Giles: Winged victory

By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — The single wing continues to rule.

Brian Mann ran for 228 yards and four touchdowns, and Giles outscored Graham 28-12 after the break to defeat the G-Men 42-19 on a chilly, windy and wet Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.

Not only did Giles improve to 4-0, but the Spartans have won 31 of their last 32 games.

“I haven’t even thought about that,” said Giles head coach Jeff Williams, who led the Spartans to a 15-0 record and the 2013 2A state title. “We have been blessed, we have been blessed with some great players over the past four or five years and it has really paid off for us.”

While Mann ran for scores from 10, 17, 49 and 3 yards — along with a 68-yard punt return — the speedy senior quickly deflected the credit to the offensive line, led by Austin Cunningham, Camryn Perkins and Ben Reynolds.

“Our offensive line did a tremendous job, I wouldn’t have done anything if it wasn’t for them,” Mann said. “I broke a few big runs in the second half, but the holes were amazing, it was kind of hard not to hit the holes.”

Graham (1-3) trailed just 14-7 at halftime, but lost talented junior Jamorya’ Cousin, who tried to play through an injured thigh prior to the break, but his departure limited the G-Men on both sides of the ball.

Yet, it was the Giles running game that dominated, finishing with 397 yards on the ground, and 270 of it came in the second half.

“We was in the game and played hard,” Graham head coach Tony Palmer said. “Our tackling got bad in the second half and that is what really busted the game open, we have got to keep fighting.

“Sometimes it is hard when you have got guys and you are in the fight and something bad things happens and it seems like you plug one hole in a dam and then another hole pops open. We are going to stay with it and we are going to keep fighting and we are going to get better.”

Giles took the early lead when Mann picked up a punt, got loose down the right sideline and dashed 68 yards for the touchdown. Max Riley added one of his six extra points for the 7-0 lead. Cousin’s 23-yard run was a key play on Graham’s next possession, with Roman Workman connecting with DeQuan Booker on a 4th and 2 from the 6 with a touchdown pass.

The extra point by Logan Surface knotted the score at 7-7 with 13 seconds left in the opening period.

“Hats off to Graham, they have got a tough team, and they are a team that hangs in there for a while,” Williams said. “If you don’t get in there and get after them they are going to hang around and beat some people.”

The single wing is known for sustained drives, and the Spartans got the first of several on their next possession, driving 64 yards on 12 plays, with Mann scoring from 10 yards out, eluding a hobbled Cousin, who was slow in getting up and then limped off the field.

He continued to play until halftime, finishing with 86 yards on 13 carries. Israel Harris replaced him, and had 81 yards on his own. Cousin was also missed on defense by the G-Men.

“(Cousin) 17 is a great football player and I hate that he got injured. He was a heck of a football player, he would have made a big difference,” said Mann, who had 88 yards at halftime, and another 140 after the break. “No. 7 (Harris), he wasn’t no slouch either, they were both pretty good running backs, we just had a good game all around.”

The score remained 14-7 at the break after Riley missed a field goal attempt for the Spartans, who were out-gained 150-127 in the opening half.

“We made some adjustments in there at halftime,” Williams said. “They were showing some different looks up front so we got adjusted to all of them and just came out and played lights out in the second half.”

That was led by the offensive line, and a eye-popping run by Patrick Beidleman, who appeared to be stopped for a short gain on Giles’ first possession, but broke loose and dashed 46 yards to the Graham 12. He finished with 92 yards in the game.

“That was a huge run,” Mann said. “That really set the momentum for the second half, it got our offense clicking.”

Mann could score from 17 on a run around the right side, also refusing to go down despite being hit numerous times on the play.

“That is just one thing I never like doing, I hate seeing a running back quit,” he said “I just don’t want to be one of them running backs that quits so I never stop, I always keep driving and just hope for the best.”

“He is not a very big guy, but he runs hard,” added Palmer. “You have got to tackle that guy, we were reaching inside of wrapping up and that is the result of the game.”

