Getting to look behind the curtain of the efforts of these two young Men was such a treat. Ethan -:the one question you asked about my Father 👨 that I couldn’t answer correctly was AT – my Dad was an Aviation Technician.
Both of these young men were polished in their efforts and if they want to hear anymore of the journey I would jump at the opportunity.
I don’t know either of their sets of Parents personally but I want to say to each of them that they raised some pretty sharp young men !
Something I try to avoid using in my writing ✍ is what I call “Score Book” writing. Sadly, the only way I can provide coverage for our JV Boys 👦 tonight is to do it out of a score book that Coach Jason Stockner sent me. My rule of thumb is that if you’re going to do it as a last resort, then go ahead and acknowledge the fact. Here we go, starting with the thoughts of Coach Stockner –
“Here’s the book from tonight. We lost by six. We just didn’t shoot well from the field tonight. Probably shot a little over 10% from the three point line tonight. The adjustment I made in the second half was to have our guys penetrate and if they couldn’t get to the basket then kick for an open three. In hindsight probably should’ve said no threes since we we weren’t making them. We did execute the foul to make them beat us from the foul line late in the game to cut it to six but couldn’t make shots to get closer. Frustrating loss. Two games left in our season.”
Thank You Coach Stockner !
Next up – Assistant Coach Ryan Largen –
” Tough loss on the road tonight. Anytime you are out rebounded and allow the other team to get second chance shots, you put your back to the wall. We have a couple of days of practice to regroup and work before playing Radford next week.”
Thank You Coach Largen !
Carroll County… 6 2 13 20 – 41
Patrick County..10 10 9 18 – 47
Carroll County – Hayden Jackson 12, Dane Leonard 10, Trace Reavis 6, Colton Gravley 6, Blake Reed 4, Landon Kinder 2, Landon Phillips 1.(41).
Great insight from both Coaches ! The first thing that jumps out from the information is that we scored just 2 points in the second quarter and just 8 in the first half all told. Coach Stockner spoke of his halftime adjustments and they clearly worked as the Cavaliers outscored the Cougars 33-27 after the break!
Next thing that I would look at is who was still playing hard at the end ? It would appear that answer is the entire team. Fourth quarter points, Jackson 6 of his 12, Leonard 3 of his 10, Gravely 5 of his 6, Reed all 4 of his points.
The Cavaliers well behind early and trailed 20-8 at the break. Coach tweaked his game plan in the lockeroom and his players played hard until the horn sounded.
The toughest challenge Allen Worrell faces on a daily basis is that he can’t self report. What does that mean ? Allen has a job that comes with adult responsibilities and he has to keep his newspaper 📰 afloat in a time where that in itself is a challenge. I know this because I have spent my entire life in the same business. Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press is a long time friend of ours and he runs a full blown online Newspaper 📰 that covers both News and Sports. Chris and Crystal Graham built what they have from scratch and I feel honored to have played a small part in it over the years. What is the difference between the three of us ? Chris Graham is working for himself and gets to interject his thoughts into his work. Some folks love Chris for his style while others not so much. Freedom of the Press has more than one meaning.
Choosing between creating anew online newspaper 📰 or a Community Blog was the easiest decision of my life. First, I am no where near as smart as Chris Graham and second I want to only write Positivity and get to choose my topics. I, like Chris, don’t answer to anyone when it comes to what I want to write about. I have so many less readers than I could because I am Choosing the path that I am but fortunately I am not chasing numbers, just joy.
Now let’s look at the third person in this equation, our friend Allen Worrell. Each week Allen is asked to produce a Community newspaper for a Community that is not all that small. Allen is incredibly limited in his space from week to week and often doesn’t know until the last moment how much space he has to fill on a given week.
I’m only going to brush up against the story about what recently happened with Craig Worrell and that’s for two reasons, first I admire Craig and I’m trying to establish a relationship with him and second, its his story. But I will mention that later tonight Craig Worrell is being honored by Carroll County in the highest way possible, putting him into the CVHS Hall of Fame shortly after the Gazette made the decision that they didn’t need his services anymore. While it felt personal to many, it was a case of Dollars and Cents for the folks at their home office 🏢.
I will add that in form of a quiet protes. I haven’t read the Gazette since.
Allen Worrell is trying his best to keep a Newspaper afloat in a time where even the largest newspapers are scrambling to keep their head above water. I will even offer up an example from my end in that I recently wrote a story on what I called the First Family 👪 of Basketball. I like the piece (I have an incredibly high opinion of my own writing) and its currently sitting in Allen’s inbox 📥. I understand that it will eventually find its way into the newspaper, when Allen has room for it. I could have written ✍ the Gettysburg Address but it wouldn’t matter because “it’s only a blog”. I will patiently await my turn because of my level of understanding of his situation.
