The games were fun, but these are the moments I'll remember from the high school sports season
Sports journalism is an exercise in storytelling.
It’s also an exercise in trust.
Precise and lively storytelling combine to make your work readable.
Trust makes your work possible.
Since 1970, I’ve been blessed with myriad opportunities to provide game coverage and features about high school sports in Central Virginia, first for the Richmond News Leader, then the Times-Dispatch, and more recently The Richmonder.
My goal each time I put fingers to keyboard is twofold: first, create an accurate and fast-flowing narrative that makes readers feel as if they can see what I see, hear what I hear, and feel the emotion of the moment and second, but no less important, tell the story behind the story.
Quite often, I’ve asked coaches and athletes to speak into my recorder in moments of high emotion with very little time to collect their thoughts, and it’s up to me to determine what’s appropriate for public consumption and what’s best left unsaid. I’m grateful that they’ve trusted me to get it right.
And whether I’m writing about championship events or covering evolving teams competing before sparse crowds composed of friends and family, I do my best to honor the participants’ efforts as they exult in victory or process the disappointment of defeat.
What follows is a sampling of moments (among many) from the 2025-2026 school year that left an impression.
Playing to the finish
Highland Springs lost to Maury 25-7 in the VHSL Class 5 championship football game on a frigid December night at Bridgeforth Stadium on the campus of James Madison University.
The Springers, talented as they were, fell behind 19-0 after a quarter and could never recover.
Coach Loren Johnson’s guys battled to the end, but injuries to key players, costly mistakes, and the Commodores’ well-proven might conspired to dash their chances.
After the handshake line and trophy presentation, Johnson faced a bank of cameras and recorders from the statewide media and responded to each question with grace and equanimity.
“Injuries took a toll more than anything,” he said. “Lot of guys banged up, but that’s not an excuse. We did some things we wanted to do. It just wasn’t enough.”
As the Maury contingent celebrated nearby, Johnson added, “Because of their (his players’) age, it takes a little bit more to see (the big picture). When they get older, they’ll remember the resilience and the toughness that it took to get to this point and they’ll be happy about what they did. They may not be happy about the result, but they’ll be happy about what they did as young men.”
Senior quarterback Antoine “Buddy” Richardson suffered a shoulder injury in the first half. His career, it appeared, had come to an all-too-abrupt end. Instead, he summoned the courage and resolve to return in the third quarter.
“During halftime, I was looking at my team,” he said. “Everybody had their heads down. I just felt like with me being the leader, if I come out and give it all I’ve got, my guys will feed off my energy and keep playing until the clock hits zero.”
Support from near and far
Steward’s girls basketball team fell 68-57 to Virginia Academy in the VISAA Division II state championship game. Though the Patriots, loaded as usual, were seeking a six-peat, the Spartans refused to back down.
“The best thing about our group is that they believe they can win any time they step on the floor, no matter who they’re playing,” Coach Kara Bacile said. “It’s such a powerful thing for them to believe in themselves and believe in each other.
“That belief gives you confidence when you get on the floor with teams that might be better than you on paper.”
Offering support, boisterous at times, from the stands directly across from the Spartans’ bench were a dozen or so members of Bacile’s family as well her extended family from Monacan High School, where she played for four seasons and graduated in 2011.
“That’s one of the most beautiful things about the game,” she said. “We all should remember at the end of the day that the game and all you’ve worked so hard for mean nothing without the people who are most important in your life.
“None of us get to where we want to be or achieve the milestones we want without people who invest in you and really care about you and support you. Those relationships mean so much.”
Fair play
One mid-April afternoon, I ventured over to Thomas Jefferson High School to watch the Vikings take on Huguenot in baseball.
From the outset, the visiting Falcons had difficulty gaining traction, and after two innings the home team held a convincing 13-0 lead.
After Vikings pitcher Graeme Cox retired the side in the top of the third, Harold Henry, TJ’s respected veteran coach, directed his guys to forego their turn at bat and stay in the field. Same deal in the fifth, and the game ended in short order because of the 10-run lead after five innings mercy rule.
The final score, of course, was 13-0. It could have been much worse. No need, Henry said afterwards. Rather than allow his guys to light up the scoreboard and pad their stats, he taught them a great lesson about fair play and sportsmanship.
“We’re a city school just like them,” said Henry, who’s coached the Vikings for 25 years. “We’re trying to respect them. We don’t want to embarrass anybody. We’ve been on the other side too many times. These guys know I don’t try to do anything like that.”
More memories
There were other moments, as well.
There was Thomas Dale football coach Kevin Tucker helping Chris Whitehead, LC Bird’s edge rusher par excellence and LSU commit, off the turf on a blistering hot afternoon in Chester after Whitehead was down for several minutes while athletic trainers treated him.
There was Powhatan’s Ben Whitver, who set the VHSL career record for receiving yards (3,501 on 208 receptions) in the Indians’ finale with Cosby, reflecting humbly on his noteworthy accomplishment.
“My main goal is to get yards for my team and get my team into the end zone,” the Penn State signee said. “This (the record) is truly a blessing. All glory goes to God.”
There was the disconsolate crew in the Armstrong football locker room after the Wildcats’ dream of a Region 2A title (and more) fell nine yards short in their late November 19-14 defeat at the hands of Poquoson.
Sure, they’d lost a football game, and their previously undefeated season had come to a crashing halt. Sure, their spirits had taken a hit. Sure, tears flowed aplenty.
Through the pain, though, there was resolve.
“The dream never stops,” said Coach Jeremy Pruitt. “We just fell short this year. We’ll get it going again. That’s the sweet thing. You just pour so much into the kids. You have to keep doing it over and over until you finish.”
Then there was Matoaca’s Kaylee Hodges, a junior righthander nonpareil, University of Tennessee commit, and two-time Virginia Gatorade Softball Player of the Year who pitched the Warriors to the VHSL Class 5 state championship this past season.
Each time out, she performs with eye-of-the-tiger focus, razor-sharp precision, and a team-first mindset, but my enduring memory of her wasn’t just her stellar performances in the circle, especially in the state semis and finals two weeks ago at John Champe High School when the hopes and dreams of the Matoaca community past and present rested on her shoulders.
Weldon Bradshaw
It came after a mid-season home game with Colonial Heights, which Hodges and Co. won easily, when a group of giddy young girls from Matoaca Elementary clad in their Warriors’ jerseys waited patiently afterwards to spend time with their resident rock star.
“It’s so awesome to see them here,” Hodges said. “They’re here to watch all of us play and have fun as a team.
“I love being a role model for them. So do the other girls.”
