AAA football finals headed to Lane

The Virginia High School League’s Group AAA football championships are bidding goodbye to Scott Stadium.
The VHSL announced Thursday that the 2008 AAA Division 5 and 6 championship games will be played at Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech. Both games will be played on Saturday, December 6.
The VHSL Executive Committee voted 25-1 on Wednesday to approve Virginia Tech’s bid to host the games in 2008. The committee also voted to keep this year’s Group AA championships at Liberty University and to expand the state basketball championships to include division playoffs for Group AA schools.
St. Anne’s Starsia steps up
St. Anne’s-Belfield goalkeeper Zach Starsia made several big plays coming out of the cage against Western Albemarle on Tuesday night during the Saints’ 13-4 win. The senior had several critical ground balls that helped St. Anne’s hold Western to just two goals in the first half, he just better make sure he doesn’t come out of that crease too much.
“We’re trying to get him to not wander too much, sometimes on those ground balls it gets a little scary when he’s out there,” said St. Anne’s coach Doug Tarring. “But he’s a big kid and he can certainly hold his own physically. We have a lot of confidence in him.”
Starsia certainly handled himself against the Warriors with several hard-nosed, physical plays against the Western attack. Starsia also did a fantastic job of transitioning the ball upfield.
Starsia is a taller goalie, which allows him to see the field better and make some tough passes to St. Anne’s midfielders. One underhanded toss dropped right into a streaking midfielder’s stick near midfield line and kept Western from creating a second-chance opportunity.
Patriots’ depth pays off
The Albemarle boys tennis team captured the Commonwealth District title on Wednesday night with a 5-0 victory over visiting Mountain View. The Patriots’ top three players all had strong matches, but it was the happenings on the second set of courts that most encouraged Albemarle coach Chip Grobmyer.
Brian Chen and Cameron Hill defeated their opponents with relative ease and No. 6 Jeff Barton shrugged off a tiebreaker loss to defeat Cameron Holmes in three sets.
Barton seemed to gain momentum when his match shifted to the No. 4 court after the second set. The move was necessitated when most of a bank of lights went out over the No. 6 court. Grobmyer was pleased with the effort he saw from Barton and Hill.
“One thing I like about my No. 5 and No. 6 is that they don’t back down from anything,” Grobmyer said. “They never let the other player dictate play.”
Louisa clinches district regular-season crown
The Louisa County baseball team picked up its most important win of the season on Wednesday, edging William Monroe 5-4 on the road to secure the Jefferson District regular-season title. Louisa senior third baseman Dylan Szalankiewicz had an RBI double in the sixth, which proved to be the game-winner.
The Lions have two more games - at home against Orange County today and at Fluvanna County next Tuesday - before the district tournament begins next Friday.
All-LIS girls soccer
After the conclusion of Thursday’s LIS girls soccer game between Covenant and Saint Anne’s-Belfield, Covenant coach Pat Campbell announced the All-LIS teams.  Earning league honors were Covenant’s Emily Klein, Katie Estep and Erin Hauser and STAB’s Shannon Mann, Caitlin Morris, Alexa Franco and Danielle Johnson.
Western battered, not beaten
St. Anne’s 13-4 victory over Western Tuesday night may have been a lot better representation of how good the Saints are playing right now than a statement about where Western is right now.
The Warriors committed a lot of penalties, with a big chunk coming during a chippy second quarter. That allowed St. Anne’s to control the ball offensively and work for better shots on man-up situations while building a 7-2 halftime lead.
St. Anne’s also had the defensive weapons to shut down Western’s attack, which didn’t have many opportunities at all in the second half as the Saints dominated the tempo. The Warriors won’t run into too many teams the rest of the season that have St. Anne’s defensive depth. Western will take on the winner of tonight’s Monticello-James River (Midlothian) contest on Tuesday in the Jefferson District semifinals after getting a bye through the first round.