Heritage baseball coach Paul Johnson steps down

Paul Johnson stepped down after three seasons as Heritage’s baseball coach last week, though he will remain a teacher and return as an assistant football coach for the Pioneers next fall.

“It was a family decision,” said Johnson, who wants to spend more time with his 11-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. It was hard to give it up, but the reasons I gave it up for made the decision easy. It was just the right time to step back.”

Dennis Knight, a Heritage graduate who coached the team from 1988 to 2000 before working as a pitching coach at Hampden-Sydney College from 2000 to 2003 and Lynchburg College since then, returns to take the reins of the Pioneers’ program.

He has helped recruit several Heritage players to Lynchburg over the past seven years.

During his career at JMU, Knight was named MVP twice as a third baseman and was a member of the state’s only team to advance to the College World Series, when the Dukes made it to Omaha, Neb., in 1983. He was drafted as a pitcher in the Texas Rangers’ organization and played Class A baseball for one season.

His son, Joseph Knight, started at first base as a sophomore at Heritage this spring.

Before replacing Keith Scruggs at the helm at Heritage in 2007, Johnson, an Appomattox graduate, served as an assistant for six seasons, working with the Pioneers’ hitters, pitchers and middle infielders.

He will rejoin Heritage’s new head football coach Doug Smith, a former football teammate at Liberty University, after working as an assistant on the Pioneers’ staff for 16 years through 2005.

Five added to HHS Hall

Heritage inducted the third class of its Athletic Hall of Fame at Tuesday night’s spring athletic award program.

The five individuals honored were Dr. Jim Swisher, David Blondino, coach Bill Booker, Chuck Moseley and Jimmy Mays.

Swisher, who died this past year, was Heritage’s first principal, serving in that capacity from the opening of the school in the fall of 1976 through 1986. He previously taught and coached at Holy Cross and William Campbell and was greatly responsible for establishing the athletic tradition at Heritage High.

Blondino graduated in 1978 after starting at quarterback in football and pitcher in baseball for the school’s first two years. He attended JMU on a baseball scholarship.

Booker coached at E.C. Glass before Heritage was created and became the Pioneers’ first baseball coach, leading them to numerous district championships.

Moseley has announced every season of Heritage varsity football at City Stadium, from the fall of 1976 to the present, with Mays serving as his sidekick and spotter.

Four Amherst football players sign

Four members of Amherst’s Group AA state runner-up football team signed letters of intent on Monday.

Linebacker Tyrease Brown and offensive lineman Cody Stinnett will play for Division II Glenville State College. The Pioneers finished 8-3 and ranked 25th in the final D-II poll.

Offensive lineman Sean Clark will play at Division III Hampden-Sydney College, which went 8-2 last year.

Linebacker A.J. Parrish, The News & Advance all-area defensive player of the year last fall, will suit up for Shepherd College. The Div. II Rams are coming off a 5-5 season.

Paige excels at Louisburg College

Amherst graduate Ashton Paige, the Seminole District Player of the Year last spring, batted .367 with 37 RBIs, five home runs and a team-leading 18 stolen bases as a freshman at Louisburg (N.C.) College.