Area teams post strong numbers for the first day..

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

http://www.bdtonline.com/articles/2004/08/03/sports/01monfootball.txt

 

Prep teams begin football practice

Posted: Monday, Aug 02, 2004 - 10:29:26 pm EDT

By BOB REDD

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

Grass drills, wind sprints and film evaluations went into full effect Monday morning as high schools throughout the area began football practice.

 

All schools in West Virginia and Class AA squads in Virginia took to the practice field in preparation for what area schools hope culminate with a visit to respective state championship games.

 

At Bluefield High School, the two-time Class AA runners-up began fall drills with just over 50 players in camp.

 

Head coach Fred Simon is putting the Beavers through two-a-days and looks to replace lost players.

 

"We've got some kids coming back, but we did lose some experience; we lost some key individuals," Simon said. "But if we can replace them, it will help quite a bit, and we've still got Rusty (Coeburn) coming back at QB - and he's a fine defensive player.

 

"We've also got Dave Perdue, Quintin Steptoe, Daniel Wells, and T.J. Morris - those are the five (we expect to be leaders)."

 

Across town in Bluefield, Va., at Graham High, long-time mentor Glynn Carlock has a high number of players suiting up for the G-Men.

 

"We have about 60 out," Carlock said. "We've got about 20 that are juniors and seniors, and (the rest are younger). We had a real good freshman class last year (of about 15) and they've done a good job. They're learned deep and they're easy to coach even though they were freshmen. They learned well and they will be sophomores, and some of them will be playing, I guarantee. And we've got another good bunch of about 19 freshmen.

 

"We'll get them suited up, and we'll see who can play and get some backups and go on," Carlock said. "That will take a while, but at least we don't scrimmage until the 13th. Hope to have things in order by then."

 

At Princeton High School, Ted Spadaro began his 15th year as PSHS head coach, preparing for what will be the Tigers' first in the Mountain State Athletic Conference.

 

Spadaro said, "I like to look at ... these kids on the first day to see how they got themselves in shape this summer. (The seniors) have really dedicated themselves this spring, and summer and fall." He said that over three-quarters of the team is in "decent shape."

 

The veteran coach said, "We've got pieces of the puzzle we're concerned with, and we want to make sure they fit together." He expects to enter the season with 55 players.

 

The Tigers were "very high" in enthusiasm on Monday, Spadaro said. "The first day, usually, they're pretty well fired up. Then the soreness sets in about Wednesday, and they simmer down a little."

 

At PikeView Eddie Niswander begins his third season at the helm of the Panthers. "Basically, we're a real young team," he said. For the first day, he said, "we wanted to get them acquainted with what football is all about." He said 25 players took the field Monday, and "we're looking for 30." The team showed excellent attitude, he reported.

 

Montcalm has 22 players out and head coach Craig Havens is looking forward to a season in which the Generals return experienced players.

 

"We've got about 10 seniors this year. The last two seasons we've had one each year. We should be more experienced," Havens said. "The attitude of the bunch is really good."

 

Veteran coach Bobby Wyatt is the new coach at Tazewell after many years as the head man at Pocahontas. Wyatt welcomed 40 players to THS' first session.

 

"We had a real intense first day of practice," Wyatt said. "I guess I had to get myself settled down as much as anything else, but today was a lot of fun. Our assistants worked hard and really got into it. The kids responded well and I think we are on the way to realizing what we need to do to become a better football team."

 

(Tom Bone, Dusty Harman and Larry Hypes contributed to this story.)

[sandman 13]

I'm silghtly suprised that Graham has more players beginning camp than Bluefield or Princeton, taking into consideration that Graham has lower enrollment than both schools.

[hhstigerfan 12]

Why did the article say Class AA schools in VA started practice yesterday? Several Single A schools in VA started practice yesterday. Honaker started yesterday, as did Lebanon, Castlewood, and all the LPD schoools. Well, actually I think just about everybody started.