1. Turner Ashby didn't have a perfect season in football, just a perfect ending. The Knights lost twice during the regular season but went 4-0 in the playoffs, celebrating the school's 50th anniversary with its first state title in football. TA drilled Richlands 27-13, piling up 251 rushing yards out of its wing-T offense while stifling the Blue Tornado on defense.
2. The R.E. Lee High School boys' basketball team has won 60 straight games. Victory No. 55 was arguably the most historic. That 74-55 rout of Greenville County gave Lee's storied basketball program its first-ever back-to-back state championships. With star guard Eli Crawford and legendary coach Paul Hatcher back for this season, the Leemen have opened the year 5-0.
3. A year after capturing the NCAA Division I-AA national championship, the JMU football team didn't even make the tournament in 2005. The Dukes' dreams of repeating were dashed by an early non-conference loss at Coastal Carolina and three Atlantic 10 losses. Those league losses came by a combined 12 points, but at 7-4 the Dukes weren't invited back to the postseason.
4. The Spotswood High School girls' basketball team, led by a veteran lineup, captured its first-ever Group AA state title. The Trailblazers went 24-5 under coach Chris Dodson and downed Lord Botetourt 52-45 in the championship game in Richmond. Amber Showalter (Division II Concord) and Katy Larson (Division III Mary Washington) are both playing college ball this year. Emily Rose, the only returning starter from the title team, has already signed to play at D-I Central Connecticut State.
5. The Bridgewater College football team continued its ownership of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, winning its fifth straight league title. Coach Michael Clark has turned the Eagles into an ODAC power and Division III contender year in and year out. This year ended in the national quarterfinals, with a loss to Wesley.
6. Harrisonburg High School's football team, led by the father-and-son duo of coach Tim Sarver and quarterback Ben Sarver went through the regular season 10-0 and won the Valley District title. The Blue Streaks' perfect run ended in a 41-34 overtime loss to Sherando in the Region II, Division 4 championship game. HHS had won three straight games by coming from behind before losing to Sherando.
7. In only his second season in Park View, Kirby Dean led traditionally weak Eastern Mennonite University to the ODAC men's basketball tournament, ending a five-year drought for the Royals. Was it a one-year blip or the sign of a resurgence? Well, earlier this month EMU snapped an 18-game losing streak against rival Bridgewater with a 64-52 home win.
8. Harrisonburg High School said goodbye to basketball phenom Kristi Toliver. In her senior year, Toliver averaged 29.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.2 assists a game while leading the Blue Streaks a 20-5 record, a Valley District tournament title and a Region II berth. In her prep career, Toliver scored 2,577 points. She is now the University of Maryland's starting point guard, averaging 11.3 points per game, though she has sat out three of the Terrapin's last four games with leg pain.
9. The Clover Hill Bucks won their third-straight Rockingham County Baseball League championship, the first three-peat in team history. The Bucks beat Elkton four games to two, winning the clinching Game 6, 17-8, at home at Buck Bowman Park. The Bucks had to stave off elimination twice just to reach the championship, first in the best-of-three quarterfinals and then in the best-of-five semifinals.
10. While JMU's basketball team was hard to watch on the court, at least one Duke was easy to listen to off it. Guard John Naparlo found more success with his country music career than he did with basketball. After initially ruling Naparlo ineligible for this season because of his singing career, the NCAA - in an unexpected bout of common sense - reinstated him at Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Tom Yeager's urging. But Naparlo - a.k.a. Johnny Napp - decided to stick with the twang of country over the clang of bricks. And clang the Dukes did. JMU notched its fifth straight losing season in 2005 and, as 2006 gets ready to dawn, seems poised for No. 6.
    

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