FRONT ROYAL -- Andrew Lacey had a big addition to his life recently when his fiancé gave birth to a baby boy. Now that Lacey has an even bigger family away from the court, he decided it was time to make some changes.
HARRISONBURG -- Millbrook's Schavon Springer ran a different preliminary than Pulaski's Amber Church and Harrisonburg's Mandy Kaufmann on Friday night in the trials of the 100-meter hurdles.
Winning a state title in any sport is hard enough; so to repeat as state champions, even for a Clarke County track and field team that brings 22 male and female athletes to Saturday's Group A state meet at Radford University, is a rare feat in its own right.
MINERAL -- Ashley Rasmussen and Tootie Jackson, who compete in the discus and shot put for the Skyline girls track and field team, are like most close teammates.
FRONT ROYAL -- Skyline may have won the two extra-inning battles during the regular season, but it was Warren County that won the Northwestern District quarterfinals war.
WINCHESTER -- The never-give-up Colonels of James Wood came to life again Friday night at R. Hott Field, scoring the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Skyline 3-2 in the Northwestern District baseball quarterfinals.
WINCHESTER -- Handley's Brittany Myers was a bit tired after winning her second distance race in as many days. Still, the freshman had enough left in her legs to give the Judges' 4x400 relay team a win in Thursday's final event of the Northwestern District Track and Field Championships.
WINCHESTER -- On the first day of the Northwestern District Track and Field Championships, Warren County's boys and Skyline's girls proved just how strong they are in the field events.
WOODSTOCK -- Depite his team being down by two goals at the half, Central coach Duff Rice said that he was relatively pleased with the way the lady Falcons played in the second half, when they held the Skyline Hawks scoreless for 35 minutes.
FRONT ROYAL -- There had to be a sense of deja vu when the Skyline Hawks returned to their dugout, down six runs before batting for the first time Saturday afternoon against Northwestern District softball rival Central.
WINCHESTER -- It was the last chance for several area tracksters to qualify for their district, region, and state meets Friday at Millbrook High School, and athletes from several area schools came through with photo finishes.
Daily Staff Reports SWOOPE -- Patrick Bain put himself in the Stonewall Jackson record books on Friday night. Bain had four assists in the Generals' 8-0 Shenandoah District win over Buffalo Gap to break the school mark for assists in a season. Bain now has...
WINCHESTER -- Amanda Litwin's attempt at throwing a change-up midway through the game failed miserably, as the ball failed to even make it to the plate. With two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Skyline senior decided to try the pitch again.
NOKESVILLE -- Central hung tough with Brentsville this time around. The Falcons got a solid outing from pitcher Brea Hinegardner and another homer from Ashley Ebersole, but still fell to the Tigers, 4-1, on Tuesday in Northwestern District softball action. The two teams met last week and the Tigers came away with a 14-3 win.
WINCHESTER -- The host Colonels haven't won the Apple Blossom Invitational in so long that not one James Wood coach could remember how many years it's been.
WINCHESTER -- There's a little extra excitement in the air for James Wood's boys track team as it gets ready to host today's 41st annual H. Brian Landes Apple Blossom Invitational.
Daily Staff Reports QUICKSBURG -- For one inning, it all came together for the Stonewall Jackson baseball team. On a night when the Generals struck out 13 times, the fourth inning saw the home team make solid contact batter after batter as the 10-run frame...
STRASBURG -- The Rams overcame a 3-0 deficit after the top half of the first inning to rout the visiting Madison County Mountaineers, 13-3, in a five-inning Bull Run district baseball game on Friday.
WINCHESTER -- James Wood took advantage of two Handley errors and came up with some timely doubles to pull out a 3-1 Northwestern District baseball victory over the Judges on Thursday.
STEPHENS CITY -- Sherando rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh and then scored the winning run in the eighth as the Warriors defeated Millbrook, 4-3, in Northwestern District baseball action on Wednesday.
FRONT ROYAL -- Central picked up its first win of the season rallying for a 2-1 Northwestern District win over Skyline on Tuesday night in girls soccer action.
Daily Staff Reports Baseball Millbrook 10, Warren County 5 WINCHESTER -- Quinn Courtney went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored to lead the Pioneers past the Wildcats in Northwestern District action. Michael Dillow went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs for the...
BERRYVILLE -- Clarke County's Brianna Smith was in a hurry to get the game over with. Smith hustled around the bases with seven steals, swiping home twice as the Eagles pounded Stonewall Jackson, 15-0, in a five-inning game.
