Chilhowie senior Reid Sturgill has been named the Hogoheegee District boys basketball player of the year.

George Wythe’s Joey Russell was named coach of the year.

The all-district team is as follows:

First team
Reid Sturgill, Chilhowie, sr.; Isaac Baltazar, George Wythe, sr.; Marcus Hash, George, Wythe, sr.; Jason Prater, Northwood, jr.; Jay Linkous, Rural Retreat, sr.
Second team
Wes Roberts, Holston, jr.; Dylan Thomas, Chilhowie, sr.; Jalen France, George Wythe, sr.; Jacob Havens, Northwood, soph.; Tyler Stanley, PH-Glade Spring, sr.; Conrad Thacker, Holston, jr.
Player of the year
Reid Sturgill, Chilhowie.
Coach of the year
Joey Russell, George Wythe.

Rockbridge County senior Andrew Rowsey, who finished his career as the No. 2 scorer in VHSL history, has been named the Region III boys basketball player of the year.

Lord Botetourt’s Justin Goode also was a first-team pick.

Spotswood’s Bailey Williams and Heritage’s Cameron Carter were named Region girls co-players of the year.

Emily Rawlings of Northside and Emily Wampler of Lord Botetourt also were first-team picks.

Here are the complete teams:

REGION III BOYS
First team
Andrew Rowsey, Rockbridge County, sr.; Hyrum Weiler, Spotswood, sr.; Karl Overstreet, E.C. Glass, sr.; Tucker McCoy, Spotswood, jr.; Justin Goode, Lord Botetourt, jr.; Justin Joyner, Heritage, jr.; Seth Kardos, Harrisonburg, sr.
Second team
Tyler Lucy, Jefferson Forest, jr.; Davon Smith, Alleghany, fr.; Malik Tyree, Heritage, sr.; Marvey’o Otey, William Byrd, jr.; Shai Matthews, Robert E. Lee, sr.; Jarrien Hairston, Northside, sr.; Justin Layman, Turner Ashby, sr.
Player of the year
Andrew Rowsey, Rockbridge County.
Division 4 coach of the year
Dan Stephens, Heritage.
Division 3 coach of the year
Chad Edwards, Spotswood.

REGION III GIRLS
First team
Cameron Carter, Heritage, jr.; Anitra Thomas, Brookville, jr.; Emily Rawlings, Northside, sr.; Emily Wampler, Lord Botetourt, sr.; Heather Cantrell, Broadway, sr.; Bailey Williams, Spotswood, sr.; Tayler Dodson, Spotswood, jr.
Second team
Mikalah Jones, Liberty, soph.; Alex Goldman, Amherst County, sr.; Brie Holdren, Staunton River, sr.; Meaghan Catron, Lord Botetourt, sr.; Devon Byrd, Fort Defiance, jr.; Taneisha Graves, Brookville, sr.; Reagan Uhler, Fort Defiance, sr.
Co-players of the year
Bailey Williams, Spotswood, Cameron Carter, Heritage.
Division 4 coach of the year
Tracie Hayes, Heritage.
Division 3 coach of the year
Chris Dodson, Spotswood

Salem’s boys and girls basketball teams will play back-to-back VHSL quarterfinal games Saturday at Salem Civic Center, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The VHSL released its quarterfinal pairings Sunday with dates, sites and times. Below is the list of games involving Timesland schools as well as the other games at Salem Civic Center.

Monday’s Region IV Division 3 girls final between Patrick County and Richlands will determine where both teams will play their quarterfinal games.

If Patrick County wins, the Cougars would play Brookville in Salem on Friday, and Richlands wins, the Blue Tornadoes would play Brookville at UVa-Wise on Saturday. Either way, the Patrick County-Richlands loser will play Spotswood at James Madison University in Harrisonburg at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.

The complete pairings are here. The times listed are the times on the VHSL release. In cases where start times are separated by 90 minutes, it is my experience that the each subsequent game begins later than officially listed. One hour, 45 minutes usually is a more accurate way to separate the start times.

For instance, it is likely that Floyd County’s girls game Friday against Gate City will begin closer to 7:15 p.m. than 7 p.m., and that Radford’s boys game against Virginia High will begin closer to 9 p.m. than 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY
At Salem Civic Center
TBD – Possible Group AA Division 3 girls game between Patrick County and Brookville, 4 p.m.
Group A Division 1 girls – Covington vs. Castlewood, 5:30 p.m.
Group A Division 2 girls – Floyd County vs. Gate City, 7 p.m.
Group A Division 2 boys – Radford vs. Virginia High, 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY
At Salem Civic Center
Group A Division 1 boys – Bland County vs. J.I. Burton, 10 a.m.
Group A Division 2 boys – Dan River vs. Essex, 11:45 a.m.
Group AA Division 4 girls – Salem vs. Lord Botetourt, 1:30 p.m.
Group AA Division 4 boys – Salem vs. Heritage, 3:15 p.m.
Group AA Division 4 girls – Bassett vs. Heritage, 5 p.m.
Group A Division 1 boys – Altavista vs. Surry County, 6:45 p.m.
Group AA Division 4 boys – Carroll County vs. E.C. Glass, 8:30 p.m.
—
At UVa-Wise
Group A Division 1 boys – Parry McCluer vs. Castlewood, 4 p.m.
—
At James Madison University
TBD – Possible Group AA Division 3 girls game between Patrick County and Spotswood, 6:15 p.m.
Group AA Division 3 boys – Martinsville vs.  Spotswood, 8 p.m.

