Chilhowie Warriors

Coach: Larry Russell (10th season)

District, Region, Division:
Hogoheegee, Region C, Division 2

Chilhowie High School head football coach Larry Russell recalls fondly his first season calling the shots for the Warriors in 2001.

Chilhowie claimed the Hogoheegee District title and reached the Region C, Division 2 title game that fall. Playing a big role in the success was the running back duo of C.J. Kestner and C.J. Clarke.

This season, the Warriors are once again a serious contender for the district title and will once again boast a two-headed monster in the backfield.

Juniors Aaron Conley and Brett Johnson are proven rushers who should thrive in Chilhowie’s run-oriented offense.

The 5-foot-9, 165-pound Conley was the Warriors’ workhorse last season and had no problem carrying the load.

Bath County's Brinkley on the hunt

Derek Brinkley, the Chargers' versatile defensive end, is close to breaking the school's all-time sacks record.

By Josh Parcell
 Special to The Roanoke Times

Results from the Draper Valley Prep Golf Classic at Draper Valley.

Hogo teams participated were: Chilhowie and Patrick Henry

It has become the game to see in Region D.

Whenever Clintwood and J.I. Burton hook up, the stakes are always high.

The Lonesome Pine District foes have formed quite a rivalry and one of the teams has played in the last six VHSL Group A, Division 1 state championship games

BRIAN WOODSON, BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH

BASTIAN, Va. — The Bland County football team is a combined association of Rocky Gap and Bland high schools.

Separate, they are small. Together, they are small.

In reality, that’s the way these Bears like it.

“It is not always about numbers,” Bland County senior Garrett Mustard said. “With a small group you can kind of create more of a brotherhood with each other and more of a family.”

Mustard’s classmate, Jason Simms, agrees. Bigger isn’t always better.

“I enjoy it, we’ve got a small team, it is close knit, it is like a family,” Simms said. “I’d say conditioning wise to compete we have to be in more shape than anybody else because we have fewer people and we don’t have the depth.”

Not that they’re complaining. Simms knows of one very significant advantage to being a team small in numbers.

“I play all sides of the ball,” he said, with a laugh. “That is another benefit to being a small team, you get a lot of playing time.”

That duo returns to the gridiron for one final season, looking to help the Bears rebound from an injury-plaqued 2-8 campaign that included two losses by a combined three points.

These Bears are confident in better days ahead.

“I think with the core team we have got coming back, I think we should be doing pretty good,” Simms said.

Bland County will open its season next Friday with a trip to Patrick Henry. The Bears dropped the opener 26-8 to the Rebels last year, a game that brings competing memories for these seniors.

For Mustard, it was his first opportunity to play football. For Simms, it represented the end of his season.

“I was playing in the first game of the year and I got to go in for the first series.” said Simms, who tore the ACL in his right knee, requiring offseason surgery. “I just got blocked and he fell on my knee and it was just one of those things.”

Meanwhile, Mustard was able to get what is every lineman’s dream.

“My first tackle against Patrick Henry was a sack so that kind of sealed the deal for me,” Mustard said. “It was pretty cool, it was great.”

No matter what the record, Bland County head coach Harris Hart is glad to have both players on his side. He’s seen plenty of them since last season ended.

“This is Garrett’s second year playing football,” Hart said. “He is a very hard-working young man. If the weight room is open he is there, if we are conditioning, he is there. A very top-notch student, a leader by example, but he is still in the process of learning...

“Jason missed all of last season with a knee injury so he is recovering from that...If you open the weight room doors, he is going to be there, he has worked very hard to overcome his injury. He’s just a great young man.”

Mustard, a 6-foot, 230-pound interior lineman, admits to wishing he had played football before his junior campaign.

“I definitely regret it. I was lazy I guess, I didn’t have the interest,” Mustard said. “I have always been into sports, but I just never played.

“It has definitely become a passion of mine.”

The brother of former Bland County basketball standout Kirby Mustard, Garrett was interested in a ball, but it was a shot put.

