mhsalum

Referees ruined game I've seen some bad referees in my time, but the three men who officiated Martinsville's state semifinal game with Robert E. Lee take the cake. I don't know who those three referees were, and I don't care. They ruined the game for the players and the fans. Lee had shot 25 foul shots by halftime, and ended up taking 47 attempts from the charity stripe. That statistic is ridiculous. It makes people think the game was physical, but it wasn't. The refs called the most pathetic, ticky-tack fouls that I've ever seen. I think Vic Hairston sneezed on an opponent and got called for a foul at one point. There were 51 personal fouls called in the game. Both teams had two players foul out and at the end of the game, Martinsville had four players with four fouls, while Lee had one with three and two with two. It seemed like the referess were calling a foul on every offensive possession, and the effect was paralyzing to Martinsville's style of basketball. The Bulldogs are a run-and-gun team, and with whistle after whistle slowing down the pace of the game, they were forced to play a half-court type of game. Seeing Martinsville play like this was almost unbearable. I watched the game from the press table, and the consensus of the people sitting around me -- all sports writers like myself -- was the same: these refs need to let the kids play. The sports writer sitting next to me got so angry that he started heckling the refs. "Can you guys go a play without blowing a whistle?" he said to a ref as he jogged past. And that writer was there covering Lee, which ended the game with 19 fouls compared to Martinsville's 32. I kept my mouth shut, but when one of the refs called a foul from halfcourt on a Bulldog who was underneath the basket, I wanted to scream my head off. But I kept calm and buried my disbelief in a bag of chips. I took it a lot better than the sports writer sitting next to me. "How could he call that? He was 20 feet away," he said, punching the table. "These refs are controlling the game. They're the kind of refs that want to be the stars." He stood up and yelled with his hands cupping his mouth. "That's it hot shot. Blow your whistle. You the man. That's right, you the man. You're deciding the outcome of this game!" I felt the same way. The referees were shaming the sport of basketball and making what should have been an up-and-down game extremely boring. To be fair to the referees and the players on Fighting Leemen, the officials weren't the only reason for the Bulldogs' downfall. Martinsville shot 52.2 percent from the foul line and 37.3 percent from the floor, while getting beaten under the boards. But the refs didn't help. Good officials aren't supposed to help or handicap a team. They're supposed to call the game evenly, let the kids play when it's appropriate and they should never, ever, control a game like those three guys did last Friday.

mhs 64 - abingdon 48

i was impressed with a very young looking, tall light-skinned kid that played for tazewell last year...no idea what his name was. although their team overall was atrocious...they looked as if they were just going through the motions. and this was a swd tournament game! anyhow, i think tunstall is the overwhelming favorite in this game. however, if the game is called closely, tunstall could be at a disadvantage. they're extremely physical and 'in-your-face'. they can get up and down the floor and they can also take u inside. but if the refs are quick to call fouls and get some of their starters off of the floor it could become more interesting. i still like tunstall by 15 or more.

martinsville survives by 3 over tunstall 73-70. the dogs will welcome marion into the friendly confines of the doghouse tuesday night. could be a long night for marion...i'm gonna go out on a small limb and say that i suspect martinsville and tunstall will probably meet again next saturday for the regional championship.

well...my source for this info was off of highschoolsports.net. martinsville (along with many other schools around va) uses this website for to post the schedules for it's program. and the football schedule for next year is already on there...and graham (away) is scheduled there for 9-2-05. HOWEVER, mhs just recently fired their a.d. and the possibility that something is incorrect or wasn't quite 'a done deal' isn't totally impossible i guess.

of course the graham/bluefield game will open ghs's season in late august, but graham's 2nd game (9/2/05) will be a visit from the martinsville bulldogs....mhs also has perennial seminole power rustburg, 2 time defending state champ gretna, aaa power franklin county, and another aaa team halifax county on the schedule. mhs loses their all-state lb (who also played rb) steven henderson, but they return quite a bit including this year's sophomore class which is absolutely loaded with athletes. mhs should hopefully give graham a little more competition this time around opposed to the playoff loss down there last year.

not always wise to compare like opponents...however, i saw martinsville completely dominate rustburg in mhs's first game of the season (rhs had already played a game). and then this past week...bassett, whose coaches were at the mhs/rhs game scouting, narrowly escaped with a win against the red devils. anyhow, i thought mhs would be good, but still noticeably behind both magna vista and bassett in the piedmont...but now i'm not so sure about that. mvhs and bassett are also senior laden while most of mhs's players are still just sophs and juniors. anyhow, just some ramblings...should be interesting to see.

