A concerted effort has been spent so far trying to acknowledge the effort of our new Wrestling Coach West Long and his 2023-2024 squad. Attending the open house 🏠 night in the gym, sharing all information given, attending the home opener Tri-Meet with Radford and Floyd County. Plus arranging an opportunity for Long to do an interview with Allen Worrell of the Carroll News that led to a very nice feature story about the program. Can’t forget the Senior profile for Andrew Myers that we put together.
Why the list of effort at 5am ? Today is listed as a Meet / Match Day for our Cavaliers and I’ve been working the internet for a while now trying hard to learn about today’s event in hopes of trying to create a preview for the squad.
Carroll County High School 🏫 site shows just one event today and its our Wrestling team competing up in the Roanoke area at Hidden Valley High School. The screen shots above show the information that I was able to uncover and it would appear that the event is going on both Friday and Saturday. The schedule 📅 up top has the event starting today at 2pm and 10:00 am Saturday. Once again, not sure if Carroll County will be competing both days or just Friday ?
Wrestling is very much like Track and Swimming in that there is not a set District schedule that includes Home and Home competition. We are slated to compete a total of three times on the Hill with the rest of the season being on the road and the number of teams involved on a given day changes as well.
We are not easily discouraged in our efforts and while getting coverage for the team requires more work we will find a way to get it accomplished.
If there is anyone out there that can provide more information about this weekend PLEASE send it along!
Hard working 💪 Student Athletes that have a Coaching staff committed to their future gives Carroll County High School yet another program that the Community can be proud of !
Teams chemistry was on full display tonight. These boys have played AAU basketball together since they were in the 2nd and third grade!! Everyone can score and handle the ball!
Indeed and Indeed – both of their Sons finished the game with double digit scoring efforts 👏
Per the Norm – all pictures 📷 on the site are free for the taking !
At the end of the day I am a Softball guy 👦 who enjoys working with both Rick Nester at the Varsity level as well as Kevin Burress and Company at the lower levels. Let’s not forget the Toblers and the Daltons plus this year Mr. Terry Warf. I played Softball, Coached Softball and married my second best player on my team 38 years ago. Past my partnership with Coach Nester the rest of my inner actions with folks in and around Carroll County is simply me trying hard to help other Programs gain more appreciation for their Coaches, Parents and Student Athletes.
The tricky part is dealing with roughly 20 different types of people and Coaches. The personalities are all different as are the goals for their programs and their desire to have coverage to begin with.
Why share that thought process before writing ✍ a story tonight about Anthony Barnes and his Basketball 🏀 program ? Because you can’t spend five minutes around Barnes and not hear the Love he has for his players and his program. It’s contagious to say the least and he’s even willing to share the spotlight with Laurel Fork’s most reckonizable Celebrity, Kris Richardson.
Here is a photo 📷 taken tonight of Mama Barnes and Richardson. Afterwards Richardson proudly claims she said he was her favorite Coach !
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Now to the actual Game Story :
Fort Chiswell, Virginia – Head Coach Anthony Barnes watched his basketball team play five dominant minutes Monday night at Grayson County. The Cavaliers led that game 17-4 but went into the break tied at 22-22. Barnes challenged them in the lockeroom and his efforts with his team produced a 25-3 third quarter on their way to a 55-39 victory.
The halftime speech Thursday night was a little different as the Cavaliers dominated Fort Chiswell High for the entire 16 minutes of the first half. His team led 56-15 at the half and coasted to an 81-40 victory to open the season 3-0.
“I believe by far this is the most unselfish group of ball players I have ever seen,” Barnes said after the lopsided victory. “They have bought in true team concept too the core, their Effort on defense is high energy and over the top. Proud of them and the work they and my Coaches (Richardson/ Redd ) have put in!”
The second half of the contest went 25-25 and was played under a running clock format late in the third quarter. There was no need to pile on after the break. Barnes had played nine of his twelve man roster before the break and each one had dented the score book.
The Cavaliers clearly feed of each others energy and are most effective when their defense allows them to create instant offense with Davis Reitzel controlling the defensive rebounds and quickly playing the role of Point Forward.
The unselfish play that Barnes referred to earlier was on full display early and often. Reitzel led the scoring in the first quarter with eight points but Bryce Smoot and Isaiah Easter both dropped seven each inside the 24-8 frame.
The balance attack continued in the second quarter as the Cavaliers netted a stunning 32 points while limiting their host to just seven. Bryce added seven more on his way to a team high 17 but seven of his teammates added at least one field goal while the team averaged 4.0 points per minute.
“We still working hard every practice , and I don’t think we have peaked by no means,” added Barnes. “Until then it’s fun to watch and be apart of!”
Paul Marshall led the team in scoring in the second half with nine points after connecting from deep on three attempts. Brayden Smoot scored seven of his ten points after the break and Easter played his most complete game of the season on both ends, finishing with 12 points.
Next up for the 3-0 Cavaliers is a Saturday rematch with Pulaski County up in Dublin. CCHS handled the Cougars earlier on the Hill, 66-48. In that contest the Cavaliers led 56-25 after three quarters but Assistant Coach Kris Richardson warns that nobody should expect a similar one sided affair in the rematch.
” Pulaski County is playing at a much higher level than when we saw them last,” noted Richardson. “They have beaten a couple of good teams in the past few games.”
PCHS defeated Floyd County by 3 points and Abingdon by 2 points and will enter Saturday with a 2-1 record.
Now we have a gamer and if it gets picked up by others it will have an official boxscore.
In the meantime here’s my highly unofficial score sheet
A.S.P.N on The Hill 