Giles’ defense was also stingy, led by Perkins, who had a pair of sacks in the third quarter, one of which forced a short punt to the Giles’ 49. It took one play for Mann run to the right and dash 49 yards to the end zone for a 28-7 lead with 5:12 left in the third period.

“Perkins was playing good in there defensively, especially in that second half, they got a little fired up and got going,” Williams said. “Like I told them, if we can get a score on them starting out we can get this thing rolling, but the kids just played hard.”

Graham clawed within two scores when Workman connected with Taymon Cooke from 49 yards, and Harris followed with a 7-yard run to paydirt, but the Spartans scored twice to put it away in the final quarter.

“We always try to dominate the offensive and defensive lines and I felt like we did that tonight and that really helped with the time of possession,” Mann said. “Once we got up 14, 21 points ahead of them, they just couldn’t come back.”

Brandon Chapman had 21 of his 54 yards on a scoring run, and Mann added a three-yard for his fifth touchdown of the game. Mann attempted the only two passes for Giles, but both were incomplete.

“They were all running the ball in there, and that offensive line and those blocking backs, they just came in there and started pouring it on a little bit,” said Williams, who’s Spartans will host Galax on Friday. “We made good adjustments and broke some big runs on them which is what we needed to do because this is a dangerous team, and you have got to get up on a team like that.”

Graham’s final score came on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Ben Meade to Cooke. Workman threw for 125 yards, while Meade had 72. Cooke led the G-Men with seven receptions for 131 yards. Booker had six for 39.

“They put long drives together, we had them in 3rd down and then we would get a penalty and not tackle,” said Palmer, who’s G-Men had 403 yards on offense, including 211 on the ground and 192 through the air. “It is a bunch of things, we have just got to fix it, that is all I can say about that.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the G-Men, who will travel to unbeaten Abingdon next week.

“Abingdon is a good team, we have already looked at them, they have got some nice tall receivers and they play hard as well,” Palmer said. “We have got our work cut out for us, but still there is a lot of ball to be played.”

bwoodson@bdtonline.com /

Twitter @bdtwoodson

at Mitchell Stadium

Giles.................................7 7 14 14 — 42

Graham............................7 0 6 6 — 19

Scoring

First Quarter

GL—Brian Mann 68 punt return (Max Riley kick) 6:01

GR—DeQuan Booker 6 pass from Roman Workman (Logan Surface kick) :13

Second Quarter

GL—Mann 10 run (Riley kick) 6:37

Third Quarter

GL—Mann 17 run (Riley kick) 7:26

GL—Mann 49 run (Riley kick) 5:12

GR—Israel Harris 6 run (Surface kick) 3:13

Fourth Quarter

GL—Brandon Chapman 21 run (Riley kick) 11:25

GL—Mann 3 run (Riley kick) 4:24

GR—Taymon Cooke 31 pass from Ben Meade (pass failed) 3:20

———

Team Statistics

First downs: GL 22; GR 23. Rush-yards: GL 47-397; GR 38-211. Pass yards: GL 0; GR 192. Comp-Att-Int: GL 0-2-0; GR 17-32-0. Fumbles-Lost: GL 0-0; GR 1-1. Penalty-yards: GL 6-50; GR 4-35. Punts-Avg: GL 2-28.0; GR 3-21.0.

———

Individual Statistics

Rushing: GL Brian Mann 28-228, Patrick Beidleman 6-92, Brandon Chapman 10-54, Anthony Meadows 2-17, Conner Martin 1-4; Zane Williams 1-2, Logan Thompson 1-2, Ryan Beidleman 1-(-2); GR Jamorya’ Cousin 13-86, Israel Harris 6-81, Ben Meade 2-23, Roman Workman 12-21.

Passing: GL Brian Mann 0-2-0-0-0; GR Roman Workman 12-24-1 td-125-0, Ben Meade 5-8-1 td-72-0.

Receiving: GL none. GR Taymon Cooke 7-131, DeQuan Booker 6-39, Cameron Allen 2-11, Paris Ballard 1-6, Ben Meade 1-2.

Turnovers: GL Brandon Chapman fr; GR none.