“I wanted something to do,” said Mustard, in deciding to play football. “I started weightlifting because I was going to play track and it was pretty much where the track coach was the football coach so they kind of just talked me into it.”

Mustard had much to learn when he arrived at his first football camp last August, but he had plenty of help along the way.

“It took me a little while, but eventually you get the hang of it,” Mustard said. “We have got a good coaching staff and they will teach you, they show you what to do and it becomes second nature to you after a while.

“Knowing the steps and knowing your position was pretty rough, but game after game you learn it.”

A 5-foot-11, 162-pound running back and defensive back, Simms worked throughout the offseason, with intentions of returning to the gridiron. He was finally released to play in June.

“Through therapy and weightlifting I had to do as much as I could, it was a pretty good ordeal to go through,” said Simms, who has worked on building leg strength by riding his horse. “With them rescheduling on my surgery, it was getting closer and closer to football season so I was getting a little worried

“I am ready after waiting all last season to play. This is my last one, I have got to give it all I can and do what I can for the team.”

Bland County, which opened last season with three home games, will hit the road for three games to start this year, and finish with two on the road. The Bears will be looking for success...from the start.

“I believe it will get everybody pumped up if we come out and play hard and get a couple of wins early,” Simms said. “That way they get a taste of it and we’ll want to do it the rest of the season.”

Mustard added: “Last year we started with three home games so you kind of just have to take it as it comes. If you play good football, it doesn’t matter if you are home or you are away, you kind of just take it one game at a time .

“We bring a pretty good crowd too.”

Both are looking to bring cheerful Friday nights to Bland County.

“I hope we have a great season, me and the team,” Mustard said. “We have worked hard and I know I have worked hard in the offseason and the rest of our teammates have so hopefully it will pay off.

“We have worked hard so we’ll see.”

Simms is thinking much like Mustard.

“For the most part, at least half the ones that can get here pretty much worked all summer long weightlifting,” Simms said. “Most everybody has time to hang out and work out together.

“I hope that we will just work and give it all we’ve got and see how it goes from there.”

Mustard is eagering anticipating the opening Friday of the season. He certainly remembers last year playing in front of an audience for the first time.

“It overwhelms you,” Mustard said. “You kind of block everything out and just worry about your task, and that is to help your team out the best you can.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

 at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ROBERT ANDERSON, ROANOKE TIMES

John Shotwell had a chance to sign a baseball contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1960.

"But my momma and daddy wouldn't let me," Shotwell said.

And the rest is James River High School athletic history.

Shotwell is writing the final chapter. The 72-year-old said Wednesday he will retire after the 2011 softball season, ending five full decades of service at James River.

"I'm old," Shotwell said. "It's just too hard on me. I come home and I'm beat. I don't deserve to do that.

"It's been a great journey though. I don't think I could have gone anywhere in the world and had any better time and people back me so much as they have in Buchanan. It was fantastic. I loved coming to school every day."

Most of Shotwell's time has been spent winning ballgames.

Shotwell compiled a 412-218 record as James River's boys basketball coach from 1965-92 and has won 344 games in 19 seasons as the Knights' softball coach.

"Coach Shotwell has touched many lives during his tenure at James River High School," principal Jamie Talbott said. "He has always been an advocate for students and a loyal supporter of all the programs in our school."

Few coaches in VHSL history can match Shotwell for longevity and success across the board.

Shotwell led James River to Group A softball championships in 2003, '04 and '06. He coached three different sports teams to state runner-up finishes: boys basketball (1978 and 1990), softball (1994) and golf (2004). He spent 26 years as an assistant football coach.

This will also be Shotwell's final season as James River's golf coach.

James River's 2003 and '04 championship softball teams featured star pitcher Angela Tincher, who became a two-time, first-team All-American at Virginia Tech and was named the USA Softball college player of the year in 2008.

Tincher transferred to James River after her freshman season and brought along a personal pitching coach -- her father, Denny -- an arrangement Shotwell accepted.

"He was flexible," said Tincher, now an assistant coach at Maryland. "My dad was always my pitching coach and that was fine. He didn't try to change me. He was looking for what was best for the team. I remember how motivated he was to win the state title.

