THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270885
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Churchland's Marvin Rodgers will have to wait until Tuesday to play his first game of the season.
Rodgers, a 6-9 senior and a first-team All-Tidewater selection last season, was expected back for Saturday night's game at Maury.
Rodgers was ineligible for the first semester under Portsmouth's new rule that athletes must have attained a minimum 1.3 grade-point average in the prior semester to play interscholastic sports.
The Portsmouth rule is stiffer than the Virginia High School League mandate, which requires only that students pass five classes to be eligible.
VHSL rules also say that a new semester begins the day after the previous semester ends.
Churchland athletic director Bill Strickland learned Thursday that although fall semester examinations end today, Portsmouth is counting Monday as the final day of the semester.
``Those eligible as a result of meeting academic requirements can play Tuesday,'' Strickland said.
Upon hearing the news, Rodgers marched out of Churchland coach Mac Carroll's office in a huff.
Carroll's mood wasn't much better.
``Hey man, I'm speechless,'' Carroll said. ``I can't believe it. We scheduled the Maury game as a second-semester game thinking we'd have our second-semester players back. Now it's not there.''
Instead, Rodgers will make his 1995 debut Tuesday when the Truckers host Oscar Smith.
NO POLL FAN: When unbeaten Granby High popped into the first Group AAA state poll of the season at No. 2 earlier this week, Granby head coach Jim Harvey refused to celebrate.
``Personally, I think it's too bad they have polls,'' Harvey groused.
Shawn Hobson, Granby's leading scorer, wasn't jumping for joy about the ranking either.
``We were happy and excited about it, but we're more happy about being 14-0,'' Hobson said. ``We deserved something in the poll because we'd gone into Maury and beat a tough team, and we beat a good Lake Taylor team.''
The Comets, however, know the road gets tougher in their last six regular-season games. And with a No. 2 state ranking, opponents are going to approach the chance of beating the Comets like a miner searching for gold.
Granby, which is also ranked No. 2 in South Hampton Roads behind Bayside, begins the final stretch tonight when it visits No. 4 Booker T. Washington.
After that, the Comets host Norview (Feb. 3), host Maury (Feb. 7), visit Lake Taylor (Feb. 10), host Booker T. (Feb. 14) and visit Indian River (Feb. 17).
Of those six games, five will be against teams currently ranked in the area's top seven.
HOBBLED BOOKERS: Booker T. Washington guard Ashley Berry isn't expected to play again tonight as he nurses a strained hamstring he injured two weeks ago. He missed two of the Bookers' last three games with the injury, which Booker T. coach Barry Hamler likens to Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith's injury.
``Without Ashley, our continuity is thrown out of sync,'' Hamler said. ``We lack something with him out of the lineup. We miss his ball-handling and quickness. And we miss his shot.''
Berry, a 6-foot senior, is averaging 11.7 points for the Bookers.
The Bookers have also been without Datron Short, a 6-1 sophomore guard, all season. Hamler anticipated having Short in the starting lineup in preseason, only to have Short tear knee ligaments before the season opener.
REGION PAIRINGS: This season's opening round of the Eastern Region tournament will pit:
The Peninsula District's regular-season champion against the Eastern District's No. 2 seed.
The Beach District champion against the Southeastern's No. 2 seed.
The Eastern District champion against the Peninsula's No. 2 seed.
And the Southeastern champion against the Beach's No. 2 seed.
All four quarterfinal games will be played at the site of the district champions on Feb. 28.
The semifinals will be played at Churchland High March 2, with the winners of the first two quarterfinal games playing at 6 p.m., and the winners of the second two meeting at 7:30.
Both region finalists qualify for the state Group AAA tournament and the region final will be played at Churchland March 3 at 7:30.
HOT GAMES: In other action between ranked teams tonight, No. 8 Green Run is at No. 9 Tallwood. . . .
No. 6 Churchland visits No. 5 Maury Saturday night. . . .
No. 7 Lake Taylor visits Maury in a key Eastern District matchup Tuesday night. by CNB