Thursday, August 31, 2017

Seven set to enter Hall of Fame on Friday


BERRYVILLE, Va. — Four athletes who competed on state championship teams and graduated in 2007, a championship coach and two long-time contributors will be inducted into the Clarke County Athletic Hall of Fame at the induction ceremony Friday during the Eagles’ football game against Manassas Park at Wilbur M. Feltner Stadium.

The Hall, started in 1990, has 163 members. A pre-game reception, sponsored by the Bank of Clarke County, will be held before the game and the inductees will be recognized at halftime.

Simon Biddle-Snead      Photo Moe Murphy/CCS
Simon Biddle-Snead
No track and cross country athlete at Clarke County can equal Biddle-Snead’s career as he captured six individual golds and three silvers in helping the Eagles win five team titles.
In cross country, he won a pair of state titles and was runner-up once.
As a sophomore, he was undefeated in district, regional and state competition as he led the Eagles to the state team title. He followed that up with another stellar year as a junior, again claiming district, regional and state titles as Clarke defended its team title. In his senior year, Biddle-Snead was injured and could not compete at districts, but won regionals and placed second at states. He helped the Eagles win their third straight team crown.
He was The Winchester Star’s Cross County Runner of the Year in his final three seasons.
Biddle-Snead was also a standout during the track season.
As a freshman, he won both the 1,600 and 3,200 at districts. He won the 3,200 at states and was fourth in the 1,600.
As a sophomore he was again Bull Run district champion in both the 1,600 and 3,200 as the Eagles won the district title. He defended his title in the 3,200 and placed second in the state meet as the Eagles placed second.
He led the Eagles to their first state track & field title as a junior, winning the 3,200 for the third straight time and placing second in the 1,600. He won both of those events at the district meet.
He captured his fourth consecutive 3,200 gold and took bronze in the 1,600 as the Eagles defended their state title in 2007. He won both events at districts.
He attended the University of Virginia and competed on its track and cross country teams his freshman and sophomore years.

Leslie Hardesty-Kerr        Photo by Moe Murphy / CCS
Leslie Hardesty Kerr
Leslie Hardesty Kerr was a four-sport athlete, participating in volleyball, basketball, track, and soccer.
She was a four-year varsity starter and two-time team captain in basketball, a four-time all-state pick in soccer, a two-year letterman in volleyball and lettered her only season as a freshman in track.
In basketball, she helped lead the Eagles to a state runner-up finish in 2006. Despite missing part of her senior season after a soccer injury the previous spring, Hardesty Kerr helped the Eagles capture their first state basketball crown in 2007.
In soccer, Hardesty Kerr was part of two state champion teams as a sophomore and junior and part of a runner-up team as a senior. She was Bull Run Player of the Year and State Player of the Year and Winchester Star Player of the Year as a junior. She was selected for the VHSL All-Star game and was the Virginia Wendy’s High School Heisman winner.






Taylor Warner-Whitworth  Photo by Moe Murphy/CCS
Taylor Warner Whitworth
Warner Whitworth lettered in volleyball, basketball, track and field and soccer. In her four years, she competed in seven state championships and her teams won four state titles.
She lettered three years in basketball. As a junior, she was Bull Run District MVP and first team All-State as she helped the Eagles to a state runner-up finish.
As a senior, she repeated as Bull Run District MVP, was VHSCA Co-Player of the Year for Group A and The Winchester Star’s Player of the Year as the she led the Eagles to the state title. She was the area leader in steals and was selected to the VHSCA All-Star game.
She was a varsity starter in soccer all four seasons as Clarke won four straight district titles. She helped the Eagles win a pair of state titles (2005, 2006) and place second (2007).
She competed in track in her sophomore and senior seasons. As a sophomore she set a school record in the triple jump. As a senior, she won district titles in the high jump and triple jump and was part of the winning 4x400 relay team. Individually, she placed sixth in the high jump (tying a school mark) and eighth in the triple jump at states. The 4x400 team won the state title, breaking a school mark.
In volleyball, she was a three-year varsity starter.
She went on to play basketball for one year at University of Mary Washington.