FRONT ROYAL -- Sherando's winning recipe for knocking Skyline off its undefeated Northwestern District throne was a perfect blend of small-ball, home runs and one back-breaking inning.
FRONT ROYAL -- Jon King's 11 strikeouts kept Warren County hitless through five innings, but it was King's acrobatics at third base that may have secured Skyline's 8-4 win.
FRONT ROYAL -- Warren County Wildcats freshman Nicole King and Skyline Hawks senior Amanda Litwin engaged in a ferocious pitchers' duel, featuring 19 strikeouts and no-hitters through four and five innings, respectively, in a nine-inning Northwestern District softball game Friday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- The only thing coach Rich Armstrong wanted his Skyline girls to remember from their 11-0 shutout loss to Potomac Falls on Thursday night was to forget about it.
STEPHENS CITY -- Sherando's boys tennis squad hopes to pick up where it left off last season. The Warriors lost a couple of their top six players to graduation, but with two talented newcomers added to the team, they have good reason to be confident this year.
FRONT ROYAL -- Skyline never recovered from a first-inning home run by Page County, as they lost 8-0. It was the Hawks' first loss of the young season.
FRONT ROYAL -- In the early evening, with the temperature retreating from a high of 40 degrees, and the humidity 70 percent and climbing, "raw" would be an apt description of the weather as the Skyline Hawks hosted the Millbrook Pioneers for their home opener.
WOODSTOCK -- Eventually one team was going to break through in Central's 2-1 victory over Warren County in Northwestern District softball action on Friday night.
WOODSTOCK -- The spring of 2007 was a special time for the Central softball team. Following a winless campaign in 2006, Jill Yew's first season as the Falcons' head coach, pitcher Brea Hinegardner and catcher Ashley Ebersole were reunited at Central, after playing years together in various leagues, and paraded the Falcons to nine wins in 2007 and 11 in 2008.
WINCHESTER -- Handley used timely hitting to knock off defending Northwestern District champion Brentsville, 6-4, on Wednesday in softball action. The win snapped Brentsville's 17-game winning streak in the district.
QUICKSBURG -- Stonewall Jackson coach Nate Hissong stands in the middle of a barren field, his soccer team scrambling in every direction around him and dribbling soccer balls as they go.
WINCHESTER -- Often meaningless before a pitch has been thrown, the early-season expectations for James Wood -- as they were last Tuesday -- haven't always been so high.
WINCHESTER -- Underneath senior Vance Washington's uniform was a sleeveless white T-shirt branded with "Judges" on the front, the No. 44 on both sides and the last name "Raynor" across his shoulder blades.
FRONT ROYAL -- Jasmine Curtis knew her team's season was on the line. When she came off the bench in the third quarter, the Handley sophomore made sure to make the most of her opportunity.
SALEM -- The image of Jake Crawford leaping into the outstretched arms of Millbrook coach Chris Haines spoke more to the jubilation of the moment than words ever could.
WINCHESTER -- Skyline tried to slow the game down against Millbrook on Thursday night. The plan worked for most of the first half, but the Pioneers were able to get their fast-paced offense going before intermission and carried it over into the final 16 minutes.
FRONT ROYAL -- The third-seeded Millbrook Pioneers met the second-seeded Skyline Hawks Wednesday night in a Northwestern District tournament semifinal contest. The Hawks had won both of the regular season matchups.
STEPHENS CITY -- Kristina Salazar and her Skyline teammates were incessantly reminded by their coach, Andrew Lacey, to be less passive throughout Tuesday's game.
FRONT ROYAL -- Listening to the public address announcer broadcast his name at least 11 times during the third quarter, Skyline forward Eric King was obviously having a stellar night. But even King, a senior forward whose previous career high in points was 16, lost track of how many field goals he actually had during a crucial eight-minute stretch against Warren County on Friday.
STEPHENS CITY -- Millbrook wrestler Derrick Borlie remembers the last time the Northwestern District tournament was held at Sherando High School: He was "embarrassed" and pinned in the championship bout by A.J. Bakos.
WOODSTOCK -- It was senior night for the Central Falcons as they hosted the Skyline Hawks in girls Northwestern District basketball action Friday night. The special occasion may have given the Falcons additional motivation.
