Bears growl past Green Wave
Bland County (0) vs. Narrows (0)
Written: Oct 08, 2011
By JONATHAN GREENE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
NARROWS, Va. — On a night of celebration in Narrows, the Bland County Bears spoiled the Green Wave's party.
Narrows crowned their homecoming king and queen before the game and honored six recent inductees into their athletic hall of fame at half, but the Bears left Ragsdale Field with a thrilling 16-8 victory on Friday night.
“A great ball game both ways,” Bland County head coach Harris Hart said. “Both teams made mistakes. Both teams played hard.
“Once they lost their quarterback and switched gears, their offense moved a lot better. It was a lot of fun.”
Both teams stayed on the ground for the majority of the game which led to few possessions for Bland County and Narrows. The teams combined for just 12 drives, and all 24 points came in the fourth quarter.
“We had too many mistakes in the first half,” Narrows head coach Kelly Lowe said. “We had deep in their territory two or three times and we didn't capitalize. You can't make mistakes like that and expect to be successful.
“Our kids battled back and fought hard in the second half. Proud of our kids. They played their guts out.”
Their first drive reached the seven-yard line before back-to-back false start penalties moved them to the 17. Following three straight rushes, Narrows went for it on fourth and goal from the nine and Joe Hall was nearly picked off.
On the second series, Wyatt Robertson broke free for 14 yards which put them deep in the Bears territory, but he fumbled on the play and Bland County recovered.
“It is frustrating,” Lowe said. “It's mistakes that we have to work and that are part of football. Unfortunate they happened at the time they did, but our kids hung in there and battle.”
Bland fared no better with penalties and mistakes of their own.
Two straight holding penalties took the ball from the 10 to the 30-yard line. A roughing the passer penalty extended their drive, but Raymond Greene was picked off in the end zone on fourth down.
They were held to a three-and-out on their next possession and Narrows once again moved deep into Bland's end, but a holding call and a dropped pass stalled their drive.
The game was scoreless at the half despite the Green Wave out-gaining the Bears 157-66.
“We really only had two possessions in the first half,” Hart said. “We had a 20-play drive that we ended up with penalties and several things that bogged us down. We moved the ball, but with really only two possessions it's tough to accomplish a whole lot.”
Bland was forced to punt on their first series in the second half and Narrows marched down the field with a 13-play drive.
Yet on fourth and about a foot, the Bears stood up Adrian Parcell for no gain which gave the ball back to the Bears.
Bland's rushing attack found its rhythm with Johnny David and Ray Holston burning the Green Wave for big gains.
After David galloped 17 yards to set up the Bears inside the five, Jakob Haun capped of the drive with a three-yard score. Bland went for two as Greene called his own number for the two-point conversion.
After an injury forced Hall out of the game, Narrows went with Joe Butler running their offense out of the shotgun.
And in only nine plays, the Wave were on the board as Butler marched in for a three-yard score. He then added the two-point conversion to tie the game once again with 6:20 remaining.
“This bunch fights and they battle,” Lowe said. “They give lots of effort. It's one of those things where we came up short. Congratulations to coach Hart and them.”
Starting at midfield, the Bears began their march.
Greene started with a 13-yard keep and three plays later, David broke free for a big 11-yard gain. It took only four more plays before Haun had his second touchdown of the night. This time from one-yard out. David converted on the two-point conversion.
“The first drive we just kept making mistakes,” Hart said. “We were fortunate enough that we eliminated most of the mistakes in the next two drives. That's a big part of it.
“The running backs ran hard and the offensive line did a great job. A total team effort.”
With just over two minutes remaining, Narrows put together one final drive.
Butler broke free for a huge 18 yard rush then added an eight-yard scamper to put the Wave inside the 20-yard line.
Parcell's six-yard rush gave Narrows a first down and Robertson added a nine-yard run to the outside to put the Wave inside the five.
Butler plunged forward for a first down, but time was not on Narrows side.
With under 30 seconds to go, a low snap allowed Butler to be tackled at the five, then Parcell was stopped for no gain causing Narrows to use their final time out with 10 seconds left.
The Green Wave put their hopes in Butler's hands as he sprinted to the outside, but was tackled just short, ending Narrows rally and the game.
“They were bringing everyone up the middle and we were trying to get outside,” Lowe said. “We just came up a couple yards short.”
“We hadn't stopped them,” Hart said. “Every play they had run since (Butler) took over was getting five to 10 yards. Right or wrong, we hadn't prepared for that and they did a good job running it.
“As that series went on, our linebackers started to understand better where the ball was going and they made some plays.”
David led Bland County with 112 yards on 15 carries. Haun added 55 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
Robertson led all ball carries with 187 yards for Narrows.
“He had a good football game,” Lowe said. “A good job running the football tonight. Offensive line blocked well too.”
Butler finished with 118 yards as the Green Wave rumbled for 348 yards. They limited Bland to 241 yards, but Narrows was called for seven penalties totaling 48 yards which eliminated several big plays.
Bland County (2-4) hosts Grayson County on Friday while Narrows (0-6) welcomes in Fort Chiswell.
—Contact Jonathan Greene jgreene@bdtonline.com
At Ragsdale Field
Bland County...........................0 0 0 16 — 16
Narrows....................................0 0 0 8 — 8
Fourth Quarter
BC - Jakob Haun 3 rush (Raymond Green rush), 9:52
NAR - Joe Butler 3 rush (Butler rush), 6:20
BC - Haun 1 rush (Johnny David rush), 2:39
———
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - BC, Jakob Haun 14-55-2td; Raymond Greene 6-39; Johnny David 15-112; Ray Holston 6-35. NAR, Wyatt Robertson 22-187; Joe Butler 21-118; Adrian Parcell 10-26; Joe Hall 1-7.
PASSING - BC, Greene 0-4-1int-0-0. NAR- Hall 1-4-0-2-0.
RECEIVING - BC, none. NAR, Butler 1-2.
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