Blue Tornado swirls past Cavaliers
Richlands (21) vs. Lord Botetourt (14)
Written: Sep 20, 2014
By MIKE DAVIS
for the Daily Telegraph
RICHLANDS, Va.— The Blue Tornado had been snake-bitten twice this season, with two games lost in the fourth quarter.
On Friday night, they turned the tables, holding off Lord Botetourt to defeat the Cavaliers 21-14 at Ernie Hicks Stadium/Emats Field.
Richlands (2-2) needed a boost on both sides of the ball in the final four minutes of the game. The Tornado was holding onto a 7-point lead, but the Cavaliers appeared to have the momentum, having narrowed the margin to the final score in the fourth quarter.
However, the Blues’ defense stepped up and made a big stop with three minutes to go in the game, pushing the Cavaliers (2-2) backward on what could’ve been a game-tying drive.
Then, offensively the Tornado offensive line pushed the chains for first downs and Griffin McCauley keyed a 12-yard run to grind out the clock to get a 21-14 upset over the Cavaliers.
It was quite a difference from last season’s meeting between these clubs, won by the Cavaliers 56-0.
“I’m proud of these kids, we battled through two injuries, Bryce Farris and Anthony Cordle are two very good football players,” Richlands head coach Greg Mance said. “We have all new kids in the lineup, all of our front seven were underclassmen and my hats off to that bunch.
“The defense made plays when they had to and I’m proud of them. We needed it because we put ourselves behind the eight-ball with two losses. It’s nice to come back and beat a very good football team.”
The Tornado made no secret about keeping the ball out of the Cavaliers hands, working to take as much time off the clock with each possession as possible.
That started in the first quarter between the Blues drove from their 24 to the Lord Botetourt 19. A holding penalty on Richlands moved the line of scrimmage backwards to the 31-yard line, however, the space in front of the goal played into the Blues’ favor.
Quarterback River Michaels dropped back on third-and-16 and fired a completion to Zeke Vance at the 3-yard line. From there, Vance waltzed into the end zone, putting the Tornado in front 7-0, following the Alex Bandy extra point kick, the first of three extra point kicks on the night.
Their lead was short-lived when the Cavaliers answered on the ensuing drive, muscling their way between the tackles and ate more than six minutes off the second quarter game clock with Noah Fletcher and Bradley Lythgoe shouldering the running game on their shoulders.
The drive came to an end after 16 plays when Lythgoe bowled in from the 1-yard line with 6:40 left in the second quarter and Grant Clemmons evened the game with the extra point.
Richlands re-took the lead with 2:49 to go in the opening half. Michaels capped a four-play, 61-yard drive with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Vance for his second trip of the half to the end zone.
The Cavaliers tried to duplicate the ground attack they had earlier on their scoring drive, however, the Blue Tornado defense held them to one first down, allowing toe clock to run out with the Blues leading 14-7.
Both punters were busy in the third quarter before the Cavaliers turned the ball over in their own end after a bad snap. Richlands converted the turnover in what turned out to be the game-winner following a slicing run by McCauley that set the line of scrimmage at the Lord Botetourt 5-yard line. Michaels followed the line into the end zone from there with less than three minutes left in the third.
Lord Botetourt scored the final points of the night in the fourth quarter on a 13-play drive from their own 44-yard line. They converted three fourth downs on the sequence and scored on 4th-and-4 when Ryan Fralin hit Matt Henderlight in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.
It was as close as the Cavaliers would get as the Richlands defense took over, shutting down the potent Lord Botetourt rushing game.
Michaels finished the night with 112 yards passing, completing 7-of-18 passes, and 41 rushing on 23 attempts. Vance was Michaels’ favorite target with 109 yards on four receptions.
Richlands held the Cavaliers’ ground game to 124 yards on the night, including limiting Noah Fletcher to 79 yards on the ground.
The Blue Tornado will look for their third win in a row next Friday at Virginia High.
At Ernie Hicks Stadium/Emats Field
Lord Botetourt......................0 7 0 7 — 14
Richlands..............................7 7 7 0 — 21
Scoring summary
First quarter
R – Vance 31-yard pass from Michaels (Bandy kick)
Second quarter
L – Lythgoe 1-yard run (Clemmons kick)
R – Vance 48-yard pass from Michaels (Bandy kick)
Third quarter
R – Michaels 5-yard run (Bandy kick)
Fourth quarter
L – Henderlight 10-yard pass from Fralin (Clemmons kick).
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