Teams to Watch
0Matoaca Boys Soccer 9-1-1 record Emerging as a contender for the Conference 12 Championship since 2010, the Matoaca Warriors are a defensive minded team that’s grown and played together for the past couple of seasons under head coach Jay Parker. The Warriors have played to their strengths, led by defenders Justin Dyke and David Kim, along with goalie John Gardiner. Matoaca has notched seven shutouts this season over eleven games as of press time. As a whole, the Warriors have allowed just five goals all season- two to Clover Hill. The seven shutouts included a 1-0 victory over Meadowbrook, who…
Kenny Williams finds his home at UNC
0After a long journey, Kenny Williams III made his college choice for the second time, choosing the University of North Carolina. Williams will play his college basketball there under famed head coach Roy Williams in the basketball crazed town of Chapel Hill, N.C. The announcement came Saturday via his Twitter account. The tweet was retweeted over 2,600 times with floods of excited Tar Heels fans welcoming him to the North Carolina family. The L.C. Bird standout originally signed to VCU, but after head coach Shaka Smart accepted a position at Texas, Williams asked for his release. The decision per many…
Wrestling Champ Neal Richards to VMI
0Though it wasn’t National Signing Day, three Matoaca athletes put the pen to paper last week, Neal Richards didn’t sign at school, he had his ceremony at home. Richards will attend Virginia Military Institute, where he will continue his wrestling and academic career. “I liked the school and I liked the coaches too,” Richards said. “The campus is beautiful – I know people as well. The decision was a mixture of those things.” Richards chose VMI over the Naval Academy and Maryland, the schools that recruited him most heavily. Neal made it easy for recruiters with a rock solid GPA…
Chemistry
0When Mike Zuk was coaching junior varsity in 2013, he knew that a group of eighth graders just starting would have the potential to make a run at some points during their high school careers. Zuk took the head coaching post in 2014 and led the Knights to a 9-10 season. Not bad, considering the core of his team was a junior, four sophomores and a freshman. Now, the Thomas Dale softball team appears to be clicking on all cylinders, as they’ve gotten off to an 8-1 start in 2015. They’ve been a surprise, and have to be considered contenders…
Finding Strength
0Thomas Dale alum Roger Bothe’s athletic resume is impeccable. He was a member of the Knights’ back-to-back state championship teams in 2005 and 2006; including a header to win the match in the second overtime period for Thomas Dale’s first state crown. Bothe went on to have a successful career at William and Mary, and played a season for the Richmond Kickers professionally. If you watched Bothe ten years ago, you’d think he was superman. After his first professional season, Bothe fell ill and it was eventually found that he had advanced lyme disease. Things haven’t been the same since,…
Matoaca athletes sign to play at the next level
0Former Matoaca volleyball standout and 2014 Warriors graduate Jaelyn Jackson signed a National Letter of Intent to play college volleyball at Baylor University. If the name sounds familiar, it is because Jackson originally signed to play college volleyball at the University of Maryland, however, a second surgery for a stress fracture in her leg changed perspectives on her career as a Terrapin. After a coaching change, Jackson decided she would play volleyball elsewhere. “It opened up an opportunity for something better,” said Sheila Jackson, Jaelyn’s mother. When former Maryland coach Ryan McGuyre, the coach that initially recruited Jackson, was tabbed…
From #ShakaWatch to #KennyWatch, will Williams stick with VCU?
02015’s edition of “Shaka Watch” is over and former VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart took the head coaching post at the University of Texas – Austin. One local impact that the story could potentially have is on L.C. Bird standout Kenny Williams III, who signed with VCU this winter. Smart has been pursued every offseason since the Rams’ improbable run to the 2011 Final Four. One would think this information might have played a role in the decision making process for Williams, who built a strong relationship with Smart through the recruiting process. Williams always said that staying close to…
Waldrop Goes Pro
0Chester has seen its share of professional athletes. Matoaca had James Farrior, Meadowbrook had Morgan Moses and Brandian Ross currently in the NFL. L.C. Bird has Jason Snelling, Thomas Dale has had four players reach the NFL including William Henderson and Rudi Johnson – but the next athlete to ascend to the pros – look no further than Thomas Dale softball alum Lacey Waldrop, who was drafted as the third pick in the first round of the National Pro Fast pitch (NPF) Softball League draft by the Chicago Bandits. “I’m really excited to know that I won’t have to hang…