One boys basketball regional championship game and two girls regional finals were postponed Friday because of inclement weather.

The Region IV Division 4 boys final between Salem and Carroll County at Carroll County has been moved to 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Region III Division 4 final between Lord Botetourt and Heritage at Staunton River High School has been rescheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Also, the Region IV Division 3 final in Stuart between Patrick County and Richlands has been moved to Monday at 7 p.m.

Here’s the question. With Salem’s girls scheduled to play Bassett in the Region IV Division 4 final at Magna Vista High School at 5 p.m. Saturday, why couldn’t Region IV have figured out a way to stagger the Salem boys and girls times to allow fans to make it to both games?

Hilllsville is about a 90-minute drive from Ridgeway. Even if the Salem-Bassett girls game were moved to 4 p.m., it still might be possible to make both games.

I understand why the two games aren’t played at the same site. Neither Carroll County’s boys nor Bassett’s girls wants to give up a local site and a home-area advantage. However, I don’t see why the game times couldn’t be adjusted slightly.

The updated Timesland playoff brackets are here.

Tuesday night’s scheduled Region IV Division 4 girls basketball semifinal between Magna Vista and Carroll County has been postponed.

Magna Vista athletic director and tournament director Mike Minter said the game was postponed because of weather  conditions in Carroll County. Schools were closed in Carroll County on Tuesday.

The game will be played at 6 p.m. Wednesday in at Carroll County High School, prior to the 7:45 p.m. Region IV Division 4 boys semifinal between the same two schools.

The postponement has forced other changes in the girls schedule. The Magna Vista-Carroll County winner will play Bassett at 7 p.m. Thursday in a semifinal at Magna Vista High School. Minter said it has not been determined whether the championship game will be played on Friday or Saturday.

Also, Wednesday night’s Region IV Division 4 boys game between Salem and Blacksburg will be played at Christiansburg High School. The game will begin either at 7 p.m. or 7:45 p.m., depending on the outcome of tonight’s first-round girls game between Hidden Valley and Blacksburg. If Blacksburg wins the girls game, there will be a semifinal doubleheader at Christiansburg with Salem’s girls playing the Bruins in the first game at 6 p.m., followed by the boys.

Updated pairings as of Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. are here.

William Byrd’s appeal over the seeding its boys basketball basketball team received for this week’s Region III Division 4 tournament was denied Monday in a vote by the principals of the region’s 20 high schools.

Byrd will be seeded No. 3 in the six-team tournament, and the Terriers will host Harrisonburg in a first-round game Tuesday night. Heritage will be the No. 2 and will receive a bye until Thursday’s semifinals when the Pioneers will play the Byrd-Harrisonburg winner at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg.

Byrd appealed its seeding on the basis that the Seminole District should have been forced to declare a regular-season boys champion and No. 1 entry into the regional tournament  after E.C. Glass and Heritage finished the season tied for first place. The Seminole did not hold a regular-season playoff between the two Division 4 teams.

William Byrd and Northside tied for the Blue Ridge District title. The Blue Ridge also did not hold a playoff, believing that since Byrd and Northside are in differerent divisions, they each would be declared the district’s No. 1 representative into their respective tournaments. Northside earned a No. 2 seeding in Region III Division 3.

Had the Blue Ridge held a regular-season playoff and had William Byrd won it, or if Byrd had won the Blue Ridge tournament final, the Terriers would have been seeded No. 2 in Region III Division 3.

NOTES: William Fleming’s opponent on the road in Tuesday’s Northwest Region boys quarterfinal — Mountain View — has a 21-game winning streak. … The site for Salem’s girls semifinal Wednesday in Region IV Division 4 will depend on the outcome of  Tuesday’s first-round game. If the opponent is Blacksburg, the game will be at Christiansburg. If the opponent is Hidden Valley, the game will be at Cave Spring. Look for the site of the Region C Division 1 boys semifinal involving Parry McCluer to be moved from Galax. The Fighting Blues’ opponent will be either Covington or Bath County and the region will find a neutral site closer to both schools. The same goes for the Covington girls in their semifinal if the opponent turns out to be Parry McCluer.

The brackets as of 5:15 p.m. Monday are here.

William Byrd  has filed an appeal with Region III over the No. 3 seeding that  its  boys basketball team has been given for this week’s Division 4 regional tournament, Terriers athletic director Crystal Worley said Sunday.

