THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 6, 1996 TAG: 9609040146
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: 82 lines
WILL THE NORFOLK-PORTSMOUTH football rivalries of yesteryear be rekindled as all the public schools in the two cities come together in a single district for the first time ever?
Once upon a time, most of them competed in a 20-team Eastern District. Two others, Booker T. Washington of Norfolk and Norcom of Portsmouth, were foes in the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Association prior to integration.
This year, the Portsmouth schools - Norcom, Wilson and Churchland - have moved out of the Southeastern District and will join the five Norfolk teams - Booker T. Washington, Granby, Maury, Norview and Lake Taylor - in the Eastern District.
Four of the present members - Granby, Maury, Norview and Wilson - were charter members when the Eastern District was formed in 1946-47. The league consisted of only six teams, also including Hampton and Newport News.
By 1964, the Eastern had swelled to 20, adding Churchland, Cradock, Deep Creek, Great Bridge, Oscar Smith, Kellam, Cox, Ferguson, Kecoughtan, Princess Anne, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Warwick and York.
Portsmouth schools pulled out in 1967-68, joining Deep Creek, Great Bridge, Oscar Smith and Indian River to form the seven-team Southeastern District.
Under a new alignment ordered by the Virginia High School League, the Southeastern this year will have the six Chesapeake schools and two from Suffolk: Lakeland and Nansemond River. Hickory is a first-year participant from Chesapeake.
In recent years, Norfolk teams have had problems getting games, and schools in Portsmouth and Chesapeake have altered their schedules to accommodate them.
The attendance at these games has been embarrassing. Some of the games have drawn less than 500, with maybe 50 or 75 in the visitors' stands.
That's not the way it used to be. And, hopefully, the resumption of old rivalries will bring the crowds back.
Wilson and Maury first played in 1916. Granby and Wilson didn't miss a year of head-to-head battle from 1940 to 1972.
On a Saturday afternoon in 1945, the largest crowd (up to that time) to watch a high school football game - 27,000 - overflowed Foreman Field to see the unbeaten Granby and Wilson teams play.
Granby, the defending state champion, was in the midst of a 32-game winning streak. The Presidents were 7-0 that season and had outscored opponents, 177-20.
Wilson sports historian Bob Ainsworth recalls the game this way:
``An enormous amount of publicity and excitement preceded the game. The stands were jammed and people were lined up several rows deep along the sidelines.
``Thousands of Portsmouth supporters had taken the ferries and then boarded the buses for the long ride up Hampton Boulevard to the Norfolk stadium.
Granby returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and routed Wilson, 46-13.
The Comets followed this up with a Thanksgiving Day victory over Maury - before another large crowd, estimated at 20,000 - in winning the state championship.
At the same time that many old rivalries are being resumed, some traditional meetings that preceded the birth of the Southeastern District are coming to an end.
Some continue and will be on this week's opening agenda for the three Portsmouth schools. These games will be nonconference affairs now but could have a bearing on Eastern Region wildcard berths.
Norcom plays at Western Branch, Churchland goes to Oscar Smith and Wilson meets Deep Creek at Churchland Stadium tonight.
Joe Langston will be making his 230th appearance at the helm of the Greyhounds. He carries a 171-58 record, the winningest mark ever for a high school coach in Portsmouth.
The Western Branch-Norcom rivalry began in 1973.
The Truckers are starting their fourth year under Ken Taylor, who has an 18-12 record. In the past three years, Taylor has piloted Churchland to more wins than the team had in the previous eight years.
Oscar Smith will be dedicating its new stadium. This will be the 33rd consecutive year the Truckers and Tigers have met.
Jenson Baker has returned as head coach at Wilson after a one-year absence to serve as an assistant coach at Norfolk State University. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Churchland football coach Ken Taylor, left, puts his team through
their paces at practice this week. Taylor is starting his fourth
year at Churchland. by CNB