Ryan Farrar struck out 12 batters and gave up only one hit in Atlee’s pivotal 3-1 victory over Henrico, ranked 10th in the DigitalSports Top 10.

Atlee�??s Ryan Farrar and Henrico�??s Seth Cutler-Voltz gave a new meaning to one-and-one in Tuesday evening�??s baseball tilt.

Both hurlers threw a one-hitter, but Farrar�??s Raiders managed to scrape in three runs to defeat the Warriors, ranked 10^th in the DigitalSports Top 10, 3-1.

Farrar, a 15-year-old sophomore two months away from his 16^th birthday, was terrific.

He struck out 12 Warriors with his strong fastball and sinking curve. He didn�??t allow a hit until Eric Thornton�??s single with one out in the bottom of the fifth.

Voltz, a 16-year-old junior, was just as impressive. Atlee�??s only hit was a shot by Chase Worthington to start the fourth inning. The Raiders (7-4 Capital, 11-8) scored on two sacrifice flies, one by Taylor Sandefur in the first which was helped along by an Henrico error.

Brannan White
had the other after a balk call on Cutler-Voltz (eight K�??s) moved
Worthington from second to third. It was just a pitching masterpiece as
good hitters looked baffled consistently.

�??That right there is the two top pitchers in the district,�?� Atlee coach Tommy Harrison said. �??And they�??re going to be back next year and they�??re good students. They get it done on both ends of the spectrum.�?�

�??It�??s fun, games like that,�?� Farrar said. �??Nail-biters. That�??s the game you live for.�?�

Henrico (7-4, 11-7) couldn�??t touch Farrar. Even when a batter got on base it seemed like it just made Farrar angry.

The Atlee hurler walked Taylor Smith with one out in the fourth, but promptly picked him off. Then he struck out freshman Michael Mansfield to end the inning.

After Thornton�??s hit in the fifth, Farrar picked him off before striking out DH Todd Sparrow for an encore. Henrico couldn�??t get much going afterwards, until Atlee helped out with a throwing error allowing Adam Toombs to score from first to slice the advantage to 2-1.

�??I feel sorry for Seth,�?� Henrico coach Ken Schrad said. �??He pitched a great game but we didn�??t give him any run support. You had to be impressed with both pitchers.�?�

Sanderfur tacked on Atlee�??s final run on a ball that got by Henrico shortstop Landon Prentiss,
who was gimpy from a leg injury earlier in the ballgame. The Warriors
dropped a chance to secure second place in the district and now have to
hope for help to get better positioning for the district playoffs next
week.

�??I�??ve
thrown one-hitters and lost before. Which is terrible, I guess,�?�
Cutler-Voltz said. �??It�??s rough, but I think we�??re ready for anybody. As
long as we�??re not facing [Farrar] in the first round.�?�

Said
Schrad: �??We made sure the kids understood that we accomplished the goal
of getting to the playoffs. Securing better seeding was like frosting
on the cake. Now we have to eat cake with no frosting.

�??We�??re disappointed, but we�??re not devastated. That was something that our kids probably experienced for the first time.�?�

Atlee    100 100 1 – 3 1 2

Henrico 000 001 0 – 1 1 3

Farrar and Seay; Cutler-Voltz and Poma 

Chris Washington

James River guard Chris Washington is headed to Virginia State.

The 6-3 guard led the Rapids in scoring at almost 16 points per game. He joins Midlothian’s Temperance Brantley (5-9, 15 ppg), who’ll play for the Virginia State women, on the Trojans’ list of local stalwarts.

With Washington and Brantley’s commitments, VSU also has Trey Mines (Thomas Dale), Terrell Crockett (Prince George) and Jamar Fleming (Highland Springs). Petersburg’s Avis Wyatt was the CIAA Defensive Player of the Year for the Trojans, but his eligibility is up.

Poma’s already getting used to U.Va.’s orange and blue.

Henrico’s J.C. Poma
had committed to non-scholarship Davidson to quarterback the football
team. That was solid in January when an annual baseball coaching clinic
commenced in Richmond.

Warriors baseball coach Ken Schrad spoke his mind to the University of Virginia baseball coaching staff, who spoke at the clinic.

“I just said, ‘Look, the kid is applying to U.Va. and has a 4.49
grade-point average. He’s going to be accepted,’ ” Schrad said. “I told
them I thought he could play at their level.”

As they say, the rest is history. U.Va. came down to see Poma and junior Seth Cutler-Voltz play in a 6-4 loss to Lee-Davis right before spring break. Poma went 2 for 2 with a double.

Then Poma, a catcher who leads the Warriors in hitting at
.520, wowed in the batting cage to earn a spot as an invited walk-on
for the Cavaliers, ranked third in the nation.

The Cavs only have 9 1/2 scholarships and since Poma was recruited
so late, he won’t get any athletic aid next season. But he certainly
looks to earn some academic assistance with his GPA and approaching
International Baccalaureate Diploma.

“You can’t pass that up,” said Poma Monday afternoon. “It’s a good
feeling. They didn’t see me until so late. They had done all of their
recruiting. It’s ironic. The only thing they didn’t get was a catcher.”

Poma didn’t play football until his ninth-grade year, when
he started at QB for the JV team. His next three seasons he was at the
helm of the Warriors’ varsity, with one playoff appearance.

“Corey Mosley is like one of my best friends,” said
Poma of the outstanding safety who signed with Virginia for football.
“I’ve got a feeling seeing him play his first game, I’m going to be
like, ‘Awww, man.’ “

Said Schrad, “I think it’s the right thing for J.C., academically and athletically.”

The crowd out at Axselle Stadium was treated to an outstanding, hard fought soccer game between the Mills Godwin Eagles, ranked fifth in the DigitalSports Top 10, and the No. 7 Deep Run Wildcats.