Christian Waters    Photo by Moe Murphy
Christian Waters
Waters participated in both track and basketball, helping the Eagles net a pair of state titles.
In basketball, he lettered his junior and senior years for the Class A champs. His steal with 20 seconds left led to the Chandler Rhoads’s game-winning basket with 12.6 seconds left in the 2006 title game.
As a senior, Waters was Bull Run District Player of the Year and first team All-State. He led the area in assists, blocks, and shooting percentage. He set a state tournament record with 24 blocks over the three-game tourney and set a school mark with 294 blocks in just two seasons.
He competed in the shot put in track as a senior.
He went on to play basketball at Ferrum College.












Tim Lawrence      Photo Moe Murphy/CCS
Tim Lawrence
Lawrence coached three sports at Clarke, but was outstanding as girls’ basketball coach from 2004 to 2013, leading the program to three Finals Fours, one runner-up finish and a state title in 2007.
His second season he led the team to a school record for victories and a state runner-up finish with a 29-1 record. He was honored as Bull Run District and Winchester Star Coach of the Year. The following year, he led the team to the district, regional and state titles. He received district, regional, state and Winchester Star Coach of the Year honors.
In 2012-13, the team advanced to the Final Four and he was again The Winchester Star Girls’ Basketball Coach of the Year. In nine seasons, he had a 159-74 record. Seven of his players went on to play at the college level.
He also coached boys’ tennis for three seasons and boys’ JV basketball from 1997 to 2004.





Moe Murphy     Photo by Doug Aylestock
Michael “Moe” Murphy
Murphy founded Clarke County Sports in 2003 and the website has run continuously since 2003. It has covered virtually every sport at one time with continuous coverage of the football program since 2003. Murphy also covered the high school for several years as a reporter/photographer for the Northern Virginia Daily and as a reporter, photographer, and eventual sports editor of the Clarke Courier. The school created the Moe Murphy Journalism Scholarship in 2007 in his honor, annually awarding a deserving Clarke County journalism student with a scholarship.










Barry Deuel            Photo via Twitter
Barry Deuel
Originally serving on football sidelines beginning in 1983 while regularly treating injured athletes at his Winchester Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine facility, Deuel has delivered hands-on treatment of Clarke County and local team athletes. Besides his support and assistance at Clarke County sporting events, his membership, training, and participation literally all over the world has made Deuel invaluable with his knowledge and management of sports injuries.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

The Clarke County Sports Locker Room Show


LANDOVER, Md.-  The Washington Redskins defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-17 at FedEx Field in Landover. Redskin players Kendall Fuller, Chris Thompson, and Junior Galette speak to the media after the game. Hosted by Moe Murphy.


Monday, August 28, 2017

Eagles stun Titans in season opener

As the clock runs down the Clarke County Eagles celebrate         Photo by Doug Aylestock / Photography Concepts
BERRYVILLE, Va.- Clarke County Eagles head coach Chris Parker knew he had some big shoes to fill this season with the departure Hunter Rogers, Chris Davis, Brett McDonald, Mackie Martin and Josh Wallace to name just a few of the Eagles lost to graduation.

"I'm thrilled, and I'm proud of our guys, they've got guts," Eagles coach Chris Parker said. "For our first game against a team the caliber that Dominion is that was a huge game, and huge win."

The replacements proved to be up to the task as they made a valiant second half comeback and defeated the favored Dominion Titans out of Loudoun County's Dulles District 39-24. Sophmoreo running back Peyton Rutherford led the way rushing for 217 yards on 33 carries and scored 3 touchdowns and a two point conversion.

"It was great," Rutherford said. "We prepared and came out and did our job. The line did great, they came out and blocked and blocked, and they never stopped. It's amazing, I can't believe this is happening now."

