Lee Johnson, who resigned as the Colonels’ head coach following the 2012 season, has joined the staff at Patrick Henry as an assistant under Alan Fiddler.

Johnson has taken the spot vacated by Jay Phares, who became the head coach at William Campbell High in Naruna. Johnson, who already has participated in a week of Patrick Henry’s spring practices, will coach linebackers and assist Casey Stewart with the Patriots’ defense.

A former head coach at Glenvar and North Cross before serving as Fleming’s coach for the last three years, the 43-year-old Johnson has not worked as an assistant coach since 2001 when he was on the staff at William Byrd.

“Being a head coach, sometimes you don’t get to coach as much on the field as you do when you’re a position coach because there are so many other things to take care of,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he contacted Fiddler this spring about the vacancy. He is hoping to land a teaching position at Patrick Henry when contracts go out later this month.

“I was looking at some things, but there weren’t a whole lot of jobs in this area,” Johnson said. “My daughter will be a senior [at Salem High School] this fall and I didn’t want to move.

“Alan’s a good coach to work for. We’ve gotten along since he got to Patrick Henry.”

Sales of Icy Hot and ice could be at record levels this weekend in Giles County.

Giles High School and neighboring James Monroe High of West Virginia will play an alumni football game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Ragsdale Field in Pearisburg.

The game is being promoted by USA Alumni Football, which provides some of the equipment to the two teams and gets 100 percent of the gate receipts on game day and 50 percent of the money from pre-sale tickets. Each high school keeps 50 percent of the revenue the pre-sale.

Each player pays $100 to participate.

Giles teacher and former coach Mitch Reed said Giles already has sold more than 2,000 tickets. Reed said 16 former All-Group A players are among the ex-Spartans who will suit up Saturday. Included are fairly recent standouts Ricky Cook, Billy Cook and Nathan Tanner.

Even with Virginia Tech’s spring game taking place earlier in the day up the road in Blacksburg, it’s always football time at Giles.

When I covered the 1997 Gator Bowl between North Carolina and Tech (the Hokies would like to forget that one) Carl Torbush had just been named Carolina’s interim coach after the sudden departure of Mack Brown for Texas.

Talking to Torbush in Jacksonville, he revealed that earlier that year he had played in the alumni game at his alma mater — Carson-Newman (Tenn.) — and had gotten banged up a little bit. I’m pretty sure Carl was in his mid-forties at the time.

Here’s hoping the orthopedic guys aren’t busy Sunday.

Rockbridge County sophomore offensive tackle Austin Clark has picked up a football scholarship offer from Virginia.

Rockbridge head coach Jason White said the 6-f00t-6, 275-pound Clark becomes the first sophomore in school history to land a Division I offer.

“That one was out of the blue,” White said. “I didn’t know they were working on evaluating sophomores yet.”They called on Thursday. They said they evaulated his film and liked it. I said, ‘If you liked his film, he’s 10 times the kid and the student than he is a player.’ ”

Clark, who was named to the All-Timesland Sizzlin’ Sophomore team, was the MVP this spring at the Schuman National Underclassman Combine in Richmond where he ran a 5.3-second 40-yard dash in wet conditions.

White expects more Division schools to get on board Clark’s recruiting train. Clark has squatted 500 pounds, cleaned 285 and has a 275-bench press.

“That’s pretty impressive for a sophomore,” White said.”I told him, ‘You might as plan on the next month or so being pretty hectic.’ He’s a tough kid and a great student. And he’s got the two things they look for most. He’s 6-foot-6 and he’s got good feet.

White said it is premature to gauge Clark’s interest in UVa.

“He really liked it, but it’s way too early to figure out if that’s the right fit,” the Rockbridge coach said.

Clark is the second sophomore lineman in the Blue Ridge District to pick up a Division I scholarship offer. Northside defensive lineman Chance Hall was offered by Maryland shortly after the 2012 season ended.

Junior center Coleman Thomas of Fort Chiswell committed last month to Tennessee.

Brookville High School announced Thursday what has been known for more than a month. Head football coach Jeff Woody has left the Bees to take over the program at Monticello High in Charlottesville.

Woody led Brookville to back-to-back 14-0 seasons and Group AA Division 3 championships in 2011 and 2012. The Bees will enter the 2013 season with a new coach and a 28-game winning streak.

Woody compiled an 81-22 won-lost record at Brookville, where he coached a number of star players including quarterbacks Logan Thomas and Kendall BeCraft.

Four of the seven schools in the Seminole District have changed head coaches in the last year. Heritage and E.C. Glass had first-year head coaches in 2012. Former Alleghany coach Jack Baker took the job at Rustburg this winter.

Brookville, a Campbell County school, will begin interviewing for Woody’s job soon.

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.

The River Ridge District boys basketball game between visiting Blacksburg and Salem scheduled for tonight has been postponed until Friday.

The winner will be the regular-season champion, while the loser will drop into a second-place tie and be relegated to the No. 3 seed in next week’s River Ridge tournament.

The Salem-Blacksburg girls game scheduled for tonight also has been postponed until Friday.

Other games postponed tonight include the boys and girls games between Covington and Highland. Both games have been reset for Friday.

Tonight’s Three Rivers District boys game sending Giles to Glenvar will start 90 minutes earlier than scheduled. Tipoff time is 5:30 p.m.

I’ll get this up now and post more later.

Brookville’s record-setting quarterback Kendall BeCraft, who led the Bees to back-to-back Group AA Division 3 football championships, has an accepted an offer as a preferred walk-on at Virginia Tech, Brookville coach Jeff Woody said.

