This is a new section about the weekly happenings
        around the LPD. It will depend entirely on news
        reports from the local papers and things that I hear
        from other fans or players.



August News & Notes Archive




*News of 9/1/98*
 Julius Jones of Powell Valley was named the  Kingsport Times-News Player
 of the Week in Southwest VA. Along with Jones, other standout LPD preformers
 included Pound's Brandon Hubbard, Brandon Cantrell, & Adam Delforge. Coeburn
 RB's Jason Nixon & Anthony Gray. Clintwood's Justin Hamilton & Burton's
 Reggie Sensabaugh.

*News of 9/3/98*
 I received an email tonight telling me of two more players that have
 joined the Appalachia team. One is Nathan Woodard a 6'5 200lb TE/DB
 transfer from Powell Valley whio is a JR. The other is Chris Papst, a
 6'7 220 lb exchange student from Germany. Both will be eligible to 
 play tomorrow night against J.I. Burton.

*News & Notes of 9/12/98*
 Some ramblings from last night....Dawgs had a huge win against the Burton
 Raiders in unusual fashion...winning point was a PAT kick by German exchange
 student Chris Papst who also narrowly missed a 30 yd FG attempt. This guy
 will certainly make a difference in the season for Appy.
 
 Burton shot themselves in the foot several times with crucial penalties that
 wiped out some big plays. The Raiders also fumbled inside the Appy 1, but
 have shown they can move the ball effectivly on teams.

 Clintwood super soph Justin Hamilton showed his variety of talents last night
 as he rushed for a TD, took a short pass 76 yds for a TD and returned an 
 interception 25 yds for a TD. Clintwood toyed with Haysi as they tuned up for
 a big contest next week with Appalachia.

 Coeburn continued to impress as they easily dispatched of Kelly. The Blue Knights
 have demonstrated they have a good passing game to go with the powerfull running
 of Jason Nixon. QB Brandon Hale has a good corp of receivers in Eric Burke, Tim
 Clay, Ryan Lawson and Anthony Gray.

 J.J. Kelly has shown good, young talent...but has repeatedly shot themselves in the
 foot with turnovers. They now have 12 turnovers in 2 games.

 Pound has been perhaps the biggest suprise as the Cats have started out at 2-0 in
 Rocky Baker's 1st season. TB Brandon Hubbard has been a work horse and QB Brandon
 Cantrell has been a threat with the pass. Adam Delforge has been a reliable receiever
 and the defense has been very good.

 Powell Valley was impressive in crushing a quick Radford team. Vikings started with
 Derrick Clark at FB and he ran well. The defense was brutal holding Radford star
 Jelani Hendricks in check until he got some yards against the 2nd & 3rd teams.

*News of 09/9/98*
 It looks like standout PV linebacker Keith Davis will be available for action
 this Friday, but the PV coaches are likely to hold him out for one more week
 to make sure his knee is fully healed. Davis suffered a sprain in a jamboree
 three weeks ago. Mike Stidham has been filling at OLB while Jason Gilley
 moved inside to Davis' spot.
 
 Reports out of Clintwood say that the Greenwave have had an excellent week of 
 practice in preparation for the Appalachia game. Some say the most intense
 practices in years.

 The $64 question about Appalachia is whether or not Josh Fleenor will open at
 fullback, or stay at guard. Tom may keep the Clintwood staff guessing until the
 opening drive. New kicker Chris Papst has reportedly been getting better with
 each kick. Dawgs haven't had this threat since the Owens kid was kicking FG's
 to secure playoff wins for the 1989 state title team.

 Wonder if anyone out there knows if Burton WR/DB Jazz Coleman will recover from
 his collarbone injury in time to play any this year? His return would be a big
 boost to the Raider offense.

 Don't think the Pound staff isn't reminding the Cats about Coeburn knocking them
 out of a playoff spot last year. This should be a great game as both teams have 
 faced the same opponents and have defeated them by similar scores.

 If the Kelly Indians can hang onto the football, the game with Burton may be closer
 than many think....if not, it could get ugly.

 The PV-Richlands contest should be a close one as it is most of the time these two 
 get together. The Richlands line is huge & the backs are quick.

*News & Notes of 9/12/98*
 Here's a few thoughts from last night.
 Can there be any other candidate for Coach of the Year than Pound's
 Rocky Baker? All he's done is get the Cats out to a 3-0 start in a 
 year that many (including myself) thought he'd do well to win a game 
 or two. I look for the Cats to finish no worse than 7-3 at this point.

 Clintwood's offense is awsome, but the Wave needs to cut down on the
 penalties. The Clintwood defense may not get as much ink as the offense,
 but they're just as effective. Clintwood has yeilded little through the
 first 3 games.

 Appalachia has a very scrappy defense, but the offense has struggled to 
 produce points. I'm wondering when/if Josh Fleenor moves back to FB.

 Coeburn must now chase Pound for the other Div 2 playoff spot. I think
 it's still well within reach, but the Blue Knights can afford no slips.

 Burton's offense got Jazz Coleman back last night & he produced a 15 yd
 TD. When Coleman regains his form he's a dangerous offensive threat.

 Kelly...well, Kelly almost matched the Raiders stastically last night, but
 it was the same old story as the Indians are averaging a little over 5 
 turnovers a game. I just hope the Indians will keep their heads up & hang in
 there.

 PV welcomed back LB Keith Davis last night. He should be starting in the big
 game with Pound. I was suprised that the Vikings dispatched Richlands so 
 easily. Those who think that the PV offense is totally dependant on Jones
 are mistaken...it's just that he's always producing that makes it look that
 way. PV has some fine backs in McCoy, Callahan, Williams, Yonce, Dorton, Clark
 & good receivers in McCoy, Prewitt, Warren, Large, & McAffee.