"As players, were limited to the few years we'd been in high school. He brought the whole history of what they had done in the past. He'd been there for all of that. We loved him. We wanted to win it for ourselves and for him as well."

Shotwell grew up on a 15-acre tobacco farm in Roxboro, N.C. He played basketball and baseball at Atlantic Christian College -- now Barton College -- in Wilson, N.C.

He was nearing the end of six months of duty with the National Guard in Fort Jackson, S.C., when he saw an advertisement in a local paper for a teacher and coach in Botetourt County. He got a three-day pass, drove to Buchanan for an interview, and returned after school had begun.

"I started September 28, 1961," Shotwell said. "I coached my first day I was there. The school was two years old then."

Shotwell quickly succeeded Gary Osborne as the boys basketball coach.

"My first year we were 3-13," Shotwell said. "I'll never forget that record as long as I live. I thought, 'What am I doing here?' "

Shotwell taught history, government, biology, health and physical education, and drivers' education at James River before retiring from the classroom in 1992.

He and his second wife, Sue, began a bed and breakfast at a refurbished local landmark -- Berkley House -- in January 1992. However, Sue Shotwell died of an aneurysm less than 11 months later.

After closing the business briefly, Shotwell reopened the bed and breakfast and still operates it today.

Shotwell will coach his granddaughter, senior pitcher Haley Shotwell in his final season. James River was 19-6 in 2010, losing to Holston in the Region C semifinals. Even though his season ended a step shy of the state playoffs, Shotwell was among the first to congratulate Northside coach Lynn Richmond on the Vikings' Group AA title.

"He's a total role model, a total patriarch for me, like a father of the game," Richmond said. "Its so neat to see the type of guy he is and the class he exhibits year after year, decade after decade."

James River honored Shotwell in April 2009 by naming its softball field in his honor, a tribute he grudgingly accepted.

"It's not me, it's the kids I coached," Shotwell said. "If you don't have some good kids, you ain't going to win. I don't care who's coaching."

BRIAN WOODSON, BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Beamer Ball is a staple of Virginia Tech football.

Former Richlands star Austin Fuller is glad to be a part of that tradition, serving on the punt return team for the Virginia Tech special teams, and Hokies’ head coach Frank Beamer.

“Being out there on the punt return team, we’ve got meetings every day teaching us the moves to get in there and block punts,” Fuller said. “We practice that every day before practice.

“That is just fun to be out there with Beamer Ball.”

For Fuller, it’s fun being a part of Virginia Tech football. A redshirt sophomore, who led Richlands to the Division 3 state title in 2006, Fuller is just glad to have found a spot on the field with the Hokies.

“I’ll be out there on special teams and do my job in practice and be on the scout team again this year and just do my role,” said Fuller, who was also part of Richlands’ state runner-up squads in ‘05 and ‘07.

However, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Fuller isn’t giving up hope for more, despite struggling to find a spot in what is a crowded receiver corps in Blacksburg.

“It’s hard to adjust to the speed, it is a little bit different, and everybody up here is just so big,” Fuller said. “It’s just getting into the role of things.”

While Fuller was a two-time All-Group AA performer at Richlands, Beamer said there’s nothing unusual about athletes that were stars in their individual high schools, but have found life much different at the next level.

“I think most kids go through that,” Beamer said. “They have had great high school careers and they get here and the talent level is a little more level, I think that is the adjustment for most guys.”

Known for his soft hands and ability to catch the ball, Fuller showed that often at Richlands, setting school receiving records for receptions (114), yards (1,963) and touchdowns (21).

He hopes to use those skills with Virginia Tech in the future, and he’s leaning on Virginia Tech strength coach Mike Gentry to make it happen.

“I have to keep working in the weight room with coach Gentry and just doing everything he tells me to do and just go as hard as I can,” Fuller said. “I have gotten a lot of stronger in the weight room, and my vertical (jump) went up a couple of inches, but speed is still the same.

“It is still slow, but I have been working hard.”

