TORNADO BLANKS BULLDOGS
BY: DAVE COX, October 2, 2006, Richlands News Press
RICHLANDS, Va.- The Richlands football team rolled up 500 yards of total offense as the undefeated Blues thrashed county rival Tazewell 61-0 in a Southwest District encounter at Ernie Hicks Stadium last Friday night. It was a game in which everything went the Blues' way and nothing turned out right for the injury plagued Bulldogs! Tazewell played the game without the services of running back and kicker Eric McDaniel. Several other Bulldogs were also banged up, but did play.
Tazewell (3-2, 0-2 Southwest District) suffered five turnovers and every one led to a Tornado score. Richlands gathered nine total touchdowns on 11 offensive possessions and was so dominating on defense that the Bulldogs ran just one play in Blues' territory all night. That came in the fourth quarter and the Bulldogs lost the football on a fumble on the play. The 'Dawgs got inside RHS territory on the final play of the second period, but time ran out before they got a play off from there.
Tornado quarterback Justin McCracken continued his spectacular season by throwing three touchdown passes and running in one score on the ground in just over two quarters of play. McCracken now has 18 touchdown passes on the year and has scored six times on runs. He threw for all of his 241 yards in the first half and never attempted a second half pass on the one series that he was in the contest in the third period.
Austin Fuller grabbed a pair of touchdown passes and ran in one score for the Blues. Fuller finished with 144 yards in receptions on five catches, all in the first half. He also ran for 48 yards on just two carries. One of those carries yielded 44 yards on a fake punt in the second stanza.
RHS tailback Caleb Jennings romped for 102 yards on 14 carries and scored four touchdowns, three rushing and one on a pass reception.
Reserve quarterback Joel Elswick scored a fourth quarter rushing TD. Connor McCall kicked seven extra points on the night. Richlands picked up 23 first downs in the game.
On defense, Shane Wicks, D. J. Simmons and Brett Clayburne each intercepted a pass and Joey Fletcher and Chuck Payne each recovered a Tazewell fumble.
Richlands (6-0, 3-0 SWD) managed 260 yards rushing while holding the Bulldogs to only 49. Tazewell (3-2, 0-2 SWD) was 3-of-13 passing for 19 yards. McCracken attempted 17 passes, completed 11 and was intercepted once. The win was the 25th consecutive regular season victory for Richlands.
Tazewell picked up the first of its three first downs in its initial offensive possession to start the game, but two plays later disaster struck when Simmons picked off his sixth interception of the year to give the Blues the football on the Tazewell 40 yard line after a 25-yard return of the steal. It took just two plays for the Tornado to light up the scoreboard. Jennings ran for nine yards before McCracken hit Austin Fuller for a 31 yards scoring pass. Fuller dodged several Tazewell defenders on his way to pay dirt. McCall nailed the extra point kick to put RHS ahead 7-0 with 9:37 left in the first quarter.
Tazewell ran just two plays before fumbling the football. Fletcher fell on the pigskin at the THS 31. McCracken lofted a 26-yard pass to Fuller and took care of the remaining five yards himself on two and three yard runs. The second got him into the end zone with 7:41 remaining in the first stanza. McCall added the PAT for a 14-0 Tornado edge.
Score number three took only three plays for the Blues and started on their own 13 yard line. McCracken found Ben Addison on a 26-yard pass and Jennings ripped off a 10 yard run before McCracken threw his second TD pass to Fuller. The play covered 51 yards. McCall added his third extra point to give RHS a 21-0 lead with 4:31 left in the second period.
Richlands put on a 10-play, 70 yard march for its next tally. Jennings ran the final three yards for the score with 6:33 left to play in the second quarter. McCall's kick was true for a 28-0 Blues' margin.
Another Tazewell turnover set up the next Tornado tally. Wicks intercepted a Bulldog pass and returned it 29 yards to the Tazewell 19. After a 16-yard McCracken pass completion to Wicks, Jennings jumped over defenders from three yards away for his second score of the evening. McCall added the extra point and it was 35-0 with 3:54 left until the break.
The final first half touchdown was set up on a fake punt from the Richlands 44 yard line. Fuller ran the play all the way to the Tazewell 12 before he was stopped. Jennings ran for four yards and caught an 8-yard pass from McCracken with just 13 second left before the half. McCall's kick was blocked, but the Blues were ahead 41-0.
The Richlands starting backfield ran just one series to open the third period and Jennings covered 68 yards on four runs for his fourth touchdown on the night. McCall tacked on the extra point to give his team a 48-0 lead with 9:42 to go in the third chapter.
Tazewell suffered its third interception of the game next and Clayburne returned it 43 yards to the Tazewell 5-yard line.
Fuller came in to replace McCracken at quarterback and handed the football to Addison for a 1-yard gain. Fuller called his own number for a 4-yard touchdown with 7:01 left on a continuously running clock. McCall kicked his seventh extra point and the Blues were ahead 55-0.
The final RHS score came on a 3-yard run by third string QB Joel Elswick with 1:33 left in the game and was set up be a fumble recovery by Payne. Elswick lined his team up in a 2-point conversion formation, but just fell down with the football to keep the score at 61-0.
"We feel bad about (the final score), but I don't want that to take away from what those kids did in the first half," said Richlands head coach Greg Mance. "I don't feel bad about how we played. You can't ask your JV players to go out there and not try to score. They practice hard, just as hard as the varsity players."
RHS will host Marion Friday in its homecoming game at Ernie Hicks Stadium. THS hosts Virginia High in its homecoming game.
Email: berry1974@adelphia.net
