WDBJ 7 Friday Football Extra for 12/08/00

[Pulaski]

[ANCHOR=MIke]

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Good evening folks and welcome to Friday Football Extra. Tonight is our 17th and final show of this 2000 season. In the next half hour, we'll give you a front row seat for our annual awards' banquet that was held earlier this week at the Salem Civic Center. You'll get a chance to hear from our coaches of the year, our teams of the year, and our special guest at the banquet - Virginia Tech tailback Lee Suggs - a three time player of the week while he was at William Fleming.
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And to get things started we need to head inside the Salem Civic Center where all the festivities took place on Wednesday night.
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[IN Q=Our 14 players....]
[SUPER=51-Salem/Wednesday Night; :00]
[SUPER=50-Jeff King/Lee Cook Lineman of the Year; :44]
[SUPER=50-David Hale/Noel C. Taylor Scholar Athlete; 1:43]
[RUNS=2:13]
[OUT Q=...hard at everything."]
((Our 14 players of the week from just completed season got to bask in the limelight one more time this year as Your Hometown Station sent each of them home with some early Christmas gifts. WDBJ-7 also passed out a couple of major awards - both of which were one by Pulaski County players. Six foot Six inch Cougar senior Jeff King was on hand to pick up the Lee Cook Lineman of the year award, which is given annually in memory of the former Pulaski tackle who died unexpectedly during a game at Victory Stadium in 1997. King who is headed to Virginia Tech next season had more than 100 pancake blocks this season. ((JEFF KING:)) King's teammate at Pulaski County, David Hale won the most prestigious honor - the Noel C. Taylor Scholar Athlete of the year award. Hale played defensive back and running back for the Cougars - and served as one of the team captains each of the past two seasons. His Grade point average if just over 4 point oh, and he's already scored 1310 on his college boards. The WDBJ-Noel C. Taylor scholarship is worth $2000 dollars.)) ((DAVID HALE:))
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[TALENT=MIKE]
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Hale is considering Duke, UVa, MIT and Johns Hopkins. However, he also would like to continue playing football in college and may take a look at some smaller academic progr

ams like Davidson.[Foutz]

[ANCHOR=Mike]
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While those two young men would do a wonderful job representing any school in the area, the same also be said for Cave Spring head coach Ben Foutz.
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Cave Spring finished the season 9-and-1, but had to forfeit 7 wins and a playoff berth for using a player who was academically ineligible. It was an administrative oversight. One that threatened to rip the community and the program apart, but instead made it stronger.
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[PINNACLE BEN FOUTZ] And the many coaches in the Friday Football Extra were so impressed with the job Ben Foutz did in keeping his players focused, that they voted him Friday Football Extra's top overall coach for the year 2000. A sweet reward after an unbelievably stressful season.
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[SOT]
[IN Q=WELL YOU KNOW]
[SUPER=50-Ben Foutz/2000 FFE Coach of the Year; :00]
[SUPER=50-Willis White/Salem Head Coach;1:24]
[SUPER=50-Jim Hickam/Northside Head Coach; 2:04]
[RUNS=2:54]
[OUT Q=...EVERY ONE OF THEM."]
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[Tease#1]

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When we come back we'll hear from our other three coaches of the year and tell you about a common thread that runs right through each man all the way into West Virginia as Friday Football Extra's season finale continues right here on Your Hometown Station. [go to break]

[HICKS]

[ANCHOR=MIke]
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It time now to turn our attention to the rest of the annual Friday Football Extra coach of the year awards. And we begin in the Triple A ranks where Pulaski County high school has dominated the football landscape since Joel Hicks took over the program in 1979 - five years before the start of Friday Football Extra.
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[GO TO HICKS PINNACLE] In that time span, Joel has won 193 games and lost just 61. This year the Cougars got a share of their 14th Roanoke Valley district title and won their 5 Northwest regional crown in their final year as Group Three A members. The Cougars were 11 and 2 this season, just a year after barely finishing at the 500 mark. Hicks picked up his coach of the year honor and dedicated it to his assistants.
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[IN Q=FIRST AUDIO]
[SUPER=50-Joel Hicks/Group AAA Coach of the Year; :00]
[RUNS=:33]
[OUT Q=...VERY TICKLED]
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[Hickam]

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Another respected veteran field boss was honored in the Group Two A ranks where without a doubt the competition for coach of the year honors was the most fierce.
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[GO TO HICKAM] Northside's Jim Hickam was voted Double A's coach of the year by the peers. He beat out Magna Vista's Joe Beckelheimer, Liberty's Scott Abell, Rustburg's Mike Scharnus and Salem's Willis White for the honor.
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[IN Q=FIRST AUDIO]
[SUPER=50-Jim Hickam/Northside Head Coach; :00]
[RUNS=1:30]
[OUT Q=....A LONG TIME."]
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[Jones]

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Our Group A coach of the year had to find more than just chemisty when he took over the Bath County high school program this season.
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[GO TO CHRIS JONES] Chris Jones arrived in Hot Springs from Sussex Central high school. He inherited a team that won just one ball game last season. All he did was lead the Chargers to a district and regional title and all the way to a division one state runner-up finish.
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[SOT]
[IN Q="It's been a...]
[SUPER=50-Chris Jones/Group A Coach of the Year; :00]
[RUNS=:48]
[OUT Q=....DID THIS YEAR."]
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[Gainer]

