G-men seeking its first MED win as they face the Bears at Mitchell Stadium

BLUEFIELD, Va. — No one would blame the Bland County Bears if they were a little wide-eyed tonight at the prospects of playing under the lights on the turf of Mitchell Stadium.

After all, the historic facility that will host the Bears (2-5, 1-1) and Graham (2-5, 0-2) holds more than the reported 6,824 people that live in Bland County.

Just don’t expect the Bears to be overwhelmed.

“We just look forward to playing on Friday night,” Bland County head coach Harris Hart said. “No matter whether we are playing at Mitchell, at our field in Bastian, or Narrows or Grayson, we just enjoy playing.

“It doesn’t matter where or who we are playing, just that we get to play.”

Graham head coach Mike Williams understands. After all, Mitchell Stadium’s playing surface is the same dimensions as Bland County’s field in Bastian. It just happens to be turf field in front of a lot more seats.

“When I was in high school, we had a big stadium, big crowds and lights and the whole deal,” said Williams, who played at tradition-rich Salem. “Sometimes that whole environment for some teams, it is the newness of it, but they are just down the road from us.

“They are not that far, I am not sure too much of that will play in. I think coach (Harris) Hart does a good job with those guys and I think they will be well prepared, including playing under the stadium lights and all that stuff.”

Playing in their first season as a Group A school in the Mountain Empire District, the G-Men are still looking for their first league win after losses to unbeaten Grayson County and Galax.

Hart, whose Bears lost 56-13 last week to the Blue Devils — one week after Graham lost to the same club 41-3 — understands what Bland County will have to do to compete with the bigger G-Men.

“They are a bigger football team than we are, a quicker and faster football team than we are and a deeper football team than we are,” Hart said. “We are just going to have to go out and limit our mistakes, play a solid football game offensively, defensively and special teams and do our best and have a good time and see how things go.”

Bland County scored on its first possession against Grayson County, driving the ball down the field, but turnovers and penalties ended their other chances to get on the board against the high-powered Blue Devils’ offense that the Bears — and G-Men a week before — couldn’t stop.

“Bland drove the opening kickoff down the field and scored on Grayson,” Williams said. “They got inside the 20 four times, I am not sure we have faced a team as good as Grayson, and Bland, though the scoreboard doesn’t show it as much, they had a great deal of success against those guys.

“I wouldn’t say by any stretch that they are a pushover. I think it will be a pretty good fight for us.”

After starting the season with a 2-2 record, the G-Men have dropped three straight. Williams knows what he wants to see from his team, which has shown flashes for a quarter or a half, but rarely for a full game.

“I think we have got to piece together four quarters of football...,” Williams said. “A lot of the times we are failing to piece together a full four quarters of great football. If we could ever do that that would be key for us and that includes all phases of the game.”

While Bland County has struggled throwing the ball this season, the Bears have been able to run it, led by Johnny David, a former Graham student, who has run for more than 600 yards and six touchdowns. Jakob Haun and Ray Holston are also threats for the Bears.

“They run the football pretty good, when they get blockers out front and their backs run hard, they can nickel and dime you to death,” said Williams, whose defense is led by Lamont Edwards (64 tackles, 3 forced fumbles), Marshall Hawley (7 tfl) and Hunter Cook (56 stops). “(David) is real fast, he looks as fast as anybody we have got, I think they executed well, I think their running game is very strong.”

Hart said David hasn’t shown any signs of anticipation in playing against his former mates.

“(David) is a just a young man that loves to play...,” Hart said. “He has a great attitude, he plays hard both offensively and defensively, does what we ask him to do and he has the right mental attitude so I think he will enjoy it.”

Defensively, Bland County has played big in big moments, including a goal line stand in a recent win over Narrows.

“When you watch them play Narrows defensively with the game on the line inside the 5, they shut Narrows down four times to win the game,” Williams said. “Those guys have been in a tight game late with time expiring and won so they are well tested coming in, there is no question about it.”

Stopping the Bland County running game and establishing their own is definitely high on the wish list for Williams. Quarterback Spencer Sheets leads the G-Men with 380 yards rushing (8.0 yards per carry), 263 through the air, and has caught seven passes.

No one else has more than 223 yards (Cory Coppola) on the ground. Gabe Hurt (15-111) and Cody Hatfield (10-127) are the favorite targets of Sheets or backup signal-caller Gray Baker.

“I would be excited if we could get our run game going, it has been a little hit and miss this year,” Williams said.

“We ran for 300-plus on Marion and 240 or so a couple of games and then we have also had games down around 100 or less.

“It has really been kind of famine or feast with the run game this year so if we could establish a good run game that would be important for us.”

Graham will be seeking its first-ever MED victory, and the Bears stand in the way in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Williams expects the first meeting between these clubs to be a memorable occasion.

“With any team it comes down to execution and being prepared and sometimes you don’t know which team is going to get off the bus going either way,” Williams said. “I am sure coach Hart will have those guys well prepared for us tomorrow night.”