THIS WEEK: The BIG TEN
Sports News
|
|||||||||||||
When Evan Synstad left Fauquier for Virginia Tech, he thought his hoops days were over
1/6/2009
Sometimes opportunity doesn’t knock.It uses the phone instead.That’s how Evan Synstad became a member of the Virginia Tech basketball team. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Waters roil when Tigers and Cougars swim
1/6/2009
Days before Kettle Run’s swim meet against Brentsville, Cougars' coach Angie Smith set out to lower expectations.“I do want to let you know our goal for this meet is time improvements, not winning. They are a very large team,” Smith wrote in an e-mail.Pitting a first-year program with no seniors like the Cougars against a Northwestern District powerhouse like Brentsville seems unfair. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
In hoops wars, Liberty comes up a few bullets short
1/6/2009
Say you were looking for a DVD to rent over the holidays, and you indecisively selected “War, Inc.,” a black comedy about a hit man played by John Cusack trying to complete an assassination in a fictitious country called Turaqistan. It’s an Iraq-like hellhole Cusack doesn’t want to be in, even with the presence of Marisa Tomei as the muckracking left-wing journalist Cusack is trying to put the moves on.Equally compelling entertainment would have been derived from following the thrilling escapades of the Liberty High boys basketball team the last two weeks. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Fauquier boys roar past Kettle Run in first meeting
1/6/2009
It was winter break, and the school hallways were quiet. Yet the parking lots were crammed on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at Fauquier High.What could be so intriguing as to lure students back to school almost a full week before break ended? The first-ever boys basketball clash between the green and orange of Kettle Run and the red and gray of Fauquier.As the ball was tossed up, a rivalry was born — a historical moment that was not lost on the players. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Featured Local Sport: Football
THE REDSKIN HATER COLUMN: Only an unlikely Xmas miracle can save them now
12/11/2008
Finally, the Washington Redskins are back where they belong -- in the cellar of the NFC East! That's where I had stashed them in my preseason predictions (albeit at 5-11), and while that bit of prognostication was off, the Redskins lived down to my expectations Sunday night in their 24-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The "Beltway Battle" wasn't so much a battle as it was a checklist of observations from my column last week.Washington having problems scoring touchdowns while down two or more scores? Check. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
THE RED SKINS HATER COLUMN: Can Skins win a big game? Nah.
12/4/2008
Earlier this week, Washington Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot appeared on "The Mike O'Meara Show" radio program and talked about how the midseason acquisition of DeAngelo Hall has changed the team."We've given ourselves a new nickname and everything -- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," said Smoot. "We're all superheroes and we've got different powers and different talents."Smoot's wrong about his current team, however. They're all displaying the same superpower: the magical ability to turn a 6-2 start into a 7-5 fortress of stinkitude. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Dinwiddie QB throws 4 TD passes as Eagles ousted in state semifinals
12/2/2008
Wayne Fleming’s broken foot had a trickle-down effect on the Liberty offense in Saturday’s 42-21 loss to Dinwiddie County in the Group AAA Division 5 semifinal. The Eagles' No. 1 running back most of the year, Fleming went down in the previous week’s regional championship triumph. To advance to their first state championship game, adjustments would be needed. Capable Corey Lillard would need to shoulder the running load, with support players Shaheem Jones and Ryan Burroughs getting prime time carries as the speed backs. Standout quarterback Nick Potts would need to be extra sharp. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
To win, Eagles must stop Dinwiddie's record-setting passer
11/27/2008
Liberty coach Tommy Buzzo calls Dinwiddie the Texas Tech of Virginia.That's a apt pseudonym based on the similarly gaudy passing statistics they share.Dinwiddie quarterback Adam Morgan has set two state career passing records this season and is poised to break a third this Saturday in the Generals' playoff game against Liberty. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Eagles celebrate trip to state semifinals
11/25/2008
It was supposed to be one of those pooch kickoffs that lands short of the lethal return men waiting around the 10-yard line. But Jordan Hunter had other ideas. Seeing an opening, the Liberty High tapped the ball lightly. It went the requisite 10 yards, as an Eagle fell on it virtually uncontested. Brilliant!“I kind of took a risk,” admitted the 5-foot-8, 243- pound Hunter, also an LHS lineman. “Coach told me to pop it up, but the left side was wide open. I did it on my own.”Hunter's mild act of civil disobedience turned into a momentum-seizing play, as the Eagles seized the initiative in their most important game of the year. Soon Derrick Lee, James Rogers and Corey Lillard had scored touchdowns as the Eagles bolted to a 21-0 lead with a full four minutes left in the first quarter, and cruised to a 41-14 victory over George Washington-Danville in the Northwest Region championship of the Group AAA Division 5 playoffs. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
This Week
THE REDSKIN HATER COLUMN: Only an unlikely Xmas miracle can save them now
12/11/2008
Finally, the Washington Redskins are back where they belong -- in the cellar of the NFC East! That's where I had stashed them in my preseason predictions (albeit at 5-11), and while that bit of prognostication was off, the Redskins lived down to my expectations Sunday night in their 24-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The "Beltway Battle" wasn't so much a battle as it was a checklist of observations from my column last week.Washington having problems scoring touchdowns while down two or more scores? Check. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
THE RED SKINS HATER COLUMN: Can Skins win a big game? Nah.
