THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408250164
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: S13 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Football Special '94
SOURCE: John Gordon
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
It's crying time again, as the old country song goes. And some Bay Rivers District coaches are in mid-season form when it comes to crying the blues.
Littleton Parker does not like it one bit that a coaches' consensus said his Southampton squad was loaded and the team to beat this year. The Indians garnered four first place votes and three runner-up ballots.
Interestingly, Parker figured his own club to take third or fourth in the league. But he has many returnees, including fullback William Brown who is said to be the best in the area. And he's only a junior.
Nansemond River grabbed three first place votes and became the consensus runner-up, five points behind Southampton. But the Warriors' Jerry Varacallo was not impressed.
``How can you figure that when we lost all those guys?'' he moaned.
One of the answers that the coaches gave was that the River always has good talent. Many horses may escape the corral, but another roundup always brings in more.
Lakeland lost some people but had a good junior varsity team last year and took third in the balloting.
York finished a close fourth. The Falcon's stock has risen primarily on the strength of Brian Ginn, their blue chip quarterback.
Franklin is a big question mark. The voting ranged from first to sixth and totaled out fifth. Thus, the Broncos could be considered a dark horse.
Some coaches saw the district as a two-tier circuit in 1994. They tended to rank the first four about equal and the second four roughly the same.
Smithfield lost too many big folks to be a contender this campaign, coaches concurred and picked the Packers to come in sixth. Poquoson has a new coach and Bruton is still rebuilding and they have been given the seventh and eighth places respectively.
Speaking of new coaches, there are four in the immediate area. Not only has Don Ward taken over at Poquoson, but Joe Jones has moved down the road from Windsor to Franklin, replacing Jim Jervey.
Taking Jones' place at Windsor is Tommy Austin, who used to be Isle of Wight Academy up until a couple of years ago. And Terry Crigger returns to Nansemond Suffolk Academy after a 10-year hiatus.
And if newcomers wanted to dress in the right colors for the most teams, they would choose blue and gold. No less than four teams - Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Franklin, Smithfield and Windsor all sport that combination. by CNB