Championship-winning high school golf teams have depth. They have six players who can shoot scores good enough to count among the four that comprise a team’s total. Depth is why Deep Run’s golf team rules the Central Region again. The Wildcats successfully defended the title they won a year ago because each player’s score counted at least once during the past two days at Jefferson-Lakeside Country Club and Stonehenge Country Club.

Deep Run 153, Douglas Freeman 172
(9 holes, Dominion Club, par 36)

DR: Cantor 35, Schumacher 37, Smith 40, Dennis 41
DF: Harmon 38, Hill 43, Carl 45, Dwight 46

Westfield posted a 6-over-par total of 294 to take the first-round lead in the third VSGA Foundation High School Invitational golf tournament yesterday at Independence Golf Club. The Northern Virginia school has a four-stroke lead over reigning Central Region champion Deep Run. Mills Godwin, Monacan and Loudoun Valley are tied for third at 302.

Reigning Central Region champion Deep Run opened the new high school golf season with a victory in its first tournament. Jason Schumacher, a junior, fired a 1-over-par 73 Tuesday at The Gauntlet Golf Club in Fredericksburg to win the medal and pace the Wildcats to a second consecutive Stafford Invitational title. Deep Run’s total of 313 was 13 strokes better than runner-up Mountain View.

The state champion Mills Godwin girls tennis team decided to wait for the boys team before taking its traditional victory plunge in the nearby James River. To earn their river dip yesterday, the Eagles boys had to beat Colonial District and Central Region rival Deep Run in the final of the Virginia High School League Group AAA team tournament at Huntington Park. The Eagles’ previous three state titles (2002, 2003 and 2005) had come against district and region rival Douglas Freeman.

As far as seniors Laine Denton and Austin Erb and their Hanover High teammates are concerned, no more backseat to the team they have heard about constantly the past four years. The 2005 Hanover team claimed the school’s first Central Region baseball championship. “The coaches have always talked about the 2005 team has done this and done that,“ Denton said. “It was kind of getting on our nerves a little bit.“

One more night. One more game to play. One more day to spend together. That was the motivation that carried the Hanover Hawks to a 51-41 victory over Deep Run last night in the opening round of the Central Region basketball tournament. “I love these girls to death, and I don’t want this season to end,“ said point guard Tiquana Hill, a 5-4 senior who played a key role in the relentless defensive effort that harried the Wildcats into 13 turnovers and 16-for-50 shooting.

Sisters Erica and Courtney Dobbs are like a twin-engine jet. Yesterday they helped lift Deep Run High to a second straight Central Region Indoor track and field championship. “That’s an important family,“ said coach Drew Stockdreher after his Wildcats outraced runner-up Lee-Davis 95-80. “The sisters are different in some ways, but what they share is an incredible level of competitiveness; they’re intense racers who bring a lot of energy to our team.“

Slamfest VIII turned into a coming out party for John Marshall guard Tahir Little. Little, a sophomore, became eligible with the start of the second semester, and he made his first appearance last night at Benedictine, where the Justices fell to national power DeMatha High of Hyattsville, Md., 69-65. The Justices, ranked No.4 in The Times-Dispatch Top 10, ventured out of the Colonial District title race for Slamfest’s marquee game.

Slamfest VIII turned into a coming out party for John Marshall guard Tahir Little. Little, a sophomore, became eligible with the start of the second semester, and he made his first appearance last night at Benedictine, where the Justices fell to national power DeMatha High of Hyattsville, Md., 69-65. The Justices, ranked No.4 in The Times-Dispatch Top 10, ventured out of the Colonial District title race for Slamfest’s marquee game.

Ruthanne Doherty scored 10 second-quarter points and helped key a dominant defensive effort that gave third-ranked L.C. Bird a 43-33 win over sixth-ranked Meadowbrook in last night’s first round of the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament.

There was this moment late in the Douglas Freeman-Deep Run basketball game last night when the Rebels’ Billy Giles penetrated the Wildcats’ scrambling defense from the left side on a fast break and spotted Josh Brinkley moving toward the hoop along the right baseline. As they made eye contact, Brinkley pointed his right forefinger upward, and Giles adroitly lofted a pass in the direction of the goal.

Deep Run senior forward Tommy Folliard comes by basketball naturally. His parents played in college. If playpens were designed with a hoop at each end and a mobile as an overhead scoreboard, Tommy Folliard III might have been first to crawl in one. Air booties by Jordan? Baggy shorts instead of diapers? OK, that’s a stretch, but if ever a boy was born to ball, it’s Folliard, now a 6-6 senior forward for Deep Run High School.

DEEP RUN 75, PATRICK HENRY 53
DEEP RUN (2-0) Simmons 6, Jackson 2, Chambon 2, Pericle 0, Dosh 12, Wood 0, Johnson 9, Clarke 14, Sudol 0, Peaden 6, Folliard 18, Valentine 0, Exum 6, Molnar 0. Totals 27 16-21.
PATRICK HENRY (0-2) Morris 10, V. Derricott 2, Hooker 16, M. Derricott 2, D. Derricott 21, Overstreet , Harmon 0, Morris 10, Schools 2. Totals 18 12-14.
Deep Run————————————- 19 14 19 23—75
Patrick Henry————————————- 10 10 17 16—53