Last winter, Rapids stars Daniel Marrs and Austin Stadler met the new crop of James River players. The two pitchers were among a handful of varsity players left from last year's state championship team, and they weren't crazy about what they saw.
Given the choice between a bunch of characters and a bunch with character, Deep Run boys soccer coach Steven Chapman will take the latter every time. That is why the Wildcats are savoring the first state Group AAA championship in the program's six-year history.
James River's semifinal victory produced plenty of highlights -- just not any that were easy to see. Daniel Marrs fired untrackable fastballs in the upper 90s, and Austin Stadler sent a walk-off home run high into the midday sun that gave the Rapids a 2-1 extra-inning victory against Bethel.
Deep Run boys soccer coach Steven Chapman describes his group as "an intelligent, mature team." The Wildcats might be more intelligent and mature than Chapman realizes. Deep Run may have done itself a significant favor by pounding Kecoughtan 6-0. So dominant were the Wildcats that Chapman was able to rest his starters for much of the second half.
Nothing seems to get the competitive juices percolating better than a battle of the genders. Decades later, people still chat about the Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King tennis match. Michelle Wie seized the national spotlight for taking on the PGA, as did Annika Sorenstam. Who doesn't have a strong opinion on Danica at Indy?
Battlefield's leading scorer Sahar Aflaki was just doing her job when she turned the tide in the Bobcats' state Group AAA girls soccer tournament semifinal at Mills Godwin. Striker is the appropriate terminology for Aflaki, a senior, who came into the game with 31 goals.
When it was over and Deep Run was celebrating its 5-0 win over Midlothian for the Central Region championship, the first run across the plate seemed a distant memory. After the four-run seventh inning that sealed the win in stone, Erin Anderson's first at-bat was all but forgotten.
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Friday Night Features
FACES OF FRIDAY NIGHT Football brings us together Behind the fanfare and fun are the people who make friday nights what they are. They are families and neighbors who love the kids and the community-bonding event.
2006 PREPS PHOTO GALLERIES Photos by the Times-Dispatch photography staff. Some photos may not have run in the newspaper.
Football brings us together
Photos by the Times-Dispatch photography staff. Some photos may not have run in the newspaper. 
