Everyone knew that the ride on the Cavalier Express would eventually have to end and it did Tuesday night in Penn Laird, Virginia at the hands ✋of the Spotswood Trail Blazers, 71-52.
Allen Worrell will have your actual Game Story available here shortly so I will begin with some thoughts on what the journey meant to the team, the Coaching staff and to me personally.
But first, here’s Head Coach Anthony Barnes, sharing his thoughts :
We knew coming up here to their house would be tough, they are well coached and they play really hard D, and their two guards are solid deadly shooters. 34-27 at half could have been 15 or worse,but we stood strong we worked really hard on defense too would limit them , when they did miss we never could secure the rebound or get the 50/50 ball. They are very physical and sometimes the team leading gets by playing that way as the aggressor. Foul count 21-11, Isaiah held to hardest 8 pts he ever scored to date and same with Ethan with only 9. Still my guys never quit playing period. So very proud of this group, Region runner up, 23-3, back back District Champs, back back Christmas Champs! All time Leading scorer with Bryce Smoot. Over all record for three years is 61-15! What more can Coaches ask for in a high school group. This game don’t define their season at all ! The last dance ends, but the History books tel
ls there ride forever. TEAM CAVS !
______________________________________
Yes, the Express ended with back to back defeats but one has to take aI5th look at what it took to knock down our Cavaliers.
Northside High School 🏫 has two Division 1 players leading them in their quest to a third consecutive State Championship.
Spotswood has two equally impressive Division 1 players and a smothering fan base. Playing in Pulaski County High School was a neutral site where nothing about Tuesday night was equal.
My takeaway from the end of the season can be explained in how much Heart ❤ was on display in the fourth quarter last night 🌙. Our five Cavaliers were giving inches and pounds to their counterparts at every position ➕ running on fumes but the defended themselves one last time.
Facing their biggest deficit of the season, late in the third quarter and with a decent chance the entire starting five fouling out of the game, Carroll County made their final push.
We cut the lead to 12, at 61-49 after Bryce Smoot drilled a NBA 3-pointer and after another stop ✋, fellow Senior Ethan Richardson got a great look at another 3-pointer and the shot went halfway down before falling away. The shot would have cut ✂️ it back to single digits.
Instead of down nine and being on the cusp of scaring the Trail Blazers, Junior Isaiah Easter picked up his fifth foul. Spotswood closed out the game with a 10-3 run to make it look like a one sided affair. Trust me, for 29 of the 32 minutes, Spotswood was in a dog 🐕 fight with a dog that has a great deal of fight in it!!
Carroll County 14 13. 12. 13 – 52
Spotswood HS 14 20 21 16 – 71
Please enjoy Allen’s Game Story and know that there will be plenty more Hoops coverage coming afterwards!
Match summary. In our opening varsity competition, the Staunton High School boys tennis emerged with a scrimmage win over the first ever match for Rocktown High School in Harrisonburg. With 3 players sidelined with illness Staunton was able to scramble around the absences and prevail. Sophomore Reese Logue was the man of the match, overcoming a 5-0 deficit to win his match 8-6 at No. 6 singles. A record number of 16 players make up this season’s roster.
Thank You Pappy Meade !
Spotswood Girls 👧 Basketball 🏀 hangs on 47-44
Carroll County Reunion took place just after Midnight at Exit 132 as Joi Ogle and her Son Wyatt, Allen Worrell, Christy Shupe and her Father 👨, my Brother and I all ended up at the same Gas ⛽ Station.
Allen will have you a Full Blown Gamer later today and I will sign off for now by saying that I hope everyone 🙏 made it back to The Hill safely and Christy states the late chant of let’s Go Northside was her creation. So very proud of our team !!
Social Studies was tied 40-40 at the break. Lost in this round of the local grudge match with Grayson County 65-55.
Anthony Barnes has checked in with his thoughts on the end of the Season…
” We knew coming up here to their house would be tough, they are well coached and they play really hard D, and their two guards are solid deadly shooters. 34-27 at half could have been 15 or worse,but we stood strong we worked really hard on defense too would limit them , when they did miss we never could secure the rebound or get the 50/50 ball. They are very physical and sometimes the team leading gets by playing that way as the aggressor. Foul count 21-11, Isaiah held to hardest 8 pts he ever scored to date and same with Ethan with only 9. Still my guys never quit playing period. So very proud of this group, Region runner up, 23-3, back back District Champs, back back Christmas Champs! All time Leading scorer with Bryce Smoot. Over all record for three years is 61-15! What more can Coaches ask for in a high school group. This game don’t define their season at all ! The last dance ends, but the History books tells there ride forever. TEAM CAVS !”
We will continue to build on our coverage….
Science finals. Carroll v Blacksburg
Science lost by 3. 55-58.
Social Studies is playing Radford 63-46 Carroll win !!!!!
Meanwhile, the Richardson Family 👪 is driving 🚗 from Richmond to Spotswood and for what its worth, I am already here
We will keep this Post 📫 open until the Final buzzer has sounded.
4:15 – Bus leaving Golden Corral
Other moving pieces on a whacky, whacky Day…
Shannon Dalton is enroute from Richmond to Blacksburg for MACC and I have made it to Rock Town High School 🏫 for the Tennis 🎾 scrimmage between the host School 🏫 and Pappy’s Staunton High School.
Don’t forget that Our Golden Bears are also on the Interstate as they head down I-77 to Bluefield State…
Just a few things going on….5:20 – Exit 200
5:49 – Bus passing Verona, Richardsons are here as we walked in together !
6:05 – Bus 🚌 has used Exit 235, Introducing Girls 👧 now
6:23 – End of 1st quarter, Staunton River 11-9 & Bus 🚌 is arriving.
SR lead 9-0 before Spotswood rallied.
6:39 – Halftime score, Spotswood Girls 👧 25-22.
From Blacksburg
7:02 – End of 3rd, Spotswood leading 36-31
7:30 – 0:008 left, Spotswood 46-44
7:30 – It’s Final, Spotswood 47-44.
Expect an 8:00 Tip for our Cavaliers !!!
8:01 – Jump Ball…..
Cavs 12-7, 14-11
End of 1st, Tied at 14!
TO – 2:03 (2), down 32-26
8:30 – Halftime score, down 34-27
End of 3rd, down 55-39
9:15 – Final, Cavs fall 71-52
Soooooooo much more to come later…
12:30 am update – 20 more minutes left to The Hill and then 20 more to our Cows 🐄.🐄