WINCHESTER -- James Wood's Matt Johnson called it a "schoolyard" play. After Johnson missed a shot in the waning moments of the Colonels' 68-65 win over Skyline on Saturday, the Hawks' Andrew Thorne collected the rebound and players from both teams darted up the floor -- except for Johnson.
FRONT ROYAL -- Handley head coach Marvin Scott said it's too late in the season to be turning the ball over as much as the Judges did against Skyline on Friday. However, he added that this late in the season, he'll also take a win.
FRONT ROYAL -- The Clarke County Eagles had only nine players suited up when they visited the Skyline Hawks for a non-district basketball game Saturday night.
FRONT ROYAL -- With the frequency of Skyline's perimeter shot attempts, a few are bound to fall through the cylinder in peculiar, odd and extraordinary fashion.
FRONT ROYAL -- Andrew Thorne admitted he was anxious to get back in the game. Moments after a dazzling dunk in the first quarter, he was charged with his second foul and relegated to the bench for the duration of the first half.
FRONT ROYAL -- It took the Skyline Hawks nearly a quarter to re-adjust to playing basketball. Head coach Andrew Lacey had given his team "three-to-four" days off from practice -- measures for flu-like conditions that had plagued his team. Once they found their rhythm on...
WINCHESTER -- His missed free throw with 0.7 seconds left in the game was his only mishap -- one that was softened as Millbrook's futile attempt from three-quarters court clanked off the ceiling.
FRONT ROYAL -- Take away one quarter, specifically the third quarter, and Skyline could have easily scored the upset it was looking for over Millbrook.
FRONT ROYAL -- Step through and twist and throw was how Alan Kroh described the head drag.
The 215-pound Skyline sophomore called it his main move -- one that's he been practicing all season. And moments before Skyline's 36-29 victory over rival Warren County, he was even kind enough to offer a demonstration -- even when it seemed his Wildcats opponent, Eddie Stevens, was stepping on his toes.
In front of a raucous home crowd on Friday, Central sank seven 3-pointers in a 50-35 Northwestern District victory over the Hawks. Aaron Heishman had 11 points and J.J. Armentrout had 10, while Morgan Reynard and Seth Bauserman both connected twice from 3-point range.
FRONT ROYAL -- After coming out of the game early in the third quarter, Kelsey Corcoran knew it was time to make a difference. Once she re-entered the game, she took advantage of her opportunity dominating inside to lead the Hawks to a 52-40 victory over Central in Northwestern District girls basketball action on Friday.
WINCHESTER — Handley coach Tommy Dixon always preaches to his team that the third quarter is the most important one. On Monday night, his team listened.
WINCHESTER — Handley guard Corin Scott’s jump shot in the fourth quarter wasn’t errant; actually, it fell perfectly through the net. It was, however, seemingly out of place against Skyline on Monday with 2:11 remaining on the clock. Of the Judges’ 21 field goals at Shingleton Gymnasium on the campus of Shenandoah University, 17 were layups.
FRONT ROYAL — Andrew Thorne and Terrell Matthews just needed a hint of eye contact. As Skyline adjusted to James Wood’s zone defense, spreading the court at coach Sonny Dyke’s will, Thorne — stationed in the right corner — and Matthews — on a wing — connected.
WINCHESTER — Classes don’t resume until Monday, but prep sports didn’t take a break for the winter holidays. As a case in point, the James Wood Colonels hosted the Skyline Hawks in their first meeting of the girls basketball season in a Northwestern District game Friday night.
The instincts and natural ability of Skyline's Andrew Thorne and Handley's Leonard Grant helped the pair to the All-Group AA football team of The Associated Press.
STEPHENS CITY -- Coming off a disappointing loss to Handley, the Sherando Warriors can at least view their 54-51 loss to Skyline on Monday night as a positive.
FRONT ROYAL -- With only a two-point advantage over Old Mill (Md.) in the semifinal bout of the Border Wars Tournament at Skyline High School, the James Wood Colonels weren't yet in desperate need of points from junior Gage Swartz, but they certainly could have helped the Colonels' situation.
FRONT ROYAL -- When eight or more bodies can contribute, the Hawks are finding different means of winning with each game, and are simultaneously getting more difficult to defend against.
FRONT ROYAL -- Even during the team's warm-ups, there was little reluctance in the shooting hand of Terrell Matthews to release a shot well beyond the arc before Monday's tipoff. And in the first half of Skyline's 66-55 victory over Millbrook, there was little doubt Matthews was well within his range.