It was senior night Thursday for the Eagles, which was fitting because the Godwin seniors led their team to a 2-1 victory.

Anywhere a fan looked on the field they could see the senior leadership whether on offense where seniors Eric Pangraze and Trevor Gingras paced the Eagles with a goal each. On the defensive,  the Eagles were led by seniors Will Donovan and Scott Martin, who helped senior goalkeeper Conner Quinn stay perfect through the 75 minutes.

The game started
off slow with both teams trading chances. Godwin�??s first real threat in
the first half came on a penalty kick in the 28 ^th minute by Tommy Watkins, which went wide left of Deep Run keeper Cameron Murray.

Deep Run had two great opportunities in the first half to score. The first coming in the 11 ^th minute when the ball was loose in front and Quinn had to dive through the air to make the stop. The second was on a Brian Ownby shot that was smothered by Quinn late in the first half.

The Eagles got on the board first when Watkins connected with Pangraze on a throw in which Pangraze shot in for the goal in the 30 ^th minute.

�??My goal got us off to a great start,” Pangraze said, “and we never lost our composure after the goal.�?�

At the beginning of the second half the Eagles and the Wildcats traded chances with each other.

James River’s Austin Brooks (2) collides with Clover Hill goalie Greg Dodt as Travis Johnson (5) looks on.

Believing seems like such a simple thing.

But when you are a team that is used to coming up on the short end of the stick, believing is harder than it seems.

That
was the problem with James River boys soccer. The Rapids were talented,
capable and experienced, but just could not seem to climb the
Dominion-District mountain named Clover Hill.

Until Thursday night.

The
Rapids, ranked fourth in the DigitalSports Top 10, used an aggressive
offense and a stingy defense to join second-ranked Clover Hill on the
district perch, taking a 2-1 victory.

�??It�??s been more of a mental aspect playing Clover Hill,�?� James River coach Eric Schlueter
said. �??This year, I�??m just so proud because we really believed. We�??re
kind of on a roll right now. They�??re just starting to believe in each
other and the system.�?�

It showed early as James River (10-2, 11-2) was intent on peppering Clover Hill goalkeeper Greg Dodt.

Shot after shot, attempt after attempt, went into the Cavaliers�?? end until Joe Baxter started the scoring 13 minutes into the contest for a James River 1-0 advantage.

The
Rapids had a couple of close misses right after as the Cavaliers (10-2,
12-2) tried to find their mouthpiece and get off of the mat.

�??We knew coming in,�?� Clover Hill boss Jon Gates said, �??the way they played the last three games, they were on fire.�?�

The Cavs slightly doused James River�??s flames and started to create their own scoring opportunities.

Things turned their way when Connor McCarthy found himself in point-blank range and scored past Matt Flinn to even the count seven minutes before intermission.

�??I was very happy with that,�?� Gates said of his team�??s response. �??I thought we really had a chance in the second half.�?�

Both teams did. But James River was the only one to take advantage.

In the 54^th minute, Nathan Shiffman found Austin Brooks alone in front for a nice header that proved to be the game-winner.

Brooks,
the reigning DigitalSports player of the week, sprinted and tugged at
his jersey after the goal. He then slid about 10 yards on his chest in
jubilation, before getting mobbed by his JR teammates.

�??This could be for the district championship,�?� Baxter said. �??We�??ve wanted to get by Clover Hill for so many years.�?�

It�??s not done yet. Both teams are tied for the district lead as Clover Hill owns a 2-1 victory over James River as well.

Clover
Hill visits No. 8 Cosby and Midlothian next week. The Trojans own a win
over the Cavs, 3-2 on April 17. The Rapids are heavy favorites in their
final two games versus L.C. Bird and Manchester.

�??Now, we�??ve got our work cut out for us,�?� Gates said. �??I�??d love to see them again. No doubt. That�??s what we�??re playing for.�?�

Given
the outcome of the first Midlothian-James River match up (5-0 James
River) this should have been another easy game for the Rapids.

That was not the case. This time around the Trojans, ranked third in
the DigitalSports Top 10, came ready to play fighting the top-ranked
Rapids to a 1-1 tie Tuesday evening.

Neither team scored in the first half even though there were numerous attempts on both ends of the field.

Jenna Taylor scored as James River was the first to get on the scoreboard just minutes into the second half.

Erin Lane came back with a goal for Midlothian to tie the game up.

The Rapids almost got their second point but Midlothian’s Alicia Cella made an amazing save that kept the game knotted at 1.

There was a five-minute overtime where the pressure to score was on.
But both teams played good defense and did not allow a goal.

Bri Celia from Midlothian commented, “Our team worked really hard and coming back from a 5-0 loss, I’d say we played our hearts out!”

Ahyaro Phillips, shown here in the 804 All-Star Game, will try to improve his stock at Fork Union.

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports
05/02/2007

Ahyaro Phillips and Kip Robson of Douglas Freeman will continue their basketball careers.

Phillips, a 6-7 forward, will prep at year at Fork Union Military
Academy. Phillips, who transferred from New Orleans to Freeman two
years ago, hopes to play Division I basketball after improving his
skills with the Blue Devils. He said his grades are fine.

“I’m not going to play the five (center) in college,” said Phillips,
who averaged about 14 points per game, “probably the 3 (small forward).
So I need to improve my ballhandling and my 3-point shooting.”

Robson, a 6-3 guard, will attend Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania,
a Division III school and a member of the Centennial Conference. The
Bullets were 13-13 last season.

Robson, who also put in about 14 per game, thought his style of play
fit better with Gettysburg instead of Hampden-Sydney, another school
that was hot on his trail.