current coach's name is taylor edwards. this just an aside as i know u're unfamiliar with the program here. but i think it's really silly that the booster club, or someone with the capability of gathering all of this info hasn't done so on a website of "our" own. more astonishing is that our basketball program has 12 state titles, the most in the state of virginia, and there's no well kept records that i know of for them either.

i mentioned seeing evidence that mhs played games as early as 1917 (from the g.w. danville website). i also was able to find records of seasons (1950-59) played in the old "district 6" on pulaski county's website. our current coach (since 81) has a record of 187-69. those are the only numbers i am confident in.... the season before he took over, mhs played in the state finals. they were very dominant in the mid to late 70s as well, winning one of their 2 state titles, of 6 finals appearances, in 1975. the other was in 1988. i could piece together a few years here and there (possibly all the way back to 1950), but i haven't a clue how to get records from those early years.

i can find records that my alma mater, martinsville, was playing football as early as 1917 (from gw danville's website - a team that's already listed on the all-time wins list). and considering that i can prove that our current coach has nearly 190 wins since 1981 alone, i'd say we're darn close or over 400 wins. really wished i could find someone with the exact numbers....for bball and fball. gonna try to work on it.

it only helps the other members of the swd. it doesn't help carroll out much and it only transfers the problem the swd endures over to the piedmont teams. the only positive i see is the natural border rivalry carroll has with patrick county...BUT, they already play each other in every sport anyways as 'out-of-district' games. i realize that roadtrips for carroll county games for everyone in the swd aren't fun. however, for those geographically challenged among you...it would be an hour and a half to martinsville, bassett and magna vista. it would be all of 2 hours (maybe more) to tunstall. and for those of you who don't know just how far on the other side of danville and out in the woods (in ringgold, va.) that dan river high school is, it would be nearly a 3 hour drive. and as an added bonus, every trip to or from hillsville for piedmont teams involves going up or down the mountain. including patrick county!

PCHS looking for improvement By ANDY MARKS Bulletin Sports Editor Setting goals becomes a difficult task when your team has won just one game in the last two years. Patrick County boys' head coach Keith Gunter's primary goal for the season transcends district standings and won-lost records. Gunter simply wants to see a positive attitude return to the hardwood at his proud school. "I don't think a lot of people around here expect us to win," Gunter said of a program that has careened downward since a 22-win playoff season in 1999. "I think the guys use that as an excuse for why we don't win. It's a thing where they were expecting to lose." With a lack of team height and limited athleticism, Gunter's 2003-04 squad will need to depend on the intangible factors of heart and hustle if it is going to contend with the big boys at the top of the Piedmont. "They've got to have that killer instinct every time they step out on the floor," he said. "Our talent from last season is improved at each position." Gunter has six players back from last year's 1-18 bunch that failed to win a district game, including two starters. In a top-heavy district, Gunter isn't worried so much about collecting wins as he is about recollecting the winning attitude at Patrick County in years past. To that end, he has put together an eighth-grade team that is "full of basketball players," and kept all of his talented sophomores on the JV level so they can grow together as a unit. With what he deems as increased talent at every position, Gunter will enter the season looking for physical gains on the court and emotional gains off the court. "We can't continue to believe that we just can't win here at Patrick County," he said. "We've got to throw those excuses out the window." WILL BE A SUCCESS IF: Gunter's troops drop individual goals for the sake of team play. The undersized Cougars have some scoring punch and athleticism, but must gel as a unit -- especially on defense and on the boards -- if they're to compete with the taller and more athletic teams of the PD. BUT A BUST IF: Frustration sets in. If a couple of early-season losses set the Cougars back into the losing mind-sets of the past two years, it could be a long year in Stuart. "We can't give up on ourselves," explained Gunter. "We need to play for each other and pull for each other. If we stop doing that, we're going to be in big trouble and it's going to be the same song and dance as last year." Gunter identified point guard play and low-post defense as the two areas that need to be stabilized for the season to be a success. "How well we do in those areas will determine how good we are," he said. OFFENSE: Without an imposing post presence, the Cougars will try and execute most of their plays from the perimeter, sometimes playing four guards at the same time. Expect to see a fair share of cutting and screening from the outside in an attempt to neutralize opponent height advantages. Patrick County will also look to establish fast-pace games that take the zone defense out of play. DEFENSE: Gunter wants to play a man-to-man defense, but must then be aware of match-up problems based on height. "With our lack of size, we're going to have to get the ball back as quick as we can," he said. The Cougars will press and trap to force turnovers. Gunter said he's still working out where on the court his team can implement those defensive sets most effectively. "We're still trying to figure out how far we can extend our defense," he said. BACKCOURT: Cougar guards are the strength of the team, and it all starts with wing-guard Andrew Terry, a 6-foot-1 senior with a good first step and a soft shot. Terry returns for his senior season after being the team's second leading scorer as a junior. Entering his third varsity season, Terry has only seen one win. Gunter will count on the scoring specialist be cool under defensive fire and help get the team accustomed to success. Joining Terry in the starting lineup will be point guard Chad Pilson, who was a reserve ball-handler as a junior last year. Pilson provides stability and experience in the backcourt, and Gunter is hoping to see maturity out of the point guard position. "If we want to be successful this year, Chad has got to become a leader on the floor and recognize changes out there. If he plays really well this season, I think we'll do real well." Junior Trey Smith has the inside track to round out the starting backcourt from the other wing. Smith, who moves up from JV, is still adjusting to varsity play after taking some big licks during football season. FRONTCOURT: Power forward Ryan Connor, a six-foot senior, was a middle linebacker on the gridiron for the Cougars. "He plays middle linebacker on the basketball court too," laughed Gunter. "He's as hard-nosed as they come, tough, gutty, and he hates to lose." Connor is a ferocious rebounder who can also put the ball on the floor. He'll spend the majority of the season guarding much taller players. The biggest presence in the Cougar arsenal is 6-foot-2 Brandon Shelton, a senior entering his second varsity season. Gunter said Shelton has added some strength during the offseason. "He's got to learn to use his body to create space and then get after it on the boards," Gunter said. DEPTH: Junior Ryan Morris will battle Smith for playing time on the wing. Morris, a Magna Vista-transfer, adds an element of speed to the Cougars. Adding depth to the Cougar backcourt are senior shooting-specialist Steven Williams, reserve point guard Brett Holt and defensive whiz Timmy Hylton. Down low, junior Shawn Jessup provides energy by doing the little things such as diving for loose balls and taking charges. Junior Zac Bray is much-improved, according to Gunter, and will back up Shelton at center. Josh Keith, a senior, is a well-rounded player without a natural position. Gunter hopes to use Keith's inside-outside abilities in a variety of ways. COACHING: Gunter, a former Patrick County hoops standout, will lead things from the bench, while longtime PC hoops coach Grandy Briggs returns as varsity assistant. Chris Jensen will guide the JV Cougars for the second straight year, while Fieldale-Collinsville grad Andrew Kahle is coaching the eighth graders. MOST-LIKELY MVP: Without a doubt, Terry will be the go-to guy for the Cougars. Gunter said Terry has made his offensive game more mobile for his senior season, and Gunter hopes he'll pressure opposing defenses into double-teams so that his other starters can get good looks. NEW FACE TO WATCH: Smith was the dominant player on last year's JV Cougars. The junior has a nose for the basket and Gunter hopes his scoring punch will advance with him to the varsity level. OUTLOOK: Look for the Cougars to show marked progress over their past two dismal campaigns, but a playoff berth still seems like a reach for this undersized gang. Gunter is laying the foundation for future success.

