YEARS LATER, COLONELS FINALLY FIND RIVAL'S GYM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 7, 1993                   TAG: 9303070130
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
YEARS LATER, COLONELS FINALLY FIND RIVAL'S GYM
When William Fleming had a minor fire in its gym and was forced to move its Northwestern Region boys' basketball game against George Washington of Danville to the Patrick Henry gym last Wednesday, one had to wonder how long it had been since the Colonels had played in the Patriots' facility.
The two Roanoke rivals haven't met on each other's home court for years. When they play, the games are usually at the Roanoke or Salem civic centers. The schools even played at Roanoke College for a couple of years.
"I've been here 16 years and that's the first time we've played there," Fleming coach Burrall Paye said.
It was more of a home game for GW-Danville, which was supposed to be on the road. The Eagles had played in the PH gym last year and were drilled by the Patriots 91-66.
Len Mosser, the first coach at Patrick Henry, said his team's games with Fleming always were played at the home gyms. Dick Kepley became the Patriots' coach for the 1974-75 season and doesn't remember playing Fleming at home.
If the memories of those two are accurate, Fleming hasn't played in the PH gym since the 1973-74 season.
"I told our team that we may have the best record ever in Patrick Henry's gym. We're 1-0, but not too many teams play there and win," Paye said.
"I wasn't upset about it. You can't help it if the roof leaked down on the breaker" and started a small electrical fire. "They've ordered a new breaker, but there wasn't anything I could do about it."
\ ANOTHER VHSL CONFLICT: At the beginning of this week, the Virginia High School League had a conflict with the Group AAA Northwestern Region athletic directors and basketball coaches. The region's four districts were unable to finish their tournaments until Monday because of last weekend's snow. The regional tournament was scheduled to start Tuesday.
Coaches and athletic directors in the Northwestern region wanted to postpone the start to Wednesday. The problem was the region is so spread out and the schools are too far away from one another to make it feasible to play the tournament at a central site, and draw a crowd. That is why there always is a day of travel between rounds and games are played at home sites.
With a day off as usual, it meant the tournament wouldn't end until this Monday, four days before first-round state-tournament games begin.
VHSL executive director Earl Gillespie initially nixed the delay and said the regional tournament couldn't spill into the week of the state tournament.
One athletic director from the Cardinal District said the VHSL was interested only in the money it receives in a split of the regional gate. He reasoned that a Monday finish would not draw as many spectators as a Saturday championship game.
Gillespie eventually relented and granted the request for the Northwestern to finish Monday, but says money was never a part of his decision.
"We just reconsidered. [The Northwestern Region] had a lot more problems than anyone else. We had some in other regions. I didn't realize there were as many problems," Gillespie said. "But I still feel like there was some room for them to maneuver. Most regions bring tournaments to a central site."
If that is what Gillespie believes, he's out of touch with the geography of the Northwestern Region. He doesn't realize that some Northwestern teams have to travel more than 200 miles for a game and that the region stretches 250 miles from Pulaski County to Manassas.
Gillespie points out that Region C is just as spread out, from Staunton to Abingdon. Well, it's 225 miles, but we won't quibble about 25 miles.
The difference is that about 20 of the 25 teams in Region C are within 100 miles of one another. Also, the only Region C team near Staunton is Highland of the Pioneer District, which never has made a regional basketball tournament.
Four or five of the Hogoheegee District teams are near Abingdon, but they're also no more than 100 miles from the Mountain Empire District teams and less than 200 miles from all but two of the Pioneer District teams.
Gillespie made a poor comparison of the Northwestern Region and Region C, and for somebody who has been the VHSL's head man as long as he has, he should know better.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB