ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
Shayne Graham may not be very big, but the Pulaski County kicker stood tall this year among the state's high school football players.
Graham, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior, was named to The Associated Press' All-Group AAA team Wednesday. He is the first-team kicker after booting a state-record 15 field goals in 23 tries. Graham hit from 50, 53 and 55 yards this season and finished his career with 38 field goals, another state record.
The Cougars' Jay James was the only other Timesland selection, making the second-team offense as a guard.
Unlike Graham and James, Damone Boone didn't have a playoff team around him, but the West Springfield running back still was peerless.
Boone ran for 2,592 yards in 10 games, including efforts of 500 and 422 yards, and scored 30 touchdowns on the way to being chosen the Group AAA Player of the Year.
His performance was even more impressive when a statewide panel of sportswriters considered he posted the numbers for a 5-5 team that played eight teams with winning records - five of which made the state playoffs.
The AP Group AAA All-Virginia team also features Adam Burke, who set the Group AAA single-season record of 2,785 rushing yards for Division 5 semifinalist Lee-Davis, and Deon Dyer of unbeaten Deep Creek.
Burke, never a starter before this season, rushed for 300-plus yards in each of his first two games and three times overall. He had 2,213 yards in the Confederates' first 10 games and scored 35 touchdowns in 13 games overall.
Dyer, whose team lost only to eventual champion Hampton 24-19 in a state quarterfinal, ran for 302 yards in that game after gaining 1,289 during the regular season. He scored 22 touchdowns.
The quarterback is Andre Kendrick of E.C. Glass, who passed for 1,166 yards and 12 touchdowns, ran for another 648 yards and scored 12 touchdowns in leading the Hilltoppers to the Division 5 championship game.
David Miller of Edison and Michael Becker of Douglas Freeman are the first-team ends. Miller caught 51 passes for 920 yards and nine touchdowns, and Becker had 44 receptions for 859 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Rebels.
The first team offensive line has Ben Fisher of Divsion 6 finalist C.D. Hylton at center, Herbert Hart of Lee-Davis and Larry Vaughn of Phoebus at the guards and Brad Barnes of Tabb and Ray Shupe of Green Run as the tackles.
Karl Buckwalter, who took McLean from a 3-7 record last season to a 10-0 mark this year, is Group AAA's coach of the year. The Highlanders' winning streak stretched to 12 before they lost to Hampton in a Division 5 semifinal.
The defense is led by end Danny Green of Division 5 champion Hampton, who had 18 sacks, and defensive back James Boyd of Division 6 champion Indian River, who had four interceptions and played quarterback.
Besides Boyd, the defensive backfield also includes Plaxico Burress of Green Run, Garrett McDaniel of E.C. Glass and Anthony King of Granby.
Burress had six interceptions and four blocked punts, McDaniel had nine interceptions and King had five interceptions and a dozen defended passes.
Joining Green on the defensive line are Billy Kelly of Varina, Carl Bradley of E.C. Glass and Tyrone Robertson of George Washington-Danville.
The linebackers are Eric Sturdifen of Huguenot, George Miller of Deep Creek and Chester Jones of Booker T. Washington.
Richard Harr of Menchville, who averaged nearly 40 yards on 37 punts, is the first-team punter, and Bruce Branch of Huguenot is the kick-returner. Branch returned one kickoff and two punts for touchdowns in only six games and finished with a 30.7 kickoff return average and a 24.3 punt-return norm.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB