Back in the mid to late 1960’s , the leaders in Carroll County decided it was time to move forward with one High School for the area. In 1969 the doors 🚪 opened at Carroll County High School 🏫, meaning everything that took place would be brand new. Fast Forward almost 60 years later and allow yourself to get lost in the process as it could be argued that CCHS just had the Best weekend in its history !
Yes, there has been plenty of positivity over the years and local legends like Tommy Thompson, Bill Worrell and Frank Beamer, with the Hokie coach predating the new school. Erin Gibson, Rebecca Russell and Sydney Nester are just a few of the people who brought glory to The Hill but let’s see 👀 what all happened from Friday to Sunday.
Seth Greer and his entire Staff have been at it for two years now. Working to bring back a football program from the cusp of the abyss, the Cavaliers entered the weekend at 8-2, a mark good enough to earn the team a home playoff game against #5 seeded Northside. It had been 15 years since Tommy Thompson Field was the site of a post season contest and the most impressive thing about Greer is how the community is going through this ride with him.
Rossie Gravley summed up just what this ride means to all that are connected.
” In Virginia, High School football is a way of life,” said Gravley.
Gravley, the leader of the Cheerleaders and everyone else has to appreciate the bond between the football team and the Cheerleaders. It’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Carroll County High School didn’t stop at being excited about hosting a playoff game against a School from the Big City. They defeated the Vikings 27-21 and now head to Magna Vista for a semifinal showdown with the Top Seeded Warriors.
Allen Worrell is no longer the Editor of The Carroll News anymore but it would have been hard to know that with the way that he was keeping everyone not at the field in the know, from start to finish.
Let’s see it play out again, through the eyes of Worrell.
” We’re up 6-0. Scored on opening drove and then recovered onside. Mid 1st
We came up short on that driveNS went 3 and out
Sam McGrady scores on 8 yard run. Easter runs in the 2.
We are up 14-0 with 3:42 left in half. NS has ran 3 plays
Hall’s 43-yard TD pass to Tucker brings Northside within 14-7 of Carroll County with 2:33 left in 1st half.
14-7 Carroll half Carroll rushed for 215 yards first half. NS ran 6 plays.
Despite that, it’s a 14-7 game at intermission…
Isaiah Logan’s 35-yard TD catch ties Northside up with Carroll County at 14 with 10:05 left in 3rd.
Klay Dalton’s 6-yard TD run puts Carroll County back in front of Northside 21-14 with 5:40 left in 3rd quarter.
Youseff Elalfy’s 58-yard TD on a fullback counter trap puts Carroll in front of Northside 27-21 with 3:17 to play.
We win 27-21
One of the best HS games I have seenI have no voice today.
I lost it yelling after the game-clinching interception.”
Now, as Shania Twain made the line famous back in the day, ” You won a football game, that doesn’t impress me much”…
The beauty of the weekend is two things going forward. One, we don’t need others to appreciate our efforts and Carroll County High School was just getting the show started.
Fast Forward to Saturday afternoon, when Howard Mayo and Anthony Barnes opened up the Gymnasium for Meet the Cavaliers / Alumni Games.
Before we dive into who all was in the Gymnasium, we need to show love 💘 to the five people that couldn’t make it because of their prior commitments. Not sure if there’s ever been a time in the Schools history that five former Cavaliers are playing College Hoops at the same time but that is what we have now.
In order of graduation 🎓, Elijah Cox (Randolph College), Katie Lam (Roanoke College ), Alyssa Ervin (Furman University), Bryce Smoot ( Southwest Virginia Community College) and Brayden Smoot, also at SWCC.
All five had games over the weekend and continue to represent us in a positive manner, on and off the court.
