Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501310016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Led by Martinsville, the area might have had the best Group AA and A high school athletic programs in the state going into the 1990s.
Martinsville dominated Group AA football and basketball.
Drewry Mason and G.W. Carver won five Group A basketball titles. Drewry Mason also had a very strong football program, though the Spartans didn't win a state title. Those two schools were consolidated into Magna Vista in 1988-89.
The last great year for the Henry County area was 1988-89. That school year, Martinsville won the Group AA Division 3 football championship, and Magna Vista won the Group AA boys' basketball title.
Since then, there hasn't been a Henry County school in a state final in either sport. If Bassett hadn't made the football playoffs this school year as a wild-card team, the Martinsville area would have been out of postseason football altogether. Since the Bulldogs won their 1988 football crown, no school from the Henry County area has advanced beyond the Region III championship game.
In boys' basketball this season, the four Henry County schools - Magna Vista, Fieldale-Collinsville, Laurel Park and Bassett - and Martinsville are 1-6 against non-Piedmont District opposition. Bassett was scheduled to play William Byrd on Saturday night, and the only other remaining non-district game involving a Piedmont school matches Magna Vista and Salem in February.
Last season, these five schools were 2-10 against teams outside the Piedmont. The same schools were a combined 13-4 in 1992-93 and always had done well in non-district play.
``Ben [Gravely, the Fieldale-Collinsville boys' basketball coach] and I were talking about that at church,'' said Bobby Martin, the Bassett boys' basketball coach. ``I don't think we're weaker. I think teams [from this area] can play against anybody.''
Then what are the reasons for the decline?
The coaches, except at Bassett, are the same men who ran the programs in the 1988-89 season. That includes Martinsville's Husky Hall, who is the winningest public school boys' basketball coach in state history.
One obvious reason for the drop-off can be found in the enrollments of the schools.
After Magna Vista opened, there was an attempt to give Fieldale-Collinsville more students so the Cavaliers, who had played with G.W. Carver and Drewry Mason in the Group A Foothills District, could be more competitive in the Group AA Piedmont District.
Fieldale-Collinsville has 550 students, compared with 380 in 1988-89. That gain of 170 has helped the Cavaliers, who are battling for the district basketball title this winter, become more successful in athletics. Martinsville, which had 730 students in 1988-89, has 571; Magna Vista has gone from 700 to 505; Bassett from 629 to 483; and Laurel Park from 513 to 393. That's a loss of 620 students in the four schools, probably because of the economy and loss of jobs in the Martinsville area. That decrease in enrollment also is nearly four times more than the 170 increase at Fieldale-Collinsville.
Taylor Edwards, Martinsville's football coach, has noticed much of this.
''There were a lot of mediocre teams this year,'' Edwards said of football in the area. ``Also, teams that were on the bottom of the Piedmont [a few years ago] are much better. Martinsville and Magna Vista were obviously down.''
The Martinsville coach was surprised and disappointed when his team went 5-5 in 1994.
``The bottom line is that we didn't get it done,'' he said. ``We had some injuries and didn't overcome them. We didn't have a good attitude and let some teams beat us that haven't beaten us'' in recent years.
While talking about statistics, listen to something else Edwards had to say: ``Martinsville had 172 people in the band and just 28 on varsity football. Last year we had decent numbers, but were crippled up. This year we didn't have the numbers. We had coaches holding dummies when the junior varsity was practicing,'' so they couldn't spend as much time with the varsity.
So the numbers are a big reason why the Henry County schools aren't winning in boys' basketball and football as they did in the '80s.
CRESTAR SHINES: There have been more talented basketball teams in the Crestar Classic, but in terms of enjoyment, this year's event might have been one of the best.
All four games turned out to be very competitive. The host teams from the Roanoke Valley lost three of four to outside competition, but they certainly didn't lose face.
Attendance could have been better, but until somebody other than Woody Deans, Patrick Henry's coach, promotes the Classic, it will not grow significantly.
Paid attendance was 1,845, but there were many free passes and it's likely there were about 2,500 people at the games. The Classic also battled tough competition, starting with the telecast of Virginia Tech's game against North Carolina.
Another thing that would help would be to have more halftime entertainment. There was a juggler during one game, but that was about it.
Also, with so much talent available, wouldn't it be wise to start the first game at 3 p.m instead of 4 p.m. and take an hour's break? During that time, the players could participate in 3-point shooting and slam-dunk contests that would add to the excitement and attract more fans.
NEW RIVALS: Two of Timesland's premier girls' basketball programs will begin a home-and-home series in the fall. That's when two-time Group A champion Floyd County faces perennial Group AA contender William Byrd.
Floyd County always is looking for ways to toughen its schedule and often plays Group AA teams. Byrd made the change by moving Martinsville from its regular-season schedule into its tip-off tournament.
Alan Cantrell, Floyd County's coach, also is looking for a tough foe to play in his season-opening three-game round-robin event. Lord Botetourt, which participated with Blacksburg and Patrick County in 1994, has dropped out to start a season-opening tournament of its own.
by CNB