THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996                    TAG: 9605050210
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C10  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

INDIAN RIVER FOOTBALL ONLY HAS 9 GAMES, OPENS SEPT. 13

Defending Division 6 state football champion Indian River has only nine games scheduled for this fall with little or no prospect of adding a 10th, coach Bob Parker said.

The Braves open practice August 5 and don't play their first game until Sept. 13 at Norview.

The Eastern Region has coordinated scheduling among its teams since 1990 in an effort to guarantee 10 games for the five Norfolk schools. But the redistricting of the three Portsmouth schools into the Eastern District appeared to alleviate that need and the region didn't participate in the process this year.

That left Lakeland, which is moving up to Group AAA along with Nansemond River, the freedom to schedule Tabb and Grafton, a pair of Group AA schools. Lakeland and Nansemond River also will continue to play each other twice.

Also Bayside went outside the region and scheduled a game at DeMatha, a private school in Hyattsville, Md.

Those moves left Norview and Booker T. Washington with nine games as well. They filled out their schedules by agreeing to meet twice.

Parker said Indian River had opportunities to fill out its schedule against teams from Portsmouth or Norfolk early in the process, but sought a big-revenue opponent such as Tallwood or Kempsville instead.

Parker said after talking to athletic directors at Tallwood and Kempsville he was optimistic a game could be worked out.

``But I guess their coaches didn't want to play us,'' he said.

Parker then asked Bayside to break its contract with DeMatha.

Bayside coach Bill King said he scheduled DeMatha only after being turned down for games from several teams in South Hampton Roads and didn't want to break a signed contract.

``We kind of got the finger pointed at us,'' King said. ``But nobody in the region ever set something up or knew what was going on.''

Other games of note:

Hickory, the region's newest school, opens Sept. 6 at home against Ocean Lakes.

New stadiums at Booker T. Washington and Lake Taylor will host their first games on Sept. 6. The Bookers meet Norview and the Titans meet Tallwood.

The game of the year in the Southeastern District and perhaps all of South Hampton Roads should occur on Nov. 1 when Indian River plays host to Deep Creek. by CNB