By Fred Jeter
Contributing Writer

Powhatan High has passed its Southside District tests, over and over, with flying black and orange colors.

Cap ‘n’ gown time draws near … a fresh start looms on the western horizon.

The Indians will bid farewell to the rural, overmatched Southside District after this school year to join the more formidable Jefferson District, in and around Charlottesville, in fall, 2011.

“It’s going to be exciting … and challenging,” said PHS’s long-time football coach and Athletic Director, Jim Woodson.

“But it’s all for the good … we’re ready for a change.”

PHS has dominated its smaller Southside foes in virtually every sport but basketball.

This past spring, PHS won every championship, rarely facing a serious threat.
   
Woodson’s football squad, coming off a 12-1 season in which it outscored foes by an average of 43-7, has won eight straight District crowns.

Roll call

Starting in 2011-12, the Indians will be facing schools more their own “weight class.”

Powhatan, with 1,420 students last year, is about double the size of some Southsiders.

Southside enrollment figures are Bluestone (728), Brunswick (619), Greensville (750), Nottoway (724), Southampton (1,050), Park View (744) and Prince Edward (914).

By contrast, compare enrollments for the schools that will make up the Group AA, Region 2 Jefferson next year:

Charlottesville (1,350), Fluvanna (1,175), Louisa (1,523), Monticello (1,168); Western Albemarle (1,051).

It appears Orange will move to AAA in ‘11 and Goochland and William Monroe will drop back to Group A.

“We’ll be playing schools closer to our own size,” said Woodson.

Fill ‘er up

PHS parents have long moaned the travel distances deep into south side Virginia. That won’t change.

“If anything, it might be a touch more,” Woodson said of mileage.

Indians’ fans will get used to traveling Route 522 to I-64 West. It is 58.1 miles from PHS to Charlottesville.

“Another negative is we’re moving from Region 1 to Region 2 … with schools up toward D.C.,” said Woodson. “I hate leaving Region 1.”

AAA?

Woodson is often asked if PHS would consider joining the nearby AAA Dominion District and PHS’s next-door neighbors in western Chesterfield.

He directs those conversations, again, toward enrollments.

“Us playing in the Dominion would be the Southside schools playing us,” he says.

The Dominion enrollments are L.C. Bird (1,876), Clover Hill (1,618), Cosby (1,758), Huguenot (1,406), James River (2,125), Manchester (2,155), Midlothian (1,575), Monacan (1,650) and George Wythe (984).

Demographics

When Woodson graduated from PHS in 1973, the school had 495 students in grades 9-12 – nearly 1,000 less than now.

The entire county population was under 10,000.

Today it’s nearly 30,000.

The trend moved from rural to more suburban as new families flooded into the county in the early 2,000’s – coinciding with the birth of Route 288.

Sometimes Woodson doesn’t recognize the county.

“There used to be a lot of dairy farms in Powhatan,” said Woodson. “How many are there now? Not many.”

For now, the growth spurt has been stunted, largely due to a slumping economy.

“The big boom has leveled off,” says Woodson.

According to Powhatan Schools’ public information officer Michelle Wilson “we’re holding steady.”

There were a total of 4,483 students in Powhatan public schools last year, compared to 4,408 in 2006 and 3,573 in 2001.

Woodson predicts the PHS enrollment “will stay right around 1,300/1,400 … we’re having classes now in the 315 range.”

So the Jefferson District appears the best fit, long-term.

A new era

Woodson’s overall 221-71-1 record ranks with the state’s elite.

Named Region 1 Coach of the Decade by Virginia Preps.com, the Indians were 99-23 the past 10 years with one State Division IV and five Region titles.

Woodson’s teams posted seven seasons with double-digit wins in the decade.

The slope figures to get steeper down the western highway, but Woodson is no stranger to tougher times.

He spent much of his youth in foster homes and worked his way through college, cleaning bathrooms on a work-study program at Ferrum College’s Riddick Hall, and spending summers as a welder.

Woodson’s been coaching at Powhatan since 1979, and has been head football coach since ’85.

He ushered PHS athletics from the Group A James River District to the AA Southside. Now he’ll escort his program to the more daunting Jefferson.

Woodson doesn’t plan to break stride in the process.

“We coach with a passion,” said Woodson. “We want to give our kids the chance to compete for a championship.

“You hear about the World Series and Super Bowl … well, for us it’s making the playoffs. We don’t want our kids hoping to win; we want them expecting to win.”

The travel itinerary will change starting next year, but the goals will remain in stuck in high gear.