Football: More Honors for Briar Woods as Scott Rolin Named VHSCA AA Defensive Player of the Year; Pierce is Coach of the Year

Scott Rolin
(Feb. 1, 2011) - To the Falcons the spoils as Briar Woods High School continues to rack up the postseason honors after the school's first ever state title in December. Defensive back Scott Rolin has been named the Virginia High School Coaches Association AA Defensive Player of the Year and Charlie Pierce is the Division 4 Coach of the Year.

Briar Woods linebacker DeVontae O'Bannion

Football: Briar Woods Coach Charlie Pierce is AP AA Coach of the Year, Falcons Place Five on All-State Team

(Jan. 30, 2011) - Charlie Pierce, who led the Briar Woods High School football team to the school's first ever state title in December, has been named by the Associated Press as the AA Coach of the Year. The Falcons placed five players on the all-state squads including center Patrick Derrickson, running back Michael Brownlee and defensive back Scott Rolin on the first team.

Dominion's Deandre

Football: 2010 VHSCA Group AA All-State Football Team

Volleyball: Raiders Strange and Serafin Make First Team AA All-State, Matthias is Coach of the Year

(Dec. 21, 2010) - Loudoun County High School, which captured a fourth straight VHSL AA state volleyball title, reaped postseason awards as coach Jenica Matthias has been named the VHSCA AA Coach of the Year and juniors Jenna Strange and Gabby Serafin have both been named first team all-state.

Senior Emily Sears of Broad Run was named second team all-state. Freedom senior Jenna Flanigin and

Volleyball: State Quarterfinal Scoreboard

VivaLoudoun Volleyball State Quarterfinals Scoreboard
AA Girls
Cave Spring def. Jefferson Forest, 25-14, 23-25, 25-15, 25-13
Loudoun County def. Powhatan, 25-13, 25-15, 25-13
Grafton def. Freedom, 25-13, 27-25, 25-15
Hidden Valley def. Turner Ashby, 25-11, 25-16, 25-19

AAA Girls
Stone Bridge def. Princess Anne, 25-22, 25-20, 25-12
Atlee def. Osbourn Park, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20
Deep Run def.

Girls Cross Country: Freedom Takes 5th in AA Meet; PFalls Hagen is 17th Overall

The Plains (Nov. 13, 2010) - The Freedom High School girls placed fifth at the VHSL AA state cross country meet Saturday at Great Meadows. Potomac Falls senior Rachel Hagen had the top local finish with a 17th place and 19:17 time.

Hidden Valley, led by individual winner Annie LeHardy (blazing 17:34), won the meet with 78 points. Freedom scored 160.

The Eagles were led by a pair of freshman:

Boys Cross Country: Loudoun County, Potomac Falls Finish 3-4 at AA State Meet; Raider Curtin is Third Overall

The Plains (Nov. 13, 2010) - The Loudoun County and Potomac Falls high school boys cross country teams had a great showing at today's VHSL AA state meet at Great Meadows as County took third and PFalls fourth in the team races. Raider senior Tommy Curtin finished his great career with a third place finish overall.

Curtin ran a 15:38 to place behind Kyle King of Grafton (15:21) and Thomas Madden

Can Alcoa Get Canned? (NYSE: AA)

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) is set to report its third quarter earnings after the markets are closed today. The stock has performed poorly in the last year, falling over 24%. The company has not been a good indicator of the economy in recent months. Even when Alcoa announced a “good” quarter within the last year, the stock rallied slightly and the plummeted over time.

Alcoa specializes in manufacturing and producing aluminum products. However, a better way to play any good news that comes out of Alcoa, is to buy any other materials stock. When Alcoa beats estimates it tends to bring up its entire sector, including the other aluminum and steel stocks. A company such as US Steel has even outperformed Alcoa on good earnings. Alcoa is not the best long term play, as it has disappointed investors so often. When the material stocks get wet, Alcoa seems to rust the most.

Alcoa Stands for First

Alcoa will once again lead off earnings season, when they release their Q3 results on October 7. Alcoa is one of the leading aluminum suppliers in the world. Its products include precision castings and industrial fasteners among other things.

Alcoa stock has had the second worst performance in the Dow, for stocks that have remained in the Dow since March 2007. Among the worst performers are General Electric which dropped from $40 to 16 and Bank of America which has dropped from $53 to 13. Most of the other stocks in the Dow Jones stocks have had better results.

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Alcoa Inc. (Alcoa) is engaged in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina combined. The Company’s products are used worldwide in aircraft, automobiles, commercial transportation, packaging, building and construction, oil and gas, defense, and industrial applications. Alcoa is a global company operating in 31 countries. Based upon the country where the point of sale occurred, the United States (U.S.) and Europe generated 52% and 27%, respectively, of Alcoa’s sales during the year ended December 31, 2009. In addition, Alcoa has investments and operating activities in Australia, Brazil, China, Iceland, Guinea, Russia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Alcoa’s operations consist of four worldwide segments: Alumina, Primary Metals, Flat-Rolled Products, and Engineered Products and Solutions. In August 2010, the Company acquired Traco, a maker of windows and doors for the commercial building and construction market.

Down Jones Industrial Average

At early morning most stocks are declining on the Dow Jones. Bank of America is down over 6%. BAC reported a profit of nearly 3 billion and stated that non performing loans declined as charge-offs of loans gone sour fell. Traders sent BAC lower on skepticism of their ability to execute in the future. General Electric reported a profit of over 3 billion. GE's top line growth fell from the previous year which is in focus today by the markets. The markets have sent GE shares spinning 3%. Alcoa is down another 1.3% today in trading news. There is a quiet whisper on Wall Street that Alcoa will be replaced in the Dow Jones. Pfizer is currently level on the day with a quiet whisper on their ability to develop new drugs. This has sent Merck tumbling .36% as a new push by Pfizer means declining sales for Merck.

Al KO'd

Alcoa reported a profit of income from continuing operations of $137 million or $0.13 per share for their second quarter of 2010. Revenue for the company was up 6% from the first quarter. Alcoa did this despite a lower price of aluminum than in the first quarter. Signs of Alcoa benefiting from the U.S. economy improving are obvious. In many markets Alcoa saw strong revenue growth from the previous quarter with packaging (+17%), commercial transportation (+10%), building and construction (+9%), distribution (+5%), industrial gas turbines (+5%) and aerospace (+5%).

The CEO stated "We improved profits and revenues and maintained our solid cash position,” said Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Chairman and CEO. “The top and bottom line growth was driven by higher volumes from stronger end markets and continued gains from our productivity programs."


Recently Alcoa was trading up 1.4% to $11.02