Unbeaten Honaker shuts down Maroons
Honaker (35) vs. George Wythe (3)
Written: Nov 30, 2014
BY ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph
HONAKER, Va. — The field is narrowed to four.
The Honaker (13-0) defense made quite a statement in a 35-3 win over George Wythe at EMATS Stadium on cloudy, chilly Saturday afternoon. In their most impressive performance of the year, the Tigers advanced to the Virginia state 1A semifinals.
After losing their first three games, George Wythe (9-3) had been averaging over 39 points a game during a nine-game winning streak. They were limited to a field goal Saturday.
“I knew we would hold them, but I didn’t know that we would hold them to only three points,” said Honaker defensive end Joshua Miller, who finished with six tackles. “We’ve got a heck of a defense.”
The Maroons were limited to only five first downs. They were 1-of-8 on third down conversions. They finished with only 140 yards of total offense and 123 of that was on the ground.
Along with Miller, Ben Ratliff (7 tackles), Landon Miller (6 tackles), Hayden Horn (5 tackles) and Chase Johnson (5 tackles) were all big factors on defense.
“Our defense played well,” Honaker coach Doug Hubbard said. “We gave up a run or two, but never anything consistently. If they busted a run on us, if they come back to it we would shut it down.”
It was an inauspicious start for Honaker. Horn had a 14-yard gain on the Tigers’ first offensive play, but then it was three more plays and a punt. The defense immediately stopped George Wythe and they punted.
The Tigers’ second series ended on a bad pitch that was recovered by George Wythe’s Jordan Harber on the Honaker 13. Again the Maroons couldn’t move the ball and had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by John Smith for a 3-0 advantage.
“We weren’t worried,” cornerback Avin Parrott said. “We knew what we had to do. We were playing good D. We just kept playing shutdown defense and kept thriving off of it.”
The Tigers took the ensuing kickoff and began to move the football.
The Maroon defense was keying on tailback Austin Smith. Quarterback Casey Dye began to use the passing game with a 12-yard completion to Casey Harmon and a pass to Jordan Smith for a 14-yard gain to loosen up the GW defense.
Honaker took a 7-3 lead when Austin Smith scored on a 1-yard plunge early in the second quarter.
The Maroons took the kickoff and gained two yards in three plays and again had to punt. It only took the Tigers seven plays to drive 45 yards. Dye connected with Parrott on a 28-yard TD pass. Parrott then picked off a pass to get the ball back for Honaker.
Parrott said, “I knew I had to drop back and get some depth, I was able to jump and come up with the interception.”
It was another quick score for the Tigers. Dye passed to Harmon for a 34-yard gain. Four plays later Dye scored on a nine-yard run up the middle. Then Horn had an interception as Honaker got the ball with 24 seconds remaining in the first half.
It was more than enough time. Dye scrambled for a 16-yard pickup. Jordan Smith then ran a slant, Dye hit him in stride with a 15-yard TD strike. Jordan Stout was again perfect on extra points.
In a span of 5 minutes and 5 seconds, a 7-3 lead was extended to a 28-3 halftime advantage.
“The kids made some plays and we got on a roll,” Hubbard said. “We got four (scores) real quick on them in the second quarter and that was the game.”
The Tigers kept it on the ground most of the second half to keep the clock running. They began a drive late in the third quarter that ran well into the fourth, running over six minutes off the clock. They ran 15 plays to drive 77 yards.
Austin Smith did the honors scoring his second TD from four yards out for the final score.
“Just like always, Red (Austin Smith) and the offensive line was pushing the pile,” commented Dye. “They were getting yards and getting first downs, that’s what we wanted to do.”
Dye was again impressive, completing 7 of 10 passes for 118 yards. His two touchdowns gave him 26 TD passes this season. Dye also rushed for 87 yards, averaging 11 yards a carry.
“As I’ve said before Dye is an athlete,” remarked Hubbard. “He can make people miss. He’s quick, a very good runner. You put him, Red and some other kids in the backfield, they are hard to beat.”
Austin Smith finished with 159 yards rushing with two touchdowns, giving him 1,913 yards rushing this season.
Senior Trey Skeens finished with 88 yards rushing to pace the George Wythe attack.
“Initially we came out and kind of had them on the ropes,” George Wythe coach Brandon Harner said. “We were doing everything right and then all of sudden we started doing everything wrong.
“Every time we did something wrong, Honaker capitalized and that’s what great teams do. Honaker is a very good football team.”
The Tigers tied a Honaker High School record with 13 wins in a season. They also had 13 wins in 2000 and 2012. They will try to break that record when they host defending state champion Altavista next Saturday.
At EMATS Stadium
George Wythe............3 0 0 0 — 3
Honaker................0 28 0 7 — 35
First Quarter
GW—FG Smith 27, 3:29.
Second Quarter
HON—A. Smith 1 run (Stout kick),10:32.
HON—Parrott 28 pass from Dye (Stout kick), 5:05.
HON—Dye 9 run (Stout kick), 1:16
HON—J. Smith 15 pass from Dye (Stout kick), 0:09.
Fourth Quarter
HON—A. Smith 4 run (Stout kick), 7:16
———
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: GW 5, HON 18; Rushes-Yards: GW 25-123, HON 53-280; Passing Yards: GW 17, HON 118; Comp-Att-Int: GW 2-11-2, HON 7-11-0; Fumbles-Lost: GW 0-0, HON 2-1; Penalties-Yards: GW 4-59, HON 4-45; Punts-Average: GW 4-37.8, HON 2-27.
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