ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608190139
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: HIGH SCHOOLS
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
The biggest changes in high school sports this year won't be the new football rule that increases the length of games by stopping the clock until the next snap on each change of possession.
While the new rule might add five minutes to the length of each game, it is the broadcasting and televising of high school football and basketball that might make high school fans in this region rub their eyes or and clean out their ears.
WROV (1240 AM) has carried a high school football game of the week for about 40 years. That may be over, however, with the retirement of James Colston - ``Jim Carroll'' as he was known on the air - as general sales manager of the Roanoke station.
There will be broadcasts of Salem football games, but for the first time in 15 years they won't be carried by WRIS (1410 AM) or sister station WJLM (93.5 FM). The Spartans are moving WSLC (610 AM) with Curtis Beach still doing the play-by-play and Tom Huffman the color.
As for the packaged, one-hour tape replays of Friday night football games on WJPR/WFXR (Channels 21/27), the only change will be in the way games are chosen. This year, instead of trying to get as many teams on during the series (aired at 8 a.m. each Sunday), the schedule will be based on the relative importance of the games and strength of teams.
Carroll has been the high school football play-by-play announcer at WROV since coming to Roanoke in 1964. He said games were carried for at least five years before he arrived. The series was expanded to the winter as Carroll added coverage of basketball.
``I've been away for a while on vacation,'' Carroll said when asked about WROV's plans. ``The [continuation] of the [football] series will be determined by negotiations with the station and clients about putting together a package.''
If it doesn't work out, it will mark the passing of another era that stretches from what many middle-aged and older people refer to as the ``good old days.''
Carroll said he also is negotiating with Cox Cable about taping a Friday night football game and showing it on the public-access WCOX (Channel 9) on a delayed basis. If so, this would involve a full game and could carry over to basketball. All this will be determined within the next two weeks.
Lloyd Gochenour, the general manager and owner of J-93 (WJLM) and WRIS, said he plans to replace Salem football with a Roanoke Valley District and Blue Ridge District scoreboard show from 7 p.m. to midnight each Friday with updated scores and information on J-93. Schools are being supplied with cellular phones to call in their scores.
Salem games have been aired since 1980, starting at J-93, a country and western music station. When WRIS became available, Salem football and basketball was switched to that station so J-93 would not have to interrupt its regular programming.
Gochenour says many Salem fans complained they couldn't receive the WRIS signal, which isn't as strong as that of J-93. No decision has been made regarding high school basketball on WSLC. Salem might have one of the strongest Group AA teams this winter.
For the 11th year, Dave Ross and Don Lee will offer their views on high school football on WJPR/WFXR. Ross, the sports director and a sales rep for those stations, handles play-by-play. Lee, the former head coach at William Fleming, will do the color.
``In the past, we've tried to get as many teams on rather than getting phenomenal games,'' Ross said. ``This year, we tried to get good matchups on paper.''
The series opens Aug.30 with Jefferson Forest, one of the strongest teams in the Group AA Seminole District, playing Patrick Henry of the Group AAA Roanoke Valley District at Victory Stadium.
This game is unique for a couple of reasons. First, it pits a couple of traditionally strong football powers from different classifications.
It also is the first non-district game for a Seminole District team in many years. Until this season, the Seminole District had 11 teams, and that meant a full slate of district games. When the Seminole lost teams ins the Virginia High School League realignment, it opened schedule dates for non-district opponents.
The WJPR/WFXR schedule reflects this as Brookville takes on Salem in the second game of the series. The Bees also come out of the Seminole District.
It's easy to tell which teams are highly regarded if you use the TV schedule to judge their strength. Salem has at least three appearances, and Patrick Henry and William Fleming each will be televised at least twice. Ross left the last two weeks open so he can choose the best games available when district titles are likely to be decided.
One last change concerns Mark Aucutt, who handles play-by-play for the Salem Avalanche baseball team. Aucutt will do play-by-play of a football game each week for WXCF (1230 AM and 103.9 FM). Starting Sept.6, he'll choose the best game from among those played by three teams - Alleghany, Covington and defending Group A Division 1 champion Bath County.
One thing that won't change about high school sports on the air is the popular ``Friday Football Extra'' on WDBJ (Channel 7). The program begins its 13th year Friday night with a preview broadcast at 11:35 p.m. Each of the half-hour highlights shows, running through the state championship playoffs, will be replayed Saturdays at 11 a.m. Mike Stevens, WDBJ's sports director, again will serve as host for the show with able help from fellow sportscasters Roy Stanley and Steve Mason, plus a slew of camera people who usually get to 12 games each week.
PH COACHES: It's official: Jack Esworthy has accepted a contract to coach boys' basketball at Patrick Henry.
At the same time, former Roanoke College men's basketball coach Ed Green is moving back into the Roanoke area after accepting a job as special education teacher at Lucy Addison Middle School.
Will Green return to coaching? Any coaching duties he takes on with the City of Roanoke's school system will be decided at a later date.
The Patriots also pinned down a wrestling coaching with outstanding credentials in Keith Goff of Chesapeake.
Goff wrestled at Great Bridge, the premier Group AAA program in the state, and finished fifth in the state as a senior in 1989. He also was head wrestling coach at Crewtwood Middle School, a feeder program for Great Bridge, and served as a volunteer assistant at his old high school before accepting the position at PH.
FIRST GAME: The first football game involving a Timesland team will be held 7:30 p.m. Friday, when Roanoke Catholic visits Kenston Forest to open standout running back P.J. Moyer's senior year.
Moyer, who has rushed for more than 4,000 yards, has a plethora of major colleges following his progress.
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: High School footbal on TV.by CNB