Ex-Western Branch star wins Executive of the Year award among FCS schools
COLLEGES
Ex-Western Branch star named Executive of Year
Florida A&M vice president and director of athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes was named Women Leaders in Sports Nike Division I FCS Executive of the Year for 2023-24.
Sykes, a former Western Branch High star athlete, helped lead the Rattlers to history on and off the field.
The Rattlers won two national championships for the first time in the same season, as football won the Celebration Bowl and men’s golf won the PGA Works Collegiate Championship.
Women’s cross country, football and indoor track and field won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship for the first time in program history. The Rattlers’ softball and baseball teams won the SWAC East Division regular-season championship for the first time. The Rattlers also had five teams that finished second in the SWAC.
Off the field, FAMU’s athletic department saw six teams achieve six perfect 1,000 scores in the 2022-23 Academic Progress Rate (APR) report, the most in department history.
GOLF
State Open starts Friday in Midlothian
Held at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, the 54-hole State Open of Virginia will start Friday, with 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. waves going off holes No. 1 and 10. The top 60 and ties among 144 players will advance to Sunday’s final round.
Numerous players from Hampton Roads are in the field.
BASEBALL
Pilots split road doubleheader vs. Chili Peppers
The Peninsula Pilots won Game 2 7-1 to split a doubleheader with the Tri-City Chili Peppers, who prevailed 8-7 in Game 1 at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights.
The Pilots (29-11, 13-3 in the season’s second half) have won 14 of their last 17 games and are slightly more than a week away from competing in the Coastal Plain League playoffs.
In the opener, Tri-City (16-23, 6-9) gave most of the 1,195 fans a thrill with a walk-off victory. Reliever Cole Koonce walked Tanner Thomas to start the bottom of the seventh inning, and the next batter, Eli Weisner, slugged a home run.
Corbin Shaw and Aaron Manias each homered and drove in two runs for the Pilots, who led 5-0 after 1 1/2 innings. Manias scored twice, and Henry Garcia had two hits and an RBI.
In Game 2, winner Caden Plummer gave the Pilots a rare complete game, striking out six in seven innings while giving up six hits and four walks over 99 pitches. He forced the Chili Peppers, whose only run was in the second inning, to strand eight runners and induced two double plays.
In the third, Trey Morgan walked before Ryan Dooley gave the Pilots a 2-1 edge with a home run.
Peninsula all but put the game away with a five-run fifth. RBI triples by Dooley and Carlos Pena sandwiched Grayson Fitzwater’s RBI single, and Manias ended the uprising with a two-run homer.
The Pilots are scheduled to visit the Martinsville Mustangs at 7 p.m. Friday..
Braves sign ex-ODU lefty
The Atlanta Braves signed former Old Dominion left-handed pitcher Jacob Gomez as an undrafted free agent. He was third in the Sun Belt with seven saves this season, posting a 2-2 record, 2.88 ERA and team-high 64 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings.
COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL
Hokies, Cavaliers reveal non-league schedules
Virginia Tech announced its 11-game men’s basketball non-conference schedule, starting with a Nov. 4 home game against Delaware State. It is one of seven non-ACC contests at Cassell Coliseum for coach Mike Young’s Hokies.
Virginia Tech will play Penn State in Baltimore on Nov. 15 and Michigan in Fort Myers, Florida, on Nov. 25. The Hokies will host former James Madison coach Mark Byington’s Vanderbilt team in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Dec. 4 and will meet Saint Joseph’s on Dec. 21 in the Palestra in Philadelphia.
Likewise, Virginia will have 11 non-conference contests, including seven home games at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers’ schedule is highlighted by neutral-site contests against Villanova (Nov. 15) in Baltimore and St. John’s, Baylor or Tennessee (Nov. 21-22) in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship. UVA will travel to Florida (Dec. 4) for an SEC/ACC Challenge game and host Memphis (Dec. 18) in Charlottesville.
