NARUNA — For the first three innings, Gretna would collect a couple of hits, put a few runners on, but William Campbell pitcher Amber Marstin would shut the door each and every time.

Before the top of the fourth inning, Gretna coach Ketina Brooks gathered her players around and told them that the hits would start resulting in runs.

And boy, did she ever speak the truth.

William Campbell’s new boys basketball coach Robbie St. John, named to succeed Mike Cheek on Tuesday, knows the sport ranks a distant second to football on the school’s totem pole.

And he understands he will have his work cut out for him to get the Generals to be competitive in the extremely challenging Dogwood District.

But the 33-year-old first-year head coach, who got his start coaching at Linkhorne Middle while completing his degree in physical education at Liberty University in 2000 and 2001, is undaunted.

ALTAVISTA — For the coin toss to determine the home team for Monday’s Altavista Spring Break Tournament game against the Colonels, William Campbell coach Andy Haga deferred to leadoff hitter Baron Adams, the Generals’ starting quarterback and team captain in football.

His experience in such matters paid off as he correctly guessed “heads,” taking the home field advantage away from Altavista, and William Campbell rallied for the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the seventh for an 8-7 victory.

“The coin flip got us,” Colonels coach Jason Kilbourne said. “(Haga) was going to call ‘tails.‘”

Brad Bradley introduced the run-and-gun spread offense at William Campbell upon his arrival in 2000.

On Friday, after leading the Generals to five Dogwood District titles and two Group A, Division 1, state championships, Bradley was introduced as Patrick Henry-Roanoke’s new football coach.

Sixth-seeded William Campbell’s girls basketball team outscored third-seeded host Appomattox in every quarter to stage a 33-27 upset victory in the quarterfinal round of the Dogwood District tournament on Tuesday night.

It’s become a postseason classic, a tradition as predictable as the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions playing football on Thanksgiving Day.

William Campbell and Riverheads will face off in the Division 1, Region B playoffs for the seventh time in the past eight seasons Friday night at 7 in Naruna, with the perennial Dogwood and Shenandoah district powers dueling for the right to move on.

NARUNA — Everything was going wrong. Gretna scored two touchdowns in the first three minutes Friday night at William Campbell and added another one before the Generals could catch their collective breath midway through the second quarter.

Scores for Friday night’s football games

NARUNA — William Campbell football coach Brad Bradley has a name for the type of game fans have come to expect whenever the Generals battle Dogwood District rival Gretna, as they will at home tonight at 7. “It’s going to be one of those slobberknockers,” he said.

NARUNA — Whereas Gretna’s football team has thrived in recent years by starting nearly completely different lineups on offense and defense, keeping both sides fresh, William Campbell prides itself on using primarily two-way players, maximizing the impact of the team’s top talent.

This season’s squad is personified by the performance of its three senior linebackers — Donald Byrd, who starts in the middle, and Stanley Peerman and Timmy Wright, who play on the outside.

ALTAVISTA — For all of the improvements made by the Altavista’s football program under head coach Mike Scharnus, the Colonels were shown that they have a little more work to do when it comes to slugging it out with one of the Dogwood’s heavyweights.

William Campbell continued its dominance of its Dogwood rival Friday night, beating Altavista 28-3.

William Campbell needed just six plays to go 55 yards and take a 7-0 lead and punished Appomattox 58-7 in a Dogwood District matchup Friday.

Appomattox’s football team knows how close it came to upsetting William Campbell last season on its home turf before surrendering a late scoring drive to the Generals in a 35-28 defeat.

Tonight, in the Dogwood District season opener for both squads, the Raiders invade Naruna looking to settle the score in what could be a pivotal early season showdown.

Baron Adams’ return sparked William Campbell to its first victory of the season.

The senior quarterback threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more as the Generals swamped Sussex Central 41-0 Friday night

NARUNA — If Jonthan Hinson is raw, William Campbell coach Brad Bradley doesn’t want to see what the Thomasville junior looks like when he actually gets a little experience at tailback.
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