Former local coach wins state title in Virginia

Former Thousand Islands football coach Richard Morgan led Oscar F. Smith High School in Chesapeake, Va., to the state's AAA Division 6 championship last month.

Morgan's Tigers defeated Osbourn, 54-24, in the title game on Dec. 6 at Virginia Tech. Oscar Smith also won the Eastern Region Division 6 title and finished the season with an unblemished 15-0 record. It was the school's first state football championship. The Tigers were ranked seventh in USA Today's Super 25 high school poll at season's end.

Morgan was the head coach at Thousand Islands from 1999-2000. The Vikings hadn't won a Section 3 game in three years before his arrival. Thousands Islands won two games in Morgan's first season, and they finished tied for first place with General Brown and Lowville in Section 3's Class C North division with a 5-1 record the following year.

After his two years at Thousand Islands, Morgan coached at Fairport High School in Rochester for one season. He accepted the head coaching position at Oscar Smith in 2002.