RICHLANDS ROMPS TO 69-6 WIN OVER LEBANON

BY: DAVE COX, November 10, 2006, Richlands News Press
RICHLANDS--If, as they say, records are made to be broken, last Friday night was custom made for the Richlands football team as the Blues finished their second straight undefeated regular season with a resounding 69-6 non-district victory over the visiting Lebanon Pioneers at Ernie Hicks Stadium. It was the 29th straight regular season victory for Richlands and that mark now stands as the longest in Virginia after the two teams that were ahead of the Blues in consecutive regular season wins both lost last Friday night.
Three Tornado players set new school records and they all did it in the first quarter of the game, a quarter in which Richlands (10-0, 4-0 Southwest District) posted 28 unanswered points. Tornado running back Caleb Jennings added heavily to his current single season points record by scoring four touchdowns. Jennings finished the regular season with 192 points and 1,288 rushing yards.
The first record to fall Friday was senior quarterback Justin McCracken’s. He completed a 22-yard pass to C. J. Arms that put him past his own mark of 1,701 yards set last season as a junior. After Friday’s contest, McCracken had 1,886 yards passing on the year. He threw one touchdown pass Friday, putting his season total at 25 so far with the playoffs still ahead.
The second record set Friday was by kicker Connor McCall. He broke the old school record of 40 points by a kicker. That record was set in 1992 by Josh Perkins. McCall broke the record on his third extra point of the night. He finished with nine extra point kicks out of a possible 10 Friday to give him 47 in the current campaign.
Austin Fuller broke Rob Stanton’s record for most receiving yardage in a season on his second catch of the evening Friday. Stanton set the old record last season with 737 yards. Fuller finished the regular 2006 season with 794 receiving yards. Fuller caught four passes Friday for 94 yards.
McCracken passed for 209 yards on 16 attempts and 11 completions against Lebanon Friday. He suffered one interception. McCracken ran in three touchdowns Friday.
The Blues rushed for 279 yards as a team and Jennings picked up 165 of those on 13 carries. He also caught one 16-yard pass.
Ben Addison hauled in a McCracken pass for a 17-yard touchdown.
Third string quarterback Joel Elswick added a touchdown run of 15 yards in the third period and Austin Cordle intercepted a Lebanon pass and returned it 45 yards for a score in the fourth stanza. Ethain Keene had an interception for the Blues and Brett Clayburne, Shane Wicks and Kris Null each recovered a fumble in the game for the Blues as Richlands forced Lebanon into five turnovers.
“Our kids extremely well again in all three phases (of the game),” said RHS head coach Greg Mance. “The defense gave us a short field and the special teams did a great job. McCracken threw for 200 yards in the first half and Jennings made a couple of runs that should make the highlight tape.”
The record party started early for the Blues. After allowing Lebanon (8-2) to pick up its initial first down, the RHS defense held and forced a punt. The kick traveled just 24 yards and gave Richlands excellent field position at the Pioneer 44. Four plays later Jennings was standing in the end zone with his first touchdown of the evening off of an 8-yard run. McCall kicked the extra point to give his team the lead for good at 7-0 with 7:37 left in the first quarter.
The Blues started their next drive at the same spot as their first, the Lebanon 44, but this one took a few more plays to yield results. Along the way, a school record was set. It came on a 22-yard pass from McCracken to Arms. With the throw McCracken broke his old record of most passing yards in a season. McCracken added two more passes in the series, a 10-yard toss to Matt Davis and a 16-yard completion to Jennings. McCracken called his own number on 5-yard scoring run with 3:44 left in the first frame. McCall tied the school record for most points by a kicker when he drilled the extra point to make it a 14-0 game.
It took McCall and the Blues just 20 seconds to establish the new kicking record! McCall executed an on-side kick and recovered it himself at the Lebanon 49-yard line. McCracken tried to hand the football off on a broken play, but had to run it himself. He raced 49 yards untouched into the end zone with 3:24 remaining in the opening period. McCall’s kick was true. The Blues were ahead 21-0 and McCall had himself a record!
Jennings reeled off a nice 48-yard run for the next Blues’ score with only 1:29 left in the first stanza. The score was set up by a fumble recovery by Clayburne. McCall’s kick made it 28-0.
Another record was established just prior to the end of the first quarter when Fuller grabbed an 18-yard pass, which pushed him past Stanton’s old mark for the season. Richlands scored on the fifth play of that drive on a 6-yard run by Jennings with 10:45 left until halftime. McCall’s kick was no good for his only miss of the night.
Already holding a commanding 34-0 edge, the Blues took only 21 second to add more! Wicks came up with a loose football at the Lebanon 17 and McCracken drilled a 17-yard scoring pass to Addison on the following play. McCall made it 41-0 with 10:24 left until the break.
The final score of the first half came on a 1-yard McCracken carry with 3:24 left in the second quarter. McCall added the PAT to make it 48-0.
Lebanon came out in the third period and scored its lone touchdown after an intercepted pass by Michael Cooper. Pioneer running back Skyler Musick scooted 32 yards to the end zone on the next play. The extra point kick was no good and the score stood at 48-6 with 9:17 left in the third period.
It took the Blues less than two minutes to answer Lebanon’s tally! Jennings raced 48 yards for his fourth TD of the night. McCall kicked the extra point to give the Tornado a 55-6 advantage with 7:55 left in the third chapter.
Richlands reserves flooded the field, but it made little difference. Elswick broke a 15-yard run for a score with 1:23 left in the third quarter and McCall returned to the field for the extra point to make it a 62-6 game.
A 45-yard interception return by Cordle with 3:35 to play accounted for the Blues’ final touchdown of the evening. McCall sealed the deal with his kick to set the final score at 69-6.
McCracken finished with 73 yards rushing in the contest as the Blues picked up 20 first downs on the night. Arms caught four passes for 72 yards.
Defensively, Clayburne led his Blues with seven tackles. Romulo Fajardo had four, Null 4 1/2 , Chad Adams 3 1/2 and Derek Jackson three. Brett Tatum and Kaleb Hamilton each had a sack.
Musick became only the second running back to post over 100 yards rushing on Richlands this season. He finished with 114 yards on 21 carries.
“We’re glad for those players who broke the records tonight, but our main goal is to get a (win),” Mance said. “This group is one of the hardest working groups we’ve had here.”
The Blues have a week off before hosting the Virginia High Bearcats in the first round of the Region IV playoffs on November 17 or 18.