Just a Tuesday heads-up on what our high school coverage holds for this week:

* In Wednesday's paper, we have the All-Tidewater field hockey and boys and girls volleyball teams. Lee Tolliver selects the field hockey team, with input from coaches, and Mike Keech selects both volleyball teams, with input from coaches. They both do a fantastic job with their selections year in and year out.

* Also in Wednesday's paper, Larry Rubama has a story on Oscar Smith center Charles Soule. He's a guy most folks probably have never heard of, but he's the first-team All-Southeastern District center, and the Oscar Smith offense doesn't start till he snaps the ball. As a prelude to our All-Tidewater football team, which comes out next week, he's also our first-team All-Tidewater center.

* Mike Keech's boys swimming preview is just about ready to go for Thursday's Pilot. The girls swimming preview is scheduled to follow in Friday's Pilot.

* Also in Thursday's Pilot, Jami Frankenberry will take a look at Oscar Smith's state championship game opponent -- Osbourn. This is a team that entered the playoffs with a 6-4 record and keeps getting better every week. All indications are that Osbourn is a very dangerous team.

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A few odds and ends as the folks at Oscar Smith count down the hours till they leave for Blacksburg:

* Let's start with Oscar Smith. The Tigers got it done Saturday. It was a difficult task, but the Tigers are in the state championship game. Don't be fooled by Osbourn's four losses, though. I'm told this Osbourn team is no joke. If Oscar Smith really wants that state title, the Tigers won't pay any attention to Osbourn's record.

* Our gymnastics preview is all ready to go for Tuesday's paper. Lee Tolliver, our resident gymnastics expert, is all over yet another sport. For those who don't know, the guy is amazing. How many people in the world have caught citation fish in many species, can write about hunting and surfing as well as anyone you'll find, and are experts in both field hockey and gymnastics? My bet would be that Lee is the one and only. He's a man of many, many talents.

* Our All-Tidewater field hockey and boys and girls volleyball teams are in the hands of the page designer right this very minute. Those teams are scheduled to publish in Wednesday's Pilot.

* Back to Oscar Smith. Tigers quarterback Phillip Sims continues to climb state stat lists. The numbers he has put up, with his senior season still ahead of him, are spectacular. He's now inside of 1,500 yards of becoming the all-time passing yardage leader in state history. If he completes 15 or more passes in Saturday's state championship game, he'll go into his senior season fourth on the state's all-time completions list. And he's now 25 touchdown passes from tying former Gretna star and current UVa standout Vic Hall for career TD passes. The UVa coaching staff finally got smart this past Saturday and put Hall at QB for a few snaps, by the way.

* Meanwhile, Oscar Smith wide receiver Tim Smith now stands sixith on the state's single-season receiving yardage list. And he's third on the state's single-season TD catches list.

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The Oscar Smith football team leaves today for Northern Virginia.

The immediate destination is Vienna, more specifically Oakton High School. That's where the 13-0 Tigers will play 13-0 Oakton on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the Group AAA Division 6 state semifinals. Rainer Sabin will doing a live blog on the game, and that blog will be available on The Pilot's 757teamz.com Web site.

The Tigers' real destination is Blacksburg -- Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium -- the site of next Saturday's Group AAA Division 6 state championship game.

But first the Tigers must get past an extremely strong Oakton team that plays in the Concorde District, the strongest football district in the state. League foes include Westfield, Centreville and Robinson. The district has put a team in the Group AAA Division 6 state championship game each of the last eight years. Folks in Hampton Roads can talk about the Peninsula District and Southeastern District all they want. Sorry, but the Concorde District is better -- it's the best district in the state.

Last season, on state semifinal Saturday, Oscar Smith took a 13-0 record against a 13-0 Westfield team and came ever so close to advancing to the state championship game. That semifinal was an incredible game, one that those who were fortunate enough to see in person won't ever forget.

Later on Friday, I'l be editing the preview material for Saturday's game. Part of that material will include game picks from Jami Frankenberry and Larry Rubama. Picking games like this is beyond extremely difficult. I have no idea at this point who either will pick to win the game. No doubt they both would love to see Oscar Smith win, but as professional journalists, we have no rooting interest in these games. We just want to see a great game. But no doubt we'd all love to see Oscar Smith win. It's fun to see local folks have great success. It truly is.

Having said that, I'll toss my pick out there. Playing on Oakton's field in the state semifinals is going to be very tough for the Tigers. There will be a huge crowd on hand, the vast majority of it rooting loudly for the Cougars. Oakton is the same school that defeated a Percy Harvin-led Landstown team in the state championship game just a few years ago. The 2008 Oakton team, playing in the Concorde District, is already battle-tested to the nth degree. I wish I could pick Oscar Smith to win this game, but I can't. Just like with the 2007 state semifinal against Westfield, I think the Tigers will be using this one as motivation for 2009.

One last thing -- I hope I'm wrong.

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Thank goodness Thursday is a holiday.

