Home-going

By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — The Bluefield Beavers donned their dancing shoes, before and after the game.

It was a hard decision for Jordan Masterson, when asked if the Beavers were most excited about the football game or the dance after the homecoming game held on Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.

“A little bit of both,” said the Bluefield senior, with a smile. “The main thing was winning.”

That was not a problem, as the Beavers danced over, around and through Greenbrier East on their way to a 55-26 victory against the Spartans on Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.

After a brief meeting on the field after the game, the players bolted to the locker room. After all, the night was still young.

“It is great, that is why they are inside,” Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said. “They want to get to the dance. We will talk to them real quick and get them up there where they can go shower up and go dance a little bit.”

They went in a good mood. The Beavers (4-0) jumped ahead quick, taking a 20-0 lead in the first quarter, while holding the Spartans (2-3) to negative-12 yards in the opening 12 minutes.

“They are a good team, they jumped on us quick, a lot of mental mistakes is what costs us,” Greenbrier East senior Dalton Cline said. “I can’t say much about it, they are a good team, they always are.

“We have got to bounce back off this loss and we have just got to keep working and finish out the rest of the season. We have five games left, we have got to keep pushing and get us a winning season.”

That included five plays of negative yards and a forced fumble that Jordan Huckleberry took 48 yards for a touchdown with 5:19 on the clock. That came exactly 20 seconds after the Beavers went up to stay on a touchdown run by R.J. Bourne on a 4th-and-6 from the Spartans’ 21.

Masterson was one of many who stood out on defense for the Beavers.

“I thought he played an exceptional game, tackling, and I was glad to see him get a pick-six,” Simon said. “It is great to see your defense score, and when they score, it is going to help us a whole lot.

“I think we had at least two. Huckleberry picked up a fumble, Ronnie Davis had one. I know other guys caused it, but it was a great team effort on defense, I was really pleased with that.”

Bluefield, which entered as the top-ranked Class AA team in terms of the WVSSAC rankings, wasted no time scoring twice more in the first 3:45 of the second quarter, with the Beavers spreading the around to their multitude of options.

“It was neat, very pleased with our guys, we seem to keep getting better and better,” Simon said. “They have got some talent, we have got a good team.”

Davis recovered a fumble and ran 30 yards to set up a 12-yard scoring run by Bourne on a 4th-and-1 from the 3, and Masterson then picked off a Greenbrier East pass 51 seconds later at the 32 and carried it in for the touchdown and the 33-0 lead with 8:15 still left until halftime.

“I almost ran past it, but I stopped and I said ‘woe’,” Masterson said. “It was a shocker.”

Greenbrier East, which still had minus-4 yards up to that point, finally got its offense rolling, led by Cline, who was inserted into the backfield and gave the Spartans a spark, including a 23-yard run, eventually putting his club on the board with a 3-yard run to narrow the margin to 33-6 with 5:25 on the clock.

“I just try to do the best I can when I get the chance to, I just want to do the best for my team in whatever I can do,” said Cline, who led the Spartans with 113 yards on the ground. “I tried my hardest, I just wanted to do the best I can.”

Bluefield answered with another score, with Bourne following up his own 22-yard run with a 25-yard scoring pass to a diving Marcus Santoro in the end zone for the 40-6 lead.

Greenbrier East was stuffed on a 4th-and-goal from the 1 prior to the break when Carlos Reed tackled Eric Tobergte short of the end zone.

“We had a tough struggle at the start of the season giving up a lot of points, but with effort and focus we have worked hard and got better at it,” said Masterson, of the Bluefield defensive effort, which held the Spartans to 102 first half yards and 236 for the game. “We stepped up a lot in both quarters and as the season goes by we will be a lot better.”

Both teams traded touchdowns after the break. D.J. Stewart, who led all backs with 138 yards, ran 40 yards down the left sideline for a score. Greenbrier East was able to score on a 49-yard pass from Carr to Kamen Reynolds after William Honaker picked off the first of two Bourne passes in the Spartans’ end zone.

Bluefield added a final score in the fourth period when freshman back-up quarterback Mookie Collier dashed 39 yards for a touchdown. The Spartans added two late touchdowns to pull within the final margin.

