Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992 TAG: 9201160021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-13 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
FAMILY MOVE RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT QUARTERBACK FOR INDIANS
Sports scribblings from the New River Valley:Matt Smith, the All Timesland quarterback from Blacksburg High, can't seem to stay out of the news.
This time, it's for reasons entirely out of his control.
Over Christmas, Smith's family moved to Radford, which means that he must attend school there this spring in the final semester of his senior year.
Understandably enough, this he is reluctant to do.
The bailout, though, could be a problem. If he attended Blacksburg while living in Radford, Montgomery County would probably charge him tuition, a bill the Smiths don't want to foot.
Matt Smith, who is still going to school at Blacksburg, has been advised by his guidance counselor there to write to Montgomery County superintendent of schools Harold Dodge requesting a waiver of the fee. It is believed that these sorts of requests are fairly common. They're taken on a case-to-case basis. Usually, the requests are granted so the young person can graduate with his class.
In any event, the case raises some interesting possibilities.
One is that Smith is playing, for the first time, varsity basketball. He's getting better every time out and is going to be a factor in the Indians' fortunes this year. Will he have to quit the team? Will he be a Bobcat by tournament time?
Then what of baseball, which may be his best sport? Will he be pitching, swinging the bat, and playing the infield for Radford this spring?
The prospect of Smith and the Bobcats' big bopper, shortstop Brody Smith, in the same lineup would certainly be cause for alarm around the New River District. It would be a catastrophe for Blacksburg.
The Montgomery County administrators, no doubt, will do what is right and just.
Speaking of baseball, the baseball staff at Blacksburg has been thoroughly shaken up.
Jim Shockley is the new varsity coach and Chris Lucas is the new JV boss.
Lucian Zelazny is the varsity assistant and Jim Hensel will help with the JV.
Good move. Shockley is a veteran coach who has won with every sport he's put his hand to. Furthermore, he knows his baseball. Among his credentials is extensive umpiring experience.
More than that, he's at the high school. Ever since John Shipley left back in the mid-'80s, the Indians haven't had a baseball coach at the high school.
With all respect to the absentee coaches, who have done as well as they could under the circumstances, the program will be better for having the coach at school.
"I wish all our coaches could be at the school," Blacksburg athletic director David Crist said.
"Unfortunately, we have more teams than we have people [in the school] who are either willing or qualified to coach them."
They won their first eight games, they're bombing in field goals from all angles and with great accuracy, they're ranked No. 3 in the Group A hoops poll. Fort Chiswell is off to its best start in years.
So why was Pioneers coach Danny Jonas sweating basketballs going into Tuesday's match with Auburn?
"We started out the year shooting the ball real well and playing defense," he said.
"Now, we're still shooting the ball well. But the defense has slipped some. I think the players think that the offense is going to get us going and carry us.
"I don't believe that's going to work."
Nothing wrong with the offense, though. The Pioneers have made 57 3-pointers and are shooting 34 percent from that range. The top three players - Brian Lampkins, Doug Mabry, and Robbie Stoots - are a combined 44 percent (47-for-105) from beyond the arc.
We'll see what sort of sinew the Pioneers are put together with soon, though.
After entertaining Auburn, they go to Rocky Gap, play host to Grayson County, and visit Floyd County for a rematch of the Buffaloes' only loss in their first eight games.
According to Blacksburg wrestling coach Gary Wright, the third-place finishes earned by 125-pounder Ian Miller and 152-pound Zach Shifflett at the William Byrd Big Orange tournament weren't just good thirds, "They were outstanding thirds."
Each lost to the eventual champion and each avenged an early-season defeat en route to the third-place match. "You know how tough the Big Orange is," Wright said.
"If these two continue to wrestle the way they did in the Big Orange, they can wrestle with anybody in the state." . . .
Virginia High was so dissatisfied with its 85-54 basketball victory over Abingdon last Friday that the players voted to come in at 7 a.m. for Saturday practice. . . .
Richlands, off to a 7-0 start and ranked No. 9 in Group AA, is said to have its best team since Tom Rife has coached there.
Rife may not have invented Richlands hoops, but he's certainly refined it. The best players are 6-foot-7 center Eric McComas (19.4 ppg., 11 rpg., 79.7 percent field goal accuracy) and 6-2 guard Richie Drum (17.4 ppg., 47 percent from 3-point range). . . .
Roanoke County is touting 6-8 Ricky Becker, the Christiansburg product, as possibly "the best Division III sixth man in America." The case for Becker: He leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg.), rebounding (7.3 per game), and field goal percentage (57.4 percent).
Over the last six games, he's scored 129 points, collected 59 rebounds, and made 52 of 91 shots.
Ray Cox covers New River Valley sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News