Richlands rolls to 30th straight regular season win
Richlands (40) vs. Gate City (6)
Written: Aug 25, 2012
By GEORGE THWAITES
Kingsport Times-News
GATE CITY — The Richlands Blue Tornado are sometimes simply called “The Blues.”
Friday night at Gate City, they were the Earth Tones — Brown and Gray.
The Tornado got a touchdown run from quarterback Ben Brown and a touchdown pass from quarterback Gray Baker en route to a convincing 40-6 win at Legion Field.
“We like the two quarterback system because our two quarterbacks have to be coaches on the field. They’ve got to get the ball where it’s supposed to go,” said Richland coach Greg Mance. “Tonight we tried to check some things and receivers didn’t pick it up and a couple of times our linemen didn’t pick it up. So we’re a work in progress.”
Baker showed some poise in the pocket on his shifts taking the snaps. He was sacked for a loss of 7 yards just before he hit A.J. Johnson with a 26-yard scoring strike early in the second quarter.
Johnson also added a 3-yard scoring scoot to his accomplishments on the night.
Brown initiated scoring for the Blues with a 1-yard sneak at 5:31 in the first period. That capped a scoring drive in which he made a 70-yardconnection with Johnson that was called back on an illegal motion flag.
In his role as placekicker, Brown went 3-for-4 on point after touchdown attempts. He also added field goals of 28 and 37 yards.
It was an outstanding special teams night for Richlands over all. Chase Ray got loose for an 85-yard scoring kickoff return late in the third quarter.
Ray’s special score immediately followed Gate City’s lone touchdown, an 84-yard catch an run by Robbie Hicks off a Michael Collins pass.
The Blue Tornado gathered another kicking game TD in the fourth period when the long snap went over punter Neth Gardner’s head at Taylor Ratliff recovered it in the end zone.
It was a season-opening win with some opening night negatives.
Richlands was penalized 124 time for a total of 95 yards. Seven of the flags flew in the third quarter.
“The first half I thought we played fairly well. Then in the third quarter we came out and just really shot ourselves in the foot,” said Mance. “We lost our intensity.”
At Legion Field
Richlands...........................13 10 10 7 — 40
Gate City............................0 0 6 0 — 6
First Quarter
Rich — Ben Brown 1 run (Brown kick)
Rich — A.J. Johnson 3 run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
Rich — Johnson 26 pass from Gray Baker (Brown kick)
Rich — FG Brown 28
Third Quarter
Rich — FG Brown 37
GC — Robbie Hicks 84 pass from Michael Collier (kick failed)
Rich — Chase Ray 85 kickoff return (Brown kick)
Fourth Quarter
Rich — Taylor Ratliff recovers fumble in end zone (Brown kick)
Rich GC
First Downs 11 11
Rushes-Yards 25-176 37-59
Passing Yards 93 157
Total Offense 269 216
Comp-Att-Int 5-16-1 8-20-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-2
Punts-Avg. 0-0 1-18
Penalties-Yards 14-95 1-5
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