CAN YOU SAY ROUT?
BY: DAVE COX, August 29, 2006, Richlands News Press
GATE CITY, Va- Richlands rode the arm of quarterback Justin McCracken to a 48-14 spanking of Gate City before a packed house at Legion Field last Friday night.
Caleb Jennings set the tone for the night by returning the Blue Devils first punt of the non-district game into an 87 yard touchdown early in the first period. Gate City (0-1, 0-0 Lonesome Pine District) answered with a score of its own and the two teams traded a second touchdown each in a wild and wooly first quarter of football to start the 2006 regular season for both squads.
McCracken tossed a pair of touchdowns to Austin Fuller, one to Jennings and another to C.J. Arms. In addition, the RHS signal caller hit Fuller for a two-point conversion pass. Jennings added a seven yard rushing touchdown to the Blues attack and reserve running back Kheven Schweingruber scored a fourth quarter TD as Tornado head coach Greg Mance emptied his bench starting about midway through the third quarter. Zach Pruett connected on four extra point kicks for Richlands (1-0, 0-0 Southwest District).
Gate City played well early, tying the visitors at 7-7 and 14-14 before Richlands posted 34 unanswered points the rest of the evening. All of the Blue Devils' points came in the first period on two touchdown passes from GC sophomore quarterback Tihlee Anderson.
The win was the 20th regular season victory for RHS.
Before the sizable crowd could get settled very well in the seats, Jennings' first touch of the football season turned into a memorable one! The RHS defense stopped Gate City in its tracks, forcing a punt from the Devils' 44 yard line. Jennings corralled the football at his 13, running away from his goal line. He retreated inside the five, reversed his field and went to his left. He dodged a couple of would be tackler and turned up the left sidelines. As Jennings sped to about the GC 20, he seemed to be cornered by a tackler. Jennings stopped, turned to his right and left that tackler eating turf as he waltzed into the end zone untouched. Pruett converted his first extra point of the season to give the Blues their first lead at 7-0 with 9:40 left in the first quarter. The fun was just beginning!
What happened next left both Richlands and Gate City fans bewildered! After a running play was stopped, Anderson threw downfield to an open receiver. The ball sailed through his hands and just missed being intercepted by a Richlands defender. It then found its way into the waiting hands of a wide open Jordan Estepp who set sail for a 65-yard score. Ked Byrd added the PAT to tie things at 7-7 with 8:32 remaining in the opening period.
McCracken picked up a first down on a 16 yard run before the Blues suffered a lost fumble on the next play, but the Richlands "D" was up to the task and the Devils were forced to punt again. This time the Blues were more sure-handed. Jennings reeled off a 22 yard run and after personal foul penalties by each team, he caulked up another 10 yards to the Gate City 43. McCracken picked out an open receiver (there was more than one). Fuller patiently waited in the far left end zone for the 43-yard scoring pass to put the Blues ahead again. Pruett's kick was true for a 14-7 RHS advantage with 4:26 left in the first chapter.
Gate City had one last energy burst left in it, but that was all! Anderson completed a 7-play, 55 yard drive with a 14 yard scoring toss to Estepp. Byrd kicked the tying point to set the score at 14-14 with 1:35 remaining in the first stanza. Then it was lights out for the City!
"We thought we had the edge in speed, so most of our runs were outside on the sweep," said Mance. "Gate City's pretty good. They're big and they're physical up front. I thought Justin (McCracken) threw the ball extremely well and made some great decisions. Our line protected and what can you say about our wide outs? Austin Fuller had a great game. C. J. (Arms) and Ben Addison played well."
It took only three plays for the explosive Blues' offense to strike for a third time. Jennings romped for 22 yards and McCracken peeled off 20 more to the Gate City 15 yard line. McCracken found Fuller wide open again to put the visitors ahead to stay. The extra point sailed wide, but the Blues were up 20-14 with 11:53 to play in the second frame.
A four-play drive yielded the next score for the Blues. McCracken hit Ben Addison on a nice 26-yard pass to the City seven. Jennings took care of those yards on the next play with 10:09 left before halftime. McCracken drilled a pass to Fuller for the two-point conversion and a 28-14 edge for RHS.
McCracken came up with his third touchdown pass of the night on a little screen to Jennings on a 19-yard scoring play with 2:54 remaining until the break. The drive was set up by a 43-yard punt return by Addison. Pruett added the PAT kick and the Blues were off and running at 35-14.
Special teams came up huge again for Richlands when Shane Wicks raced 48 yards with the second half kickoff to give his team great field position at the Gate City 34 yard line. Four plays later, McCracken nailed C. J. Arms with a 14-yard touchdown pass. Pruett kicked the extra point to make it a 42-14 game with 9:42 left in the third quarter.
Mance flooded the field with reserves, but little changed. Kheven Schweingruber wrapped up the evening's scoring with a nifty 17 yard scoring run with 4:07 left to play. That set the final score at 48-14.
The Blues mustered 196 yards rushing and held the Devils to 73. Jennings picked up 80 yards rushing on just nine carries. Schweingruber added 67 on seven totes. McCracken ran for 32 and completed 7-of-9 passes for 127 yards. Anderson threw for 114 yards on 15 attempts and seven completions. He was intercepted once by D. J. Simmons. McCracken was not intercepted. Simmons and Chad Adams each had a fumble recovery for the Blues.
Richlands held a 17-11 edge in first downs.
"I thought that Derek McKnight, Chase Fuller, Brandon Compton and those guys that have been hurt came back tonight and played extremely well," said Mance. "Jake Goforth, Jason Shepherd and Roy Christian, just to name a few, had a great game."
