Combs leads Panthers comeback

Page County High School boys basketball
PCHS junior Caden Combs draws a fifth foul on Strasburg junior Linkyn Bosworth midway through the fourth quarter on Jan. 16. Combs finished the night with a game-high 19 points.

By Randy Arrington

LURAY, Feb. 7 — Page County High School junior Caden Combs put up 51 combined points in back-to-back Bull Run wins at the end of last week. While that performance is impressive, this week’s selection was a little more difficult than usual — with six nominations, including five from Panther fans alone. However, there was only one player who truly put his team on his shoulders this week and carried them through key victories that changed the entire trajectory of the season.

Combs is one of the hottest players in Region B right now. The 6′ 3″ shooting guard posted a game-high 26 points in a 63-57 win at Clarke on Thursday, only to turn around the next night and record a game-high 25 points at Central in Friday’s 57-54 victory. Central was recently ranked No. 5 statewide in the VHSL’s Class 2. After a 4-5 start to the season, the Panthers have won eight of their last 10 games and are sitting in a tie for second-place in the Bull Run District after handing the top team its only district loss.

After recording four straight losses, many started to write-off the Panthers — but now, Page County is looking like the team to beat in the Bull Run and Region B tournaments tournaments coming up later this month. Watch out for an upcoming interview with PCHS head coach Tyler Parker next week on the 57th episode of “Page Valley Livin'”, airing Wednesday, Feb. 12 — the day of the second rivalry game with Luray.

“That was a big win for us,” Coach Parker said this week of the Central victory. “Obviously Central is No. 5 in the state and very, very talented…they have really a whole roster that is talented, and for us to go over there on the road and beat them while they are undefeated in the district, and also beating Luray while they were undefeated in the district, just shows how good we are.”

A quick shout out and congratulations to an undefeated PCMS team that we will be recognizing in the next few weeks; a shout out to some of Combs’ teammates who garnered nominations; good luck to the Page County wrestling team who is having their best season in program history and heads to districts this weekend (they were also on our list of nominations this week); and thanks to the folks at MCCA who sent in a nomination as well.

For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
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