gretna's been calling their boys dog soldiers for the last several years. would be more appropriate it seems, if their mascot was some sort of k9. of course maybe that's just me. anyhow, those directions posted above should getcha there just fine. and not to worry, once you get to gretna, the school (and football field) won't be hard to find. lol...the welcome to gretna sign used to say (and it may still)...welcome to gretna, it aint no big thing, but it's growing! last week's problem was certainly unfortunate, but i wouldn't worry about being in any danger there this weekend. last thing, i think i'd save my money and/or go to a game much closer to swva unless u just have to go...gretna is the real deal. plus, rustburg has had difficulty scoring all year long. this game could get ugly really quickly.

carroll county would have a great natural border rivalry with patrick county, and it's not a terribly long trip (in the neighborhood of an hour and a half) to any henry county school or martinsville....that much is true. BUT, on a school bus, it would be every bit of 2 hours to tunstall and may even push close to 2.5-3 hours to dan river...one way! i know they're already making long drives, but besides the pc-dan river trip, the piedmont is fairly tightly woven. if the piedmont was to allow carroll in, i could easily see dr (especially since they could possibly drop to single a there), and possibly tunstall, migrate back to the dogwood where they both ran off to for a few years in the mid-90s.

all true about martinsville's d (and o for that matter) looking good against some weaker opponents in the last several weeks. they've been less effective against teams with decent size on the line and quickness in the backfield (ex. mv and franklin county). and as for the fc game...fc did put the ball on the ground 6 times i believe, and all but one was recovered by the dogs. plus they threw an interception. however, the dogs turned the ball over a couple of times in the rain that nite as well. m'ville's lone score came on a 30'some yard fumble return. and it should be said that fc's lone score came after a botched snap on a fc punt turned into a 80 yard scramble down the sideline that put the ball inside the 10 yard line for the cavs. after the score, the pat was blocked...7-6 final.