Marty Gordon
High school football practice is underway, and the Virginia High School League is on the verge of another realignment for schools around the Commonwealth.
The Radford University basketball team is preparing to leave on a three-week European exhibition tour. Before leaving, players and coaches received their 2018-2019 Big South Tournament championship rings.
This past week, the VHSL took one of the final steps to change regional matchups as we know it, making some regions a little too crowded.
Area teams will see districts almost untouched with a few new faces. The plan for 2019 will affect all sports but especially change the playoffs for football.
Class 4, Region D will move to nine teams as Hailfax County was moved to the region that includes mostly teams in the western part of the state. Remember how this comes into play for football as all regions take a maximum of eight teams into the playoffs.
Liberty and Christiansburg High School have been playing a home-and-home football series for the past two seasons. Now, they will become a little more familiar as the VHSL will move them along with Rockbridge into Class 3 Region D to create a 13-team region.
To complicate this even more, both Carroll County and William Byrd will move down a classification from Class 4 to Class 3 and join the region.
Alleghany County, which joined the Three Rivers District and continues to see declining enrollment, will be moved from Class 3 to Class 2 and join what is becoming a crowded Class 2 Region 2. Patrick County also drops down and joins the region that includes Radford, Giles, Floyd, Glenvar and Fort Chiswell.
Meanwhile Class 1 saw little or no changes as Auburn and Eastern Montgomery remain in Region C, which did lose a team in Rural Retreat. Region C would have 11 teams to contend with, again forcing a log-jam for the playoffs.
All of this creates some travel problems as the western and eastern corners of the regions add long mileage for many schools.
Liberty and Rockbridge are appealing the plan that faces final approval in two weeks.
We will just have to see how it all plays out, but I do not see any changes to the new plan.
Other news
A former Virginia Tech football recruit collapsed and died during a recent preseason workout. Darius Minor was attending the University of Maine.
According to a release from the school, the 18-year-old from Orange County was taking part in freshman workouts when he collapsed on the field.
Athletic trainers were unable to revive him. Both Virginia Tech and James Madison offered him a walk-on spot.
The Hokies have jumped high on the list for 5’11, 175-pound Evan Pryor from Cornelius, North Carolina. He has been named one of the top running backs in the country for the Class of 2021. He was clocked at 10.85 in the 100-meter dash as a freshman at the state track meet this past season. So far Pryor has been leaning toward attending Penn State.
The Hokies did receive a commitment this weekend from an excellent three-star running back.
Keshawn King is headed to Blacksburg. He rushed for nearly 1,400 yards as a junior and shows some breakaway speed the Hokies have been hoping for in next year’s class. The Orange Park, Florida native is 5’11, 180 pounds and accounted for 20 touchdowns last season.
The Hokies have offered a basketball scholarship to 6’8 forward Kenny Isnord from Piedmont, Florida.
Meanwhile 2018 recruit, Jarren McAllister will now attend Massanutten Military Academy in the fall. The Hokies released the basketball recruit from his letter of intent but expect to be one of his choices in the near future.
The 6’3 guard was rated as a three-star prospect after leading Heritage High School to the state title game and a 25-5 record this past season. He averaged 17.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He plans to reopen his recruitment process.
Congratulations to Randy Teel and Bill Moore who both had hole-in-ones at Auburn Hills Golf Course this past week. Teel collected his on the 17th hole and Moore his on the seventh.
Progress is being made to allow softball games under the lights at Blacksburg High School starting next spring. Crews have finished the installation of new stadium lights and the switch will be turned on this fall.
A former Radford University basketball player is trying to pave his way to the NBA. Javonte Green has scored 20 points in three straight summer league games for the San Antonio Spurs. His latest game he was 8-of-11 with 20 points, five rebounds, two steals and a block. He has played in Italy for the last two years.
