THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090663
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940609 LENGTH: Long
Not since Norfolk Academy defeated Norfolk Catholic, 11-0, to win the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools title in 1984 has there been an area private schools championship. The TCIS was left without five football members, the minimum number needed to declare a championship, when Frederick Military Academy closed its doors in 1985.
{REST} Next season the four TCIS football schools - Norfolk Academy, Catholic, Nansemond-Suffolk and Hampton Roads Academy - will join Greenbrier Christian and Atlantic Shores Christian in the fledgling Colonial Football Association. The league will declare a champion, name an all-star team and produce standings and statistics.
``We're doing this to give the boys something to play for,'' Catholic football coach and athletic director John O'Hara said. ``They haven't had a championship to shoot for in the past. Now they'll have one.''
Negotiations to start a football league began last fall and the formation of the league was recently approved by all six schools.
Greenbrier is joining the TCIS next season, so the league would have enough schools to declare a champion. But Norfolk Academy athletic director Dave Trickler said talks on forming a league began long before Greenbrier's acceptance into the TCIS.
``We felt like we'd made a commitment to Atlantic Shores,'' he said. ``Atlantic Shores was one of the first schools to bring up the idea of an area league.''
Added O'Hara: ``We think it makes sense to have all area private schools in one league.''
Greenbrier will be an associate member the first season. The Gators weren't able to schedule all other Colonial opponents because of previous commitments, but will play all five in 1995.
Atlantic Shores will play a full varsity slate next fall after playing a watered-down schedule last season because of a lack of players.
STATE CUP: The good news for Cox is that the Falcons have lengthened their lead in the race for the Central Fidelity Cup, symbolic of athletic supremacy in the state. The bad news: The Falcons will lose the cup to Woodbridge on Friday.
The cup is based on state playoff results. Cox's boys soccer team finished second and Cox's girls soccer team lost in the quarterfinals of the Group AAA state soccer playoffs. Under the Virginia High School League point system, Cox added 67.5 points to its previous total of 157.5. Cox now leads with 225 points to 205 for Woodbridge.
But all Cox teams have been eliminated from the state playoffs. Woodbridge's softball team hosts Langley Friday in a quarterfinal-round game. Even if Woodbridge loses, the Vikings will pick up 22.5 points, enough to pass the Falcons.
Regardless, it was a good season for Cox, which has won two of the three Central Fidelity Cup titles awarded since its inception in 1991. Cox won the field hockey state title, finished second in golf and boys soccer and lost in the state quarterfinals in girls tennis and girls soccer in 1993-94.
Great Bridge, whose softball team is still playing, and Salem, whose boys track team finished third, both figure to finish in the top 10 in the final cup standings, which will be released in late June.
COX FIELD HOCKEY: Cox, which has won the past five state Group AAA championships, dominated selections for the U.S. Field Hockey Association Under-15 team for Virginia and North Carolina.
Seven of the 14 positions were filled by Falcons. The team was selected after a regional tournament two weeks ago at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Salem, Bayside, Kempsville and Cox placed two players on the Under-18 team. The teams, which will play at Wake Forest in late June:
Under 18 - Holly Garriott, Kempsville; Kirsty Hale, Cox; Quan Nim, Bayside; Victoria Saunders, Salem; Kim Miller, Cox; Melissa Miranda, Kempsville; Kathryn Humrich, Bayside; Jennifer Hagberg, Salem. Alternate: Julie Miller, Salem.
Under 15 - Katie McDonald, Cox; Brianne Baylor, Cox; Jessica Barney, Cox; Robin Dwyer, Cox; Megan James, First Colonial; Lisa Neely, First Colonial; Meredith Benson, Cox; Kim Iman, Cox; Britt Moore, Cox. Alternates: Katie Sullivan, Kempsville; Heather Roundtree, Nansemond-Suffolk.
AKE REUNION: Western Branch coach Chris Ake might face her former team at Chantilly in the state softball tournament. The Bruins and the Chargers are among the eight quarterfinalists. But the only way they can meet would be for both teams to reach the championship game. Ake is in her second year as Western Branch coach.
NATIONAL CHAMPION: Bayside gymnastics standout Wendy Davis, a graduating senior, won a national title in the uneven parallel bars last weekend. Competing with a six-person Virginia State Team, Davis was first in the uneven parallel bars and seventh overall in the National High School Gymnastics Meet.
The Virginians, selected at the Group AAA state meet, finished third in the meet in which 72 seniors from 18 states competed.
``Wendy did very well in what was a very competitive meet,'' said Bayside coach Diane Johnson, who accompanied Davis to Michigan.
Erin Shanley of Princess Anne won the uneven parallel bars a year ago in the same meet. Shanley walked on at Towson State in suburban Baltimore, where she earned a scholarship after a standout freshman season.
Davis will walk on at Radford.
by CNB