While we have local talent playing at the next level today, we weren’t lacking for Lady Cavaliers will mad skills in the Alumni Game. Ten former Lady Cavaliers took the floor and some of them still have plenty of game left in the tank! Lauren Alley ( Middle School Girls) was listed with 23 points and Kayla Goins Nester ( Varsity Girls) dropped 20 points and Brandi Cochran Mitchell ( Too many titles to list) added 13 points and JV Coach, Haille Cushman had five points.
Legendary High School Coach Howard Mayo is back for Round 2 with the Lady Cavaliers and he has plenty of former players in key 🔑 positions to assist him as he looks to rebuild the program. Not sure if the Back 2 Back State Championships will be reached again but Mayo has been a winner every place he has coached and I wouldn’t bet against him.
Anthony Barnes is fresh off leading his Cavaliers to a State Tournament spot last season and like Mayo, he is surrounded with former players who now are trying to play it forward. Jason Stockner is now the lead Assistant Coach and former players will be on the bench with the pair. Both Cody Reece and Jabin Talley have signed on and a pair of Ryans will lead the Junior Varsity ( Largen and Phillips). Don’t forget that Darian Brown is now coaching the Middle School team.
Barnes took the time to reflect on what Saturday meant to him and his program.
” Yesterday (Saturday) for me as in the past is a fun day for both programs to come together and introduce the players that have made the programs. We added the alumni games to spice it up and they are very competitive. This year the guys game was phenomenal with the older team being down 14 and coming back to steal the win.
I also added an MVP trophy to the mix, had to be on the winning team and the vote among there team. Course made me grin since Brogan Phillips played for me.
On the Varsity side we split them the best we could , used some Jv guys which is fun, but shows them the speed of the game. Ironic the a freshman in Will Motley steals the show just like in past Cavalier camps ,but also great game for Isiah Legans, Ezra Hatcher (Jv) and solid day for Hayden Jackson.
I think both programs enjoy playing not under a true win or loose but still highly competitive as always to win it and
showcase your skills.”
The next piece to the Puzzle was on display in a Travel Basketball 🏀 tournament on Saturday. Under the guidance of Carroll Counties version of the Basketball Whisperer, Kris Richardson.
” This is the start of year 3 for this group of 5th graders, along with two 4th graders. The girls have really learned a lot over the last few years. On Saturday, which was our first tournament of the new season, they played as if they had been playing all summer.
Our season had ended in March as most of the girls went into softball and soccer. We’ve been practicing for about a month and had tried to play in 3 different tournaments that were canceled last minute due to lack of teams. We hope to play in 8-10 tournaments over the next 4 months.”
Cox returning for a third season of College Basketball is a wonderful thing for a number of reasons. Not only does our former 6’5 Center continue to work on his game, he continues to chase the diploma as well !
Ervin is just days away from answering the question of how close can a former Cavalier get to playing a College game in regards to The Hill ? Furman University just finished up a two game home stand and on Wednesday evening, the Paladins play at Radford University against the Highlanders. Right at 40 miles from CCHS.
We can add in that Corrie Delp, Wyatt Ogle and Trace Reavis (twice) have each placed in the Top 10 in their respective State Championships. Reavis is fresh off finishing 3rd in his final event up at Harrisonburg.
For those who aren’t as interested in the Sports, its worth noting that Ethan Edwards is a Freshman at Harvard University and our valedictorian from TWO years ago, Ashlynn Newman, is set to graduate from Bluefield University soon.
Callie Harris is set to join the long list of Volleyball 🏐 players to go from being a Lady Cavalier under Cindy Edwards to playing at the collegiate level. Six players in the past five seasons and we will wait to see if fellow Senior, Brooke Webb adds her name to that list ?
While we all lean more towards one part of the School 🏫 than another, its easy to say that we had ourselves a tremendous weekend. Enough to make you say, ” HOW ‘ BOUT THEM CAVALIERS ” !!!!
Football 🏈 at Magna Vista is the next step 🚶♂️ for the Cavaliers and let’s all take the time to smell what all these Cavaliers are cooking 🍳!
