Late rallies lift No. 5 Beavers by No. 3 Wayne
Bluefield (19) vs. Wayne (14)
Written: Nov 08, 2014
By RYAN EPLING
for the Herald-Dispatch
WAYNE — If the Class AA playoffs are anything like Friday night’s matchup between No. 3 Wayne and No. 5 Bluefield, it's going to be a fun postseason to follow.
The Beavers recovered a Wayne fumble at the Pioneer 11-yard line with seven minutes left in the game, and cashed in when senior fullback Corey Coppola scored from a yard out as Bluefield ended Wayne's 26-game home winning streak, 19-14.
It was the first loss at Pioneer Field for Wayne's senior class.
"They were able to establish a little bit of the run and that was the difference in the game," Wayne coach Tom Harmon said. "And we made a few mistakes along the way."
Those mistakes were minimal, but magnified against the speedy Beavers. Bluefield (9-1) scored first when sophomore speedster Carlos Reed got behind the Wayne defense and hauled in a 51-yard scoring strike from R.J. Bourne to make it 7-0.
Wayne would take the lead on its ensuing possession. Junior fullback Logan Queen did the bulk of the work on the possession, picking up 41 yards on five plays in the drive, capping it with a 10-yard scoring run. Mason Hodge added the two point conversion to put Wayne up, 8-7.
In the second quarter, it was Bluefield who made a mistake. A punt snap cleared the head of punter Tyler Easley, who fell on it for a 27-yard loss back to their own 28-yard line. Grant Ferguson ran a keeper for 18 yards, then scored two plays later on a quarterback sneak to make it 14-7 Wayne.
But Bluefield did what few teams can on its next possession — went fast. Reed, who won the state 100-meter championship as a freshman, caught a short pass in the flat on 2nd-and-25, shook three would-be tacklers on the soft grass surface, and outraced a fourth to the end zone from 35-yards away.
Bluefield went for two but was stopped in the backfield, leaving Wayne clinging to a 14-13 lead at the half.
"A busted tackle there on the second touchdown," Harmon said. "There's no accounting for them being able to make plays in open space. They do a nice job of getting the ball to their guys out there. When you get that, that's the times you wish you were on FieldTurf."
Reed finished with 128 yards receiving on seven catches, piling up the bulk of those yards after the catch.
Wayne (8-2), ran for just 38 yards in the second half. Queen had 77 yards on 11 carries, but only 20 on seven attempts in the second half. Hodge was held to 26 yards on 14 attempts.
"The second half, we weren't able to come out and establish the run," Harmon said. "(Bluefield) was standing up tall. Hopefully we'll learn some stuff from it and we'll come back stronger and be a better football team because of it."
The Pioneers were forced to play much of the night without speedster Cody Stiltner, who was injured on the opening possession of the game trying to make a catch while falling out of bounds. He played two more first quarter possessions, then didn't return until after Bluefield had taken the lead.
Bourne finished 10-of-13 passing for 173 yards and the two touchdown tosses to Reed. The bulky senior quarterback also ran for 46 yards.
Wayne will likely be the No. 5 seed in the postseason. The official pairings will be released tonight, with dates, times, and locations of games to be announced Sunday afternoon.
"We talked before the year that we're going to play 10 games and we know it's a heck of a schedule. Probably the best in the history Wayne High School," Harmon said. "We felt like if we could win enough games to get in the playoffs, we would get to do what we wanted to do.
'Our prize that everybody wants around here, including our football players first and foremost, is still out there. We've played 10 games, everyone has the same record right now and it's going to come down to who executes when it matters most."
Bluefield..............7 6 0 6 — 19
Wayne............. 8 6 0 0 — 14
B-Reed 51 pass from Bourne (Easley kick)
W-Queen 10 run (Hodge run)
W-Ferguson 1 run (run failed)
B-Reed 35 pass from Bourne (run failed)
B-Coppola 1 run (run failed)
———
Team Statistics
BF WY
First Downs 15 16
Rushes-yards 39-108 45-167
Passes 10-13-0 5-15-1
Passing yards 173 41
Total offense 281 208
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties 17-105 9-68
Punts 4-33.5 4-30.5
———
Individual Statistics
RUSHING-Bluefield: Stewart 14-62, Bourne 8-46, Coppola 11-28, Reed 4-0, Team 2-(-28). Wayne: Queen 18-97, Hodge 14-26, Perry 4-23, Ferguson 6-15, Sebastian 3-6.
PASSING-Bluefield: Bourne 10-13-0, 173 yards. Wayne: Ferguson 5-15-1, 41 yards.
RECEIVING-Bluefield: Reed 7-128, Santoro 1-20, Coppola 1-19, Huckleberry 1-6. Wayne: Stiltner 2-15, Watts 1-13, Atkins 1-7, Hodge 1-6.
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