UVA also hosts Campbell (Nov. 6), Coppin State (Nov. 11), Manhattan (Nov. 26), Holy Cross (Nov. 29), Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 12) and American (Dec. 22) at John Paul Jones Arena.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
UVA signs guard from near Blacksburg
Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton announced the signing of Payton Dunbar, who will join the Cavaliers for the 2024-25 season. Dunbar is from Narrows, near Blacksburg, and is graduating early from homeschooled high school with a 4.0 grade-point average.
The 5-foot-11 guard competed for Jefferson Christian Academy in Giles County, where she averaged 27 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block per game.
LOCAL BASKETBALL
Keyontae Johnson to hold camp
Oklahoma City forward Keyontae Johnson will hold a two-day basketball camp at Norview High from July 24-25.
Johnson, who began his high school career with the Pilots, will return to Norfolk for the camp, which will focus on individual skill development.
The camp, which costs $100, is part of Johnson’s Key To My Heart Foundation. To register, go to https://thekeytomyheart.org/
Johnson was the 50th overall selection by Oklahoma City in the 2023 NBA draft. He played nine games with the Thunder last season.
FOOTBALL
Tribe to host women’s football clinic
William & Mary coach Mike London will host a women’s football clinic at the Jimmye Laycock Football Center and Zable Stadium from noon to 4 p.m. July 21. The cost is $20 per person.
The annual clinic, hosted by London and his daughter Kristen, will educate and promote the influence women have had on football as a sport and as a career field. The event will highlight topics including women in leadership roles, career fields and playing opportunities in women’s tackle and flag football.
Participants will learn about schemes, techniques, drills at competitive levels and officiating, which will include on-field instruction and practices of position skills. Additionally, campers will try on football gear and equipment and run out of the locker room through a smoke tunnel for a player-like game experience.
Sports medicine, sport nutrition and other topics will also be discussed.
Campers will participate in 7-on-7 and 1-on-1 for the opportunity to win camp awards and prizes.
For more information, please contact Peggy Lukas at 757-221-3449.
In other W&M news, 54 Tribe football players were recognized on the CAA Football Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll for the spring semester, meaning they were full-time students with at least a 3.0 grade-point average.
Nansemond River grad among UFL draftees
Virginia Tech defensive end Pheldarius Payne, a Nansemond River High graduate, was chosen by the St. Louis Battlehawks in the United Football League draft. Payne is trying to make the NFL’s Houston Texans, but if he ends up in the UFL, St. Louis will have his rights.
Also chosen were former Memphis Tigers and Old Dominion running back Blake Watson, by the Memphis Showboats, and James Madison defensive lineman Jamree Kromah, who went to the San Antonio Brahmas.
SOCCER
Va. Beach United, Lionsbridge in playoffs Friday in Newport News
Some of the nation’s top USL League Two teams, including two from Hampton Roads, gather today at Christopher Newport’s TowneBank Stadium for the playoffs’ round of 32.
At 4:30 p.m., Virginia Beach United, 11th in the league power rankings entering the 35-team postseason, faces Salem City FC of Greensboro, North Carolina.
Virginia Beach United’s Ethan Taylor, Alexander Moody and Peekay Stoffle had four goals apiece in division competition, and Taylor assisted both of VBU’s goals in its 2-1 playoff debut victory Tuesday against the South Carolina United Bantams. Lucas De Oliveira Mauro leads Salem City with eight goals.
At 7:30, No. 10 Lionsbridge, the pod’s host team and last year’s national runner-up, faces the No. 3 Western Mass Pioneers of Ludlow, Massachusetts.
Lionsbridge’s Sam Hall has five goals in division play, while Adam Kirkwood and Matthew Kirk have three apiece. The Pioneers’ Alec Hughes has 17 goals in 14 games, while Scott Testori has 11 goals.
Friday’s winners will square off at TowneBank Stadium at 7 p.m. Sunday in the round of 16.
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