In the early 1990s, Bobby Johnson was an assistant coach at E.C. Glass and got
                           his first opportunity to be a part of an All-Star football game as an aide for head
                           coach Bo Henson.

                           Johnson, who led the Brookville High School team to a 12-2 record and the state
                           Division 3 championship in December, will officially be involved in his first Virginia
                           High School Coaches Association all-star game July 9-14 in Hampton.

                           He will be one of the assistants for the West team that will be under head coach
                           Bill Brown of C.D. Hylton. Other West assistants include Lou Sorrentino of
                           Culpeper and Taylor Edwards of Martinsville who agreed to help when Salem’s
                           Willis White turned down the opportunity for the second straight year.

                           “It’ll be a good experience and a chance to see how other coaches do things,” said
                           Johnson.

                           For the first time ever, the football all-star game will be on Friday night (the 14th)
                           instead of Thursday. According to Johnson, the all-star events have all been moved
                           up a day which means the boys and girls basketball games will be on Tuesday
                           (July 11), the soccer and volleyball on Wednesday, and the baseball and softball
                           on Thursday.

                           Four area high school seniors have been selected to play for the West including
                           Johnson’s highly-touted lineman Tarik Ghriri (6-2, 295).

                           The others are Amherst’s Trae Toliver (running back/linebacker) and Warren
                           Braxton (defensive back/running back) and E.C. Glass’ Marico Bowling (running
                           back/linebacker).

                           Jefferson Forest running back/linebacker Derek Neal, who recently signed with
                           VMI, was selected as an alternate for the West.

                           It didn’t take long for Mike Dufrene to turn the Osbourn High School boys
                           basketball program around.

                           The former Brookville and E.C. Glass coach had a 5-17 record a year ago after
                           returning to his alma mater in Manassas.

                           This year, the Eagles were 13-8 and were just one win away from making it to the
                           Northwest Region tournament. Osbourn lost to highly-touted Woodbridge by 10
                           points in the Cardinal District tournament semifinals.

                           And the Cardinal District was one of the best in the state with Gar-Field,
                           Woodbridge and Potomac, all of which were ranked in the AP top 10 poll at some
                           point this winter.

                           Bart Wheeler’s name will go up on the banner in the Holy Cross gymnasium as
                           the second all-time leading scorer in the school’s history.

                           The 6-foot-7 Wheeler has scored 2,025 points in his five-year career with the Gaels
                           and last week passed Richard Baker (Class of 1970) who had been second on the
                           scoring list with 1,991.

                           With a maximum of two games left, Wheeler won’t be able to catch the Gaels’
                           all-time leader Kevin Brady (Class of 1992) who had 2,173 points.

                           The Gaels (26-4) will be going for their first state championship since 1994 in the
                           Division III Virginia Independent Schools Boys Basketball Association state
                           tournament Final Four.

                           Holy Cross will face St. Vincent DePaul (27-5) of Petersburg Friday night at 7 p.m.
                           at Richard Bland Community College in Petersburg. 

                           In the other semifinal game Friday, Carlisle will face Isle of Wight. The
                           championship game is set for Saturday afternoon at Richard Bland.

                           The Gaels have won 22 games in a row since losing to Oscar Smith of Portsmouth
                           in the Oscar Smith Invitational on Dec. 27.

                           Holy Cross’ Scott Garber last week was named the Virginia Independent
                           Conference Coach of the Year and Wheeler, Carl Zovko and Irakli Nijaradze were
                           selected to the All-VIC team. Also on the squad was Timberlake’s Nathan
                           Williams and LCA’s Jimmy Kirshberger.

                           Notes:

                           Lynchburg College’s Turner Gymnasium will be hosting the Northwest Region
                           boys and girls basketball semifinals and finals this weekend.

                           The GW-Danville girls (23-1) play Pulaski in the semis Thursday night while
                           Gar-Field and Woodbridge meet in the other game.

                           The GW-Danville boys (18-5), who beat William Fleming 46-39 Tuesday night, are
                           paired against Cave Spring Friday night at LC in the semis. Woodbridge and
                           Potomac battle in the other semifinal Friday. The boys and girls championships
                           are Saturday at LC.

                           Former Jefferson Forest volleyball star Susan Clements helped Georgetown, Ky.
                           College to a 40-5 record and was named to the NAIA all-tournament team.
                           Clements, a sophomore who played one year at Bluefield College, led her team in
                           kills and digs as it finished fourth in the nation.