Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9411010003
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Indians play in Region IV, probably the easiest in the state to qualify for the playoffs from because there are so few teams. This is one reason Group AA schools want some of the Region III schools to switch to Region IV - so that making the football postseason will mean more.
Only six Division 4 teams play in Region IV and four of them will make the playoffs. Carroll County will have a hard time winning, so four of the other five teams will make the playoffs.
The Indians could beat only Carroll County and finish 3-7, yet still make the playoffs unless Marion and Grundy beat up on a lot of the Group A opponents they have left. But if one of them falters, Blacksburg is in.
Indians coach Dave Crist looks at all this philosophically.
``We tell the kids that our schedule is tough. But if we're fortunate enough to make the playoffs, we've been in pressure situations against good folks,'' Crist said.
``Right now, you tell them that when week after week they play tough teams. They bought it and don't make excuses for losing.''
Don't expect a lot of news from the proposed shift of the Blue Ridge District to Region IV when the group boards get together at next week's Virginia High School League meetings in Charlottesville. According to the handbook, moves to take effect in even-numbered years [1996 being the next possible moves] cannot be requested until Oct.1 of the previous year [1995]. According to all sources in the Blue Ridge District, that league is firmly committed to the move despite rumors to the contrary in Region IV.
Salem principal John Hall is head of Region III and will chair the meeting this fall when the Seminole and Piedmont districts discuss breaking up into three districts after the Blue Ridge moves.
``I sometimes feel uncomfortable being chairman of a region that has some difficult decisions,'' Hall said. ``I'm from a different region [in the future]. I have to be sensitive of their feelings.''
That pretty well says the Blue Ridge is moving.
ABSTINENCE: Radford and Giles played what amounted to the Three Rivers District game of the year Friday. These two teams could meet again in the Region C football playoffs a month from now.
There was good news for both during their off-week on Oct. 7 when Glenvar lost at Bath County and George Wythe was beaten by Abingdon. Glenvar and George Wythe likely will compete with the Radford-Giles loser for a wild-card spot in the Region C Division 4 tournament.
Either Lebanon or Patrick Henry-Glade Spring figure to win one playoff spot as the Hogoheegee District champion.
Bath County took a big step toward winning the Pioneer District crown while Narrows looks strong in the Mountain Empire. Both teams are Division 1, meaning there will be two Division 2 wild-card representatives in Region C.
It seems the Region C wild-cards will be the loser of a later game between PH-Glade Spring and Lebanon plus the team that came up short in the Radford-Giles contest. George Wythe, which played PH Friday, needed to beat the Rebels for a chance at the wild-card after suffering back-to-back losses to Lebanon and Abingdon.
TWO NERVOS? What's worse than running against Glenvar's Trish Nervo?
Soon, it will be running against two people named Nervo. Both Trish and her brother John will run in this year's Metro Cross Country meet, which will be held today at the Baptist Children's Home in Salem.
Trish Nervo, a junior at Glenvar, will be heavily favored to win the girls' race for the third consecutive year. Later this fall, she'll be favored to win her third consecutive Group A title.
John will be running in the Metro meet's seventh-eighth grade developmental race. There's little doubt that he'll finish first in that event. Next year he'll be eligible to run in the high school varsity race and perhaps start dominating the boys around the Roanoke area the way Trish Nervo has the girls for three years.
John Nervo is so good that he's even beating Trish, who is three years older. That's surprising, for Trish has beaten boys many times in dual meets.
``It irritates me, because I train real hard,'' said Trish Nervo. ``He trains hard, but not as hard as I do and he still beats me. Still, I want him to do well when he runs.''
SHUTOUT JOB: Is there a better Group AA football team in the state than Amherst County?
The Lancers were 5-0 going into Friday's game against winless Altavista and hadn't given up a point. More important, they've played the toughest part of their schedule - against once-beaten Rustburg and twice-beaten William Campbell. Liberty, with a good passing offense, and Jefferson Forest are the biggest threats to make it to Amherst's end zone.
Amherst County also is dominating the Seminole District, arguably the state's best Group AA league. Last year, both Group AA state champions came from the Seminole, giving it four of the eight titles in the 1990s.
If Amherst County blanks all 10 opponents, the Lancers will be the first to do so since Burley of Charlottesville did it for eight games in 1956 in the Virginia Interscholastic Association.
The last Virginia High School League team to accomplish this feat was Churchland in 1954 for nine games. Fourteen Virginia teams had perfect shutout records; the longest was the 1926 Woodrow Wilson team from Portsmouth in 11 games.
No team has carried a shutout regular season into the playoffs. There was no postseason when Burley did it in 1956.
FULL STRENGTH: James Irvin, Cave Spring's second-leading boys' basketball scorer last year, appears to be well on the way to recovery from a badly sprained ankle suffered in summer camp.
Irvin was thought to be badly injured and was a question mark for being at full strength early. Now he's going through regular exercises and will be ready when practice opens a little over a month from now.
by CNB