For now, Fuller’s role will be trying to add his name to the many that have blocked punts at Virginia Tech.

“On punt returns, I rush right up the middle beside the center,” said Fuller, during Virginia Tech’s media day earlier this month. “Usually I am just trying to block the punt and then we get to wrap around and go try to peel back on somebody so that is always fun.

“I think I got close (last year) to a couple, but never got one. Hopefully I can get one this year.”

Fuller will get his first chance this season on Sept. 6 when the Hokies play Boise State in a matchup of top 6 teams. The Broncos, ranked fifth, are followed by the Hokies in the USA Today coaches poll.

“It’s exciting, prime time, Monday night, it is going to be fun,” Fuller said. “Boise State, it is going to be a big game, we pretty much have a home game up there in Washington, D.C.

“Everybody from northern Virginia is going to be up there, all the Tech fans, it is going to be good.”

Especially if they win. The Hokies have high expectations, and challenging for a national championship is among them. Fuller knows what type of talent that Beamer has brought to Blacksburg.

“We’ve got just about everybody back on offense, and we have got a bunch of players and a bunch of playmakers,” Fuller said. “A bunch of these guys will be in the NFL in a year or two and I will get to watch them on TV so it is exciting to see.”

Virginia Tech will return home following the clash with Boise State to play James Madison, and could be 8-0 before the ACC Coastal Division gauntlet of Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami arrives in November.

“If we can that one we will be set because we play JMU the next week,” Fuller said. “We will have that to sit back on, so hopefully we can go up there and beat them.”

The Hokies played in a similar scenario last season in a matchup of top 5 teams, but lost to eventual national champion Alabama. They’re back and hoping for better results this time.

“That is like two years in a row we’ve got to play a top 5 team in the nation right off the bat,” Fuller said. “We will come out shooting, we have got to play. We’ve got to get more prepared in camp.”

Fuller will be prepared. He knows what it takes to block a punt, and is hoping to have an expanded role in Beamer Ball as the season progresses.

“It’s all whether you get off (the line) clean or not,” Fuller said. “Hopefully the guy goes the other way or they make a mistake or hopefully you can get off quick and get by them.

“Hopefully I will get on the kickoff team too and get a couple of tackles on that, that will be fun.”

Fuller, whose stepfather is Richlands football coach Greg Mance, still keeps tabs on the Blue Tornado. Mance is married to Fuller’s mother, Ann.  

“I do miss getting to see them every day,” Fuller said. “I had her twice a day in school so I was always with my parents so that was nice, but they are still not too far away, an hour and a half.

“They come up here all the time and I get to go down there whenever I want to so it is still nice.”

So is impressing the coach. Fuller has done just that, drawing praise from Beamer, who has seen improvement in the former Richlands’ star.

“I think Austin is getting more mature every day,” Beamer said. “He had a great summer, I am eager to see what he is going to do this fall. I think he is going in the right direction, that is for sure.

“He figured into our success last year and I am hoping he will figure in even more this year.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Stacy Ervin’s shot still looks like it did 13 years ago when he was winding down his basketball career at Twin Springs High School.

The perfect form. The perfect rotation. The perfect follow through. Usually, it’s a perfect result.

It was evident last month that Ervin hasn’t lost his touch as he stood in an empty high school gym in Scott County, Va.

Decked out in street clothes and without even warming up, he put up a shot that found nothing but net. Three more shots followed and were on target as the swish echoed off the empty bleachers.

The winning thoroughbred in the Kentucky Derby gets a garland of roses.

Each member of the NHL champions gets a turn with the Stanley Cup.

The first man to cross the finish line at the Indy 500 traditionally swigs milk from the Borg-Warner Trophy.

The end of the 2009 high school football season might have seen the start of a new tradition.

Four local players were named to the 2010 All-State Group A Soccer Team. In addition, Nick Smirniotopolous of George Mason was named the Player of the Year, while John Battle's Mike Posey was selected as the Coach of the Year.

Those named to the First Team were Taka Masuda (Radford), Jose Martinez (Galax), Brandon Atwell (George Wythe) and Stephen Gray (James River).