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Click here for South County’s Homepage on DigitalSports
Click here for South County’s 2008 Football Schedule
Click here for the Northern Region (VA) Football Central
South County Secondary School Stallions — Northern Region, Division 6, Class AAA Patriot District
Head Coach: Pete Bendorf, fourth year.
Career Record: 77-70 2007 Record: 6-5 overall, 5-2 district (Northern Region Division 6 Quarterfinalist).
Returning Starters: 6 offense/8 defense.
Key Losses: TE/DE Richard During; QB Chris Mitchell; DB Tim Pennington, RB Titus Pennington; LB Christian Yow.
Top Returners: OL/DL Darius Colburn, Sr., 6-2, 210; RB/DB/KR Eric Dorsey, Sr., 5-9, 170; WR/DB Kyle Michaels, Sr., 5-10, 175; DB/KR Karlos Morgan, Sr., 5-6, 155; OL/DL Eric Tucker, Sr., 5-10, 230.
Fresh Faces: RB/LB J.B. Bullock, Sr., 5-11, 215; WR/FS Andre Simmons, Jr., 6-1, 180; WR/S Ronnie VanDyke, Soph., 6-3, 180.
Game to Watch: Week 7, Oct. 10 at West Springfield
In the first two meetings between the schools, the Spartans outscored the Stallions, 111-50. Last season, West Springfield took a 31-28 lead with two minutes remaining, only to have senior RB Titus Pennington take an inside hand off and go 80 yards for the game-winning touchdown. The Spartans were 10-1 against non-state champions in 2007. The lone loss came on Oct 12 at South County, 35-31.
Stadium: South County Stadium (Capacity 5,000).
Tough Starts Now
By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
Eighteenth in a series.
At the end of a two-a-day practice session late last week, the South County football team gathered together and raised a single fist in the air. After a few last words, the Stallions broke their huddle with a unison chant of “T-S-N.”
The abbreviation stands for “Tough Starts Now.” It has absolutely nothing to do with football, but everything to do with life.
The Stallions have dedicated their 2008 season to Parker Boyd, a 9-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a soft
tissue cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma Stage IV one month before his
eighth birthday and started an aggressive chemotherapy regimen in
August of 2006. Parker lost his battle with cancer on June 4.
His mom, Karin Boyd, is the testing coordinator at South County and his father, Mark Boyd, is the principal at nearby Leesylvania Elementary School.
“It’s just so unfortunate that somebody only nine years old, who enjoyed sports and enjoyed just living, won’t have that opportunity,” Stallions’ Coach Pete Bendorf said. “So we wanted to honor him and how hard he fought to beat cancer. He’s part of our family and of the South County community. And using his own slogan — Tough Starts Now — is a way to honor Parker and show our kids how important it is to stick together and appreciate what we have.”
The slogan is particularly meaningful to Bendorf, whose wife, Debbie Bendorf, was also diagnosed with bone cancer last August. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor and has recently completed 10 months of chemotherapy.
“She’s doing great right now,” Pete Bendorf said. “But cancer survivors, they are never in the clear. I don’t know that you ever fully beat it. So I want my kids to truly understand how blessed we are and how fortunate we are, and to be thankful for the opportunities they’ve got.
“The message for them is to enjoy what we’re doing, and honor the people who don’t have the opportunity to do what they love.”
Bendorf said plans are in the works to memorialize Parker at one of the Stallions’ home games this season, and though not finalized, school officials are considering planting something between the two large Stallion statues in his honor. The football players will also wear TSN emblems on their helmets this season.
Encore Presentation
Quarterback Aaron Andrews was given quite a rude welcome to varsity football in the Northern Region. Andrews, then a sophomore, started his first game for the Stallions in last year’s season-opener against eventual Virginia AAA Division 6 state champion Westfield.
His debut, though, was short-lived.
Bendorf turned to senior Chris Mitchell in the second half of that game, and went full-time to Mitchell the third week of the year. But now — with a year of experience on the junior varsity level under his belt — Bendorf believes Andrews is ready for the big stage.
“We started him at the beginning of last year when he was just a sophomore, but he wasn’t quite ready,” Bendorf said. “Physically he was probably ready, but mentally he wasn’t. And that’s tough when you’re 15 years old and your first game is against the state champions. He got beat up pretty good in the first half of that game and I pulled him out because I didn’t want to ruin his confidence. So we put him down on the JV-level to get his confidence up, and he did well.
“He’s matured a bit, and he really knows our offense. And he’s a kid who throws the ball fairly well and runs fairly well, so he gives us a little bit of both. But what we need is for him, initially, to handle the game and manage the offense. Then his abilities, once he gets his confidence, will kind of take over.”
Leaving His Mark
South County Director of Student Activities Bob McKeag walked up to the football practice fields on Friday, his last day on the job, and was promptly applauded by the Stallions’ football team.
McKeag, who will take over as DSA at T.C. Williams this week, was a stout supporter of the Stallions’ program and one who Bendorf said will be greatly missed.
“Bob has been such a big supporter of us,” Bendorf said. “He’s been so instrumental in all that we’ve done here. You look around at the facilities here … this is phenomenal. I remember I got hired when this was just a dirt pile. And now all of the facilities are unbelievable, and that’s all due to Bob.
“Every time I ever went to him and asked him for something, he got it done. We’re going to miss him.”
Quotable
“I think you saw the way we try to practice. I call if fast-and-furious. In other words, the game is kind of chaotic when you play it, and that 25 seconds goes by quickly. So we want to practice up-tempo and put the guys in pressure situations so that they can handle it. It certainly helps us defensively because that’s our M.O. — we’re going to move and chase and try to use our speed to our ability. We want to play fast, that’s what we want to do.”
— South County Coach Pete Bendorf
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Note: The first 20 Northern Region teams to be previewed were selected
at random. Only the Top 10 teams have been ranked and will be unveiled
in order in the coming days.
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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