For those of us who handle high school sports, Thanksgiving week and the time leading up to it is the most difficult time of the year.

The fall and winter sports overlap, and there are just way too many balls to juggle. The brain turns to mush.

All of those boys and girls basketball previews in Tuesday and Wednesday's paper went through my hands. All the material for Friday's wrestling preview went through my hands. All of the stories being done for Saturday's state semifinal football games has gone through my hands. And I just finished handling the material for the All-Tidewater field hockey and boys and girls volleyball teams, which publish next week. Forgive me if the old brain feels like Thanksgiving Day mashed potatoes.

Still, some Thanksgiving goodies as we hit the holiday season:

* The wrestling preview, with every bit of it written by Kyle Tucker from his outpost in Blacksburg, is ready to go for Friday's paper. Some highlights: This really could be the year Great Bridge's long Eastern Region reign ends -- and Grassfield could give the Wildcats a run for their money in the Southeastern District -- a strong and talented Cox team could wind up not only winning the Eastern Region title but also the state title -- and Cox isn't the only strong team in the Beach District -- Kempsville and Kellam are stout, too -- in the Eastern District, Norview looks like the preseason favorite, with Granby right there, too -- and in the Tidewater Conference, look out Norfolk Academy, Cape Henry Collegiate could be the team to beat.

* Wrestling fans, by the way, should absolutely love Kyle's previews. Kyle has been on that beat for us for several years now, and he knows the beat beyond inside out. Just to cram it all in Friday's paper, I had to negotiate with the page designer. The designer wanted me to make substantial cuts to the massive amount of Kyle's tremendous hard work and great insights. My response: No way. Downsize the type. Do something, but we aren't cutting this stuff back to any great degree. We did a little nip here and a tuck there. But it's all there. And there's a ton of it.

* Rainer Sabin will be doing a live blog Saturday from Oscar Smith's state semifinal football game at Oakton. It'll be a great way for fans to know exactly what's going on with the Tigers up in Northern Virginia. Be sure to check it out.

* Did you know that J.C. Watts' son is one of Oakton's key players? You can learn more about Oakton in a piece Jami Frankenberry has put together.for Friday's paper.

* Did you know, Part II -- Oakton is in the Concorde District, an extremely stout district in the Northern Region. A Concorde District team has made it to the Group AAA Divison 6 state championship game each of the last eight seasons. By the way, I stole that fact from Jami's story for Friday's paper.

Time to go rest up for the big chow down. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

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We have a change at the controls for girls basketball this season, and Wednesday's Sports section will feature Rainer Sabin's first major foray into the South Hampton Roads girls high school basketball world.

Rainer takes over the girls basketball beat for Jami Frankenberry, who was tapped to cover ODU men's basketball this season after a number of years on the girls basketball beat.

Rainer is a young, talented writer/reporter who came to The Pilot last winter from Arkansas.

A little preview of Rainer's massive pile of work on the girls basketball preview:

* Princess Anne looks like the best team in the Beach District -- again. What else is new? But there are teams that could challenge the Cavaliers this season. Or at least it appears that way now.

* Wilson gets the nod as the preseason front-runner in the Eastern District, but Lake Taylor is right there, too.

* Indian River appears to be the top team in the Southeastern District, with Nansemond River nipping at the Braves' heels.

* Norfolk Collegiate looks like the top team in the Tidewater Conference, but the big news in the TCIS is Larry Bowman's return as the coach at Bishop Sullivan Catholic. And StoneBridge looks like the best of the Metro Conference.

Rainer's No. 1 team in his preseason rankings? It's the same-old, some-old. Princess Anne, of course.

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Just finished editing all the material Larry Rubama has produced for the boys basketball preview, which publishes in Tuesday's Pilot.

It's a massive amount of material. As usual, Larry has done a tremendous job of sifting through all the information provided by the coaches. His brain is pretty much mush from cranking it all out, along with still covering football, but that's part of the wonderful life of being a sports writer.

A little preview of the preview:

Eastern District -- Norcom and Booker T. Washington look like the teams to beat, and neither team's coach wants to be seen as the favorite. No one wants that target on their back.

Southeastern District -- King's Fork is the king. The Bulldogs were tough last season, and that team is pretty much back intact.

Beach District -- Landstown looks like the clear favorite. Who finishes second is the big question. There are a slew of teams that could wind up in the upper half of the league.

Private schools -- Many of the best games this season, involving the best talent, could be private school games. Atlantic Shores has a Duke and Oklahome backcourt. Norfolk Collegiate has a future Clemson guard. There's tons of talent in the private schools.

Who's Larry's preseason No. 1 team for all of South Hampton Roads? That would be King's Fork.

Check out the preview. As usual, it's exceptionally comprehensive.

