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by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter
Bluefield
scored two touchdowns in its first two
games.
It scored three touchdowns in each of the first
three
quarters Friday night.
Bluefield’s offense came to life in a big way
as the
Beavers thumped Grundy, 60-7, in interstate play
Friday at Mitchell Stadium.
The Beavers wasted little time, scoring on the
first
play of the first half and the first play of the
second half. Bluefield (2-1) amassed 542 yards of
total offense and put exactly 20 points on the board
for three straight quarters against a young and
inexperienced Grundy squad.
On the first play of the game, the Beavers’
J.T.
Powell scored from 65 yards out on a wingback reverse.
It took all of 15 seconds.
"The first play of the game made the
offense know that
we can come out and we can make things happen," said
Bluefield quarterback Eric McClanahan, who was 9-of-12
passing for 211 yards and four touchdowns.
McClanahan threw TD passes of 58 and 27 yards,
respectively, to Ansel Ponder, and a five-yarder to
Matthew Carter in the first half. His only second-half
throw was a 75-yard scoring strike to Powell early in
the third period.
Grundy (0-3) got a first-half touchdown for the
first
time all season. Jimmy Ashby took a fade from Kaleb
Smith and pulled away from a pair of defenders on the
right sideline for a 50-yard touchdown pass.
Early in the game, the Golden Wave seemed
to be on the
verge of getting more. One promising Wave drive
stalled near midfield. A number of Bluefield’s biggest
plays, meanwhile, seemed to come right after a good
defensive play by Grundy.
"We’ve got to make plays when we
get a chance to make
plays," Grundy coach Greg Rowe said. "Either the back
doesn’t hit the hole or turn up (field) soon enough,
or we drop a pass.
"We’d make two or three good plays
on defense and then
give up a big play. The last two weeks we’ve just
played two pretty good teams that we can’t do a lot
with right now." For more of the story, see the print
edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.
For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer,
call 276-935-2123 today.
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by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter
Twin Valley took its
first lead all season, and it
took a lead into the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t
enough as Castlewood rallied for a 19-7 win over the
Panthers Friday night at Castlewood High School.
A 17-yard touchdown run by Ben Hale
and a 73-yard
scamper by Matt Phillips helped the Blue Devils
overcome a 7-6 deficit in the final period. Phillips
finished with 213 yards on 15 carries, including a
46-yard TD run in the second quarter.
Wyatt Justus ran for 106 yards on 27
carries and
scored a touchdown for Twin Valley (0-3). Justus’s
one-yard scoring run and an extra point kick by Hank
Keen staked the Panthers to a 7-6 lead in the second
period.
"Wyatt ran good," Twin Valley coach
Charlie Vandyke
said. "Garrett Horne played a real good ballgame.
Chris Campbell had three fumble
recoveries and Matthew
Baldwin played well.
"And we didn’t make any mistakes
on special teams like
we had been. We definitely played the best ballgame
we’ve played so far. We looked more like what I
thought we would. The kids played as hard as I’ve seen
them all year."
Horne made 13 tackles and
intercepted a pass on
defense as Twin Valley kept Castlewood’s outstanding
running game in check until the fourth quarter.
Baldwin led Twin Valley receivers with
four catches
for 67 yards.
A key penalty here and a turnover
there, however,
prevented the Panthers from adding to their lead.
"Offensively, we were inside the
(Castlewood) 20-yard
line three times and didn’t get anything out of it,"
Vandyke said. "We had an
off-sides penalty one time
and an interception another time. That really hurt."
Phillips and Shane McCall each had
12 tackles for
Castlewood (3-1). The Panthers forced four fumbles and
five turnovers overall. Twin Valley turned it over
four times.
For more of the story, see the print
edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.
For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer,
call 276-935-2123 today. |