*News & Notes of 9/17/98*
 According to Wavehous Clintwood WR 
Jeremy Fleming may miss Friday nights game at Honaker with a shoulder injury.

 Through 3 games this year Appalachia has had 3 different leading rushers in
Jamar Clark, Tyrell Hardison, & Derrick Surrett. The Dawgs only win came when
Hardison rushed for over 100 yds against Burton....also the only time a Dawg
back rushed for over 100....if you can run the ball, you can win.

 Interesting thing about the Burton-Garden game is the fact that last year 
Burton was forced to forfit their win due to an ineligible player. Then,
just after the season was over Garden hand was called on using an ineligible
player in several games as well....one of which was the Burton game....This 
led to another forfit that canceled the Burton forfit....in the aftermath was
the VHSL rating system determination that the effect of this was a 6-4 Pound
team was bumped out of the playoffs by a 5-5 Coeburn team....Coeburn, in turn
was put on short notice to play Powell Valley....which quickly eliminated the
Blue Knights....

*News & Notes of 9/18/98*
 A couple of nice articles on Pound and Powell Valley can be found
in these two from the Bristol paper. Powell Valley Pound

 
*News & Notes of 9/20/98*
 A few random thoughts from Friday's games.
 A BIG hats off to the Kelly Indians for hanging in through some
injuries and inexperience to defeat VA. High. This was a huge win for the
Indians and may serve as a springboard for the rest of the season.

 Friday night saw the return to fullback of Josh Fleenor for Appalachia.
He ran well in the second half and will be a big factor in the Dawgs playoff
drive. Chris Papst is as good as advertised....he booted a 41 yd FG. Don't be
misled by the drubbing the Dawgs took against Lee....Lee may well finish the
year at 13-1 in Division 4.

 The Honaker game was a good one for Clintwood. The Wave showed it has what it
takes to win a tough game as they came back from a 14-0 deficit to win. This will
certainly help the next two weeks as they face Coeburn and PV. Josh Wright has now
moved into the center position for the Wave.

 Burton is glad to have WR/RB/DB Jazz Coleman back.....Jazz ran for 86 yds on 5
carries and a TD against Garden. The Raider offense will be severely tested this
week against PV.

 The Pound Wildcats must get the PV game out of their heads and regroup for
Hurley. In spite of the debacle against the Vikings, this is a good Pound 
team....you can see the improvement in how well organized Rocky Baker has
the Cats....he was just overmatched in talent.

 As for PV...well...they get on you early and will bury you. For all intents
and purposes the Pound game was over after the first 5 minutes. 
 The Vikings lost center Luke Gilley for an undetermined amount of time with
a knee injury. Aaron McKinney filled in and did a great job at center. WR/TE
Tim Fredrich showed he may be a big part of the passing game as he made two
good catch & runs.

***It was just reported by teammate Doug Gibson that Luke Gilley will miss 3-4
 weeks with a MCL tear that would've been much worse if not for his
 knee brace.***

*News of 9/21/98*
 I found out tonight that Tosh Barnette will take Luke Gilley's spot
at center in the PV lineup against Burton. PV could use Barnette's
size with Burton's monsterous Quinn Smith lurking.
 
*News of 9/22/98*
 Wavehous reports that...
 Jeremy Fleming is back to full time duty, he only punted at Honaker.
Fullback Davis had a slight ankle sprain at Honaker but is back to full
speed. Defensive end Daniel Slayers had a touch of something and had to
come out of the game and throw up about 10 times, but is back. No nagging
injuries to report. Looks like the Wave are as fit as any team we have had
in years going into game five. But usually after an Appy game we have five
or six in sick bay for weeks. But not this year. 
John McCowan has moved from center to noseguard, Josh Wright from NG to
center. With McCowan and Childress, side by side, that adds up to almost
600 lbs of beef to move, and to everyones suprise both are making tackles
all along the line of scrimmage. Also look for Jeremy Stallard to start at
defensive end, and Salyers and Fleming rotate at the other side. 

*News of 9/26/1998*

 Some thoughts on last night's action. The Clintwood-Coeburn contest was
about the usual thing when these two get together. Great game by both 
teams. Justin Hamilton and Co. are one of the state's most exciting offenses,
but Coeburn RB Jason Nixon put in a gritty effort as the LPD's leading rusher 
kept Coeburn in the game.

The Dawg's offense sure looks a lot better with Fleenor at FB. I'd say he's
seen the last of his offensive line days. Dawgs scored more (35) last night
than they had (22) all season & Fleenor was a big reason why. If Appy can
keep improving they'll be a threat to win it all come playoff time.

As for Kelly, they cut down to one turnover last night and moved the ball
fairly well but were no match for the Dawgs. A struggling Abingdon team
comes next & hopefully Kelly will show them the same treatment that VHS 
got last week.

PV's Killer D stuffed the Burton attack while the offnse seemed to be 
sleepwalking for the 1st quarter. Defense wins championships & this defense
is one of the best around. They will get a severe test next with a Clintwood
offense that's one of the best in Group A. 

*News of 9/29/1998*

 Clintwood super soph Justin Hamilton was named the Kingsport Times-News
Player of the Week

 Burton center Greg Mays was appeared to injure his leg in the PV game & I'm 
not certain about his status for the Coeburn game.

 PV starting DT Corey Davis broke his foot in practice Tuesday and will miss 
about 6 weeks. His place in the lineup will be taken by Landry Boggs.