[ANCHOR=Mike]
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Sometimes irony meets fate in both life and occasionally on the football field. Such is the case with this year's trio of Friday Football Extra coach of the year honorees that you just heard from in this segment of the show. Hicks, Hickam and Jones all have direct ties to War, West Virginia and in particular Big Creek high school. And all three were influenced in one way or another by the late coaching icon Merrill Gainer.
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[SOT]
[IN Q=WELL....]
[SUPER=50-Chris Jones/Former Big Creek Player; :00]
[SUPER=50-Joel Hicks/Former Big Creek Coach; :21]
[SUPER=50-Jim Hickam/Played under Gainer at Big Creek; :49]
[RUNS=1:10]
[OUT Q=...BIG PART OF IT."]
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[vo nat con't]
[super=51-Roanoke/1973;]
Merrill Gainer would coach the Patrick Henry Patriots from 1968 through 1978 - winning a state title in 1973. Gainer died earlier this year in late February at the age of 87.
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[Tease#2]

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When we come back, yet another Gainer disciple step up to the microphone - Willis White who coaches under Gainer at Patrick Henry high school.
White and the 2000 season's teams of the year are up next. Plus, later we'll learn a valuable lesson in humility from former Friday Football Extra great Lee Suggs. Stay with us everybody, we'll be right back. [go to break]
[Salem]
[ANCHOR=Mike]
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Eash year the Friday Football Extra staff members put their heads together and name a team of the year. That team take home a nice plaque and a $1000 check. But this year we decided to split the money and the award to honor both Rustburg and Salem.
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[GO TO FULL SCREEN] We begin our teams of the year segment with the Salem Spartans - a group won its third straight state championship despite begin 3 and 3 at the midpoint of the season.
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[SOT]
[IN Q=THEY SAY...]
[SUPER=50-Willis White/4 State Titles at Salem; :00]
[RUNS=2:11]
[OUT Q=...WALK AWAY LATE."]
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[Rustburg]

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Willis couldn't buy a state title in his early days at Salem, but he now has four in the last five years. While Salem's season in 2000 had to experience a major transformation at its midpoint,
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[RUSTBURG FULL SCREEN] the exact opposite is true for the division three state champs from Rustburg. Friday Football Extra's co-team of the year didn't really have a deal with a turning point the entire year.
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[SOT]
[IN Q=FIRST AUDIO]
[SUPER=50-Mike Scharnus/Rustburg Head Coach; :00]
[RUNS=1:50]
[OUT Q=...good luck hat.]
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[TALENT=MIKE]
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Scharnus got that hat during his first coaching job while working as an assistant to Joel Hicks at Pulaski County in the mid-80s.

[Tease#3]

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One of the great things about this program is that we get to see young high school men move on to college and make a name for themselves on the national level. When we return former three time player of the week Lee Suggs shows us all the proper way to represent one's self and one's hometown. [go to break]

[Suggs]

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The NCAA's reigning touchdown king, Lee Suggs, took time out of his schedule to help us out on Wednesday night. Not surprisingly, the Three-time former Player of the Week from William Fleming scored big with those in attendance.

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[SOT]
[IN Q=FIRST AUDIO]
[SUPER=51-Salem/Wednesday Night; :00]
[SUPER=51-Richmond/Tuesday Night; :10]
[SUPER=50-Lee Suggs/2000 Dudley Award Winner; :40]
[SUPER=50-Lee Suggs Sr./Lee's Dad; 1:10]
[SUPER=50-Juanita Suggs/Lee's Mom; 1:30]
[SUPER=50-George "Kila" Miller/Suggs' High School Coach; 1:43]
[SUPER=50-Frank Beamer/Va. Tech Head Coach; 2:03]
[RUNS=2:23]
[OUT Q=...HE'S AROUND."]
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((Suggs dropped by the Friday Football Extra awards banquet on Wednesday night and signed as many autographs for adults as he did for the teenagers in attendance. Just 24 hours earlier, he was the toast of Richmond having just been crowned the 2000 Dudley Award winner at the Downtown Club. So far it's been a rewarding postseason for the former Colonel. He has been named the best offensive player in his conference, the best overall player in the his home state and been treated like a king in his hometown. Yet he remains what he has always been - humble and appreciative.)) ((LEE SUGGS:)) ((LEE SUGGS SR.)) ((JUANITA SUGGS:)) ((GEORGE MILLER:)) ((FRANK BEAMER:))

[Tease#4]

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Friday Football Extra puts the wrap on another season is just a moment as we get set to say so long to the 2000 campaign right after this short break. [go to break]

[Adios]

[ANCHOR=Mike]
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Welcome back everybody.
Folks at this time on behalf of all the many individuals who make Friday Football Extra possible each Friday in the fall, I would like to thanks to you the loyal viewers who have welcomed us into your homes for each of the past 17 weeks. Tonight marks the end of our 17th year of providing southwest and central Virginia with the best in high school football coverage. It literally is a job that requires 1000s of hours and tens of bodies. As we say so long tonight take a moment and check out the credits, you just might recognize some of the unsung heroes who make this show happen each and every week. [GO TO CLOSE AND CREDITS] Take care folks and please have a safe Holiday season.