“Why I needed a fast break”

Beloved wife Pat and I are going to take a little time off. The good news is, for some of you, it will be just a few days. The bad news is, for some of you, it will be just a few days. I was trying to figure out the other day just how long it has been since I had been on any kind of vacation and my best remembering was a trip to Jamaica some years back. At first I was confused as to exactly when that was. The year ‘94 stuck in my not-so-nimble brain, but I couldn’t pin it down to 1894 or 1994. Then I remembered that we got there in an airplane; had to have been 1994. Good save Rich.

There is a bit of guilt associated with this hiatus, however. I will be leaving newly minted Editor Roslyn Ryan slowly twisting in the wind of unwritten verbiage. For some unknown reason, the former Extremely Talented and Erudite Sports Editor Roslyn McNally is now operating under an assumed name. I frankly do not put any credence to a reported connection to the Witness Protection Program. However an unsubstantiated report of an investigation into a free hot dog at a 2005 PYAA football game could have been the catalyst for the name change. Regardless, she’ll man, or to be politically correct, woman the news, sports, editorial, Community Calendar, court, Board of Supervisors, Chamber of Commerce and TV listings beats by her lonesome this next week.

But I needed a break. Not that I was suffering from basketball overdose. That is an absolute impossibility with me (how about that Wayne Ellington buzzer beater to smack down those Tigers from Clemson in the ugly orange uniforms one more time?)

No, I needed a break in order to take an unjaundiced look at local high school programs.

Now before this analysis prompts phone calls and letters, please remember I have not covered every game played by every team in the counties. Basketball-wise it has been only Powhatan and Goochland. I have been given the opportunity to cover football in Hanover and Chesterfield also and I will say I was not impressed with most of the bigger AAA programs in those counties. The kids in Powhatan and Goochland are noticeably better in fundamentals; they block and tackle. But I digress, as usual.

The most fundamentally sound team is the Powhatan boys. They have an offense that can beat you with speed and, although they would rather run, the Indians can operate effectively in half court sets. They do not have the big-time outside threat of last season’s Mike DeLeon, but a half dozen kids who can knock down the three makes them harder to defend. Eric Watts is slowly developing in to an offensive weapon in the post. Defensively, Taron Hampton is a tremendous on-ball defender, but the Indians can be, and have been, victimized by an athletic post player. Rebounding at both ends of the floor is suspect. Emmett Brown has a knack for camouflaging himself on the court, but is undoubtedly the glue.

By far the team which is the most fun to watch is the Goochland boys. The Bulldogs are a very young, very small and very inexperienced team. They are an undisciplined group which plays a brand of basketball which closely resembles And One’s street ball style. They drive Coach Oliver Courtney to distraction. Four guards, Nick Morris, David Brooks, Darrius Athey and M.J.Cox, are all under 5’10” but play above the rim. They have burning speed and athletic moves which are sometimes indescribable but often ineffective. They can shoot and make the three, sometimes with more consistency than their twisting lay-up attemps. The Bulldogs are almost without a post presence and get hammered on the boards. They defend the dribbler well but are deficient in defending the outside shot.

Blessed Sacrament’s girls are struggling, at best. The Lady Knights have athletes, but have been unable to blend the talents of their younger players with those of senior Devon Batterson, while Batterson, an All Conference performer, hasn’t yet found her own game.

Sophomore Olivia Bowles has been drafted to replace the inside presence of Daniele Jarrelle, a truly tough task. BSH is virtually without an outside threat and does not defend the long ball well either. Sophomore point guard Katelyn Leboff is the team’s leading scorer, but has not yet learned to manage the offense.

The Blessed Sacrament boys team is also trying to find its identity. Coach Andy Janto was philosophical from the start, knowing that he would basically put a group of football players on the court.

“We may just have to develop a football mentality,” he said. Russ Leboff is a bear on the boards and a threat to score from close range, but the Knights can not run.

Forced into half court sets, they have no legitimate threat from distance. They also suffer from zero varsity experience at the point. Transfer Bryan Young has gotten himself and his game more under control and has a chance to emerge as the offensive savior for the Knights.

This leaves only the Powhatan and Goochland girls. Unfortunately, I have seen these two squads play only once. They played each other. Powhatan lost this season opener, for both teams, 34-41 at Goochland. The Lady Indians played without junior forward Erin Lonnon, projected to be their scoring leader. It would not be fair to judge the potential of the two teams based on this first game. However, two truths emerged. The Bulldog’s Amy Zickefoose is a player and has taken the early lead as my favorite player this year. At 5’1”, she says (in my judgment she might make this height standing on two phone books), she poured in 23 points, including five three-pointers, from all over the floor and ran the point with efficiency. The down side for the Lady Bulldogs is that she was responsible for over 55 percent of their offense. 

Teams that concentrate on controlling her output have an excellent chance to win until and unless the rest her teammates find substantial offense.