Honaker holds off Radford
Honaker (29) vs. Radford (23)
Written: Nov 24, 2014
By ANTHONY STEVENS for the Daily Telegraph
HONAKER, Va. — The outcome wasn’t decided until Tiger defensive end Joshua Miller sacked Radford quarterback D.J. Baylor as time expired. Honaker remained undefeated, holding on for a 29-23 win over the Bobcats at EMATS Stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
“I knew we had played a tough ballgame, I just needed to catch a break,” an excited Miller said. “The tackle dropped back, I was able to take advantage of the hole he gave me to get to the quarterback.
“It’s awesome to Survive and advance. That’s what everyone says, survive and advance and that’s the way it is.”
Honaker (12-0) relied heavily on tailback Austin “Red” Smith. After the game Smith had a Superman T-shirt underneath his jersey. Smith played like Superman with 36 carries for 191 yards.
“I felt just a little bit like Superman,” said a happy Smith. “But I had a lot of help. First I have to thank God and then my offensive line.
“By watching film, we felt if we blocked well we could power the football on them. That’s what we wanted to do the entire game, base our offense on that.”
The Tigers had to overcome a couple of early miscues. They took the opening kickoff and ran 11 plays. But on the 12th play on the Radford 14, quarterback Casey Dye was picked off by Radford standout Heth Grant who made his presence felt on each side of the ball.
The Bobcats ran three plays and were forced to punt. Again Honaker pounded it on the ground, running nine plays and got inside the Radford 10.
Honaker then fumbled the ball, they were able to recover it but they lost over 30 yards on the play and were also assessed a penalty and ended up punting, missing the opportunity to put points on the board their first two possessions.
“We hurt ourselves when we didn’t get anything out of those first two drives,” Honaker coach Doug Hubbard said. “When you get to this point you play really good football teams, but my kids just kept hanging around.
“We stepped up and made some plays when they had to. Radford is a good football team and they kept battling and my kids just kept fighting. We showed a lot of heart and character to get this win.”
Honaker finally put points on the board their third possession. They ran six plays all on the ground. Then they surprised the Bobcats when Dye found Casey Harmon with a step on a defender with a 54-yard touchdown pass.
Sophomore Jordan Stout, who was perfect on extra points, gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead with just over six minutes to play in the first half.
It only took Radford a little over three minutes to answer. After a sack by Honaker, Radford had a 2nd-and-25. Quarterback Marcus Finley threw a screen pass to Grant for an 18-yard gain.
Finley then picked up a first down with a pass to Dontae Billings for a 21-yard gain. They gave the ball to Grant the next three times and he scored on a four-yard rush off right tackle. Logan Jessie added the point after and it was 7-all.
Honaker had a 42-15 edge in offensive plays and an 18:02 to 5:58 advantage in time of possession but still the game was tied at 7-all at intermission. The Tigers felt they had left some points on the field in the first half.
“A lot of that was my fault,” said Dye. “But the team picked me up. We got together and knew we had to keep fighting. We know that we will make some mistakes throughout the game, but you have to capitalize when you can.”
Radford took the second half kickoff and lost the quarterback Finley who returned the kickoff to an injury. He wouldn’t return, but D.J. Baylor stepped in and did an outstanding job.
The Bobcats again displayed their quick strike capability. They moved 67 yards in only two plays taking less than a minute. Grant scored his second TD on a 52-yard run to give the Bobcats a 14-7 lead.
Honaker answered with a methodical nine-play drive that ate up a lot of the third quarter. Dye scored on a nine-yard run on a quarterback option play to tie it up.
Radford was stopped by the Tiger defense their next possession. But the Tigers lost a fumble that was recovered by Jacob Burke.
The Bobcats converted after the turnover with a seven-play, 55-yard drive with Grant scoring his third TD on a 13-yard rush. But the extra point attempt was blocked and Radford clung to a 20-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Again behind the offensive line, the Tigers ran six plays all on the ground. Smith scored from 31-yards out and Stout’s kick put Honaker up 21-20 with 9:20 left to play.
The Bobcats moved up the field with nine running plays. But on 4th-and-goal from the Honaker 8, they chose a field goal. Jessie connected on a 25-yard kick to give Radford a 23-21 advantage with just over four minutes to play.
The ensuing kickoff was squib kick and Honaker took over on their own 35. On a 4th-and-1 at their 44, Dye had a 3-yard run for a first down to keep the drive alive. Dye then loosened up the defense with a 25-yard pass to Harman.
Four plays later Dye was knocked out of bounds inside the Radford one on a quarterback keeper. Smith did the honors scoring with 38 seconds left to play to put the Tiger up 27-23. Avin Parrott ran in the two-point conversion to go up six points.
Miller and the defense then stopped the Bobcats to advance.
Honaker will host George Wythe a 21-7 winner over Auburn. The state quarterfinal contest will be played next Saturday with a 1 o’clock kickoff.
At EMATS Stadium
Radford................................0 7 7 9—23
Honaker................................0 7 7 15—29
HON—Harman 54 pass from Dye (Stout kick)
RAD—Grant 4 run (Jessie kick)
RAD—Grant 52 run (Jessie kick)
HON—Dye 9 run (Stout kick)
RAD—Grant 13 run (kick blocked)
HON—A. Smith 31 run (Stout kick)
RAD—Jessie FG 25
HON—A. Smith 1 run (Parrott run)
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TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: RAD 17, HON 28; Rushes-Yards: RAD 30-238, HON 60-324; Passing Yards: RAD 73, HON 97; Comp-Att-Int: RAD 6-10-0, HON 4-11-1; Fumbles-Lost: Rad 2-0, HON 3-1; Penalties-Yards: RAD 4-40, HON 7-71; Punts-Average: RAD 3-33.3, HON 1-33.
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