Larger field takes part in state high school basketball playoffs

By Ted Allen
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 25, 2008

More boys and girl basketball teams than ever will compete in this week’s Virginia High School League regional tournaments, with Group A experimenting with a split divisional playoff system through the state finals.

For Dogwood District boys teams Altavista, Nelson County and Appomattox, that has made it easier to qualify for, but not necessarily to advance through, the Region B playoffs.

The Colonels and Governors met for the fourth time in Saturday’s Dogwood District final, with Nelson winning for the third time to take the tournament championship away from Altavista a week after swiping the regular-season title.

With home wins in Tuesday’s Region B, Division 1 quarterfinals, when Nelson hosts Luray County at Amherst and Altavista hosts Manassas Park, they would play for a fifth and final time in Thursday’s semifinal at Amherst. Only the winner would advance to the Group A state tournament.

Manassas Park, the third-best team in the Bull Run District, beat two-time defending state champion Clarke County, seeded second in the Division 2 tournament, by 20 points last week.

Appomattox is the only area team in Division 2 play and will travel to third-seeded Randolph-Henry on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

William Campbell is the highest-seeded area girls team in the Region B, Division 1, tournament at No. 4 and will host No. 5 Riverheads on Wednesday at 7 p.m. while No. 7 Altavista travels to No. 2 Amelia County.

Dogwood District champion Chatham is the top seed in Division 2 and will host eighth-seeded Buckingham on Wednesday.

Region III tournament action tips off tonight at 7 with Liberty’s girls traveling to Robert E. Lee for the right to play Lord Botetourt, Jefferson Forest visiting Northside for a chance to challenge Waynesboro, and Staunton River hosting William Byrd with the winner going to Turner Ashby in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.

In the Region III boys bracket, JF travels to Broadway to try to earn a quarterfinal draw at Lord Botetourt, Rustburg goes to Alleghany with a date at Robert E. Lee on the line and Liberty hosts Stuarts Draft with a trip to Harrisonburg at stake.

Both Brookville’s girls and boys teams defended their Seminole District championships on Friday at JF, after securing top seeds in Region III by repeating as regular-season champions.

The Bees’ girls will host the winner of tonight’s other first-round game between Spotswood and Stuarts Draft on Tuesday at 6 p.m., before Brookville’s boys host the winner of tonight’s opener between Waynesboro and Turner Ashby at 7:45 p.m.

Brookville coach Chris Young believes this year’s region is just as strong as last season’s, after the realignment that swapped the River Ridge with the Massanutten and Southern Valley Districts from Region II.

“It’s wide open in the region this year, with a lot of quality teams,” he said. “To replace the River Ridge with the Valley teams, it’s very comparable.”

He has seen Waynesboro (15-6), which beat perennial state contender R.E. Lee (19-4) in the championship game of the Southern Valley tournament.

“They’re a really good team,” he said. “They’ve got a 6-foot-6 kid, Nick Gore, who’s very comparable to Logan (Thomas), maybe not athletically, but who can go to the post and play on the wing.”

Liberty Christian Academy’s boys received the 12th and final seed in the Virginia Independent Schools, Division I, state tournament and will travel to fifth-seeded Christchurch (21-7) in Tuesday’s first round.

“They’re a very athletic team out of the Prep League,” Bulldogs coach John Patterson said.

In VIS, Division II, Virginia Episcopal School (15-10) is seeded eighth and will host ninth-seeded Walsingham Academy on Tuesday. It is the first time since 2003, when the Bishops were ranked No. 1 in Division II, that they will have a chance to host a state game.

LCA’s and VES’s girls teams are both seeded third, in Division I and II, respectively, and will host quarterfinal games against sixth-seeded Richmond Collegiate and Seton School on Thursday.