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Some final unofficial individual stats from Oscar Smith's 28-21 victory over Ocean Lakes in the Eastern Region Division 6 final at the Sportsplex:

Oscar Smith

Perry Jones -- 30 carries for 228 yards and 4 touchdowns

Jerod Askew -- 2 carries for 18 yards

Jaston George -- 2 carries for 0 yards

Phillips Sims -- 9 carries for minus-32 yards

Tim Smith -- 3 carries for 17 yards and 7 catches for 118 yards; also 1 for 1 passing for 17 yards

Phillip Sims passing -- 12 for 22 for 165 yards

Matias Parker -- 3 catches for 26 yards

Jones -- 1 catch for 13 yards

Joshua Broyles -- 1 catch for 8 yards

Askew -- 1 catch for 17 yards

Ocean Lakes

Walter Davis -- 13 carries for 80 yards

Shamarko Thomas -- 2 carries for 3 yards

Lafonte Thoroughgood  -- 8 carries for minus-1 yard

Thoroughgood passing -- 11 for 20 for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns

Justin Hunter -- 8 catches for 99 yards and 2 touchdowns

Thomas -- 3 catches for 53 yards and a touchdown

Oscar Smith now will travel to Northern Virginia and play the winner of Saturday's Northern Region final between Chantilly and Oakton. The Tigers will take a 13-0 record into that game, the same record they took into last year's state semifinals, where they fell to Westfield in a game played at Oscar Smith. Ocean Lakes completes the best season in the school's history, with a 12-1 record.

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Another onside kick recovered by Ocean Lakes -- referees conferring -- Ocean Lakes touched the ball before it went 10 yards

First down Oscar Smith -- at the Ocean Lakes 49

1st and 10 Oscar Smith at the Dolphin 49 -- Sims takes a knee

36 seconds left

Ocean Lakes timeout

Oscar Smith is now 2nd and 12

Sims takes another knee -- another timeout

28 seconds left

Ball is now at the Oscar Smith 46 -- Sims takes another knee -- clock rolls

It's over - Oscar Smith 28, Ocean Lakes 21

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Ocean Lakes' onside kick is recovered by the Dolphins

1st and 10 Ocean Lakes at the Oscar Smith 48 -- T-good is sacked by Steward

2nd and 17 -- Davis carries up the middle, clock is about to go under 2 minutes

3rd and 11 -- T-good's pass bounces off the hands of Anthony Daniels

4th and 11 -- 1:50 -- T-good throws best ball of the night, Hunter snares it

1st and 10 at the Oscar Smith 30 -- T-good throws another alley-oop toward Hunter -- incomplete inside the 5

2nd and 10 at the Tiger 30 -- 1:27 -- Hook and ladder -- T-good to Hunter, who pitches to Thomas

3rd and 3 -- T-Good to Hunter -- first down

1st and 10 at the Tiger 15 -- T-good throws wide of his intended receiver

2nd and 10 at the Tiger 15 -- T-good hits Thomas crossing into the end zone -- TD Ocean Lakes

The extra point makes it 28-21 with 43 seconds left

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Oscar Smith's scoring drive was 93 yards -- the Tigers had a 99-yard drive against Bethel last week

Ocean Lakes, after the kickoff now has the ball 2nd and 9 at its 23

Davis carries for a short gain

3rd and 5 -- Oscar Smith has taken firm control of the game and appears headed for the state semis -- Ocean Lakes calls timeout -- the Tigers can feel like it -- they're ready to go to Northern Virginia and take on the Northern Region champion -- that game is Saturday afternoon -- Chantilly at Oakton

3rd and 5 -- screen to Thomas -- short gain

4th and 3 -- Askew seems to in on every tackle -- Ocean Lakes is going for it with the end of its season starting it in the face -- Davis is stuffed

Oscar Smith takes over on downs -- Jarmara Gray made the last tackle for the Tigers

1st and 10 Tigers at the Dolphin 30 -- Jaston George carries and it's a big loss

2nd and 15 at the 35 -- George carries again

3rd and 10 at the 30 -- clock is winding down -- 4:30 and counting -- timeout Oscar Smith

Jones is resting on the bench after carrying for 228 yards on 30 carries -- unofficially -- and all four Tiger touchdowns -- Jones rushed for like 882 yards in the regular season and now is pushing 800 yards total in 3 postseason games

3rd and 10 -- Sims scrambles out of trouble, then throws the all away

4th and 10 at the 30 -- 4:11 to play -- Sims in the shotgun -- Sims is sacked

Ocean Lakes takes over at its own 44

1st and 10 at the 44 for the Dolphins -- T-good tries to go deep to Hunter -- almost intercepted by George

2nd and 10 -- T-good runs, slammed down by Corey Steward -- gain of 

3rd and 6 -- T-good passes Thomas, who makes an excellent run all the way down to the Tiger 15

1st and 10 -- 3:03 -- T-good throws too high for Hunter at the goal line -- flag comes down

Illegal man downfield vs. Ocean Lakes

1st and 15 at the 20 -- Hunter gets behind the secondardy and T-good hits him for the TD

Oscar Smith 28, Ocean Lakes 13

Pierce's extra pointis good -- 28-14

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