“We are going to keep working and working,” Simon said. “We know we have a really good offense, it is going to be tough for a lot of people to stop us. We will just keep working and working to get better on ‘D” and that is what we are trying.”

Led by a bruising offensive line, the Beavers ran for 330 yards , and Bourne threw for 94 through the air. He also had 69 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

“They came off the ball well, they worked very hard,” Simon said. “Coach (Don) Jones does a nice job with the offensive line and they have gotten better too.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Spartans, which lost their second game in a row, and will next travel to Morgantown to face University, which is one of the top-ranked Class AAA teams in the Mountain State.

“I do like it because it is a test, it is a character test honestly, it is who wants to be the best man and who wants to be the best team,” said Cline, who likes the pressure of a difficult schedule. “It just like this team, if you want to be the best you have got to beat the best and that is how it has got to be. You have got to have the other 50 guys that want to be like that.”

Bluefield will renew its rivalry next Friday at Richlands, and the Blue Tornado (3-2) will enter having won three games in a row.

“It will be tough, it will be tough down there,” Simon said. “They will play hard, they are well coached. We beat them (last year), but early they onsided kicked us, and they do a great job down there.

“We will have a hard time down there, they are very well coached and they play hard.”

That game could wait, at least for a few hours, as the Beavers prepared for the next homecoming treat. After all, the night was still young.

“We have been talking about the (dance) all week honestly,” said Masterson, with a smile. “It always good to win a homecoming game.”

at Mitchell Stadium

Greenbrier East..........0 6 6 14 — 26

Bluefield...................20 20 7 8 — 55

Scoring

First Quarter

BF—R.J. Bourne 21 run (Tyler Easley kick) 5:39

BF—Jordan Huckleberry 48 fumble recovery (Easley kick) 5:19

BF—Corey Coppola 1 run (kick failed) :06

Second Quarter

BF—Bourne 5 run (Coppola kick) 9:06

BF—Jordan Masterson 32 interception return (kick failed) 8:15

GE—Nathan Cline 3 run (pass failed( 5:25

BF—Marcus Santoro 25 pass from Bourne (Coppola kick) 3:34

Third Quarter

BF—D.J. Stewart 40 run (Coppola kick) 11:33

GE—Kamen Reynolds 49 pass from Jonathan Carr (pass failed) 4:45

Fourth Quarter

BF—Mookie Collier 39 run (Marcus Mitchell run) 5:28

GE—Shakem Atkinson 6 run (Josh McClung pass from Devin Persinger) 2:54

GE—Atkinson 12 pass from Persinger (pass failed) :33

———

Team Statistics

First downs: GE 13; BF 18. Rush-Yards: GE 41-147; BF 46-330. Pass Yards: GE 89; BF 94. Comp-Att-Int: GE 7-11-1; BF 8-11-0. Fumbles-Lost: GE 3-2; BF 1-1. Penalty-Yards: GE 4-25; BF 5-50. Punts-Avg: GE 4-25.3; BF 0-0.

———

Individual Statistics

Rushing: GE Dalton Cline 15-113, Shakem Atkinson 4-39, Zayvion Lawson 13-7, Eric Tobergte 3-6, Kamen Reynolds 4-(-11), Jonathan Carr 2-(-16). BF D.J. Stewart 10-138, R.J. Bourne 6-69, Carlos Reed 6-52, Corey Coppola 7-41, Mookie Collier 5-39, Marcus Mitchell 11-34, Jason Edwards 2-7, Justin Masterson 1-7.

Passing: GE Reynolds 0-1-1-int-0-0 td; Jonathan Carr 5-10-int-89-1 td; BF R.J. Bourne 8-11-2 int-94-1 td.

Receiving: GE Kamen Reynolds 2-66, Tyshaun Walker 2-13, Josh McClung 1-12; BF Marcus Santoro 2-36, Jordan Masterson 1-14, Carlos Reed 3-12, Mookie Collier 2-10.

Turnovers: GE William Honaker 2 int; BF Jordan Huckleberry fr, Ronnie Davis fr, Jordan Masterson int.