G-Men make senior night special

By TOM BONE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — The motivation was strong for the seniors on the Graham High School football team Friday — their last home game, the chance to atone for a lopsided loss, the potential for a first-ever Mountain Empire District win.

Turns out, the offense, defense and special teams were strong as well.

The result was a 31-0 victory by the G-Men over a brand new opponent, the Bland County Bears, on a chilly night at Mitchell Stadium.

“It’s unbelievable. On senior night, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Graham senior Gabe Hurt, who ran for 130 yards and capped the scoring parade with a 68-yard scamper in the fourth quarter.

“We just knew we had to give it everything we had,” said fellow senior Lamont Edwards. “We all played as a team tonight. This was the result.”

Graham head coach Mike Williams has only known this group of maroon-wearing players for a few months, but he knew what it meant to the seniors among them.

“For these guys, it was their last time coming out onto the field here at Mitchell Stadium. I’m real excited that they were able to leave the field tonight and go out on top.”

He said that to his knowledge, it was Graham’s first shutout win since 2007 or 2008. The G-Men ran for 421 net yards and passed for 18, while the Bears scraped up 107 net offensive yards.

Though living in neighboring counties, the students of Graham and the Bland County football team had never met on the football field. The G-Men (3-5, 1-2 Mountain Empire District) moved into Group A over the summer and the Bears (2-6, 1-2 MED) made the short trip over the mountain to the state-line stadium.

Bland County had just made a switch to a pair of young signal-callers and, predictably, the offense did not run very smoothly. The Bears attempted just one pass, which fell incomplete, and had six fumbles, losing three of them.

“We had two new quarterbacks tonight,” said Bland County head coach Harris Hart. “I’m a little surprised it wasn’t worse than it was.”

Graham had its share of early problems as well. Two penalties set them back in their first drive, one of which wiped out a 47-yard touchdown run by quarterback Spencer Sheets.

But Sheets ended the game’s first series, a 65-yard march, with a 1-yard sneak across the goal line.

Cody Hatfield of Graham recovered Bland County’s second fumble to put the G-Men back in business. The home squad advanced to the 6-inch line, but Williams said that Sheets misread a signal from the sideline and threw a pass that was picked off by Darryl Clark and returned 46 yards.

Bland County’s next four plays were two short runs, a fumble and a punt. Bears freshman Jacob Parker recovered a Graham fumble on the next play, but the visitors promptly turned the ball over on downs.

Graham was able to score on its final two possessions of the first half, on a 32-yard field goal by Samuel Stowers and a 2-yard touchdown plunge by Cory Coppola to end a seven-play march with 21 seconds left on the clock.

By intermission Graham had 237 rushing yards and Bland County had managed 33.

The G-Men mounted a 10-play drive covering 75 yards in the middle of the third quarter. Edwards found the end zone from 16 yards out, bouncing off defenders on a play that featured four cutbacks.

“I just had to keep my feet moving,” the senior said. “And I thank my line for blocking for me tonight. I couldn’t do it without them.”

He said the defense “came together as a brotherhood and stood up for each other. We didn’t let them get the extra yards. ... I thank my coaching staff and my brothers for putting us in this position.”

The Bears leaned on the no-holds-barred running of Jakob Haun to mount their best drive, 13 plays, after Edwards’ touchdown. The series ended with Graham’s Jacob Tibbs covering the Bears’ final fumble.

On the next play, Hurt cut along the home sideline and dashed 68 yards for a touchdown, juking the final Bland County defender who fell down at the 12 yard line.

“I read his body language,” Hurt said.

He said his thoughts when he took the field for his final home game was, “We’ve got to win. Point blank. Period.”

Hurt had four carries, all of which went for first downs, and gained 24 or more yards on three of the four touches. But he, too, credited his offensive line. “Without the line, you can’t do anything,” he said.

Graham’s Aderrius Jackson ran for 98 yards and Edwards added 92.

Their new coach, Williams, said, “The line blocked well. To spring the big runs, you also need the second-level and downfield blocks.”

“We knew they were going to play tough,” he said. He also mentioned a former Graham teammate now playing for Bland County. “I want to give respect to Johnny David. He played his heart out,” Hurt said.

Haun led the Bears with 63 yards on 15 runs, many into the heart of a line that was packed in to stop the rushing game. David had 45 yards on 11 carries.

“Graham was bigger and so much faster,” Hart said. “It’s just going to take some time. We’re going to get there. We faced a good football team tonight.”

“All the way around, all our athletes played hard. They listen to you, they want to get better and they’re coachable. That’s all you can ask for.”

The G-Men finish the Mountain Empire District regular season on the road, at Fort Chiswell next Friday and at Narrows on Nov. 4. Bland County plays its last home game next Friday, hosting Galax.

Williams said to beat Fort Chiswell, “We’ll have to play better than we did tonight.”

He said the team’s initial district win was “huge. No one likes to lose. To win is so much more fun. Bland was a good fight, like I thought it would be.”

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com

At Mitchell Stadium

Bland County................0 0 0 0 — 0

Graham.........................7 10 7 7 — 31

First Quarter

Gra – Spencer Sheets 1 run (Samuel Stowers kick), 8:49

Second Quarter

Gra – Stowers 32 FG, 4:55

Gra – Cory Coppola 2 run (Stowers kick), 0:21

Third Quarter

Gra – Lamont Edwards 16 run (Stowers kick), 3:20

Fourth Quarter

Gra – Gabe Hurt 68 run (Stowers kick), 9:39

———

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — BC, Jakob Haun 15-63, Johnny David 11-45, Ray Holston 6-19, Dylan Walker 5-1, Darryl Clark 3-(-13), Tyler White 2-0, Team 1-(-8). Graham, Lamont Edwards 8-92, Aderrius Jackson 12-98, Cory Coppola 9-33, Spencer Sheets 12-72, Gabe Hurt 4-130, Cody Hatfield 1-(-3), Gray Baker 1-(-1).

PASSING — BC, Dylan Walker 0-1-0-0-0. Graham, Sheets 3-4-13 yds.-0 TD-1 intc., Baker 1-1-5-0-0.

RECEIVING — BC, none. Graham, Hurt 2-11, Sheets 1-2, Hatfield 1-5.