12/4/2008
Earlier this week, Washington Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot appeared on "The Mike O'Meara Show" radio program and talked about how the midseason acquisition of DeAngelo Hall has changed the team."We've given ourselves a new nickname and everything -- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," said Smoot. "We're all superheroes and we've got different powers and different talents."Smoot's wrong about his current team, however. They're all displaying the same superpower: the magical ability to turn a 6-2 start into a 7-5 fortress of stinkitude. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Dinwiddie QB throws 4 TD passes as Eagles ousted in state semifinals
12/2/2008
Wayne Fleming’s broken foot had a trickle-down effect on the Liberty offense in Saturday’s 42-21 loss to Dinwiddie County in the Group AAA Division 5 semifinal. The Eagles' No. 1 running back most of the year, Fleming went down in the previous week’s regional championship triumph. To advance to their first state championship game, adjustments would be needed. Capable Corey Lillard would need to shoulder the running load, with support players Shaheem Jones and Ryan Burroughs getting prime time carries as the speed backs. Standout quarterback Nick Potts would need to be extra sharp. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
To win, Eagles must stop Dinwiddie's record-setting passer
11/27/2008
Liberty coach Tommy Buzzo calls Dinwiddie the Texas Tech of Virginia.That's a apt pseudonym based on the similarly gaudy passing statistics they share.Dinwiddie quarterback Adam Morgan has set two state career passing records this season and is poised to break a third this Saturday in the Generals' playoff game against Liberty. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Streaking Falcons cruise past Loudoun Valley to win Cedar Run District tourney
11/4/2008
Wow!Even the most casual observer realized the Fauquier Falcons were legitimate contenders to win the Cedar Run District volleyball tournament championship. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Pretty convincing, girls; Vintage performance sends FHS to regionals
10/31/2008
The Fauquier Falcons didn't lend much suspense to their match against Osbourn Park in the Cedar Run District tournament semifinals. They had enough of that during the regular season.After squeaking out victories in a pair of epic, five-game regular season matches against OP | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Kettle Run's run ends gallantly in district semifinals
10/31/2008
In retrospect, perhaps the pink slip bearing Kettle Run's name should have been forewarning. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Brutal year, but LHS had its bright spots
10/31/2008
It didn't end well for the Liberty volleyball team, but some building blocks did emerge from the rubble of the Eagles' 4-17 season. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
LHS field hockey advances to regions by stunning FHS, 1-0
11/4/2008
Shot after shot after shot after shot came screaming at Liberty High goalkeeper Cassie Stroud.On the sideline, interim coaches Rick Vestal and Matt Warren wondered if the seemingly endless barrage of Fauquier rockets would ever end. It felt like Omaha Beach during D-Day.But the whistle eventually blew and the celebratory screaming and hugging commenced as the Eagles finalized a major shocker by downing the Falcons 1-0 in the Cedar Run District semifinals. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Barrett's sudden death penalty shot lifts FHS to district title, 2-1, over Bobcats
10/28/2008
Fauquier needed three extra days and one additional game, but the wait was sweet satisfaction for the Falcon field hockey squad.Senior Ellie Barrett converted a penalty shot with seconds remaining in the first sudden-death overtime period last Thursday in a 2-1 victory over Battlefield at Liberty High.The decisive goal came in a special playoff game to decide the Cedar Run District's regular-season titlist. The contest became a requirement when the Bobcats scored a 2-1 overtime decision Oct. 20, which left the schools tied at 9-1. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Barrett's sudden death penalty shot lifts FHS to district title, 2-1, over Bobcats
10/28/2008
Fauquier needed three extra days and one additional game, but the wait was sweet satisfaction for the Falcon field hockey squad.Senior Ellie Barrett converted a penalty shot with seconds remaining in the first sudden-death overtime period last Thursday in a 2-1 victory over Battlefield at Liberty High.The decisive goal came in a special playoff game to decide the Cedar Run District's regular-season titlist. The contest became a requirement when the Bobcats scored a 2-1 overtime decision Oct. 20, which left the schools tied at 9-1. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Bobcats deny Falcons outright title; playoff likely
