“I went out there and fell in love with it. It was Jack Farley (who talked me into it). He played football then. He was telling me that it’s fun … you get to hit people,” Mears said.

“Progress for us is getting 11 healthy guys on the field,” coach Pete Hauschner said. “They’ve got a little momentum now (with the wins). That’s good. They were hanging their heads there for a while.”

As I helped Segars unload his 16-foot down-river kayak, he asked me twice if I was in shape. I must have looked like I just rolled out of bed in my t-shirt and baggy sweatpants. As I cheerfully assured him I’d been training for half-marathon run I began to worry a bit.
Could this guy be more competitive than me, who can’t stand to lose even a game of Battleship?

“Despite the outcome of this game, they really are coming together,” Kerl said. “We’re getting better each week. Right now we’re just overmatched.”

“On the softball field it’s kind of like you’re the quarterback because you see everything, and let everybody else be aware of what’s going on,” Giles said.

“Probably my teammates, specifically Jack Farley and Koda Kerl. We have this tradition of getting in a little circle and doing a little pump-up tribal dance thing,” Longanecker said of what gets him ready for a game.

“This loss doesn’t go to the defense, and it doesn’t go to the pitching staff,” Gov coach Scott McGarry said. “We didn’t produce offensively.”

Head coach Toni Donigan: The group we have, they’re young and inexperienced, but they’re willing to learn. So what we’ve been doing is a lot of the basic things. Basic drills: how to field, how to catch, how to cover bags. They’re just young. They’ve never played at this level. I keep telling them, “We really have a JV team playing on a varsity level.”

Tennis coach Weston Mathews dishes on the team as the season begins.

As the outgoing coach, Lloyd Gray has some advice for the best replacement.
After 17 years of coaching within the Nelson County High School girls basketball program, Lloyd Gray resigned at the conclusion of the Gov varsity 2007-2008 season for personal and health reasons.
Gray was an assistant coach for nine years and head varsity coach for eight years. He leaves with a 90-70 overall record. He led the Govs to the regional tournament three times between 2001 and 2007.

RICHMOND — Nelson County’s boys basketball team ended the season the way it started it — on a 15-game winning streak.

“We’ve had the most wins in school history,” Nelson County senior point guard Thomas Brown said. “We were Dogwood District regular-season champions, tournament champs and Region B champs … so there’s only one championship left. 

Building a 28-1 record and heading to the state semifinal round is serious business for any basketball team. But don’t let the Govs fool you. If the game’s not on the line they are a comedy troupe, regularly terrorizing each other as only those so very close can.