
DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710160307

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  130 lines

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL THE NAME OF THE GAME ISN'T ALWAYS THE SCORE. FOR MANY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, AND A FEW PARENTS TOO, THE STANDS ARE A PLACE TO MEET AND GREET, SEE AND BE SEEN.

TALLWOOD HIGH SCHOOL'S Lions came calling on Kempsville's football team last Friday night. They were anything but gracious guests. By the time the evening's game was over, the team from the south side of the borough had whupped the Chiefs of the north by a mighty 42 to 6.

The Lions left the field happy, the Chiefs left it unhappy. But that's what Friday night football is all about, right?

Well, maybe. But it's also about a lot of other things, always has been and probably, despite what coaches and players may think, always will be.

``When I played football, my whole concentration was on the field,'' said Master Police Officer, Wayne Plympton, one of a dozen or so officers on duty at the Tallwood/Kempsville game. ``I thought football was about winning.'' That was before Plympton, who played college ball at James Madison University, sustained an injury. ``Then when I ended up sitting in the stands I realized people came to socialize,'' he concluded.

The Virginia Beach police veteran played ball in the 1980s, but the lesson he learned about what drew fans to football games then still holds true today. For most of Friday night's fans, the stands were a place to meet and greet, see and be seen.

Take, for instance, the half dozen giggling, well-groomed, highly energized female members of the Tallwood Class of 2000 clustered around the concession stand munching nachos and casting an occasional eye toward the field early in the first half.

Mostly, though, they occupied themselves with the evening's real business: that socializing thing that Plympton talked about. ``This real good friend of ours, Cassidy Edwards, she made varsity cheerleader at Kempsville,'' said Jamie Coles, one of the Tallwood 2000 group. ``We came to support her.''

Kaity Evans was quick to nod agreement. ``I'm here because all of my old friends from Kempsville Middle are here. See, some of us went to Tallwood and some went to Kempsville,'' she explained before letting out a loud shriek and darting off to greet Kempsville 10th-graders Arkeisha Roberts, Tameka Ballinger and Rashidra Scott.

That there were already 21 points on the Tallwood side and none for Kempsville made little difference. The two groups joined, the giggles grew louder and all nine moved on down the field to see who else they could find.

Behind them, the band parents dispensed nachos and soft drinks from the concession stand and waited tensely for what they considered the highlight of their evening.

The half-time show, the 20 minutes of spotlight time set aside for the trumpets and trombones, drums and flags. The band's supporters are legion, especially at Kempsville where they have a quarter of a century history of supporting - sometimes even demanding - the best of everything for their band directors and kids. A term as president of the band parents association amounts to a full-time job. Just ask Bland Creekmore, whose wife, Janet, heads the group this year.

``When people call the house, I tell them she's not available, she's at home,'' said Creekmore. ``When that confuses them, I just explain that she's at school, that the band room is her home.''

But it's not just parents who show up to support the band. Retired Cornell University faculty member Hugh Travis and his wife, Dorothy, came from Ithaca, N.Y., last week to check out their grandsons' performance.

``We get here once a year, at least,'' Hugh Travis said. ``We always time it so we can see the boys play.'' Travis and Brandon Batty, both drummers, did not disappoint.

Still, for parents, players, faculty and fans alike, Friday night crowds can be disappointing.

``When we played one team this fall, there weren't even enough adults on the other team's side to add up to one parent for each of the kids on the field. I think that's pretty bad,'' said a team parent who asked not to be identified. ``I think that's pretty pitiful.''

Last week at Kempsville the crowd appeared to fill about half of the field's 4,000 seats. A respectable number of them were on the visitors' side. But it wasn't like Emily Holmes' hometown when she was growing up.

``I come from a small town,'' said Holmes whose daughter, Erin, is a Kempsville junior. ``We had three other high schools in our town and when we played each other, you couldn't move.

``I guess maybe some people are afraid of problems but I've never seen a bit of trouble at these games. I really don't know why more people don't come out,'' Holmes added.

Neither does Kendall Tata, a Kempsville physical education teacher, cross-country coach and 1980 Kempsville graduate. ``When I was a student here it wasn't `Are you going to the game tonight?' It was `where are you going to be sitting?' Now I ask my students if they're going and hardly anybody says yes.''

The lack of interest, not just at Kempsville, but at most Virginia Beach high schools, is something that current senior, Jennifer Allen, hopes she and others will be able to remedy. Allen is vice president of the city-wide SCA and a strong supporter of something called the Chaos Crew, the spirit team that works at getting Kempsville students motivated.

``The last Friday in September we did something like a senior prank only it was nice. We hung all kinds of banners overnight and got the band out here at 7:15 in the morning, painted people's faces and all kinds of things. People loved it,'' she explained.

``But,'' she added, glancing toward the score board where the visitor side seemed to be doing flips while the Kempsville lights appeared to be stuck at six, ``it's hard to keep spirit up when you're a losing team.''

In the meantime, there's another generation of students coming along. At the point where the oval of the track makes its bend, 10-year-old Kevin Banty, a Woodstock fourth-grader, tossed a small pigskin to his 12-year-old brother, Jerry.

``We came with our dad to watch Tallwood,'' Kevin explained. ``We just like coming out to football games. And we like playing, too.'' With that, Jerry returned the ball. When it missed its mark, Plympton picked it up and tossed it back, a grin cracking his face.

On the Kempsville side of the field, a groan went up. Tallwood had just added to its score. ILLUSTRATION: Photos including color cover by PHILIP HOLMAN

Despite their team being behind by more than 20 points, Kempsville

fans celebrate a touchdown in the third quarter of last Friday's

game against Tallwood.

Kempsville cheerleader Janis Millette, left, helps teammate Colleen

Cartin practice a routine.

Jennifer Allen is a member of Kempsville's spirit team, which works

on student motivation.

Kempsville cheerleader Danielle Musick, from left, shows of her

birthday balloons to teammate Lauren Brinkley and Lauren's little

brother Michael while Cassidy Edwards plays with Michael's hair.

Dorothy and Hugh Travis, from Ithaca, N.Y., search for their

grandsons on the field at halftime as their daughter, Tina Batty,