Upon Further Review

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some sophomore from R.E. Lee took the top spot at the Southern Valley District boys cross country meet.

Blah, blah, blah, Dillon Sowers, blah, blah, blah, good on him.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So some Leemen senior comes in the chute right behind him in second.

Blah, blah, blah, Andrew Lightner, blah, blah, blah, and good on him, too.

Ask Dave Stewart about it and it’s almost like he blushes. He tilts his ahead away for a second and lets out a hearty laugh before throwing his head back up and patting you on the shoulder.

“Oh,“ he says with an embarrassed smile. “I don’t know . . .“

Then he trails off and quickly wants to talk about something else.

It’s true.

Sure, the season isn’t over yet And yes, the Waynesboro volleyball team hasn’t won a darn thing yet, other than the rest of the Southern Valley District’s respect. And, of course, the tournament still looms.

But, and let’s be honest here, what the Little Giants did Tuesday night at Fort Defiance was more than just coming back from an 0-2 hole and win the final three games to take the match. It was much more than taking a half-game lead over the Indians for second place in the district. It was much more than pushing it’s record to 6-2. Yep, it was so much more than even surprising the living get-out of second-year coach Lori Aleshire.

Getting ready to watch Wilson Memorial’s volleyball team play a Game 2 is kind of like flipping through the channels and finding a Flavor of Love marathon on VH1.

You knew it was coming, you’ve seen each episode 10 times already, you knew it was going to a train wreck yet, for some reason known only to the gods, you couldn’t help but watch it.

Derek McDaniel is a lot of things.

He’s a down-home, aw-shucks country guy that bleeds Wilson Memorial green and white. He’s a former athlete who was an injury away from getting a sniff of pro baseball. He’s the kind of guy you expected that, when his own dreams of pro ball went south, would return home to coach the team he once played his heart out for.

There’s one thing McDaniel is not, however. And that’s subtle.