The seedings were released Saturday following the Blue Ridge, Seminole and Valley district tournaments. Byrd was seeded No. 3 behind a pair of Seminole teams –  No. 1 E.C. Glass and No. 2 Heritage.

E.C. Glass and Heritage were Seminole regular-season co-champions, while Byrd shared the Blue Ridge title with Northside. Neither district held a playoff game to break the tie.

William Byrd was the Blue Ridge tournament runner-up, losing to Lord Botetourt in Friday’s final. Heritage lost to E.C. Glass in the final of the Division 4 bracket of the Seminole tournament. The Seminole held a combined tournament final as Glass defeated Division 3 winner Rustburg in the consolidated championship game.

At stake is a bye into Thursday’s regional semifinals at Glass. The No. 3 seed plays a first-round game at home Tuesday night against Harrisonburg. The winner of that game plays the No. 2 seed on Thursday, so Byrd and Heritage might be able to settle matters on the court.

The principals of the region’s 20 schools will vote on the matter Monday. Byrd would need a two-thirds majority to win its appeal.

Meanwhile, this week’s tournament pairings can be found here.

Bobby Martin has been spotted on the William Fleming High School campus a lot in recent weeks. His trips haven’t been just to watch basketball games.

Martin, who was the interim head football coach at George Washington, has been named the new head football coach at William Fleming, Roanoke city councilman Sherman Lea said earlier today.

Martin succeeds Lee Johnson as Fleming’s coach. He will be introduced to Fleming’s players during a news conference at 1:45 p.m. today.

A Henry County native, Martin played football at Virginia Tech after graduating from Laurel Park High School.

He was the head basketball coach at George Washington until he left the position midway through the 2011-12 season. Martin was the head coach of the George Washington boys basketball team that reached the Group AAA state final in 2007.

He was named GW’s football coach for the 2012 season after the departure of head coach Jimmy Teague. Martin led GW to the Western Valley District championship, including wins in Roanoke over both William Fleming and Patrick Henry.

William Fleming posted a 1-9 record in 2012 and was 2-28 in Johnson’s three seasons.

Fleming will rejoin the Blue Ridge District in 2013 and will be a member of Division 4 in the VHSL’s new six-classification system.

Wednesday night’s River Ridge District boys basketball semifinal between Blacksburg and Cave Spring has been postponed because of a water problem at Cave Spring High School, Knights coach Billy Hicks said.

The game has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday.

I’ve seen plenty of remarkable things covering high school sports — a sinkhole in a football field during a game, a 4-foot-tall wrestler winning a state championship, an 81-foot, 9-inch shot in a girls basketball game — but just when I thought I’d seen about everything…the Seminole District boys basketball pairings came out.

Here’s the deal:

The Seminole divides its boys and girls tournaments by putting the four Division 4 schools in one half of the bracket and the three Division 3 schools on the other side. The thinking is that when teams are contending for Region III tournament berths in the respective divisions, they might as well be playing against each other. I suppose the arrangement has worked well so far.

Not this year.

E.C. Glass and Heritage tied for the regular-season title in the Seminole boys standings. Both teams are in Division 4. Both are going to the Region III Division 4 tournament. Fair enough, but each of the three districts in Region III gets to send just two teams to the region in each division, meaning the Seminole’s other two Division 4 teams — Amherst County and Jefferson Forest — are eliminated from postseason contention before the tournament has even begun.

But here’s the rub. Amherst and JF are still playing in the Seminole tournament. Say what? That’s right, the Seminole is telling those two boys teams that they can compete for a district tournament trophy, but their road will end right there.

A postseason tournament where teams are playing with no hope of advancing to the next level? That is absolutely unheard of.

Competing for a state title is the whole point. Or at least that’s what I’ve been hearing for years as a major reason for the VHSL’s schools splitting into six classifications.

The Seminole didn’t want to hold a playoff between Glass and Heritage, because it felt that a team that proved itself over 2 1/2 months with a first-place finish was deserving of a regional berth and that the loser of a playoff could be at risk of losing it all with one upset loss.

So why have a tournament at all? And more to the point, why would Amherst County and Jefferson Forest want to show up for this one?

With split classifications and expanded regional brackets, the VHSL’s district tournaments aren’t what they used to be and haven’t been for years. In many cases, the most important game often is a consolation game that determines whether the teams stay alive or pack it in for the season. A district tournament title is still a big deal, but in Group AA Region IV and Group A Region C, most of the postseason berths already have been decided and many games are merely to determine regional seedings.

I’ll welcome the change next winter when postseason district tournaments will disappear altogether and the road to Richmond will begin with tournament play in newly formed conferences made up of teams from the same classification. Then, perhaps, the win-or-go-home aspect will bring more excitement to the games.

Win or go home.

For Amherst County and Jefferson Forest it’s just go home.

See the area’s boys and girls pairings here.