This week’s edition of The Carroll News has five stories in it with my Byline on them because Allen had more space to fill and I was happy to help him out. The two of us are trying to team up for the betterment of the Community we call home 🏡. One of the agreements we have is that we won’t write the same story. We aren’t competing with each other, its just that the bigger stories are his to write. You witnessed that both with the Samantha Reed story this week and again tonight with Alyssa Ervin and the Hall of Fame ceremony. I won’t write about tonight because its a bigger stage and those belong to Allen. So tonight I will just be in the building on The Hill going 15,14,13,12,11,10………
To bring it full 🔵 I will use the GoldieLocks analogy.
Chris Graham is a incredibly talented writer without fear in taking a stand so his bed is too hard.
Jerry Carter is trying to be a Greater Fool so he tries to avoid having an opinion – his Bed is way too soft.
Allen Worrell is a great guy 👦 trying hard to service his community in a part of our Industry that is wilting away right in front of our very eyes 👀. He’s just right… and that is part of the story about how he ended up as Table Master at Table 6 and why anytime I’m holding a 🎤 at a Carroll County High School 🏫 sporting event and he’s there as well I acknowledge him and ask for a round of applause 👏. If you had spent 40+ years in the Newspaper business as I have and understood just what all he’s and his plucky side kick are up against, you might to cheer him on as well !
If I had to point to one thing that people haven’t grasped is that I never looked to attend every game possible. I have been searching for others that wanted to participate in “covering ” events for us. Tonight I will walk you through the stage door 🚪 of making a story happen.
When I’m doing a running 🏃♂️ blog on a given night one of the things I am doing is making notes 📝 to myself.
Kevin Burress was doing the same thing tonight and the next thing you will see is the running 🏃♂️ updates he was sending me.
JV Lady Cavs trail after the first quarter 7 to 2. Natalie Burress with the only basket of the quarter for the Cavs.
Lady Cavs up at the half 18 to 9
Signal isn’t good so I apologize!
(I feel your pain, Brother)
35 to 11 Lady Cavs after the 3rd quarter
Final from Patrick county 40 to 29 Cavs come out on top.
Now you have seen Kevin’s notes 📝 to both himself and to me and a few pictures 📷. The team celebrates another win before heading back to The Hill.
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Next step in the process is that Coach Nester reaches out and shares both the score book and her thoughts on the game.
We won! 40-28.
“We started off a little slow, but once we saw the ball go in the basket the tempo changed within seconds. These girls are continuing to show their progress and hard work. We are sharing the basketball and it shows in the score book. They are on a mission to be #1 in our district and only 2 games away from that chance! So proud of them and proud to be called their coach! “
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Next up, Kevin gets a chance to string his thoughts on the game together and pens 🖊 his version of a Gamer!
Carroll County Girls start slow 🐌 but they Shake, Shake , Shake it off.
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By : Natalie’s Proud Papa
Stuart – Carroll County made the most of their trip to Stuart Thursday night as the defeated Patrick County, 40-29.
The girls got off to a really slow start tonight. Shots just wasn’t falling and they seemed out of sorts. The 2nd quarter was the turning point for the Lady Cavs, they really started looking like the team we know they are. Outscoring Patrick County 16 to 2 and leading at halftime 18 to 9. The 3rd quarter was much of the same as the 2nd. Great team defense and getting more shots to fall the Cavs outscored Patrick County 17 to 2 for a score of 35 to 11 going into the final quarter. With most of the Lady Cavs starting 5 on the bench, Patrick County proved they wasn’t going to give up and showed great toughness as they tried to mount a comeback. Once Patrick County got within single digits and about 3 minutes left in the quarter, Coach Nester returned to her original lineup to seal the game. Patrick County outscored the Lady Cavs 18 to 5 in the final frame but coming up just short. The final was 40 to 29 Lady Cavs come out on top.
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Now you have seen behind the curtain and as the night 🌙 goes on I will mesh that all together and create a full blown story byline going to Kevin Burress. When Velvet Leonard reads this I hope it helps to explain the point about adding one of her Top Shelf photos 📷 to it.
A great example for that was my story on the Varsity Girls game the other night was a solid story and then Craig Worrell gave me one of his 👁 popping photos and it took my story to another level.
It’s midnight now and I’m running behind but I wanted to get this one up and out now. In the middle of the night I will continue with it.
Lawrence Nesselrodt and I are now in our third decade of hanging out and Ness is in his fifth decade of baseball ⚾️ when you combine his playing days and his coaching career. His relationship with the game of Baseball is a Love story. Our West Virginia Tech Golden Bears 🐻 Baseball team is playing its season opener Friday morning down in North Carolina and other year I would be heading down with them. But the 15 points that need to be scored and then celebrated on The Hill tomorrow night changed my plans.
The next best thing would be to meet up with the team and treat them to dinner being their vans would be driving 🚗 right through Carroll County. Once I finished up with the Podcast I had been invited to record (story coming) I headed over to the parking lot of the Pizza 🍕 Inn to catch up with the team.
Two games on Friday and two more on Saturday and then back to School up in Beckley for class on Monday morning.
It was a fun way to end another busy, busy day. Getting to visit with Lawrence “Big Picture ” Nesselrodt and this years Golden Bears 🐻
A.S.P.N on The Hill 