Radford roughs up Hurley Rebels
Hurley (0) vs. Radford (42)
Written: Nov 15, 2014
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
RADFORD, Va. — It wasn't the Ice Bowl, the wind just made it feel that way.
Radford wasted little time gaining control and wasted little time getting off the chilly field quickly after trouncing Hurley, 42-0, in first round action in Region 1A West Friday at Bobcats Stadium. It was an icy 24 degrees by the end of the game, but that was long after the outcome was decided. Most of the yardage and all of the points came in the first half and Heth Grant was responsible for a huge chunk of both.
Grant ran for 146 yards and scored four touchdowns, all before halftime as the Bobcats scored six times in a 16-play stretch and raced out to a 42-0 halftime lead.
"He's an excellent football player," said Radford coach Matthew Saunders of the 5-foot-9, 170-pound sophomore. "I think he had 24 touchdowns going into this game.
"He's a kid who works hard in the weight room and he's worked on his speed so he can give you a lot of different things. He can outrun you, he'll try to run through you. He's just a good football player."
What Grant, the nephew of former Clintwood great Johnny McFall, wasn't accounting for early, Radford quarterback Marcus Finley was.
The two-sport standout, who leads the Bobcats to basketball glory in the winter, threw three TD passes, two to Grant and added a 35-yard scoring run to boot.
"Those two were probably the best we've seen all year," Hurley coach Greg Tester said. "We had to get penetration to slow them down and once they broke by our front line there was no catching them."
Radford (6-5) scored on a 4-play, 66-yard drive to start things off then pinned Hurley (7-4) in poor field position the rest of the half. The Bobcats controlled the line of scrimmage early and took away the Rebels' jet sweeps. Hurley bases much of its offensive attack on speed and Radford was simply faster.
"We're pretty quick up front and and we have speed and we try and take advantage of that," Saunders added. "We get good penetration and try and make them take a different track."
Hurley did put a couple of promising drives together, but turned the ball over twice in Radford territory in the first half and again in the second half.
"We knew they were fast, but they jumped on us quick and got us down 14 and then 21-0 and when you go up against a team like that it's hard to get back in it," Tester said. "But I don't want to let this game take away from the way our season went.
"I'm proud of the kids for the effort they gave all season. We were just outmanned a little bit today and we were never able to get back into it."
Devin Tester gained 76 yards on six carries and Tray Oliver, one of the few seniors in the Hurley lineup, finished with 54 yards on 13 carries.
At Radford
Hurley..................0 0 0 0 — 0
Radford...............28 14 0 0 — 42
Scoring Summary
R-Grant 34 run (kick failed)
R-Grant 19 run (Finley run)
R-Billings 28 pass from Finley (Jessie kick)
R-Grant pass from Finley (Jessie kick)
R-Finley 35 run (Jessie kick)
R-Grant 31 pass from Finley (Jessie kick)
Team Stats
First Downs: H 10, R 18; Rushes-Yards: H 38-182, R 29-340; Passing
Yards: H 8, R 68; Comp-Att-Int: H 2-9-2, R 3-3-0; Fumbles-Lost: H 2-1,
R 2-1; Penalties: H 2-15, R 6-55; Punts-Average: H 4-13.5, R 0-0.
|