THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190263
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: The Sports Editor
SOURCE: Bill Leffler
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
When Norcom won the Group AAA Division 5 state championship in football last December, the Greyhounds drew high praise from the losing coach in the title game.
The Greyhounds soundly whipped Langley, 19-0, on the Western Branch field.
Langley coach Fred Benevento offered no alibis. ``The better team won,'' he said.
Maybe the 1994 season would offer his team another shot at Norcom, said an onlooker. Both teams appeared to have sufficient talent returning to make another run at the championship.
Benevento smiled without a response.
If the state playoffs should bring Langley and Norcom together again, there will be no Benevento.
He became a candidate for the head coaching job at Centreville, one of the most coveted positions in Northern Virginia. And he was selected.
But if Centreville should be one of the teams to gain the state final this year, it will be without Benevento.
He was terminated before the team even began practice.
Well, really, he was axed because some of the players DID begin practice - prematurely.
Benevento, whose Langley teams won two Northern Region titles in the past three years, elected to resign after it was alleged that he had participated in on-field workouts before the official starting date.
Investigations apparently showed that Benevento worked with some players on two occasions. One complaint filed said Benevento ``instructed three players on how to carry a football.''
I would hope he was guilty of a more serious offense than that if it cost him his job.
Reportedly two of his assistant coaches - without Benevento present - conducted a practice with 18 players. These workouts were said to have included signal-calling and pass patterns.
A Northern District council decided to suspend Benevento for the season's first two games for the infractions and Centreville would be ineligible for post-season play this year if Benevento remained as coach.
He resigned.
``The reason that I resigned was I did not feel like the kids deserved to be punished,'' said Benevento.
He said he hope to continue as a coach and will be reassigned to another school. He will not remain a teacher at Centreville.
``I hope I get another chance,'' he said.
Those were the words we had expected to hear when he discussed Langley's loss to Norcom last year.
Now there's an entirely different meaning. by CNB