Sports Dogs Podcast: State Championship recap and Bracket Bustin’

3/18/26- The Dogs take a bite out of their Tournament brackets, and look back at a great weekend at VCU for our area basketball teams including:

  • Clarke County’s girls claiming their second title in four years and record-breaker Alainah McKavish
  • Handley’s boys first program title in over 100 years
  • Luray’s boys fending off a record-setting performance to win in double-overtime
  • The valiant efforts by the Central boys, Skyline girls, and Luray girls

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Shenandoah Valley teams claim three State Championships, three Runner-Ups

Congratulations to all our local high schools that represented the Shenandoah Valley with pride during the VHSL Basketball State Championships in Richmond over the weekend.

Three of the six teams claimed state titles including the Luray boys, Clarke County girls, and Handley boys.

In Clarke County’s 67-55 win over Union, senior Alainah McKavish claimed the school’s all time scoring record and bookended her career with a second state title after winning as a freshman.

Handley got over the hump after previously going 0-4 in State Championship games to claim the first trophy in their 103 year history, 61-42 over Hampton.

Luray brought home their first State Trophy in 50 years after a double overtime win over Fort Chiswell 84-82 and overcame Fort Chiswell’s Owen Jackson scoring a state championship record 53 points.

The Luray girls, Central boys, and Skyline girls were named State Runner-Up at VCU and we also congratulate them on incredible seasons.

For more local sports coverage, follow the Sports Dogs Podcast.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Community rallies to send off State Championship contenders

The VHSL Basketball State Championships tip off in Richmond on Friday with six of our local teams making the finals and now it’s time to send off our hopeful champions and wish them good luck.

Luray High School is holding a send-off for their boys and girls teams at 2pm on Friday and are inviting fans to line main street to show their support.

Clarke County High School is sending off the Eagles at 2:30 pm with a police escort on Thursday down Mosby Boulevard to Martins before turning right and then making a left onto Fairfax Street to 1st Street and continuing to Main Street.

The Central Falcons boys team will hit the road Friday at 8:30 am and the school has invited fans to join them at the gym’s front entrance for the send off.

The Skyline Lady Hawks hit the road Friday at 10 am and will pass the football stadium before following Criser Rd. to S. Royal Avenue and then Rt 55 until reaching 66 and are encouraging fans to bring signs and noisemakers to showcase the team motto of “Small Town, Big Pride”.

John Handley High School will be the final team to leave for VCU as they depart at 3 pm on Friday from Winchester and are welcoming supporters to line Handley Boulevard to cheer the Judges on to their 5th State Championship appearance.

The River 95.3, Fox Sports Radio 1450, TheRiver953.com and The River 95.3’s coverage schedule:

For more high school basketball coverage, check out the latest Sports Dogs Podcast with previews of all the teams going to VCU here.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Local basketball teams conclude playoff runs

The remaining local high school basketball teams wrapped up their seasons over the weekend in the State Semifinals after incredible playoff runs.

The Clarke County girls and Luray boys fell to John Marshall High School in the Richmond area.

Handley came up just short in front of a sold-out crowd in Winchester against Varina.

All three teams earned Regional Championships to make their way to the State playoffs.

Some other accomplishments for these teams includes the 21-0 best start in school history for the Judges, Clarke County retaking the top spot in the Bull Run winning the regular season and tournament championships in addition to the Region, and the Lurays boys program rebounding from six wins just two years ago to back-to-back state playoff and Regional Championships.

Join Randy and Ryan for the Sports Dogs Podcast on Thursday to recap these incredible runs.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

The Sports Dogs Podcast: HS Basketball, Commanders & Caps

The Sports Dogs are barkin’! In this episode, we cover the area high school basketball teams who are headed for state semifinal action. Plus a quick Caps (and Ovechkin) update, and a new toy for Cliff Kingsbury and the Commander’s offense!

The Duke’s Preview: Clarke County vs Prince Edward

The VHSL State Playoffs begin with tonight’s Van Metre Homes Game of the Week as Clarke County hosts Prince Edward County in girls basketball with coverage starting at 5:45 pm for the 6 pm tip-off on The River 95.3, Fox Sports Radio 1450, theriver953.com, and The River 95.3 app.

Clarke County has coasted through the District and Regional Tournaments with an average margin of victory of 38.2 ppg and claimed both tournament trophies.

Clarke County now turns their attention to the State Tournament where they look to put together the same run like they did just two years ago to hoist the third and most significant trophy a team can aspire to attain.

Alainah McKavish and Devin Simmons-McDonald were members of the 2023 Championship Team and know what it takes to get back to the promised land.

McKavish upped her game each season since the Freshman campaign and recently earned the Region 2B Player of the Year while Simmons-McDonald provided great post presence on her way to a 2nd Team All-District selection.

Alainah’s sister Paige and Paul VI transfer Paige Stemberger also earned All-Region nods and when the starters faulter or get in foul trouble like in the Regional Championship Game, underclassmen like Anna Taylor, Haley Foltz, Kendall Harman, and Savannah McCaw have stepped-up.

Clarke County’s depth and post season experience will pose problems for a Prince Edward team that will enter the State Quarterfinal after their first loss of the season to John Marshall in the Regional Championship Game.

