Beavers exorcize Blue Devils
Bluefield (63) vs. Gate City (21)
Written: Sep 28, 2012
By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — At the midpoint of the regular season, the Bluefield Beavers demonstrated on Friday night that they have hit their stride.
The Beavers racked up 419 yards of offense and six Bluefieldians found the Mitchell Stadium end zone with the ball en route to a 63-21 demolition of the Gate City Blue Devils.
Bluefield (4-1) head coach Fred Simon said, “I think that’s what’s good about our offense. Everybody gets to touch it, and it’s a team game.”
D.J. Stewart, who scored the first points of the second half, said, “It tells us, you know, we got this.”
Montel Leggett, who again scored three touchdowns in a game, said, “We were just able to come out [and] play Beaver football.”
“We’re just coming together as a team. We’re not playing as individuals, We’re playing as a unit. That’s really what we need to make it upstate and win a championship.”
The home crowd was shocked when Gate City’s Robbie Hicks ran the opening kickoff back 91 yards down the Bluefield sideline for a touchdown. But the Beavers scored on four of their next five possessions.
Leggett had two long touchdown runs sandwiched around Shadeed Fitzgerald’s 43-yard scoring scamper. Brandon hauled in a 52-yard pass from Edwards for a 28-7 lead.
The Blue Devils (1-4) from Scott County, Va., went to their strength on offense, passes from Nick Bowen to Michael Collier, to try to close the gap. They connected on a 21-yard scoring pass with three minutes left in the first half, and Bowen’s extra point kick produced a 28-14 score.
Bluefield then mounted an electrifying five-play drive, covering 57 yards to take control again.
Edwards found Johnny David for a 26-yard gain, and Stewart leaped over Collier for a nine-yard gain. Edwards traversed the final 10 yards, picking his way up the middle to the goal line. Justin Mariotti’s fifth point-after kick, out of nine for the evening, produced a 35-14 halftime score.
Stewart and Leggett each ran for third-quarter touchdowns, and the Bowen-to-Collier connection resulted in another Gate City score. Back-to-back interception returns for touchdowns by the Beavers’ Justin Carter and Edwards accounted for the final points.
Bowen passed for 175 yards, continually finding Collier open.
Simon said, Simon said, “That hurt us. And we’ve just got to work on it a little bit. We’ve got to improve, and I think if we keep improving, we’ll have a good football team.”
“We did do a nice job of stopping some of the plays, except for the daggone tight end coming out of the backfield and being open. But we’ll keep working on it.”
Simon said, “I just think our coaches do a lot of work to figure out what’ll work against teams. ... We work hard, all week long, trying to figure out what will work.”
“Our line did a nice job, backs blocked well for each other. That’s what’s helping. We’ve got a lot of kids that are working hard for each other.”
Gate City head coach Bill Houseright said about Bluefield’s team speed, “It’s not a matter of keeping up with it as it is, don’t let them get started. They did a good job of blocking on the corner. ...
“We knew, coming in, that if we give them that crease, they’re were going to be gone.”
The Blue Devils went to a tight, full-backfield formation for stretches of the second half. Houseright said, “That helped at that time, and we were able to move the ball a little bit.”
Houseright said, “We’ve just got to block better, execute a little bit better.”
Edwards passed for 90 yards and one score, ran for another and got a third on his interception runback.
“I was just hungry for the ball. Every time I [saw] it, I went for it, every time I saw it,” he said.
Edwards said, “We made ’em spread out, and every time they spread out, we picked the spot that was open. That opened it up for everybody who scored tonight.”
“Our linemen blocked good, our receivers ran their routes right, and out running backs ran hard. So that made it easier for me.”
Stewart said, “They’re big, but they’re not as fast, so ... but you knew, if you took a hit, you were really going to take a hit from them.”
He said his offensive linemen “were pushing off [the line] real good. They got low. They were blocking real well. I just moved my feet. And I thank them.”
Leggett said he benefited from his teammates “keeping their blocks, knowing their blocking assignments, holding their blocks for just an couple of extra seconds. And that’s really what I needed to avoid some tackles and keep my feet and get to the end zone.”
The Beavers host River View next Friday night for their homecoming game, while the Blue Devils host John Battle High School.
Simon said about the visit by the Raiders, “They’re well coached by Mitch Estep, and they’ll be physical, and they’ll play hard like they always do. It’ll be a good game.”
Stewart said, “We’re going to do our thing. We’re going to try our best.”
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com
At Mitchell Stdium
Gate City.............................7 7 7 0 — 21
Bluefield............................21 14 28 0 — 63
First Quarter
GC - Robbie Hicks 91 run (Nick Bowen kick), 11:47
BHS - Montel Leggett 21 run (Justin Mariotti kick), 8:50
BHS - Shadeed Fitzgerald 43 run (Mariotti kick), 4:50
BHS - Leggett 41 run (Mariotti kick), 3:11
Second Quarter
BHS - Brandon Lilly 52 pass from D.J. Edwards (Mariotti kick), 6:37
GC - Michael Collier 21 pass from Bowen (Bowen kick), 3:00
BHS - Edwards 10 run (Mariotti kick), 0:48
Third Quarter
BHS - D.J. Stewart 8 run (Mariotti kick), 9:38
GC - Collier 5 pass from Bowen (Bowen kick), 5:12
BHS - Leggett 13 run (Mariotti kick), 4:48
BHS - Justin Carter 69 interception return (Mariotti kick), 1:56
BHS - Edwards 36 interception return (Mariotti kick), 1:38
———
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — GC, Evan Baker 14-43, Robbie Hicks 11-40, Neth Gardner 7-6, Tanner McMurray 1-4, Weston Lane 1-(–1), Nick Bowen 9-(-6). BHS, Montel Leggett 10-132, D.J. Stewart 7-43, D.J. Edwards 5-21, Johnny David 4-72, Shadeed Fitzgerald 2-48, Corey Coppola 3-7, R.J. Bourne 1-(-2), Bryan Morris 1-3, Marqi Dowell 1-4, Christian Oster 1-1.
PASSING — GC, Nick Bowen 13-21-175-2-2. BHS, D.J. Edwards 3-4-90-1 TD-0 intc.
RECEIVING — GC, Michael Collier 9-155, John Brooks 2-7, Evan Baker 1-2, Robbie Hicks 1-11. BHS, Leggett 1-12, Brandon Lilly 1-52, David 1-26.
———
TEAM STATISTICS
GC BHS
First downs 15 14
Rushes-yards 43-86 35-329
Passing yards 175 90
Comp-Att-Int 13-21-2 3-4-0
Return Yards 8-184 2-6
Punts-Avg. 4-25.75 2-28.50
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 4-20 8-50
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