Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 11, 1993 TAG: 9312110028
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Pulaski County travels to Northern Virginia, where it will meet Annandale at 2 p.m. at W.T. Woodson High School for the Group AAA Division 6 crown.
Giles has a 1:30 p.m. meeting with Lunenburg Central in Pearisburg, where the Spartans will be seeking the Group A Division 2 title.
Both Timesland teams have key players nursing injuries:
Giles tailback Raypheal Milton has been nursing a sore ankle and participated in only a few plays as the Spartans beat Haysi 8-0 on Dec. 4.
Pulaski County Z-back and defensive end Eric Webb suffered a broken jaw Dec. 4 in a 24-7 victory over Indian River. Coach Joel Hicks says Webb will be in for eight or nine plays at most and only on offense.
Last year, Pulaski County and Jefferson Forest gave the area a double-dose of state championships for the first time since Martinsville (Group AA Division 3) and Lexington (Group A Division 2) won titles in 1988.
For Pulaski County, Giles and Annandale, these state finalists have been a few years in the making. For Lunenburg Central, appearing in its ninth state championship game in 10 years, it's simply a matter of reloading.
"When Andre Eaves [quarterback and defensive back] and Eric Webb [defensive end and Z-back] were at the Pulaski middle school, [running back] Carl Lewis was a freshman with [lineman] Randy Dunnigan and Larry Newcomb," Hicks said. "We felt like, at that time, we would be in pretty good shape with some skill and speed on the team.
"I thought we'd be pretty good the next three or four years. I never could imagine anything like this."
The Cougars (13-0) have won 21 consecutive games, are ranked 10th in the nation by USA Today and have been No. 1 in the Group AAA poll every week of the season. Annandale (12-1), like Pulaski County, has been a team coming together the past few years with the goal of playing for a state crown.
Dick Roberts is in his fourth year as head coach at Annandale.
"We were in the regional championship game last year against Robinson [of Fairfax]," Roberts said. "We just weren't strong enough defensively, but we had 14 or 15 starters off that team coming back, so we felt coming into this season we'd be strong defensively.
"This senior class and our junior group are excellent. We thought when the junior class came along as freshmen, it would give us some depth."
Annandale beat Thomas Dale of Chester 10-7 in overtime on Dec. 4 to earn a berth in the final. The Atoms didn't mount any drives against Thomas Dale, but they used tough defense to keep the Knights from earning another shot at Pulaski County, which beat Thomas Dale in last year's final.
"Annandale won't beat itself," Hicks said. "A lot of people haven't moved the ball on Thomas Dale. This will be the best defense we've faced."
Steve Ragsdale saw his Giles team in its formative stages five years ago.
"When this group of seniors was in the eighth grade, they had a pretty good team," said Ragsdale. "As far as projecting them as state championship-caliber, we didn't do that.
"We did feel this group had as good a potential as we have for the past several years. How far they could go or what they could achieve, I didn't want to think about that too much."
Giles (13-0) won the 1980 Group AA state championship. Times have been lean recently for the Spartans, who four years ago dropped to Group A. Giles' first two Group A teams didn't make the playoffs, and last year, a junior-dominated Spartans team was beaten by Lebanon in the Region C Division 2 championship game.
Lunenburg Central (13-0) is another matter. For the past six years, the Chargers have had to get past Sussex Central in the state semifinals. They have done that five times. In 1988, when Timesland won two state titles, Lunenburg fell to Lexington in a huge upset that was partially attributed to a tough game against Sussex Central.
"This year, we felt before the season started that we had enough kids coming back," said Chippie Chappell, the Chargers' coach. "If we avoided injuries and with the experience, we could make it back to the state final."
Will Lunenburg's experience in the final be an advantage?
"I don't know," Chappell said. "Our kids are accustomed to being in it. These seniors watched as freshmen when we went to the final, and that's where these kids planned on being. When we started practice this year, our center said only 13 more Mondays [of practice]. This past week, he said no more Mondays."
Ragsdale said the Chargers' state championship experience might be offset by Giles' home-field advantage.
"When you take kids on the road and put them in a room, you don't know how well they'll sleep or if they'll sleep," Ragsdale said. "Then, they go to a strange dressing room. It's altogether different for them."
by CNB