Also, Pulaski County defensive end James King has signed a full scholarship with VMI, while Cave Spring defensive end Jordan Bryant and Marion running back Ethan Richardson have signed with Division II Concord (W.Va.).

Northside defensive end Demetreus Ferebee has made a commitment to play football at Norfolk State, and the 6-foot-5, 225-pound senior plans to sign a scholarship with the Spartans on Wednesday.

Northside coach Burt Torrence said today that NSU made Ferebee an offer last fall contingent on the Vikings star attaining a high enough SAT score.

Ferebee hit the mark in December and the Spartans held up their end of the deal.

“He’d scheduled a visit without the score, the second week of January,” Torrence said. “Over Christmas break we got those scores back. When he got the test score he needed, they didn’t even need to see it. They took my word for it and offered him right there on the spot, over the phone.

“I’m really happy for him. Getting a free education is big, and an opportunity to play.”

Torrence said Virginia and James Madison had expressed some interest in Ferebee. The Northside coach also said Temple made Ferebee an offer after he had made a commitment.

“Temple called in and offered him a scholarship,” Torrence said. “I already said he’s going to Norfolk State, so he’s going. I don’t believe in telling somebody you’re going to come and then don’t go. We don’t do any of that mess.”

Torrence said Norfolk State – a member of the FCS Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – has made its recruiting presence known in the western part of Virginia.

“They sent this new coach out here and he went to every school,” Torrence said. “Kudos to him because a lot of schools will skip around and won’t go to every school. This guy went to every school to find out who was there.”

Ferebee, a second-team All-Timesland selection, was Northside’s co-leader in quarterback sacks with seven in 2012 as the Vikings shared the Blue Ridge District title and reached the Region III Division 3 semifinals. He also had 50 solo tackles.

George Wythe has cashed in on its Group A Division 1 state football championship at the ballot box.
The Maroons took nine spots on the first and second teams on the Division 1 all-state team picked this weekend by the Virginia High School Coaches Association.
Congrats to George Wythe’s Hardy Lester, who was named Division 1 defensive player of the year; and Wythe’s H.S. Ingo, who was named coach of the year.
Unlike Group AAA and Group AA, the Group A coaches picked two all-state teams, one for Division 2 and one for Division 1.
The Group A teams are heavily tilted toward a small core of teams. The threesome of Franklin, George Wythe and Riverheads accounted for 27 of the 62 first- and second-team positions on the Division 1 team. Franklin had players named to TWELVE different first- or second-team spots.
Sixty-six, count ‘em, 66 players were named first-team All-Group A in football.
Is that too many? You tell me.
I guess there will be six different all-state teams next year, so perhaps the point is moot.
Below are the Timesland players named to the Group AA, Division 2 and Division 1 teams. We’re still trying to unearth the All-Group AAA team.
For the Division 2 and Division 1 teams, click here.
For the Group AA team, click here.
Here are the players of the year we have so far: Group AA offense (Trace McSorley, Briar Woods), Group AA defense (Wyatt Teller, Liberty-Bealeton), Division 2 offense (Dominek Broaddus, Essex), Division 2 defense (Nathan Adams, Goochland), Division 1 offense (Travis Brown, Franklin), Division 1 defense (Hardy Lester, George Wythe).

GROUP AA
FIRST TEAM
Offense
Guard — Alex Light, Salem
Tackle — Dylan Brucki, Cave Spring
Running back — Ethan Richardson, Marion
Defense
Lineman — DeAnthony Muse, Northside
Linebacker — Eddie Bowman, Bassett
Back — Jake Kite, Hidden Valley
SECOND TEAM
Offense
Guard — Curtis Fridley, Rockbridge County
Tackle — Lucas Holder, Carroll County
Tight end — Jordan Bryant, Cave Spring
Wide receiver — Chad Fisher, Salem
Quarterback — Porter Abell, Rockbridge County
Defense
End — Demetreus Ferebee, Northside
Back — Chad Fisher, Salem

GROUP A DIVISION 2
FIRST TEAM
Offense
Center — Coleman Thomas, Fort Chiswell
Running back — Daniel Hamm, Fort Chiswell
Running back — Ian Mann, Giles
Wide receiver — Mikey Rodgers, Grayson County
SECOND TEAM
Offense
Guard — Kearsley Dillon, Giles

GROUP A DIVISION 1
FIRST TEAM
Offense
Lineman — Chase Altizer, George Wythe
Wide receiver — Ron Ford, Eastern Montgomery
Tight end — Hardy Lester, George Wythe
Utility — Troy Helton, Covington
Defense
End — Hardy Lester, George Wythe
Lineman — Chase Altizer, George Wythe
Linebacker — Justin Snavely, George Wythe
Back — Isaac Baltazar, George Wythe
Back — Jalen France, George Wythe
SECOND TEAM
Offense
Caleb Findley, Radford
Defense
Lineman — Chaz Sizemore, Galax
Wide receiver — Reid Sturgill, Chilhowie
Running back — Dominique Crockett, George Wythe
Running back — Steven Peoples, Galax
Punter — Andrew Storms, George Wythe
Return specialist — Donte Peoples, Galax

Fort Chiswell running back Daniel Hamm has been offered a spot as an invited walk-on at Virginia, Pioneers head coach Stephen James said Thursday.

Hamm ran for 1,902 yards and 26 touchdowns on 215 carries this season as Fort Chiswell finished 11-2 and reached the Group A Division 2 quarterfinals. Hamm also was the Pioneers second-leading tackler.

Hamm was named the Mountain Empire District offensive player of the year. A three-sport star, Hamm won the triple jump in the Group A track and field meet in 2011 and was a starting guard on the Pioneers’ basketball team that reached the Division 2 semifinals last winter.