By Marty Gordon
Christiansburg High School won 10 games this past fall on the football field, and Auburn High School claimed another state volleyball championship enroute to 70-plus straight wins.
COVID continued to take its toll on local sports including several recreation seasons, and Blacksburg is looking for another football coach after the school’s second straight winless season.
Virginia Tech gave up on the Justin Fuente era and fired its head football coach. These were just a few of the headlines in local sports this past year.
The Virginia Tech move was expected, and Athletics Director Whit Babcock moved quickly to hire a defensive assistant from Penn State, defensive coordinator Brent Pry, who is no stranger to Blacksburg after serving as a graduate assistant under former-Coach Frank Beamer from 1995-97.
Pry, who is only 51 years old, is a 30-year coaching veteran. He has played an instrumental role in coaching top-10 defenses at Penn State, Vanderbilt, Georgia Southern, and Western Carolina. Since his promotion to defensive coordinator in 2016, the Nittany Lions have posted three seasons with 11 wins and four seasons with nine or more victories. He helped the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten Championship after defeating No.-6 Wisconsin in that conference’s championship game.
Pry was a 2021 Broyles Award nominee for the top assistant coach in the country as the Nittany Lions ranked fourth nationally in Red Zone defense (66.7%), seventh in scoring defense (16.8 ppg), eighth in defensive pass efficiency (111.98), and held their opponents to 4.7 yards per play. Under Pry’s direction in 2020, Penn State ranked third in the Big Ten in total defense (328.8 ypg), good for 17th nationally, second in pass defense (198.6 ypg), second in tackles for loss (6.7 per game) and fourth in rush defense (130.2 ypg).
His defense has the unwritten belief instilled in him during those early years in Blacksburg with their own “lunchbox” mentality.
Auburn High School has showed that volleyball greatness runs through Riner. For its continued winning streak of state championships, Auburn has been named a News Messenger/News Journal Team of the Decade. The school joins the Radford High School boys’ basketball team with such an honor.
Auburn claimed its third straight state title at the Salem Civic Center by taking down Riverheads in three sets 25-8, 25-10 25-9 and stretching their state record unbeaten streak to 74 matches.
The individual statistics were also pretty impressive. Auburn’s Allyson Martin had 20 kills, 12 digs, three assists, and two aces; Anna McGuire add 34 assists, four digs, and two aces; Avery Zuckerwar finished with 10 kills and eight digs; Madeline Lavergne had 11 kills, 12 digs, and four aces while Stacy Lewis added 11 digs. Madison Ketterer collected 10 digs, and Emma Vance had two kills, two digs, and a block.
The hardware was never in doubt as Riverheads never got closer to Riner than 15 points in the second set.
For Coach Sherry Millirons, winning has come in bunches. The three-peat matches her first run at Auburn when the Eagles won the 2012, 2013, and 2014 state titles. Now, the new stretch includes 2019, 2020, and 2021. The 2020 championship was played this past spring because of COVID.
Thus, Auburn’s players have been going since February.
“The Streak – we discussed the record in September when we broke the record then we didn’t talk about it,” Millirons said. “We prepare for our next match every day in practice. I never used a winning streak to motivate the team.”
The longtime coach said she was thrilled for the girls’ winning this year’s state title. “They have worked hard. In the off-season, they play, travel, and attend camps. During the season, we go hard every day. We practice two hours a day and lift/condition for 45ish after practice. So, it is great when hard work pays off,” the head coach said.
Millirons became a rookie coach in word only in 2019 when she returned to the bench. The “second” first team had six seniors, and when they were allowed back in the gym in July 2020, there were plenty of new faces.
“Our Spring of 2021 season was unlike anything we have ever experienced,” Millirons said. “We did our best to do the right thing and keep each other safe,while having COVID out there that could end our season at any time. This season felt normal. The girls went to school every day, they went to Homecoming, and we had fans at our matches. I am so happy the team got a season that felt normal.”
The idea that the volleyball state title runs through Auburn is definitely something other coaches are paying attention to. The title of Class 1 state champions lives in Montgomery County and might stay here for a long time.
Millirons has now become the winningest coach in western Virginia and possibly the state.
In Christiansburg, Coach Alex Wilkens has his eye set on the high mark ever since he took over the football program five years ago. This season, the Blue Demons rolled to 10 wins and a state playoff appearance before losing to Lord Botetourt.
