THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010719
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
A full menu of South Hampton Roads' high school football action is still a week away.
But tonight, a handful of teams serve up an appetizer - a three-game slate featuring a Norfolk doubleheader and the debut of first-year school Ocean Lakes.
Five more games will be held Friday. Virtually every area team will be in action next week.
Tonight's action begins at 6 with a doubleheader at Chittum Field behind Norview High School. Lake Taylor takes on Salem, followed by Maury and Oscar Smith.
And at 7:30, Ocean Lakes' Dolphins will get their fins wet at Princess Anne.
A rundown of tonight's games:
Lake Taylor vs. Salem
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Chittum Field
Last year: Salem won, 14-6
Outlook: The Titans will be out to avenge last season's defeat, which came in Week 9 of the regular season and probably cost Lake Taylor a region playoff berth. Both teams will feature new wrinkles offensively. Salem, which struggled to move the ball last season, has become the latest convert to the Wing-T, probably the most popular high school offense in South Hampton Roads. As for the Titans, quarterback Mario Elliott's scrimmage performances suggest Lake Taylor's attack will have a dimension that has been missing in recent years - the forward pass. ``It's not going to be the typical Lake Taylor-Bert Harrell team where throwing it 15 times would be a whole season,'' Harrell said.
Maury vs. Oscar Smith
Time: 8 p.m.
Site: Chittum Field
Last year: Did not play
Outlook: The Tigers will be looking to snap a 13-game losing streak. And for all the talk about being in a new school and having a new attitude, Oscar Smith will try to find success the old-fashioned way: with basic, fundamental football. Mistakes have plagued the Commodores in scrimmages with Deep Creek and Phoebus, particularly on defense, where coach Bobby Pannenbacker said young players must improve quickly. Maury's running game also has been slow to come around. Like the Tigers, the Commodores want to control the ball, but Maury quarterback Todd Davidson may have to use short passes early to establish the ground game.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Site: Princess Anne
Result last year: Did not play
Outlook: The Dolphins, South Hampton Roads' newest team, will make their debut with loads of enthusiasm and a coach, Jim Prince, who specializes in motivation. Those might be the team's only positives tonight, however. Princess Anne returns a wealth of talent, including the the area's leading returning rusher, Mike Majette, another quality runner in Ray Gatlin and a three-year starter at quarterback, Jason Sharp. Ocean Lakes will counter with almost no varsity football experience and an offense led by freshman quarterback Walter Amos. The fact that all these inexperienced players will be playing their first game on the road won't help, either. Tallwood, the most recent addition to the Beach District (1992), didn't win a game in its first year. The talent is even more spread out in this league now, but it remains to be seen whether Ocean Lakes will fare much better this season. by CNB