Sports

Fleischer sets home-run record at VMI

By Josh Mathews on May 1, 2018 Baseball, Sports

Last Wednesday, Thomas Dale High alum Collin Fleischer made history. In what ended up being a dramatic walk-off 9-7 victory over Virginia Tech, the senior got the VMI Keydets’ bats started with a solo home run in the first inning. That round-tripper gave him 42 for his career at the Southern Conference college and set a new school standard. “Collin is one of the strongest kids to come through Thomas Dale,” coach Chris Marshall said. “I figured his power would continue at VMI. I remember when he played for me that everybody in the park would stop to watch him…

LC Bird’s relay team brings home the gold

By Josh Mathews on May 1, 2018 Sports, Track & Field

L.C. Bird High’s track program has made for many discussion points recently, especially since coach Adam Canning and the Skyhawks brought home the school’s first-ever state track championship this past indoor season. The Penn Relays is one of the biggest events on the East Coast, and a team of 10 athletes was brought by L.C. Bird to Philadelphia to compete. Four of those athletes, the boys’ 4 x 100 relay team, won the national race with a time of 41.93 seconds. “It [The Penn Relays] was a lot of fun,” Canning said. “Going in after our preliminary run, I didn’t…

Offers roll in for Hickman

By Josh Mathews on May 1, 2018 Football, Sports

They say when it rains, it pours. There may not be a truer statement for Matoaca High defensive end Immanuel “Manny” Hickman. Coming into this spring, the 6-3, 230-pound three star recruit didn’t have any scholarship offers. Now, he’s got a dozen. “He may be a bit of a later bloomer,” coach Jay Parker said. “But he is certainly getting all that he deserves now. The kid excels in the classroom and in the community, in the school and on the field. His grades and test scores are high, and he works just as hard on his game.” Since March,…

Warriors’ baseball, softball teams profiled

By Josh Mathews on April 24, 2018 Sports

For Matoaca High School baseball, a changing of the guard occurred this past off-season when longtime coach Tim Haynes retired and Chris Olsen, a long-time assistant in the area, was tabbed for his first head coaching position. With a core of veteran players and some exciting young talent, the Warriors have put together a solid start to the season despite seven games and some practices rained out. For Olsen, that’s been the biggest challenge he’s endured so far. Despite those challenges, Matoaca is 4-0 through April 17. “We started baseball on Feb. 19, and since then we’ve played just four…

Three Warriors commit to the next level

By Josh Mathews on April 24, 2018 Sports

Two Matoaca High School soccer players, along with a member of the school’s competition cheerleading squad, committed to colleges this past week. Wilson Tunnell will head to Ferrum. Madi Thrasher will go west to Bluefield College, and cheerleader Amiya Mason will head to Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia. Tunnell is a tough defender who started every game in his junior year and so far his senior season. A skilled and technical player, he is paired with Ty Louthan, and they have given teams fits in Conference 12. Tunnell has been a member of the soccer program the past two…

Benavides brothers’ businesses sponsor NASCAR driver

By Caleb M Soptelean on April 23, 2018 Sports

The owners of a local Mexican restaurant stepped up to the plate and helped out a Virginia native in Saturday’s NASCAR race at Richmond. Pepe’s Mexican and Hibachi Box restaurants — which are owned by Nelson and Paulo Benavides and located in Midlothian and Richmond — sponsored Colonial Heights native Gray Gaulding’s No. 23 Toyota Camry in the ninth race of the season. Unfortunately for them, Gaulding finished 35th out of 38 drivers. Sam Tucker, general manager of Hibachi Box of Richmond, said the brothers decided to sponsor the car when a mutual business partner of theirs and Gaulding talked…

Tyree, D’Abreu making off-season headlines

By Josh Mathews on April 17, 2018 Football, Sports

Rick D’Abreu If you follow Thomas Dale High School football, you’re used to seeing the program churn out prospects who play at the highest level of college football. Running backs William Henderson, Rudi Johnson and Ken Oxendine went to North Carolina, Auburn and Virginia Tech, respectively. Then they ascended to the National Football League. Recently there have been Darvin Taylor (Florida State), C.J. Reavis (Marshall) and Talvis Robinson (Navy). Now, two prospects have been making waves. One of them is running back Chris Tyree, and the other is a name you may soon get used to hearing, linebacker Rick D’Abreu.…

Attorney for school officials files response to suit over football poster

By Caleb M Soptelean on April 10, 2018 Football, Schools, Sports

The attorney representing several school officials in a civil lawsuit brought over a championship football poster recently responded and asked that the suit be dismissed. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Andrew J. Fulwider filed papers with the Chesterfield County General District Court on March 30. The inadvertent misidentification of a student (Jayson Shurland) on a football team championship poster that was the personal property of a school employee (guidance counselor Terrie Grubb) does not give rise to a legal duty between the defendants and plaintiff, Fulwider wrote. Defendants include L.C. Bird High School Principal Laura Hebert and Chesterfield County Public Schools officials…

White Bros.: Andrew makes NBA debut, Andrien draft-eligible

By Josh Mathews on April 10, 2018 Basketball, Sports

Andrew White III, a graduate of the Miller School in Charlottesville by way of Thomas Dale High School, made his NBA debut on Valentine’s Day for the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks took on the Detroit Pistons, and White surged, scoring 15 points in just 17 minutes. Overall, he has appeared in 15 games for Atlanta, averaging 4.5 points per contest while on a two-way contract. White has flip-flopped back and forth between the Hawks and their G-League affiliate, the Erie Bayhawks. In the NBA’s minor league, he has played well, averaging 16 points and five rebounds per game while shooting…

Overcoming the odds: Dorsey commits to La-Lafayette

By Josh Mathews on April 10, 2018 Football, Sports

One website suggests that just one in 39 athletes will end up playing football at the Division I level. That’s 2.6 percent. That represents an average situation: average upbringing, average high school, average home life, a student with average academics, and an average injury history. What’s considered “average” depends on an endless number of variables including time, location and the person involved. Recently, when former L.C. Bird High School standout Daijuane Dorsey committed to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he not only beat the odds, he destroyed them. “I want to thank all the coaches who recruited me,” Dorsey…

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