Dominating performance

By TOM BONE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — There turned out to be a whole lot of difference between the teams ranked fourth and fifth in Class AA football. That difference may be summed up with the word “quickness.”

The Bluefield Beavers, No. 4 in the state, amassed 541 yards of offense and dominated most of their game with the fifth-ranked James Monroe Mavericks, claiming a 55-6 victory on a chilly Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.

“It was good effort, overall by everybody,” said Bluefield (7-1) head coach Fred Simon. “Just a few mistakes early ... .”

The top-five matchup, and the rating points at stake to the winner, “meant a lot to us, trying to continue our move up — and it’s another game to get better,” Simon said. “That’s what we told them, and they responded.”

James Monroe (7-2) head coach John Mustain said, “The word ‘buzzsaw’ comes to mind. That was my biggest fear: They’ve just got so much speed. ... We’ve got better speed, but we don’t have ‘Bluefield speed.’ ”

“There were several times when they had the ball that we did a pretty decent job of holding them, and then boom, somebody’s gone. It’s hard to do much with that.”

“You look at them on the defensive side, too. They’re so quick, you may be able to push them off (the line), but then they recover and come back up to the running back, so quick.”

Carlos Reed generated 156 yards on 10 carries, out-rushing the entire James Monroe team for the night. Mookie Collier ran for 141 yards and quarterback Jordan Smith just missed the 100-yard mark, with 97 yards rushing to go with 49 yards passing.

Simon said about Smith, “I was proud of him because he’s starting to make a little better read on his option and he did a good job running the football ... and threw some nice passes at times.”

James Monroe quarterback Evan Beasley had 111 yards passing and 35 more on the ground. Grant Mohler worked hard for 93 rushing yards on 16 carries, and 13 yards on pass receptions.

On the Mavericks’ first play from scrimmage, Beasley stayed on the ground after a 3-yard gain and had to walk off the field temporarily.

“I think he basically got the wind knocked out of him,” Mustain said. Beasley soon returned, and carried the ball 10 more times in the game. But he was 9 for 23 passing with one touchdown and three interceptions against a savvy Beavers secondary.

Twice in the first half, the Mavericks got to or inside the Bluefield 5, but came away with no points after field goal tries missed their mark.

Meanwhile, the Beavers’ first offensive drive covered 85 yards in less than two minutes and ended with Smith’s 4-yard quarterback sneak behind a powerful line surge. A 52-yard scamper by Collier and a 23-yard dash by Reed were key to the drive.

In the second quarter, Bluefield tallied touchdowns on all four of its possessions to forge a 34-0 halftime lead.

Collier scored on a 26-yard run and a 25-yard pass reception. Fullback Jason Edwards ran seven yards almost to the goal line, fumbled the ball and then fell on it for a score. Smith got his second touchdown on an electrifying 51-yard scramble in the final minute of the half.

Neither side scored in the third quarter, which included six penalties, a Bluefield fumble by Smith and Smith’s interception of a Beasley pass late in the period.

On the first snap of the final quarter, Collier took a simple pitchout and turned it into a spectacular 59-yard scoring run, tightroping the sidelines while downfield blockers helped pave his way.

The Mavericks then moved the ball 60 yards for their only score, a rollout pass from Beasley to Tyler Moore for 19 yards. Bluefield’s Dray-Quon Hickman blocked the point-after kick.

Malik Green picked off two passes for Bluefield in the fourth quarter, the first one leading to the final score, a 24-yard run by Jamere Edwards.

Simon said, “I was really pleased with our defense, after we kind of bent a little bit and held them out of the end zone on that first drive.”

Mustain said, “We did a lot of shooting ourselves in the foot there in the first half, in particular. I thought we did a lot better (in the second half). We kind of did a better job (of rolling out). There were some things we did in the second half that we’ve got to build on.”

However, he didn’t see what the Monroe County fans know as Maverick football.

“I didn’t really think we did that tonight. Again, I’m not trying to sound like I’m taking anything away from (Bluefield), but we made a lot of mistakes. We weren’t keying on defense ... like we’ve been teaching them all week long.

“When you don’t do that, and you combine it with a talented team like that — you see the result.”

“You’ve got to play as mistake-free as possible. We didn’t really do that tonight.”

From the Bluefield perspective, Simon said, “I think we’re improving. We’ve got players in the right place now and hopefully, we’ll just keep getting better and better.”

Jason Edwards was asked about Bluefield’s 125 points in its last two games combined.

“(It means) that we play hard — but we can play a lot better,” he said. “Teamwork is everything.”

Next Friday night, the Beavers host Wayne High School and the Mavericks host River View to conclude their regular seasons — then start sizing up their playoff opponents.

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com

At Mitchell Stadium

James Monroe..........0 0 0 6 -- 6

Bluefield..............7 27 0 21 -- 55

First Quarter

BHS - Jordan Smith 4 run (Zac Springman kick), 7:42

Second Quarter

BHS - Carlos Reed 26 run (Springman kick), 8:06

BHS - Jason Edwards fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed), 4:06

BHS - Reed 25 pass from Smith (Springman kick), 2:07

BHS - Smith 51 run (Springman kick), 0:50

Fourth Quarter

BHS - Reed 59 run (Springman kick), 11:47

JM - Tyler Moore 19 pass from Evan Beasley (kick blocked), 7:57

BHS - Jason Edwards 4 run (Springman kick), 6:13

BHS - Jamere Edwards 24 run (Springman kick), 4:14

———

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- JM, Evan Beasley 11-35, Grant Mohler 16-93, Devon Johnson 9-29, Tyler Moore 1-1, Team 1-(-10). BHS, Carlos Reed 10-156, Mookie Collier 12-141, Jordan Smith 8-97, Jason Edwards 7-65, Jamere Edwards 2-35, Mike Price 1-1, Team 2-(-3).

PASSING -- JM, Beasley 9-23-111-1 TD-3 intc. BHS, Smith 3-6-49-1-1.

RECEIVING -- JM, Colton Bradley 1-7, Conner Boothe 2-28, Mohler 3-13, Landan Shires 2-44, T. Moore 1-19, Johnson 1-0. BHS, Reed 2-31, Collier 1-18.