ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604160022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HIGH SCHOOLS
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
When reviewing the various All-Timesland teams over the years, certain ones stand out.
For instance, Martinsville once placed three players on the All-Timesland boys' basketball first team despite being a Group AA school. The Bulldogs were that good.
Picking an All-Timesland football team for the first time was memorable, because the defensive player of the year was from a school that didn't win a game and gave up an average of 40 points per game. Of course Patrick County's Tim Goad was All-ACC at North Carolina and enjoyed quite a career in the NFL, so I guess that was a good choice.
There have been many different all-star teams for me at newspapers in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Nashville, Tenn., over the years. It's easy to recall the toughest choices one has to make, such as the one involving Timesland boys' Sizzlin' Sophomore of the Year that was detailed in this space last week.
Today, the paper's All-Timesland basketball teams are announced for the 1995-96 season, and I can say that this year's group of boys and girls will stick with me for a while.
For the boys, there are three players who enjoyed the game of basketball more than any from recent memory. While they were serious about winning, Liberty's J.J. Coles, William Byrd's Chris Childress and William Fleming's James Stokes had fun on the court.
In Childress' case, this wasn't unexpected, because his personality had been one of the best in past years, even when he wasn't the dominant player for the Terriers.
Stokes is a surprise, because he was overshadowed in past seasons by guard Derrick Hines, who was one of Timesland's strongest personalities in years.
This season, Stokes came to the front and stood tall during postseason tournaments. It isn't the hot hand that he had during the tournaments, though, that will be a lasting memory of the Fleming senior. Rather it's the constant smile he always wore as he truly enjoyed a remarkable close to his high school career.
Coles could talk trash with the best of them, but it wasn't designed to get other people angry. Of the three, Coles was the showboat, but it didn't detract from his ability. He managed to upset a rival coach, who didn't see the humor in Coles' antics.
While many people in sports today say athletes have lost the art of being colorful, no one will ever say that about Coles.
It's hard to forget the All-Timesland girls' basketball team for a different reason. There are four Blue Ridge District girls on the first team. There also is a freshman from the Roanoke Valley District.
It's safe to say the Blue Ridge District was the toughest Group AA league in the state last fall. William Byrd and Lord Botetourt met each other for the state title. Both dominated non-district opponents and both played strong schedules.
The Cavaliers' Sarah Hicks, only a junior, is Timesland's top player and returns with All-Timesland performer Sara Moore next year for David Wheat, who is Timesland's Coach of the Year. Wheat was laughing during All-Timesland pictures earlier this week about the pressure on him to repeat a Group AA title with all but one member of the team returning. He might not laugh next year when his team is the chased instead of the chaser.
As for the freshman, Katrina Williams of Pulaski County, she may have a unique place in Timesland history. Records haven't been kept until recently, but she might be the first freshman to make All-Timesland in girls' or boys' basketball.
How significant is this? Well as one person said, Williams is All-Timesland, but she can't be Sizzlin' Sophomore of the Year. Perhaps she will be next season when the pressure will be on her to win that award.
SOCCER DEBACLE: When Blacksburg and Christiansburg join the Blue Ridge District next year, it will be both good and bad for local soccer fans.
The good part is that William Byrd and Blacksburg, long-time rivals in the Group AA tournament, will begin playing a home-and-home series that will be important as to whether either or both teams make the Region III tournament and ultimately the Group AA tournament.
It will be bad from the standpoint that classic confrontations such as Blacksburg matched against Cave Spring, E.C. Glass, North Cross and Patrick Henry no longer will take place.
The eight-team Blue Ridge District will play a home-and-home schedule, meaning 14 games for each school. That leaves no non-district games, and that's why Blacksburg will be forced to give up many long-time rivals.
In the case of William Byrd, it didn't play Group AAA schools or North Cross.
In the new district, teams could have played the other schools just once and left room for non-district contests. But they opted for the double round-robin schedule.
``I didn't want to play Blacksburg just one time and have it mean the regular season championship,'' said Byrd coach Jeff Highfill. ``I'd rather play them home-and-home. I'd also rather play teams outside the district. But one game against Blacksburg could affect the championship and the seeding of the district tournament.''
Blacksburg coach Shelley Blumenthal agrees that playing each school just once wasn't fair.
``This gives everyone an equal shot,'' he said. ``Certainly we're losing some very strong teams off the schedule, but we're also gaining some a strong teams such as Byrd. We'll have a good, strong district even though losing some of the rivalries will be hard.''
BIG DEBUT: It's hard to think of a better game than Salem playing unbeaten William Byrd in a key Blue Ridge District baseball game as the first high school contest in the new Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.
Those teams play Thursday at the plush Carolina League park. Originally, Salem was supposed to be playing Glenvar in the first game on March 28, but it was postponed.
LENGTH: Long : 106 linesby CNB