Peyton Rutherford follows Colby Childs.           Photo by Doug Aylestock / Photography Concepts
The Eagles took the opening drive and moved the ball deep into Titan territory before the drive stalled at the Dominion 10 yard line. Nick Bahamonde hit on a 27 yard field goal to give the Eagles the early 3-0 lead. The lead only held for one play as the Titan's Alex Wertz raced 98 yards untouched on the kickoff.

Sophomore quarterback Colby Childs capped another successful drive with a 2 yard touchdown run to give the Eagles another chance to get back in the game.

Dominion scored twice on touchdown passes in the first half and a Bahamonde field goal attempt hit the crossbar with time expiring in the fist half to give the Titans a 21-10 and the momentum going into the locker room.

"The coaches motivated us to keep our heads up," Childs said. "In the first half we made a lot of mistakes and our heads were down. We came out and put our heads up and won.

The motivation worked as Clarke outscored Dominion 29-3 in the second half and the Eagles defense shut down the high powered Titan offense that was led by the rushing of Wertz and the passing of Thomas Jarman.

All state senior Bryan Wallace and senior Lucas Rogers led the charge for the Eagles defense sacking  Jarman several times and thwarting any chance of a comeback.

"My teammates worked their butt off, in the weight room all summer," Rogers said. "We knew we were going to play a very good team. We were in great shape and we executed.

Byran Wallace (60) and Lucas Rogers (44) take down Thomas Jarman     Doug Aylestock / Photography Concepts
The Eagles will host the Manassas Park Cougars this Friday at 7:30PM at Wilbur M. Feltner Stadium in Berryville. This will be the Annual Clarke County High School Hall of Fame Game. 4 Athletes, 1 Coach and 2 Contributors will be inducted at half time.

Post game interviews are posted at the bottom of this page. Game highlights will be available later in the week on The Clarke County Sports Game of the Week.

More of Doug Aylestock's Game Photography can  be seen at his Photography Concepts facebook page:

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Redskins fall to Pack at home preseason opener


Kirk Cousins led the Redskins to their first TD of the season     Moe Murphy/CCS
LANDOVER, Md.-  The Washington Redskins opened their home 2017 preseason against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday Aug. 19. Although Washington played their first string the entire first half, the team fell to the Pack 21-17.

“Yeah, I want to play them," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. "We played them just two drives against Baltimore, just wanted to get their feet wet so to speak. And then today, being a home game and a couple of new receivers that we have, I just wanted to make sure we got some reps.”   

Kirk Cousins hit Jameson Crowder on a 4 yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left in the half to get Washington's first touchdown in six quarters of preseason play.

“We felt good about the fact that we scored at the end of the half, made some good plays," Cousins said, "We didn’t run the ball probably as well as we would have liked, at times didn’t throw the ball as well as we would have liked. But it was a good step in the process to build towards Week 1, and I think we all believe we still got a lot of work to do.”   

Cousins finished the night completing 14 of 23 passes for 144 yards. 1 TD and a QB rating of 93.4.


Aaron Rodgers looked sharp     Moe Murphy/CCS
Cousins counterpart, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a score on their first drive and did not return to the game. Rodgers finished 6 of 8 for 37 yards with 1 TD and a QB Rating of 123.4.

“Yeah, it’s good for us. Good drive. You know, we caught them there on the first third down," Rodgers said. "We have to run the ball a little bit better next week,  did some good things. Jordy [Nelson] had some nice catches. Tey [Davante Adams] obviously had a nice conversion. Marty [Martellus Bennett] obviously had a touchdown. So, we hit the marks we wanted to hit.” 

Redskins rookie running back Samaje Perine had a solid night running for 45 yards on 8 carries for a 5.6 yard average.

13 Redskins managed at least one reception, with Chris Thompson leading the Redskins with 5 receptions for 52 yards.

Along with Crowder, Niles Paul caught a touchdown pass from Colt McCoy for 16 yards.

