Salem is site for VHSL Class 1&2 Spring Jubilee for state soccer and baseball
The Glenvar soccer teams, both of them, are headed to Salem. It won’t be a long drive Friday but it’s been a long road for the Highlanders as both the boys and girls play in the state championship “Final Four” this weekend at Spartan Field.
The Glenvar girls are scheduled to play a Class 2 state semifinal game on the field in front of Salem High at 9 am Friday against Poquoson High. Then, the boys will play Bruton at 1 pm on the same Spartan Field. Salem is once again the host of the Virginia High School League “Spring Jubilee” for Class 1 and 2 state tournaments. The Class 1 and 2 baseball tournaments will be on Billy Sample Field at Kiwanis Park Friday and Saturday and the state softball games are at the Botetourt Sports Complex with the James I. Moyer Complex in Salem still undergoing renovation.
The soccer tournaments will be at Spartan Field and Roanoke College’s Kerr Stadium. The sites alternate from year to year and this spring the Class 2 games will be at Spartan Field with the Class 1 teams playing at Roanoke College. The championship games for Class 2 will be Saturday. The boys championship will be at 12:30 pm and the Glenvar-Bruton winner will take on the winner of a Friday semifinal between Radford and Clarke County.
The girls’ championship is scheduled for 10 am Saturday and the Glenvar-Poquoson winner will take on the winner of a semifinal between Clarke County, last year’s state champion, and the survivor of Tuesday’s game between Radford and Graham. Results of that game were not available at press time. Both Glenvar teams come into the “Final Four” unbeaten, and they both won Region 2C finals and state quarterfinals at the same sites on the same days.
Last Thursday at the Smith River Sports Complex both Glenvar teams defeated Radford foes to win region championships. The boys had their toughest game of the season as they prevailed 1-0 over the Bobcats. Tyler Curfiss took a Kees Van Gerven pass with 10 minutes left in the game and blasted a laser shot to the upper 90 to score the only goal of the game. Glenvar outshot Radford, 17-4, and Grayson Shepherd made four saves in the net as the defense comprised of Jake Williams, Cooper Mullins, Tyler Curfiss, Alan Vu and Gavin Miller shut out the Bobcats. “Winning a Region Championship is never easy and I am extremely proud of our guys for this accomplishment,” said Glenvar coach Josh Jones. “This is our fourth consecutive region title and we have a few guys who have been a part of all four of them.
They are all different and unique in their own right.” The girls also played Radford in the Region 2C final at the Smith River Complex and won 4-1. Radford drew first blood in the first half before Jules Stanley tied the game at 1-1 just before half-time.
Then, it took the Highlanders until the last 20 minutes to find the net again. “Once Jules scored the second one she was on and couldn’t be stopped,” said Glenvar coach Kyleigh Drew. “She scored all four goals, two unassisted and one assisted by Campbell Hardin and one by Sawyer Wilson. “The score is not a reflection of how close the game was actually played. Radford came out wanting it but our girls started clicking for a really well played team win. They have wanted this region title badly after losing it the last two years so they had a lot of heart digging deep to get the win.” Both Glenvar teams advanced to Tuesday’s state quarterfinal round, and as Region 2C champs they earned the right to host. The girls played first at Highlander Stadium and took a 5-0 win over Central High of Wise.
The Highlanders raced to a 4-0 lead by halftime as Stanley scored twice, sandwiched between goals by Anna Vecellio and Chloe Childers. Davin Tate assisted on the first goal, Sawyer Wilson assisted Stanley’s second goal and Jules had an assist on Childers’ score just before the half. “We talked about getting off to a good start and we were able to do that,” said Drew. In the second half Stanley completed the threegoal hat trick off an assist from Brooke Smyth. That gave her 127 goals for her four year career. The win lifted the Highlanders to 17-0-1 on the season heading to Spartan Field Friday.
The girls won the state championship on that pitch in 2022 so there will be some fond memories for the seniors when they take the field Friday. The Glenvar boys played the late game at home on Tuesday and won 4-0 over Marion High. Adam Saunders had the first goal and Zach Curfiss had the second for a 2-0 halftime lead, both off corner kicks from Bryce King. In the second half Luke Farmer scored off a Cooper Mullins assist and Seth Nichols put the icing on the cake with a goal assisted by Jackson Jones.
With the win the Highlanders are 20-0 on the season and the shutout was their eighth in a row. They have 16 shutouts in their 20 wins and the 2023 state champs are now 34-0-1 in the last 35 games. Glenvar’s last loss was to Salem High in April of 2023. After the season the Spartans informed Glenvar they were dropping them from the schedule, so the Highlanders didn’t get to play on Spartan Field this year. At least not until Friday.