Prince Edward coasted to an undefeated record through the regular season and early rounds of Regionals before falling to last year’s State Runner-Up.

While Prince Edward dominated regular season play, they did not see many competitive teams throughout their schedule with only two opponents finishing the season over .500.

Clarke County on the other hand faced a competitive Bull Run District schedule and only district loss came to the Co-Regular Season Champions, Strasburg, while the other losses came against opponents from higher classifications.

This battle tested schedule has allowed Clarke County to transition well to the heightened stakes of the playoffs and some of their most significant contributors are already familiar with the State stage.

Clarke County will also have a distinct height advantage over Prince Edward as all five starters are over 5’8″ while Prince Edward does not have a player on the roster over 5’7″.

The experience and length of Clarke County will help the Eagles of Berryville maintain control of the tempo of tonight’s ball game and dominate the boards while the Eagles of Farmville may leave the 3+ hour bus ride to be shell-shocked by a better team like they were against John Marshall.

Clarke County advances to the State Semifinals, 65-42, and will likely see the Justices then.

The Duke’s Hoops Preview: Clarke Co vs Page Co

The Region 2B Quarterfinals begin tonight with the Van Metre Homes Game of the Week featuring #1 seed Clarke County and #8 seed Page County with pregame coverage starting at 5:45 pm for the 6 pm tip on The River 95.3, Fox Sports Radio 1450, theriver953.com, and The River 95.3 app.

Clarke County soars into the Regional Playoffs after winning their last 11 games on the way to a regular season and playoff Bull Run District Championship.

Alainah and Paige McKavish led the way this season with both earning 1st Team All District.

Alainah claimed District Player of the Year shortly after recording 29 points and 11 rebounds in the District Championship game last week.

The duo regularly creates offense from their aggressive defense and four of Clarke County’s five starters average over 2 steals a game.

Clarke County’s full-court and half-court zone defense caused problems in the Bull Run District playoffs allowing the Eagles to open up massive leads including a 27-5 1st quarter against Central and a 19-2 lead through the first 6:49 against Rappahannock County.

Page County has struggled against these Eagles twice this season with two losses by a combined 94 points.

The first meeting saw Clarke County win 83-23 which was their largest scoring output and margin of victory on the season at that point.

While the Panthers will enter the game well rested after being off for the last 10 days and preparing for the likely opponent of Clarke County, that much time off could lead to a slow start which would be insurmountable against a team like the #1 seed Eagles.

The winners of this matchup will face the winners of tonight’s  #4 Central vs #5 Buckingham County on Thursday in the Semifinals and the Region 2B Championship game will be held at Shenandoah University on Saturday.

I predict Clarke County to run out to another early postseason lead and keep their hopes of a State Championship alive, Eagles 65- Panthers 38.

The Duke’s Championship Preview: Clarke Co. vs Central

Tonight’s Bull Run District Girls Basketball Championship Game features #1 seed Clarke County hosting #3 seed Central in the Van Metre Homes Game of the Week on The River 95.3, Fox Sports Radio 1450, theriver953.com, and The River 95.3 app with coverage starting around 7:15 pm.

Defensive intensity always rises in the playoffs and both Clarke County and Central relied on strong defensive performances to advance to the District Championship Game.

Central avenged two regular season loses to regular season District Co-Champion Strasburg by upsetting the #2 seed Rams.

The Falcons deployed a mixture of a 3-2 zone and man-to-man to defense to keep Strasburg off their toes and force seven first period turnovers.

Central’s defensive effort held Strasburg to just 34 points, their lowest point total of the season, and held Strasburg’s Jayden Stinnette and Emily Gorrell to only 13 points combined after the duo tallied 31 against the same Falcons team three days prior.

Sister’s Veronica and Vanessa Gordon combined for 24 to take Central into the Championship Game to meet another pair of sisters that dominated the second Semifinal game for Clarke County.

Alainah and Paige McKavish wreaked havoc against Rappahannock County combining for 38 points and spearheading a 1-3-1 half-court defense that held Rappahannock to just two free throws through the first 5:49.

Clarke County coasted to the win and will enjoy home court advantage for Thursday night’s matchup while also securing the #2 seed in the Region 2B Tournament to host Page County on Tuesday.

Central will host Buckingham County in a Regional Playoff game on Tuesday regardless of the District Championship outcome.

While many districts throughout Virginia have done away with District Tournaments entirely, and I personally enjoy the Bull Run deciding to keep a historic tournament going against such close rivals.

You can truly see how much it means to the athletes competing.

Clarke County leaving their starters in longer than Rappahannock County showed that they are determined to finish this tournament on top and will not take their foot off the gas until the final buzzer.

That could be bad news for a Central team that has already fallen to the Eagles twice this season by a combined 38 points.

I predict Clarke County’s aggressive half-court defense will provide too much chaos for a sometimes stagnant Central offense and the McKavish duo will have another big night in front of the home crowd, Eagles win 70-55.

In the latest Sports Dogs Podcast available here, we discuss our favorites for playoff runs in the upcoming VHSL tournament, the Nats in Spring Training, Caps at the midway point, and more.