and Magna Vista before facing Brookville in the district opener.
|