DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070459

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

SO YOU THINK YOU'RE AN EXPERT ON FOOTBALL?IF SO, THEN YOU MUST HAVE ANTICIPATED THE SUCCESS OF BOOKER T. WESTERN BRANCH AND RESURGENT KELLAM.

So you think you are an expert on high school football? You attend games three nights a week, know the words to the Lakeland fight song and have Richie Summerville's home phone number.

To honor you and a season that has taken more hair-raising turns than a New York cab driver, Football Report presents its first self-graded, mid-year upsets quiz.

1. If you predicted Indian River would lose to Nansemond River give yourself 50 points. If you also predicted Braves' quarterback Antwan Stukes would lose his job give yourself another 10 points.

Stukes, a junior, is one of the most talented players in the area with 1,457 yards career total offense despite sharing the QB job last year with James Boyd. But he became a victim of injuries, especially to wideout David Blount, and his own bad decisions. The hunch here is he'll have to win his job back if the Braves are to finish strong.

2. If you predicted Kellam would be 3-2 entering Yom Kippur give yourself 25 points. The Knights hadn't won three games in a season since 1987. Kellam is the feel good story of the year and Chris Worst is the Beach District coach of the year.

3. If you predicted Western Branch would be 5-0 and ranked No. 1 give yourself 10 points. The Bruins had never been ranked this high before beating Norcom 13-7 in the season opener. That victory was tainted slightly by the absence of injured Greyhounds' QB Kevin Jones. But if they played again we'd pick the Bruins, even with Jones.

4. Give yourself 25 points if you predicted Booker T. Washington would beat Deep Creek and Indian River. Give yourself another 10 points if you predicted the Eastern District would have the best non-conference record in South Hampton Roads. The Bookers' sweep of the two Southeastern District teams was the best evidence that the balance of power has shifted to Norfolk and Portsmouth.

5. If you predicted Green Run's Charles Wilson would be leading the area in passing give yourself 10 points. If you predicted Wilson's Nate Anthony would be leading the area in receiving give yourself 10 points. Wilson is an excellent athlete who has raised his completion percentage to 47.6 from 35.9. But his position atop the leaders is further evidence that area coaches don't stress the passing game. The last area player to take a snap in a I-A college game was Bobby Goodman, of the defunct John F. Kennedy in Suffolk, who played for Virginia in 1992. Wilson's Jensen Baker is an exception to the rule. The Presidents are averaging 20 pass attempts per game, but that's largely a result of their inability to run the ball. At least that explains Anthony's lead in receiving.

If you scored a perfect 150, please call and leave us your Lotto picks. If you scored between 120-145, we've got a job for you. If you scored between 65-115, you're a B-I-G fan. If you scored 55 or less, don't sweat it. So did we.

Abe Goldblatt Award update

Here's our scorecard in the race for player of the year:

Keith Burnell, Western Branch: Biggest star on No. 1 team. Leads the area in rushing and scoring.

Ronyell Whitaker, Lake Taylor: Stats are down but wins are up. Not a bad tradeoff.

Eric Miller, First Colonial: Admittedly a longshot as a lineman. But Pats are playing best defense in years and he's a big reason why.

Claude Diggs, Norfolk Academy: May have to settle for TCIS player of the year.

TaRon Anderson, Norcom: Does it all for No. 2 Greyhounds, but injured neck last week. If he's out, QB Kevin Jones could make his case with a big second half. He went over the 2,000-yard passing mark last week.

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