By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

RICHLANDS, Va. — Devon Johnson ran for 202 yards and three touchdowns in last Friday’s 45-19 win for Richlands over previously undefeated Honaker.

He could have had much more.

Johnson had a touchdown run of 91 yards, and another 66-yard run nullified by holding penalties.

Did Johnson get upset? Not at all.

“I just look it like I have to do it again and do it again and that is all I thought about it,” Johnson said. “They apologized for it, but I told them not to worry about it, everybody makes mistakes.”

No wonder Richlands head coach Greg Mance can’t stop gushing about Johnson, a senior running back and linebacker, who is a key part of the Blue Tornado’s 6-0 start to the campaign.

“It is about the team. If you talk to Devon I promise you the first words out of his mouth is he is going to brag on the offensive linemen and he brags on his teammates,” Mance said. “He really doesn’t like a lot of attention, if you will watch him he is really shy, but he is just a special young man.

“Every teacher that has ever had him in that high school, everybody loves Devon. He is respectful, he is super nice, he’s what you want in a son.

“We’re just glad he is wearing a blue jersey, that is all I will say.”

Attention finds Johnson. So do awards. Johnson is this week’s winner of the Pocahontas Coal Association/Bluefield Daily Telegraph Player of the Week Award.

Johnson won the same award last season, and eventually was selected as the player of the year. He could become the second two-time winner of that award, joining current New York Giants’ running back Ahmad Bradshaw, a product of Graham and Marshall.

“It is a big honor to win the player of the week award,” Johnson said. “It is a big, big honor. Ahmad Bradshaw won it, that is just a big honor for me to just be able to win it.”

He earned it. Johnson carried the pigskin 18 times against Honaker in a battle of unbeatens, gaining 202 yards and scoring on touchdown runs of 16, 15 and 3 yards. He missed out on much more, but that was plenty for the Blue Tornado, which opens Southwest District play on Friday at Marion.

Honaker led early 7-0, and was within 28-12 at the break, but the Blues outscored the Tiger 21-7 in the second half.

“The line just went out and just started blocking really, really, really good (in the second half),” said Johnson, whose brother, A.J., has developed into one of the area’s top receivers. “I just took advantage of it and hit the hole and kept going.”

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Johnson isn’t much smaller than offensive linemen like Josh Hess (6-7, 325), Donnie Dye (6-2 310), James England (6-6, 320) and All-Group A center Taylor Wade (6-2, 255).

He certainly appreciates their contributions to his success.

“My line did a great job, they gave me holes and when I got it I just took it and kept going with it,” said Johnson, who attended Marshall’s loss to Virginia Tech last month. “It is just a big honor to be able to play behind them.

“I told my line just get me a hole and I will take it and they got me the hole and I hit it. I just kept my feet moving and kept breaking tackles.”

Lots of them. The hard-charging, chiseled Johnson also plays defense, as a hard-hitting linebacker for the Blues, the same position he’ll probably play beginning next fall at Marshall.

“In 18 carries he had over 300 yards rushing, probably broke 15 tackles during the course of the night,” Mance said. “It was just a highlight game, he had three runs where he probably broke five tackles and went from one side of the field to the other.”

Mance thinks Johnson has a bright future ahead, not only with the Thundering Herd, but possibly even at the highest level of competition.

“He is just a special, special young man. He has got size, he is explosive, he is strong, he plays with a passion, he has got the ability to play on Sunday and we are excited about him,” Mance said. “Our job is to get him to Marshall, he has already committed to Marshall, but we couldn’t be happier with Devon.”

Johnson’s season got off to a tough start, suffering a slight strain to the MCL in his knee in the season opening win over Gate City. He played mostly defense the following week against Union, but was back in the week 3 win over Graham, and has only continued to get better.

“It scared me really bad, but at the time I really wasn’t thinking about my college career, I was just thinking about my team,” Johnson said. “I just put my head down, I was thinking I can’t let my team down.

“When I was at the hospital I was just thinking about the team playing and listening to the radio and they came out with the win. In the third game that is really when I got to start moving it with my knee and it kept getting better and better and now it is probably up to 100 percent.

It’s looked the part. Johnson has since run for 111 (Graham), 199 (Pulaski County), 145 on seven carries (Patrick County) and 202 against the Tigers. He’s up to 725 yards and 10 touchdowns, an average of 10.98 yards per carry, and also has two reception for 97 yards and another score.

“He comes to practice every day, works hard, he has been a leader in practice,” Mance said. “He is a coach’s dream, we don’t get many Devon Johnsons.”

Johnson is currently preparing to face Marion, which will host Richlands in the SWD opener for both teams on Friday night. That will be followed by three more district tilts and then the postseason, which is what the Blue Tornado really wants.

“We’ve got to finish off this regular season, play hard, practice all week like we did and we can’t go easy on any team,” Johnson said. “We have got to play hard.”

Richlands reached the state title game last season, only to lose to Poquoson 23-17. Johnson was there, playing like a terror on defense, but the Blues came up six points short of their ultimate goal.

Coming up short this season isn’t even a thought in his mind.

“Right now our goal is to get better every week, we can’t go backwards, we have to go forward,” Johnson said. “We just have to get better and our goal is like every other year is to make the state championship.

“Whatever we have got to do to get there we are going to do.”

He added, with his always-present smile, “Let’s finish this season strong.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

Honorable Mention

Bland County (14-12 win over Northwood): Jakob Haun, 25-97, 1 td (5), 1 two-point conversion run.

Bluefield (21-7 loss to Gate City): D.J. Edwards, 8-15, 84 yards, 1 td (10) pass, 13-56 rush.

Graham (41-7 loss to Princeton): Cody Hatfield, 15-102, 1 td (64);

Grundy (21-20 win over Castlewood): Ben Rife, 107 yards passing, 3 td (28, 27, 8); Dillon O’Quinn, 2 td catch (28, 8).

Honaker (45-19 loss to Richlands): Jerad Honaker, 25-101, 1 td (4).

Hurley (54-12 loss to Thomas Walker): Austin Cooper, 2 td pass (15, 18).

James Monroe (21-14 loss to Chapmanville): Matt Romanello, 2 td pass (16, 2), 1 two-point conversion pass.

Princeton (41-7 win over Graham): Tahj Sho-Johnson, 12-122, 3 td (24, 8, 39) rush, 1-11 catch, Brett Carroll, 4-84, 1 td (40); Brandon Barrett, 2 fg (41, 32), 5 extra points.

Richlands (45-19 win over Honaker): Reece Strong, 92 yards passing, 1 td pass (21), 1 td run (1), 1 field goal (44), 6 extra points.

River View (31-28 win over Wyoming East): Jordan Wilson, kick return for td (92, first in school history); Jacob Muncy, 6-19, 128 yards, 2 td (6, 57); Trey Bailey, 22-96, 1 td rush (2), 1-7 1 td (7) catch; Brandon Thomas, 2-85, 1 td (57) catch.

Summers County (27-22 loss to Covington): T.J. Smith, 1 td run (2), 1 td pass (4); Jesse Howdershelt, 29-145 rush, 2 point conversion run.

Tazewell (16-7 loss to Lebanon): Mikal Moore, 16-106 yards rush.

NOTE: Coaches are urged to make recommendations for this award. Contact the Daily Telegraph by Tuesday at 5 p.m. at (304) 327-2813 or e-mail to sports@bdtonline.com