McCoy completed 7 of 11 for 70 yards and 1 TD, with a QB Rating of 111.9.

The Redskins will host the Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30PM on Sunday, August 27. The game will be televised nationally on FOX.



For More photography from the game go to Clarke County Sports on Facebook.

Green Bay at Washington Photo Gallery


Tuesday, August 22, 2017

The Clarke County Sports Locker Room Show 8 19 17


LANDOVER, Md.- The Washington Redskins opened their 2017 home preseason schedule on Saturday night against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The Pack pulled out a 21-17 victory. Redskin players Niles Paul, D.J. Swearinger, Robert Kelley, and Trent Williams speak to the media in the locker room after the game.

Check back for more game coverage to include photography on Clarke County Sports.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Parker optimistic about Eagles upcoming season

Parker optimistic about 2017   Moe Murphy/CCS
BERRYVILLE, Va.- As the Clarke County Eagles prepare to start another football season head coach Chris Parker feels good about his team, even though several key players were lost to graduation.

"It's looking pretty good. Our guys had a great season and worked hard in the weight room," Parker said. "I was really happy they came in, in good shape. We had some pretty good players that graduated but that's the way it is. Some graduate and you have to reload, and I think we are able to do that."

The Eagles will have to overhaul a good part of their 2016 offense. Clarke all time leading rusher Hunter Rogers has moved on to play for Christopher Newport.

Quarterback Chris Davis and all purpose back Daniel Braithwaite along with recievers Brett McDonald and Mackie Martin have all moved on.

The Eagles move up Colby Childs from the freshman team along with Peyton Rutherford to help fill the void. Childs will run the Eagles wing offense and Rutherford will handle a bulk of the running duties.

Colby Childs will run offense             Moe Murphy/CCS


 The Eagles return Kyle Baylor and Cole Lawson who both saw plenty of action last year in the backfield, along with Baylor handling the return duties.

Lucas Rogers and Ed Buzalsky appear to be a leading candidates for the receiver position and the interior line will return the most starters from last year with all state lineman Bryan Wallace shoring up a line that also includes Jacob Peace, Pete McClean and Kyle Anderson.

Wallace, who has verbally committed to D1 UNC Charlotte will head up an Eagle defense that returns Rico Nappi, Rogers, Lawson, Baylor to name a few.

Nick "Baja" Bahamonde returns to handle the kicking and punting duties. Bahamonde has been one of the most productive kickers in recent years, was named the Unsung Hero on last years team.

The Eagles traveled to Shenandoah Junction last Saturday to scrimmage AAA Jefferson, and Parker was happy with his teams performance.

"I thought our guys played very well on both sides of the ball," Parker said. "For us we tell them, look it's a scrimmage, it's practice, but it's a practice you try to win. I was pretty happy we had some seasoned players but I thought our young guys played well."
Senior Bryan Wallace (60) leads the way on both sides of the ball                    Doug Aylestock  /  Photography Concepts

The team looks to make their 11th consecutive VHSL playoff appearance after falling to Gretna last year in the 2A East Regional playoffs and finishing the year with a 10-3 record.

Peyton Rutherford looks to help fill the void left by last years graduates          Doug Aylestock  /   Photography Concepts

The Eagles freshman team last year finished undefeated in the Bull Run District and posted a 7-2 record, falling to AAA Musselman (WV) and AAA Riverside (Loudoun Co).

The Eagles start the 2017 season August 25, at "the Felt" against the Dominion Titans from the Dulles District in Loudoun County. The Titans went deep into the VHSL 4A Playoffs last season.

"They [Dominion] are gonna be tough," Parker said. "I've heard a lot about them, but I haven't seen them on film yet, but I know they have a couple D1 players. Any team that makes the playoffs and has the caliber of players like that is going to be tough."

Coach Chris Parker talks to the Eagles during a summer practice   Doug Aylestock  /  Photography Concepts

*Editor's Note : Additional action photo's can be seen at Doug Aylestock's Photography Concepts Page: