#5 at left is Charles Clark of King’s Fork High School in Suffolk, Virginia. I had read about Charles Clark on “MaxPreps.com” recently. He’s a rising 10th-grader in southeastern Virginia, and MaxPreps.com listed him as one of 100 high school football players nationally to watch in the Class of 2013, in an article called the Fresh Faces Of 2013 Watch List.
So I decided to go see him play early in his career! His King’s Fork High Bulldogs were scrimmaging today, August 20, 2010, on the road against another Group AAA (Virginia’s largest high schools) school. They were scrimmaging at Heritage High School in Newport News, Virginia, behind the high school, on the Hurricane’s practice field. Under “Virginia High School League Rules,” no official scorekeeping is allowed, and there was no scoreboard there for this scrimmage.
I left my house in Charlottesville at 12:12 P.M on this Friday. At 12:19 P.M. I was listening to Radio Station AM 1400, and the host, Jim Rome, was talking to pro football player Jerod Mayo. Mayo played for Kecoughtan High in Hampton, Virginia, and then the University of Tennessee. Jim Rome asked him, “When (ex-University of Tennessee head football coach) Lane Kiffin left (the University of Tennessee to take the head job at the University of Southern California), what did you think about his departure?” This was followed by this ad a minute later: “Virginia Tech and Boise State, in one of the premier college football games of the year!”
At 12:51 P.M., FM rock radio station 105.5 (also called “Sam FM” or “WOJL-Louisa/Orange” ) played a song by the band called Muse, that included the lyrics, “fat cat had a heart attack.” Soon, the “Pet Shop Boys” were singing their song called “West End Girls.” They then played “Breakdown” by Tom Petty. By the time I got to the Virginia Route 64-East 164-mile marker, the station was playing Alanis Morissette, who was singing the lyrics, “I’m a bitch.”
I pulled off at exit 167 at Goochland, Virginia, and stopped at Bullett’s at 1:07 P.M. I stop here often. It’s not great, but it’s worth stopping at if you’re driving by. There are almost no places to stop on the 70 mile drive between Richmond, Virginia and Charlottesville, Virginia! I had a pre-packaged lettuce/ham/cheese/white bread sandwich, and got rid of the high-calorie cheese and white bread! I was back on the road soon, and at 1:30, I passed a sign that said there were 23 miles to go until I’d get to Richmond, VA, 
the state capitol of Virginia. I listened to AM radio station 950 and the “Scott Van Pelt Show” on ESPN radio. Scott Van Pelt was not on that day, however, and someone else was hosting: a man named Ryen Russillo. His voice was a little overbearing, in my opinion!
The radio droned on. “We’re your home for major league baseball!…..The Washington Nationals!…..Sportscenter every 20 minutes!…..” Ryen Russillo was interviewing an ESPN sportswriter named Pat Forde, who was the only ESPN sportswriter who was rating Boise State’s college football team number one in the pre-season rankings. At 2:07 P.M., I passed a road sign that said there were now 41 miles to Newport News, Virginia, where the scrimmage would be held. Ryen Russillo went on: “The fact that (pro football quarterback Kyle) Orton signed an extension is surprising…..5.5 million dollars guaranteed for next year.” At 2:23 P.M. there was an ad for one of those worthless 5-hour energy drinks. At 2:45 I got to Newport News, Virginia!
Hanover, Virginia AM radio station 1700 is a traveler’s station. It said the temperature in Newport News, Virginia was 89 degrees. I turned on AM station 1110, and a voice was talking about a boxing match on August 28 between Dorin Spivey and Antwain Britt. The announcer spoke about the “War At The Shore….at the Virginia Beach Convention Center at 19th Street and Atlantic.” At 3:37 P.M. I got to Heritage High School at 5800 Marshall Avenue! The weather was beautiful: it couldn’t have been better. The sky was blue, and it was sunny.
The scrimmage started at 5:30 P.M. behind Heritage High School. Newport News has some new part, and some old parts, and this is an old part: not a nice area. Charles Clark soon made a nice bearhug-type tackle in the open field from his defensive back position on number 44 of the opposing team on a pass at the line of scrimmage, limiting the play to about a one-yard gain. Soon, King’s Fork High scored on a pass from around mid-field to number 23. Then, King’s Fork scored again. Without a scoreboard or a press box, it was impossible to figure out who was scoring and at what part of the scrimmage scoring was being done!
Charles Clark DID score, however! He caught a short flare pass around the 15 yard-line, and slowly made his way through traffic on a great play as he moved in for a touchdown. The scrimmage ended at 7:11 P.M.
According to the quarterback for King’s Fork High, King’s Fork won this scrimmage 21-0. Charles Clark seems to have a lot of college potential. Still, it’s too early to predict college greatness. He IS just a tenth-grader. But I can see the potential that others see. He plays with a lot of confidence!
Scrimmages are frustrating to figure out. You can ask person after person on the sideline, “What’s the score?” and no one seems to know! Check this article and the one on last week’s scrimmage in later days, as I will come back and adjust both articles for corrected names and statistics as I find out more from people involved in these two scrimmages!
I headed back home to Charlottesville, Virginia. It was a 159-mile drive! At 7:43 P.M I stopped at a convenience store called a “Pit Stop.” At 8:42 P.M., there were 13 more miles ’till Richmond. At 9:09 P.M., I turned on FM radio station 107.3, which called itself “Big Oldies, Richmond’s Greatest Hits!” They played “Band On The Run” by Wings. I got back to Charlottesville, finally, around 10:30 P.M.!
