River View closes out the Knights
River View (53) vs. Mount View (14)
Written: Aug 30, 2014
BRADSHAW — To quote Charles Dickens from A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”
The best of times came prior to Thursday evening’s fifth edition of the Battle of the Views at the Ravine, the annual kickoff contest for the football season between McDowell County’s two high schools, River View and Mount View .
The prelude to the best of times was the rolling onto the River View campus of nine charter buses, carrying some 375 members of the Pride of West Virginia, the WVU Marching Band, and their support entourage.
After the visitors from Morgantown were properly welcomed and treated to a delicious home-cooked dinner of roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, rolls and dessert, the Pride of the Mountain State gave a rousing performance of the routines that will be showcased tomorrow afternoon prior to and at halftime of the Mountaineers’ season opener in Atlanta against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The stands were packed for the much-anticipated 6 pm treat that lasted close to an hour and thrilled everyone who had come to the Ravine early to see and hear the band.
No one went away disappointed in the Pride of West Virginia!
It was indeed the best of times!
Proof came, when the football game kicked off, that things can change on a dime: a long, grueling game got underway at 7:58 and wasn’t over until 3 hours and 10 minutes later.
Both teams played hard. Make no mistake about that.
But it was obviously the first game of the season for both teams, who were so mistake-prone throughout the contest.
Between the two Views, there were seven fumbles with four being lost. Add to that five pass interceptions and 41 combined penalties for 320 yards. Compare those penalty yards to total rushing yards for both clubs that totaled only 248. In fact, total yardage (369) for both Views wasn’t much more than those penalty yards.
Each team showed bright spots, River View more so than Mount View.
The Raider defense recorded three safeties, while scoring two of the seven River View touchdowns, one on a pass interception return by Jordan Wilson and another on a fumble recovery in the Knight end zone by Nick Bailey.
Another pass theft set the stage for yet another River View score, and three more followed after the Raider defense stopped Mount View on downs.
Analyzed first year Golden Knight head coach Larry Thompson, “I think we played hard. We just didn’t execute well…We fumbled the ball early and just could not get over it.”
He continued, “I think we let the crowd get to us.”
When asked of those three times the Knights turned the ball over on downs, once at the Mount View 7, Thompson said, to attest to the crowd getting to his team, “We called a punt, but it was like we were speaking a foreign language. We’re not going to not punt with 40 yards to go on fourth down at our own 7.”
Senior Jordan Wilson recorded the initial touchdown of the 2014 campaign on a 9 yard jaunt around left end at the 5:28 mark of the opening frame. Wilson adeptly followed the block of fullback Jeremy Crigger to find the end zone.
That score came to fruition in 8 plays and covered 52 yards, and with Crigger’s PAT kick, the Raiders led 7-0.
Mount View also struggled early returning both kickoffs and punts, and the ensuing kick after Wilson’s TD was no exception.
The would-be returner slipped down at his own five and on the second snap, sophomore Cody Howie tackled the Knight ball carrier in the end zone for the first safety.
Early in the second, Wilson picked off an errant Mount View pass near the Golden Knight sideline, cut toward the middle of the field and ended up cutting back left to finish off a 49 yard pass interception return touchdown. Crigger again booted the conversion for a 16-0 River View lead.
Midway through the second quarter, junior Nick Bailey recovered a Knight fumble in the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Raiders a 23-0 advantage following Crigger’s extra point kick.
Only one snap later, Howie, Crigger and senior Justin Ward combined for a second safety, lifting the lead to 25-0, with 5:28 remaining in the first half.
Mount View senior Tim Nowlin stole a pass moments after that to set the stage for the Golden Knights’ first score.
Sophomore Joseph Hayes made short work of scoring, capping a four play, 71 yard march with a 6 yard burst up the middle at the 3:11 mark, cutting the deficit to 25-6, where the score stood at intermission.
Sophomore J. T. Waddell had an interception of his own to stop Mount View’s opening one-play series of the second half, and four plays later Crigger went off right guard for a 3 yard TD, extending the advantage to 31-
Sophomore quarterback Michael Price connected with Howie on a 10 yard scoring strike on a screen with 6:02 showing and following a 15 yard flag That duo hooked up again, this time from 21 yards out, with 11:06 left in the game to up the lead to 45-6 after Crigger again tacked on the conversion kick.
On the ensuing Knight possession, the snap from center sailed past quarterback Chris Muncy into the Knight end zone, where the sophomore signal-caller alertly fell on it for a third safety, only a dozen seconds after Howie’s second TD grab.
The Raiders parlayed the free kick following that safety into a four yard Crigger romp for the 53-6 lead at the 8:09 mark of the fourth.
Muncy recorded the final score on a 4 yard run with only 33 ticks remaining and then ran the extra points for the final 53-14 count.
Analyzed Raider second year head coach Gehrig Justice, “We made a lot of mistakes up front…I’m proud of the defense: 3 safeties and 2 defensive scores. Several guys made plays.”
Justice continued, “As the offense struggled early, the defense played well.”
River View will travel to Buffalo next Friday, while the Knights will remain on the road, visiting Man, also on Friday.
at ‘The Ravine’
MOUNT VIEW 0 6 0 8 14
RIVER VIEW 9 16 13 15 53
SCORING
First Quarter
RV: Jordan Wilson 9 yd run (Jeremy Crigger PAT kick)
RV: Cody Howie safety
Second Quarter
RV: Wilson 49 yd pass interception return (Crigger PAT kick)
RV: Nick Bailey fumble recovery in endzone (Crigger PAT kick)
RV: Howie, Crigger and Justin Ward safety
MV: Joseph Hayes 6 yd run (PAT run failed)
Third Quarter
RV: Crigger 3 yd run (PAT kick failed)
RV: Howie 10 yd pass from Michael Price (Crigger PAT kick)
Fourth Quarter
RV: Howie 21 yd pass from Price (Crigger PAT kick)
RV: Team safety
RV: Crigger 4 yd run (PAT kick failed)
MV: Chris Muncy 4 yd run (Muncy PAT run)
STATS
MV RV
First Downs 9 11
Rushing 32-121 yds 41-127 yds
Passing 4-18-75 yds 4-17-46 yds
Total Yardage 196 173
Fumbles-Lost 4-3 3-1
Interceptions Throw 3 2
Penalties 22-155 yds 19-165 yds
Punts, Yds, Avg 1-28-28.0 5-160-32.0
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: (MV) Joseph Hayes 15-115, (RV) Jeremy Crigger 14-90, Jordan Wilson 16-48.
PASSING: (MV) Chris Muncy 4-16, 75 yds, 3 int, (RV) Michael Price 4-17, 46 yds, 2 int, 2 TDs.
PASS RECEIVING: (MV) Marquis Bonds 1-31, Marlin Marrs 1-26, Jaquane Imes 1-21, (RV) Cody Howie 2-31.
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