Blue Tornado calms Scarlet Hurricane
Richlands (41) vs. Marion (15)
Written: Nov 22, 2014
 By ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph
MARION, Va. — On occasion you will have a number six-seed upset a three-seed. It isn’t often a six-seed completely dominates.
Richlands looked outstanding on a cold night controlling every facet of the game on Friday, and the Blue Tornado rolled by Marion 41-15 to advance to the third round of 2A state play.
“This is just a great bunch of kids,” Richlands coach Greg Mance said. “People forget that we started out 0-2 this season and they just refused to lose. We’ve had injuries all season but they just keep rallying back. I love them, they are the ultimate team.”
Richlands (8-4) didn’t have a full deck against the Scarlet Hurricane. Running back Griffin McCauley who led the Blues with 871 yards rushing didn’t play. Stepping in was Brandon Waldron who had five carries on the season coming in. Waldron had 13 attempts for 84 yards with touchdown runs of five and 37 in the first half.
“I just wanted to give 100 percent, that’s all I could do,” stated Waldron. “I hadn’t practiced at running back since summer. I learned a couple of plays this week and I just ran the ball as hard as I could. I give it all to the big boys up front, they did a fantastic job tonight.”
The Blues established control early. They scored four of the five times they had the football in the first half. Things went bad from the start for Marion (10-2). The Hurricane took the opening kickoff.
On their first play from scrimmage, quarterback Hunter Lefler who had thrown for 1,921 yards coming in was intercepted by Austin Atkinson.
It took Richlands only six plays to move 64 yards. On a 3rd-and-5 quarterback River Michaels connected with Zeke Vance in the flat, Vance made a nice run after the catch for a 46-yard gain. Three plays later Michaels hit Vance in the end zone with a 9-yard TD pass and the Blues were on their way.
“Everything was clicking tonight,” Michaels said. “Pass blocking, run blocking, everything went well. I give all the credit to the guys up front, they gave me all kinds of time.”
Michaels was 17-of-25 passing for 279 yards with three touchdown passes. He threw for 212 yards in the first half. Vance had five receptions for 165 yards in the first half and added three more catches in the second half. Vance caught two TD passes and also rushed for a touchdown.
“River Michaels had a great game for us,” Mance said. “Vance is a big time player and big time players play big in big games. Look at their stats, they were tremendous.
“Losing McCauley, those two were a big spark. All the receivers did a great job of catching the ball and River got it to them.”
Perhaps the biggest key to the win was the play of the defense. Marion running back Sam Wagner, the nephew of former major league pitcher Billy Wagner came into the game with 1,806 yards rushing.
Wagner had a total of 14 yards in his first 12 carries. He finished with 74 yards rushing but 60 of those came in the Hurricane’s final TD drive with Wagner scoring with 22 seconds remaining.
“We took Wagner out of the game,” commented Mance. “That made them on dimensional and I thought that was the key.
“We just wanted to win, we would have took it if it was 3-2. Marion has a good football team, we’re just happy to get out of here with a win.”
Until the final series, the Hurricane had one big play. Lefler found Riley Blevins with a screen pass. Blevins took it to the house racing 76-yards up the sideline for a TD. That was the bulk of the offense for Marion.
“We had some plays early, we just failed to make them,” Marion coach Joey Carroll said. “Plays we had been making the entire year.
“This doesn’t take away from what my bunch accomplished this year, I have a great group of kids.”
Richlands will play next week. Gate City hosts Buckingham County today. If Gate City wins, the Blues will travel to Gate City. A Buckingham win and Richlands will host the next playoff game.
At Marion
Richlands.......14 13 0 14 — 41
Marion...........0 7 0 8 — 15
RIC—Vance 9 pass from Michaels (Bandy kick)
RIC—Waldron 5 run (Bandy kick)
RIC—Waldron 37 run (Bandy kick)
MAR—Blevins 76 pass from Lefler (Wagner kick)
RIC—Vance 47 pass from Michaels (kick blocked)
RIC—Michaels 3 run (Bandy kick)
RIC—Vance 37 run (Bandy kick)
MAR—Wagner 16 run (Lefler run)
———
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: RIC 20, MAR 9; Rushes-Yards: RIC 35-192, MAR 19-16; Passing Yards: RIC 279, MAR 152; Comp-Att-Int: RIC 17-26-0, MAR 7-27-1; Fumbles-Lost: RIC 4-0, MAR 2-0; Penalties-Yards: RIC 4-35, MAR 2-10; Punts-Average: RIC 2-30.5, MAR 6-38.3.
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