10/21/2008
Many people consider a tie game to be unsatisfying, but the Fauquier High School's field hockey unit gladly would have settled for a tie Monday. Instead, the Falcons absorbed their first Cedar Run District loss of the season in a 2-1 overtime battle against Battlefield.A win, or even a tie, would have clinched the league's regular-season championship and an automatic regional berth. Now, Fauquier and Battlefield appear headed for a playoff to determine the titlist. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
FHS' Combs makes state golf; Smith almost
10/21/2008
During a week when most Liberty and Fauquier High golfers were playing with scissors, Lisa Combs played it safe.At the Northwest Region tournament, Fauquier’s Drew Smith and Liberty’s Stephen Massei were snipped at the last second by the Group AAA state tournament qualifying cut, Massei after barely sneaking above the regional cut, but Combs was | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Falcons' Smith, Pappas, Eagle Eric Mehiel (who?) shine at district golf meet
9/30/2008
Fortune cookies seemed to have more prognostic credibility than Greg Pappas as Monday’s Cedar Run District golf tournament approached.But Pappas looked like Nostradamus post-meet after the Fauquier Falcons had finished third behind two of the state’s best teams and well ahead of the fifth-place Liberty Eagles.Earlier this season, Pappas boldly predicted that Fauquier would beat Liberty in the season-ending meet, saying so even after the Falcons lost to the Eagles by 10 strokes in the Combs Cup tournament. Liberty later crushed Fauquier by 16 strokes at the Sept. 13 district mini tournament, too. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
LHS, FHS golfers loom as dangerous underdogs at district meet
9/18/2008
The qualifier “girls” may not be included in the name of every postseason tournament Lisa Combs enters this year. In 2007, she only played in the State Golf Girls Open. This season, if Combs plays the Cedar Run District tournament as well as she played the Skyline Invitational on Tuesday, the Fauquier High sophomore has could advance to the Group AAA Northwest Region Tournament and perhaps, as a long-shot, to the Group AAA State Tournament. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Eagles golfers shoot season-best 314, take third at mini tournament
9/16/2008
Eight strokes may sound like a lot, but when spaced across four scorecards that’s a manageable number.And eight strokes is all that separated Liberty from the runner-up spot Saturday during the Cedar Run District mini tournament at Kastle Greens Golf Club.Granted, it took the Eagles’ best performance of the season to post a score of 314 and finish third behind Battlefield (300) and Loudoun Valley (306), but that score injected a bit of optimism into the Liberty lineup. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Riding therapy a hit
12/9/2008
Jen Bean is looking forward to the day this spring when her daughter Kylie can start horseback riding again. “I know that when Kylie goes to riding, she will stand taller, walk more smoothly and her limp won't be as pronounced,” Jen Bean said. “You can see the physical benefits but the emotional benefits are more advantageous."Kylie, 11, has been participating in the Marshall-based Phoenix Rising Therapeutic Equestrian Program since its inception. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Horse Sporting Calendar
11/11/2008
NOVEMBER 12 Free conservation lecture series, Smithsonian Zoo's Conservation Research Center, Front Royal, 7 p.m., saving the corals, free, (540) 635-654013-15 Reproductive mini-course, Equine Reproduction Concepts, Amissville, handling the breeding mare, (540) 937-9832, www.equinereproduction.com | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Horses and People briefs
11/11/2008
Warning to ridersMore than $500 in cash was stolen from multiple vehicles parked at a private farm near Middleburg during a foxhunt last Saturday. Officials say it appears that someone went into unlocked trucks and took cash, while leaving other valuables. Horsemen are encouraged to secure their vehicles, including trailer tack rooms, while they are out riding until the culprits are caught. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
'Triple' challenge at Montpelier
11/4/2008
MONTPELIER STATION — Call it his "Triple" challenge: To win Saturday's Noel Laing stakes, Triple Dip had to last the testing 2 1/2 miles round the unrelenting swells of the historic Montpelier estate racecourse — longer than he's ever raced. | 0 comments - ›› more ...