Blue Tornado escapes Union
Richlands (32) vs. Union (30)
Written: Sep 04, 2012
By MIKE DAVIS
for the Daily Telegraph
RICHLANDS, Va. — The Blue Tornado overcame costly penalties and turnovers Friday night to take the Union Bears down to the wire to get the win in the final seconds.
Richlands had 155 yards in penalties on the night and found way to come out on top, 32-30.
“We had way too many defensive penalties,” Richlands head coach Greg Mance said. “I didn’t understand a few of them and we’re going to have to go back and look at the tape, but, give Union credit, we beat a very good ball team and we had to battle to the end. That’s the way you want to win it.”
“Offensively we did some good things, but, we’ve got to hold onto the football, we had three turnovers – two in the red zone and one after a big first down and we had the momentum. We’re going to get it corrected.”
The Tornado finished the night with 336 yards led by Colten Staten who was the staple of the Richlands running game with 22 carries for 196 yards with two touchdowns. Gray Baker completed 12-of- 18 passes for 223 yards with a passing and a running touchdown. He also rushed for 55 yards on five carries. A.J. Johnson was Richlands’ leading receiver with six catches for 91 yards with Todd McGlothlin adding three catches for 38 yards.
The Tornado opened the scoring with Staten bowling over from the 3-yard line with 3:39 left in the first quarter with a second effort after being stopped at the line of scrimmage. The score capped an 8-play drive that went for 62 yards.
Union bounced back on their next possession and scored on the second play from the line of scrimmage when Jake McCray found himself alone behind the Tornado defense. Tanner Hall saw his isolation and dumped a short pass that went for a 58-yard catch and run. The point after pulled the game even at 7-7.
Richlands took the lead with :17 seconds on the first-quarter clock after a 7-play drive ended with Gray Baker finding A.J. Johnson for a 12-yard scoring pass.
Union came back with back-to-back scores in the second quarter with 1-yard run by Ben Baugh and a 26-yard field goal from Brandon Simon to take the lead, 17-14. However, the Blue Tornado battled back before the end of the first half and opened a hole the size of Texas for Staten who bulled through the trenches and raced past the Bears secondary for a 67-yard touchdown run. Mekyah Davis put the Bears in front with a 5-yard run in the third quarter, however, the Blues scored two touchdowns on runs of two yards from Eric Johnson and a 6-yarder from Baker after rolling left and finding no room at the end. He reversed his field and outraced the Bears for the touchdown.
Hall got a 1-yard run in fourth, however, the Blue staved off the Bears hard attack to get the non-district win.
Baugh was the leading rusher for the Bears with 105 yards on 32 carries with McCray adding 78 yards on 11 carries. Union finished the night with 324 total yards.
Richlands travels to Graham next week for their third non-district game in as many weeks.
At Ernie Hicks Stadium/Emats Field
Union..................................................7 10 7 6 — 30
Richlands.........................................14 6 12 0 — 32
First quarter
R – Staten 3-yard run (Franklin kick)
U – McCray 58-yard pass from Hall (Simon kick)
R – A.J. Johnson 12-yard pass from Baker (Franklin kick)
Second quarter
U— Baugh 1-yard run (Simons kick)
U – Simon 26-yard FG
R – Staten 67-yard run (kick failed)
Third quarter
U – Davis 5-yard run
R – Eric Johnson 2-yard run (kick failed)
R –Baker 6-yard run (conversion failed)
Fourth quarter
U – Hall 1-yard run (conversion failed)
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