Upon Further Review

Don’t know what happens when your time here on Earth is done. Don’t know what becomes of us when our bodies join the Earth. And, really, in no hurry to find out.

But what we do know is Augusta County soccer lost two coaches and great teachers of soccer this week in Glenn Anderson, JV girls soccer coach for Waynesboro, and Mike Dattilio, an assistant coach for the Riverheads girls.

What we also know is that without these two guys, girls soccer probably wouldn’t be where it is right now in Augusta County. The Gladiators have dedicated the rest of their season to Dattilio and have pushed back Thursday’s Shenandoah District championship match to 7 so the girls can attend his funeral.

It’s been a rough week for Augusta County soccer.

That is all.

And another thing: But you got to give it up for the Homes Tehrani-led Gladiator girls. Tehrani said his girls had a rough time practicing Monday after learning of the coach’s death. No surprise there.

Then all they did was go out and honor Dattilio’s life and teachings by shutting down Stonewall Jackson 6-0 in the semifinal match. “We came out and made a pact that a void has been created that we needed to fill with something positive and playing decent for Dattilio,“ Tehrani said.

Advancing to the championship match and playing so well Tuesday, no doubt, had the old coach smiling. Wherever he is.

All we can say is “Wow,“ when you talk about the other Shenandoah girls semifinal. Four extra time periods and two sets of penalty kicks were needed to decide a 2-1 Buffalo Gap win over Wilson Memorial. You remember Wilson Memorial, right? You know, the team Gap coach Al Zeller called the future of the Shenandoah District. His words, not mind. (So send him e-mails, OK.)

Then, how about the Wilson boys, a team that is watching its confidence level rocket its way to the moon after downing Buffalo Gap 9-2 in Fishersville in the boys semifinals. (And, yes, the score was 9-2. A late Wilson goal was waved off by an offside call, but still managed to stay on the scoreboard after the match ended.) Junior Josh Miller is confident the Hornets can hang with the big boys in Region B, even if those big boys go to schools like Clarke County, George Mason and Nelson County. Matthew Thomas is confident they can go foot-to-foot with the rest of the region and coach Kyle Congleton seems just as confident.

Scoring seven markers in the first half? “That’s just the tip of the iceberg,“ Thomas said.

Wow. That’s confidence you need heading into Region B. We like it.

Another thing that has to have Anderson and Dattilio smiling are the R.E. Lee girls. Remember the Lee Ladies, a team that most then-Valley District schools (Let it go, people. The Valley is gone, it’s not coming back. So enough already, deal?) used to wipe their feet on back in the day? Well, all they did was build off a barely .500 season last year and parlay that into a Southern Valley District championship and, more importantly a Region III berth.

“This is exciting,“ coach Andrew Green said. “I am happy for my seniors—both of them.“

Um, did you hear that folks? This team finished 13-3-1 and only has two seniors. So where’s this team going next year? Simple. Nowhere.

Yeah, good soccer here to stay.

Anderson and Dattilio