BY: DAVE COX, September 19, 2006, Richlands News Press ABINGDON, Va.- It was almost total domination! The Richlands football team equaled its season-high point output last Friday with a 53-0 non-district romp over the Abingdon Falcons. RHS quarterback Justin McCracken had a field day against the Falcons' defense throwing for three touchdowns while running in three more scores as the senior signal caller racked up 225 yards passing on 15 attempts and 13 completions in the air and 77 yards on just 11 carries on the ground. McCracken hit Caleb Jennings for two TD passes in the first half of the game and found Ben Addison for a third quarter touchdown toss on his only pass attempt in the second half. McCracken threw for 207 yards in the first half alone. He had a variety of targets, hitting eight different receivers for yardage. McCracken was so accurate only two of his 15 pass attempts went awry. Jennings ran for one touchdown in addition to his two touchdown catches. He had one punt return for an apparent touchdown nullified on a holding penalty. Jennings finished with 132 yards rushing on 15 carries as the Blues posted 237 rushing yards in the game. As has been the pattern for Richlands in every game so far this season, the Tornado sent reserve players into the game in the third period. Those same players finished out the contest and were quite effective. Reserve running back Kheven Sweingruber scored the Blues' final touchdown in the fourth frame on a three yard run that was set up on a fumble recovery by Roy Christian. D. J. Simmons, Brett Clayburne and Austin Fuller each had an interception for RHS. The win was the 23rd consecutive regular season victory for Richlands (4-0, 1-0 Southwest District). The Blues' defense was so stingy that Abingdon managed only 12 offensive plays in Richlands territory the entire game and two of those plays were punts. RHS had to punt just once all night. "I thought we played really well tonight," said Richlands head coach Greg Mance. "Offensively we did some good things. We had a couple of fumbles, but hey, those were effort plays, so you can't fault the kids. They're just going to have to learn to get (the ball) down." It didn't take long for the Tornado to set down in the Falcons' nest! After holding Abingdon (2-2, 0-1 Highlands District) to just three plays and a punt, McCracken connected on a 22 yard pass play to Austin Fuller to the AHS 4-yard line. Jennings took over from that point, scooting in for the Blues' first score. The extra point kick was blocked for about the only highlight for Abingdon all night. It was 6-0 with 9:52 still left in the first quarter. Richlands surprised everyone by recovering an on-side kick at the Falcon 43. Seven plays later, McCracken called his own number for a 3-yard touchdown run. He then lifted a conversion pass to Fuller who made a leaping grab for a 14-0 lead with 7:29 remaining in the opening period. Fuller finished with 56 receiving yards in the game on three catches. Abingdon failed to move the football again, but Richlands didn't! An 8-yard run by McCracken and a 35-yard pass to Jennings yielded six more points on the Blues' side of the scoreboard. The extra point kick failed, but it was 20-0 with 5:08 to play in the initial chapter. Things calmed down until about midway through the second stanza when McCracken hung up another TD pass to Jennings from five yards out. Connor McCall connected on his first extra point of the evening to give RHS a 27-0 edge with 7:19 left in the first half. Fuller intercepted a pass to stop the next Abingdon drive, but the visitors fumbled the football back three plays later. The Falcons were forced to punt again and Jennings ran the football back 32 yards for a touchdown, but the Blues were called for holding on the play. The Tornado shrugged off the penalty and McCracken bolted into the end zone three plays later from the three to make it 33-0 with 1:02 left until the break. The PAT was no good. Fuller ran the second half kickoff back 21 yards to set up McCracken's final touchdown pass of the night. It was an 18-yard offering to Addison in the left corner of the end zone. McCall tacked on the extra point kick for a 40-0 advantage for the Blues. McCracken added one more touchdown run, this one from two yards away with 1:16 left in the third frame. McCall's kick was true for a 47-0 lead. That ended the night's work for most of the Tornado starters, but Richlands was not finished. Sweingruber added the final score for RHS with 7:05 remaining in the game on a 3-yard run. The extra point kick was no good and it was 53-0. The Richlands defense held the Falcons to -5 yards rushing and 120 yards passing on 33 attempts and 12 completions. The visitors posted 16 first downs to eight for the Falcons. "Abingdon's got a good football team. Their quarterback is pretty solid with good wide outs and that (Duran) Carson kid at running back," said Mance. "We're getting better and better defensively. We held a pretty good team scoreless tonight." The Blues venture to Mitchell Stadium in Bluefield this Friday for a big Southwest District showdown with the Graham G-Men. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
