Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508210092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Roanoke Catholic, the 1994 Division II state private school champion, will play Kenston Forest at 7 p.m. Friday at Victory Stadium instead of at 2 p.m. Saturday as originally scheduled. It was ludicrous to think of playing football on an August afternoon.
The Celtics won 12 consecutive games and Timesland's only state championship last year. Catholic also won two preseason. scrimmages and never trailed in any of the 14 contests.
That streak ended during the past week when the Celtics, who have only three starters returning, lost two touchdowns to one in a scrimmage with Luray, a Group A school.
``We were 1-1 with them when the first teams played,'' said John Cooke, Catholic's coach. ``Their second unit scored to beat us, but we had to use eighth-graders on our second unit.
``I'd like to think, as a coach, we could have done what we did last year,'' Cooke said. ``Losing a game or scrimmage is a major blow. Last year, everything was on a high, week after week after week. The question is how we'll react [to losing] after winning like we did last year.''
Cooke's daughter, Jan, was married Saturday, and that caused one change in her father's schedule by pushing the Luray-Catholic scrimmage up to Thursday night.
``She was going to get married [on a Saturday] in September when it's cooler,'' Cooke said. ``She asked me to find a [weekend] date with no conflict.''
Asking a high school football coach to find an open weekend during the season is heresy.
``I couldn't move a game, but I could take the scrimmage, move it to Thursday,'' said Cooke, who had to find time to attend a rehearsal dinner Friday.
VHSL RECLASS-IFICATION: The Virginia High School League Reclassification and Realignment Committee meets Tuesday. All the regions but one have met and they all favor Plan II, the one that allows schools to appeal to move up in classification, over Plan I, which groups schools solely on enrollment.
The four Group AAA regions were unanimous in their support of Plan II. The only region that hasn't voted is in Group A, where Region A postponed its meeting until Monday because of the threat of Hurricane Felix.
Ken Tilley, the VHSL's executive director, said he believes Plan II will be adopted. ``[But] I think there are quite a few little minor changes or details to clean up,'' Tilley said.
One of those is placing Parry McCluer back in Region C in the Pioneer District. The Fighting Blues had been moved to Region B in Plan II, but requested to move back because rivals Covington and Bath County remained in Region C. Tilley said that should happen.
The biggest decision now is the alignment of the Blue Ridge and New River districts. Plan II calls for Blacksburg and Christiansburg to join the Blue Ridge schools in forming a Region IV district.
If there is a change, it will be because of the travel forced on Alleghany and Rockbridge County by that alignment or because most of Region IV wants Christiansburg and Blacksburg placed in the Southwest District. Tilley, though, said he still sees no solution other than to go with Plan II.
The Group AAA Northwest Region, in an effort to reduce travel costs, likely will divide into subregions for team sports. The Roanoke Valley and Western districts will be aligned so that in tournaments for sports such as basketball, the four regional representatives will play each other. The winner would play in the tournament championship game against the survivor of the four-team battle in the Commonwealth and Cardinal districts. Those two finalists also will receive the region's two state berths.
BACK TO HAMPTON: The Virginia High School Coaches' Association has voted to keep the organization's clinic and all-star games in Hampton for the next two summers, rejecting a bid to send them back to Lynchburg, where they were held through 1992.
Bill Littlepage, Hopewell's athletic director and a VHSCA official, said lower costs in Hampton helped his organization choose the Tidewater city.
``There were two excellent proposals,'' Littlepage said of Hampton and Lynchburg. ``The cost of putting up kids each night was cheaper by $10 per night per athlete in Hampton. There was also an administrative fee requested up front by Lynchburg that Hampton didn't ask for.''
In three years in Hampton, attendance at the clinic has improved slightly and - except for complaints about travel for coaches from the western part of the state - everything has gone smoothly.
``It was a tough decision because we enjoyed Lynchburg,'' Littlepage said. ``We look forward to being back there some day.''
Littlepage said the VHSCA games committee will discuss any change in format for the all-star contests. About the only switch being considered is moving the boys' soccer and baseball games to avoid a conflict, but that might be difficult to accomplish without running the clinic a day longer.
NEW PH COACH: Ruth Wilkinson, the supervisor of athletics for the Roanoke Parks and Recreation Department, is a new physical education instructor at Patrick Henry, replacing veteran volleyball coach Penny Williams, who moved to Cave Spring.
Wilkinson will assist Marty Swan, the new PH volleyball coach, and John Griffith, the Patriots' new girls' basketball coach. Griffith will remain PH's baseball coach.
LINEBURG LINEAGE: Obviously, coaching is in the blood of Norm Lineburg's four boys. The Radford coach now has a third son starting his career: Paul, 22, who is a football assistant at Cave Spring under Steve Spangler .
Mark, 25, is starting his third year as the head football coach at Brookville. Only Robert, 27, is out of football. But he isn't out of coaching, serving as a men's basketball assistant at Southern Methodist. Wayne, 21, is a reserve quarterback on the Virginia football team and is likely to become the family's fourth son in coaching when he graduates in 1997.
TRACK HONOR: Former Christiansburg coach Phil Robbins, who is better known in football, was honored this summer as the Region 2 (Washington, D.C., and Mid-Atlantic states) track coach of the year by the National High School Coaches' Association.
Robbins' honor comes as a result of the 1994 Group A boys' title, the first by a Region D team. In football, Robbins' Powell Valley teams have won four state crowns.
by CNB