Blumenthal’s Career One Of Producing Winners

To win one state soccer championship is a significant achievement in any high school coaching career. Twelve, an even dozen, is phenomenal!

Only one program, and one coach, has ever put 12 state boys soccer championship trophies in the school trophy case.

Blacksburg High School is the school and Shelley Blumenthal is the coach.

The Bruins made it an even dozen with a 3-0 victory over Lynchburg E.C. Glass High School for the VHSL Class AA title.

The victory closed out an undefeated season at 21-0-2.

Blument- hal has been there for 11 of those 12 championship seasons. He [show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]was also there for six other seasons when his Bruins reached the championship game and finished as the state runnerup. That’s 18 times in the state title game in 25 seasons.

Winning state championships for the boys soccer team at Blackburg is more than an accomplishment. It has become a tradition!

A native of New Jersey, Blumenthal came south to play college soccer at Lynchburg College (1975-1982). He came because several of his former high school teammates at Tenafly HS were playing at Lynchburg.

He was an oustanding player on outstanding teams. He played for the late Coach Bill Schellenberger, a member of the NSCAA Hall of Fame. He credited Shellenberger for stoking his interest in becoming an educator and coach.

“Coach Shellenberger was an extraordinary role model and probably had the greatest impact (the mentor) on (my) choosing to coach soccer and chose education as a professional,” said Blumenthal, in a Lynchburg College Alumni Spotlight article a year ago.”

He’s done it at Blackburg for 21 years. He actually left for a year to become the Guidance Coordinator at the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School of Science and Technology, missing the 2008 season. He returned to Blacksburg after that year, and led the Bruins to the state championship in 2009.

Over his 21 seasons, the Bruins have only suffered 31 losses, as Blumenthal has posted a 416-31-16 record.

The Bruins didn’t make it to the title game a year ago. They lost in the semifinals to Tuscarora, a second year school. In fact, they had not won since 2010.

This year they shutout Tuscarora 4-0 in the semifinals. They didn’t take their foot off the gas this year. The Bruins showed determination to close the deal in 2013.

“It’s interesting because the past two years, you don’t always get your best performance,” said Blumenthal in a roanoke.com post-game article. “Sometime you’re unfortunate. Sometimes the opponent is that much better than you.”

“I do think that our guys were really motivated this year. Really, really motivated to be the best that they could be.”