Despite recent snowfalls that have wrecked havoc on scheduling, several area boys high school teams are well positioned for what they hope will be their ticket to next month’s Final-Four in Richmond.
Standing in their way are district, then regional tournaments that will decide their fate. Here is a breakdown of our area’s hopefulls:
In the Western Valley District Patrick Henry has already securred at least a tie for the district title.The Patriots will take the district outright with a win over Franklin County in their only district game remaining. Likewise, the Patriots take the top spot should the Eagles, with three district games left, lose once.
Unfortunately,William Fleming appears to be on the outside looking in as the district began a new format this year that sends the fifth place team home without a playoff spot.
Northside has already locked up the Blue Ridge with an unblemished district record.The Vikings may well be a favorite to make the trip to Richmond as the they appear to have all the ingredients in place to make a deep run. William Byrd would need a strong district tournament performance to advance to a regional berth.
In the ever-tough River Ridge District, Cave Spring and Salem appear to be headed to a playoff Friday night to decide the coveted top spot and best seed in the regionals. Both squads were 8-1 at press time with one district game left. Salem had Pulaski County (winless in the district) remaining, while Cave Spring traveled to rival Hidden Valley Wednesday night in a much anticipated rematch of an earlier Cave Spring win. Hidden Valley needs a sharp finish to advance to regional play, with opponents well aware to not count out a Troy Wells coached team.
North Cross remains in the picture in the VIC Division-II race, where 5 teams have one loss or less in the travel-oriented conference.The VIC has been hit hard by numerous snow-related postponements. If the Raiders can recover from early-season injuries, they offer an extremely tough fast-paced lineup.
Basketball fans will get a second chance to see a couple of matchups of teams originally scheduled to play in last weekend’s Valley Shootout which was postponed due to snow. Two games have now been moved to the Patrick Henry gym for Saturday night (2/13).
At 6:00 Patrick Henry takes on Miller School of Crozet. Following that game, Cave Spring, with 6’11” center and Vanderbilt signee Josh Henderson, will battle Christ School of North Carolina and their 7-foot big-man, Marshall Plumlee. ACC fans will recognize the Plumlee name as two older brothers currently play for Duke.
By Bill Turner [email protected]