Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9412010015
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
King, whose Radford teams were once dominant in Group AA, brings her first squad to Floyd County since the Bobcats dropped to Group A this year. When Radford moved down in classification, awaiting the Bobcats was a Floyd team that is as tough as any Radford ever played in the glory days of winning Group AA state titles.
King was a star athlete at Floyd County, but has never taken a team back to play the Buffaloes.
``I don't know of anyone who gets excited about going to Floyd County's gym right now,'' said King. ``They're in a great, great cycle.''
Floyd County is the defending Group A state champion and has lost only once in two years. The current Buffaloes started the week at 10-0 and ranked No.1 in Timesland. Only one team has come within 10 points of Floyd County.
Radford is 7-4, but the record is misleading. The Bobcats are playing without their best player, sophomore Charlee Taylor, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury.
Six of the Bobcats' seven victories have come against four teams that have a total of four victories between them.
King and Floyd County coach Alan Cantrell, two of Timesland's most successful coaches, are familiar with each other.
``When I was an eighth-grader, [Cantrell] took me to my first basketball camp,'' King recalled. ``Then he left that summer [to coach at Tazewell] and I never got to play for him. He came back [to Floyd] the year after I graduated. I don't know if he was trying to avoid me.''
``I've coached against Brenda before [while at Tazewell], but it will be different being in the same district,'' said Cantrell. ``I think people in Floyd are excited about what Brenda has accomplished. They're looking forward to seeing her bring a team here, but it's still Floyd against Radford and that's always been a rivalry.''
There will be other years when the teams are more evenly matched. Soon the games will become chess matches between two fine coaches.
``I think this will be a neat experience,'' added King. ``Everyone in Floyd feels pride in their sports teams and no matter where you go, you'll always have that.
``Going in as down as we are, it will be a unique experience. When we get on the same level as they are, it will be fun.''
STATE RECORD: Don't look now, but Giles' Raypheal Milton is well on his way to a state record for offensive yardage in one season.
After racking Christianburg's defense for 389 yards passing and rushing this past weekend, the Spartan tailback has 1,419 yards total offense. He needs but 2,251 more to break the mark of 3,669 yards set by Painter Central's Ricky Bailey in 1982.
Giles has five regular season games left, but Milton will probably need his team to reach at least the Group A Division 2 state semifinals to have a shot at the record. Painter played in 13 games when Bailey set his mark.
On the minus side, Milton might have a hard time getting yardage in Giles' next game against once-beaten Radford on Oct.14 in a game that will settle the Three Rivers District race.
On the plus side, Milton is finished with Group AA competition and will play only Group A teams for the rest of his career.
MORE YARDAGE: Unbeaten Bath County might want to check it's head gear and make sure everything fits tightly. The Chargers play Stuarts Draft with Brock Johnson on Friday, Oct.14.
If you don't know, Johnson has rushed for 1,066 yards in the first five games. Twice he's been over the 300-yard mark, including last weekend when he rushed for 314 yards on 22 carries in a 50-12 victory over William Monroe.
Also, Powell Valley's Thomas Jones rushed for 462 yards on 23 carries in a 35-13 victory over J.I. Burton last weekend. His performance broke the one-game state rushing mark of 449 yards set by Ed Clark, known as the ``Stonega Stallion'' in a 55-31 victory over Norton in 1967. Norton is now J.I. Burton, and Clark, as chance would have it, is Jones' uncle. It is a small world, indeed.
OPEN DATE MAGIC: Salem football coach Willis White professes not to like open dates, but he had to love the one he had this year. The Spartans were 0-3 and going nowhere before taking a week off. They made a couple of defensive changes and came back to bombard a good Alleghany team 42-0.
For the last four years, Salem hasn't had an open date. From 1984 through 1989, Salem did take a week off and won after each open date except for a 6-0 loss to Alleghany in 1988.
Altogether, Salem has gone 26-6-1 after taking a week off. It can be argued that the Spartans had such powerful teams they would have had similar records without the time off.
Maybe so, but the 1986 team that was in Group AAA lost 28-13 to E.C. Glass, then took a week off. The Spartans came back to go 7-1 and reach the state championship game against perennial power Hampton. Along the way, the Spartans became a tougher defensive unit as evidenced by a 14-13 victory at Pulaski County and a 7-0 upset of the Hilltoppers in the first round of the playoffs.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: They're at least a year and maybe more away, but there is genuine excitement over two future Timesland girls' basketball prospects.
William Byrd has 6-foot-1 eighth-grader Stephanie Parnell playing on the junior varsity team. According to doctors, her projected height is 6-3.
``Really, she's almost 6-2 now,'' said Byrd varsity coach Richard Thrasher. ``I kind of think she might be 6-5 or 6-6.''
Parnell shows the signs, even as an eighth-grader, of being an excellent prospect. She's already mastered using her height by passing over her much shorter opponents.
Eventually, she'll team with 6-foot freshman Brandy Allen, a key reserve for the varsity, as a double post for the Terriers. If Parnell is ready by next year, she would play with 6-foot junior Kristi Dyer and 5-8 Cathy Smith, giving Byrd one of Timesland's tallest front lines.
At Bassett, the name to remember is Heather Miller. She's only 5-6 and is an eighth-grader who would be ready to play varsity if Virginia High School League rules allowed her to do so.
Miller scored 42 points in a junior varsity game against Martinsville. She was the gold-medal winner for her age class in power lifting this summer in the Commonwealth Games of Virginia.
Bassett coach Lisa Black said Miller's scoring average is approximately 30 points per game. With tall parents, she could be 5-9 or 5-10 and play guard. That makes her a Division I prospect.
by CNB