CHRIS JOHNS (left) & ADAM WARE (right) EARNED ALL-STATE GOLF HONORS.

First in the state in GOLF…First in the state in BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY…Second in the state in GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY…Final-Four in GIRLS’ SOCCER…Great-Eight in BOYS’ SOCCER…Wow!...What a successful fall the Grafton High School athletes just enjoyed in the so-called ‘non-revenue sports!’

In reverse order, we will start this wrap-up by taking a glance at the regional runner-up Soccer Bearcats. They finished with a 7-13-3 record this fall, including a 7-6-1 record if you don’t count the losses to Class AAA teams on their schedule. Those seven wins now stand as the high-water mark for measuring the success of this program.

The Bearcats won zero games, one game, two games, five games and now seven games during the first five seasons for this program.

They posted the first shutout in the history of this program against Notre Dame on October 15 in Clarksburg. They captured their first sectional championship this fall, and eventually lost in the regional final to Berkeley Springs, leaving them as one of the eight-best teams in the state.

The goal-keeping efforts of senior Drew Rowand, the defensive play of senior John McDonald, the utility play of senior Seth Elsey, the midfield play of junior Jared “Mississippi” Barr and the scoring of Tristan Reneau led the efforts for Coach Tom Copeland’s squad, which also included three more seniors, including Devin Stevens, William Horacek and Stephen Horacek.

The Big Ten Conference Coaches bestowed first-team, all-conference honors on Reneau, and presented second-team honors to McDonald, Elsey and Barr, before Reneau, Elsey and Rowand received honorable mention all-state laurels from the West Virginia High School Soccer Coaches Association.

Rowand recorded a grand-total of 1,379 goals as a four-year starter in the net, while Reneau scored a team-high total of 14 goals this year, matching last year’s school-record total of 14 goals during a season. Plus, Reneau will graduate as the Grafton High School Career-Scoring Leader with a total of 43 goals.

The girls’ soccer team began the season by setting just one goal, according to Coach Lorraine Isner, “They wanted to take the next step, after losing the regional final during a penalty-kick shootout to Frankfort a year ago.”

Well, they accomplished that feat, beating the Frankfort Lady Falcons, 2-0, in the regional championship game and earning a berth into the state tournament. However, they also suffered a 7-0 loss to the eventual Class A-AA State Champion Charleston Catholic Lady Irish to finish the season with a 15-6-1 record.

In five seasons, the Lady Bearcats won zero games, zero games, three games, 12 games and 15 games, so this program is still on the rise and quickly being recognized as a state-wide power…And, with only four seniors on this year’s team -- including the starting goalie Alyssa Muller, forward Maura Blake, forward Kelsey Theilman and defender Brianna Hickman, -- you can look for that trend to continue!

The main reason for much of that success has been forward Valerie Barlow, who scored a total of 40 goals this fall to improve her own single-season-scoring mark of 32 goals from a year ago. Of course, Barlow also holds the career-scoring mark, going into her senior season next August with a total of 82 goals.

Kari Fawcett scored 22 goals as a freshman starter, giving Grafton’s opponents two very quick scorers to deal with this year, including Barlow.

Barlow was presented with First-Team, All-Big Ten Conference Honors by the league’s head coaches. Plus, defender Leah Isner, midfielders Abby Taylor and Nancy Isner, and Fawcett, a forward, received second-team, all-conference honors.

Then, Barlow was selected as a First-Team, All-State Forward by the West Virginia High School Soccer Coaches Association. Meanwhile, Isner landed a spot on the Second Team, with Abby Taylor and Leah Isner receiving Honorable Mention status.

Year after year, the Lady Bearcats are always ‘in the chase’ for the Class A-AA cross country championship…And this year was no different, but they were forced to settle for another one of those state runner-up trophies.

They have several of those in the Grafton High School trophy case, along with several banners hanging in the gym. However, this year, it was the Bearcats that will be hanging up their first banner in our gym.

The Lady Bearcats and the Bearcats swept both ends of the Big Ten Conference Championship Meet, with Drew Rowand, Zach Tennant and Matt Stadelman earning all-conference honors for the boys, and the duo of Molly Summers and Jenny Flohr running down all-conference honors for the girls.

Next, Coach Eva Robinson’s runners swept both ends of the Region II Championship Meet, setting their sites on a sweep of the two Class A-AA West Virginia High School Cross Country Championships.

The girls finished a close second, scoring 87 points, seven more than the state-championship-winning team from St. Marys (80), with Summers becoming a three-time, all-state runner during the process.

The boys were not going to be denied of their first state title, as they turned what was supposed to be a close race into a laugher…They posted a state championship-winning score of 57 points, while the state-runner-up Indians of Berkeley Springs finished with a total of 98 points.

Drew Woodford earned all-state honors for the Bearcats, while his teammates on the state-championship-winning team were Zach Tennant, Matt Stadelman, Seth Elsey and Jordan Riffle in the scoring column, along with alternates Shawn Altman and P. J. Louzy.

About one month earlier than the state cross country meet, Coach Mike Crutchfield’s Golf Bearcats also claimed a state title…They shot a 256 and fired a 255 during the two-day, 36-hole match for a final total of 511 strokes to trim the runner-up Ritchie County Rebels (512) by a single stroke.

Chris Johns led Grafton on day one, carding a 79, and then Adam Ware chipped in with a low-round-score of 76 strokes on day two. Both of those golfers earned all-state honors, after earning All-Big Ten Conference Honors earlier in the season.

Joining the duo of Johns and Ware on the state-championship-winning team and playing in the state tournament were J. C. Musgrove and Devin Waters.

Well, now that the fall sports season is over, I guess we will be hearing the boom…boom…boom of those darn orange balls pounding the hardwoods for the next three months. However, there will be a wrestling match or two to help this poor sports editor keep his sanity around two basketball games a night, just about every night of the week.

In closing, I just have one more thing to say…Let’s all have a ‘Banners-Hanging Party’ and give the 2008 State Championship Football Banner some company on the opposite end of our gym from Riverside Drive!