Haysi nearly flawless in rout of J.I. Burton
Haysi (54) vs. J.I. Burton (16)
Written: Nov 16, 2014
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
BIRCHLEAF, Va. —- It seemed like everyone had a bad day for Haysi in its loss at Honaker the previous week.
It seemed like every Tiger had a great day Saturday.
Haysi advanced to the second round of the Region 1A West playoffs with an impressive, 54-16 win over J.I. Burton Saturday afternoon at Sandlick Elementary School.
The offensive numbers were staggering for the Tigers, who amassed 571 yards of total offense and the biggest numbers belonged to Haysi quarterback Jalen Sykes.
Sykes was 22-of-27 passing for 396 yards and five touchdowns. Ryan Turner, meanwhile, piled up 297 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns and Guage Hill hauled in nine passes for 221 yards and three TDs.
"We didn't have our best showing last week, we didn't get a lot of things going so this week we talked how it was going to be important to get back on track," said Sykes, who also ran for a score. "The offensive line played a major part, we had plenty of time to throw.
"Wade (Turner), Robbie (Yates), Chase (Hall), James (Adkins and Chris Counts, he came in for Brian (Duncan) and they did an awesome job blocking. I had time to throw, guys ran solid routes and we just found some things we had some success with."
Even when things went bad Haysi (9-2) made something good happen.
A bad snap led to a 27-yard TD pass from Sykes to a wide open Hill in a 22-point second quarter as the Tigers bolted out to a sizable 36-8 halftime advantage.
"We were in the shotgun," Haysi coach James Colley said. "I guess the center didn't get the call and we ran our pass route the way you're supposed to with a good snap and Jalen, he's very smart.
"He had the presence of mind to pick it up and the guy was there, he was wide open. I don't know what happened to the coverage, they must have stopped when they saw the snap. (Jalen) made a really good read on it."
Added Sykes, "When you see that ball on the ground it just turns into backyard football. You pick it up and run and look down field and I looked up and saw Guage wide open."
Hill had a 41-yard TD reception late in the first quarter and capped his day by bailing out Sykes on a 31-yard third-quarter score when the QB was chased out of the pocket.
"The way Jalen was throwing the ball today he didn't miss anybody, just a few passes," Hill explained. "He was on the money.
"I think I was supposed to run a hitch or something, but right before the game me and his dad (John Sykes) were talking and he said any time
Jalen scrambles you just head to the sideline. So I broke my route off and headed to the sideline where Jalen was at and he found me."
J.I. Burton (5-6) took a short-lived 8-6 lead after quarterback Tra Adams' one-yard sneak for a touchdown capped an impressive 9-play, 57-yard drive on its first series.
The Raiders failed to sustain another drive until the opening series of the second half when Adams tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Messer.
"We thought we could run the ball better on them than we did," said J.I. Burton coach Jimbo Adams. "They're just a good offensive football team, we knew that coming over here."
Sykes completed a 34-yard pass to Tyler Mullins and a 28-yard throw to Hill to set up a score on the game's first possession, a 2-yard TD toss to Turner.
Turner hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass late in the second period and capped the scoring with a 10-run TD run early in the fourth period.
The junior's numbers were impressive all the way around. He finished with seven catches for 97 yards, added 91 return yards and finished with 88 rushing yards on nine carries.
Tristan Yates added a 21-yard touchdown run, while Mullins had three catches overall for 54 yards.
Messer caught six passes for 64 yards for Burton, which lost leading rusher DeShawn Patten to a possible concussion during the game.
Haysi, which hosts Covington in a second round contest next weekend, was without two injured starters, Duncan and speedy wide out Hunter Sutherland.
"We had several people step up, Travis Conaway, Coty O'Quinn," added Sykes. "Travis made an awesome catch on that two-point conversion.
Everyone has the mentality that if anybody goes down they can step up and be effective."
Savon Wadsworth knocked down two passes for Burton. Tristan Yates made 12 tackles, three for lost yardage and Conaway had 11 tackles for the Tigers.
Colley says his club would love to avoid slow starts like Saturday's, as long as it continues to play well defensively.
"But I'll take any game that we give up 16 points and we score 17 or more, that's pretty good defense," he said. "I don't mind slow starts, if you bring it on after that but that's what you have to do."
J.I. Burton............................8 0 8 0 — 16
Haysi...................................14 22 12 6 — 54
Scoring Summary
H-Turner 2 pass from Sykes (kick blocked)
JIB-Adams 1 run (Adams pass from Messer)
H-Sykes 1 run (Conaway pass from Sykes)
H-Hill 41 pass from Sykes (Mullins pass from Sykes)
H-Hill 27 pass from Sykes (Turner run)
H-Turner 14 pass from Sykes (pass failed)
JIB-Messer 29 pass from Adams (Branham pass from Adams)
H-T. Yates 21 run (pass failed)
H-Hill 31 pass from Sykes (pass failed)
H-Turner 10 run (run failed)
Team Stats
First Downs: JIB 14, H 24; Rushes-Yards: JIB 25-61, H 29=175; Passing
Yards: JIB 117, H 396; Comp-Att-Int: JIB 18-34-2, H 22-27-0;
Fumbles-Lost: JIB 2-0, H 0-0; Penalties: JIB 3-30, H 10-96;
Punts-Average: JIB 5-26.8, H 1-26.
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