G-Men arrest Bears
Bland County (14) vs. Graham (62)
Written: Oct 23, 2015
By BILL ARCHER
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — The Graham G-Men took the opening kickoff all the way to the house and never looked back, up-ending the visiting Bland County Bears 62-14 in a Mountain Empire District contest on Friday night.
Graham’s Taymon Cooke fielded the opening kickoff at his own 20, darted to his left and rambled up the home sidelines all the way to the scoreboard end of Mitchell Stadium, tallying the first of his four first quarter touchdowns.
In addition to the kickoff return, Cooke scored on a 68-yard run off right end, a 22-yard fumble return and a 57-yard pass from Roman Workman.
“Our kids were a little shell-shocked after that second score, but I’m still pleased with the effort,” Harris Hart, BC head football coach said. “Graham has a lot of speed and we missed some blocks that might have kept us in the game early, but we played hard and never gave up.
“This is a great bunch of young men,” Hart said. “They keep giving the same effort if they’re 3-7 or 6-2 like we are now. We started three freshmen on offense and three freshmen on defense tonight, so if you’re looking some positives, we got some experience against a very good Graham football team.”
Graham Coach Tony Palmer was pleased with his team’s offensive production and also said that the G-Men were tackling better. However, he said the G-Men need to work more on getting off the field when teams go for a first on fourth down.
“Bland has a good team and they’re going to be fine,” Palmer said. “I was impressed with the way they played. We just made some key blocks early in the game and put them on their heels. That’s happened to us before.
“Still, we executed our offense and showed improvement on penetrating on defense and making good tackles,” Palmer said. “We still have a ways to go, but we’re making improvements in those two areas.”
After the opening kickoff, Cooke ran off right end behind a great block by Jamorya’ Cousin, and scampered 68-yards for a score at the 10:04 mark in the first. Logan Surface’s second point-after took the score to 14-0 with less than two minutes gone in the game.
Bland responded with a 9-play drive that fizzled out at the GHS 26 yard line. Cousin hit the middle of the line, juked left then ran all the way to the east corner of the north end zone before a Bear defender ran him down at the 3-yard line. Cousin busted up the middle for a 3-yard score with 4:59 remaining in the first quarter. Surface’s boot brought the score to 21-0.
After Isaiah Boyd returned the ensuing kickoff 20 yards to set up shop on the 29 yard line, Cooke ran free through the line, wrestled the ball from Bland’s quarterback, Alec Taylor, and posted his third touchdown at the 4:42 mark. Surface’s kick failed to split the uprights.
Workman finished the first-quarter scoring with a 57-yard pass completion to Cooke who outran the Bear defenders for his fourth touchdown of the quarter. Surface’s kick was good. Workman completed his only pass of the night for the score.
Bland started the second quarter behind the power running of Dylan Jackson, Brian Arnold and Boyd, but an 11 play drive sputtered again, putting the ball back in Workman’s hands. Graham’s senior quarterback took a high snap from center and ran off right tackle all the way for a 72-yard scoring run with 7:10 left in the second quarter. Surface’s kick was true.
Bland remained determined, but a 4 and out set the G-Men up at the visitors’ 36 yard line. Israel Harris hit the middle, then dashed to the left for a 36-yard score with 4:45 left in the half. Surface hit another point-after.
Cousin capped off the first-half scoring on an 18-yard run with 2:01 left in the half. Surface hit another hick to end the half at 55-0.
Bland continued using all four downs in the third quarter, handing the G-Men good field position. Ben Meade, Graham’s signal caller, scored on a 10-yard keeper and Emil Curto hit the point-after.
The Bears got on the scoreboard with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter following a tough 7-play drive set up by Boyd, Arnold and Jackson, with Jackson pushing it in for a 1-yard run. Boyd hit Ethan Cook on a two-point conversion pass.
Bland provided the only fourth quarter score when Dion Bush rambled 21-yards for a score with 1:55 left in the game. The kick failed, ending the scoring at 62-14.
Graham improves to 3-5 on the season and travels to Fort Chiswell next week while 6-2 Bland will host Galax.
At Mitchell Stadium
Bland County..................0 0 8 6 — 14
Graham..........................34 21 7 0 — 62
First Quarter
GHS - T. Cooke 80 kickoff return (L. Surface kick), 11:48
GHS - Cooke 68 run (Surface kick), 10:04
GHS - J. Cousin 71 run (Surface kick), 4:59
GHS - Cooke 22 fumble return (kick failed), 4:42
GHS - Cooke 57 pass from R. Workman (Surface kick), 2:36
Second Quarter
GHS - Workman 72 run (Surface kick), 7:10
GHS - I. Harris 36 run (Surface kick), 4:45
GHS - Cousin 18 run (Surface kick), 2:01
Third Quarter
GHS - B. Meade 10 run (E. Curto kick), 6:45
BCHS - D. Jackson 1 run (E. Cook, pass from I. Boyd), 0:19
Fourth Quarter
BCHS - D. Bush, 21 run (kick failed), 1:55
———
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
(All unofficial totals)
RUSHING — GHS, J. Cousin 4-110, T. Cooke, 68 yards, R. Workman, 72 yards. BCHS, D. Jackson 19-74, I. Boyd, 12-52.
PASSING — GHS, R. Workman 1-1-57-1 TD-0 intc. BCHS, A. Taylor 1-4-4-0-0.
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