Bears fall to Indians

By JERRY SCOTT/Staff

Bland County’s first trip back to the Group A, Division 1 football playoffs didn’t last near as long as the first three. Joining football’s postseason elite for the first time since the 1996 season, the Bears were quickly dismissed from this year’s field as Rural Retreat showed why it held the region’s top seed by dominating the Bears to the tune of a 34-12 victory.
David Harrison had his way with the Bears, rushing for 198 of the team’s 408 yards rushing and scoring four touchdowns. Fellow backfield mate Michael Mills added 127 yards and the other Rural Retreat touchdown.
With the win, the Indians improved to 8-3 and moved on to the region championship game this week in quest of their fourth straight Region C, D1 crown and eighth overall. Their opponent is Bath County (7-4), a 27-20 winner over Holston in the other semifinal contest.
Bland County dropped to 7-4 with the season-ending loss. Bland County also dropped to 3-4 overall in playoff competition, having finished as Region C runners-up in the 1994-96 seasons, including a 22-0 loss to Rural Retreat in the 1996 region title game.
The Indians reigned superior over the Bears right from the outset. Despite their opening possession ending in a lost fumble, Rural Retreat had driven 60 yards in nine plays on the game’s opening drive to the Bland County 8-yard line. A fumble by Mills was recovered by Bland County’s Kyle Kennedy at the Bears’ 3.
Several plays gained little for Bland County before Korey Kennedy also fumbled with the Indians’ Justin Stoneman recovering at the Bland County 20. Harrison then scored the first touchdowns on a one-yard plunge with 2:19 remaining in the opening stanza as the Indians led 7-0.
Bland County turned the ball over on downs early in the second quarter and the Indians answered with a 71-yard drive that took nine plays to complete, taking a 14-0 advantage at the 7:34 mark of the first half on a 3-yard run by Harrison. Harrison picked up a total of 42 yards in the drive, including 17 on a first down run from the Indians’ 40 that ignited a string of four straight Rural Retreat rushes that netted double digit gains.
Bland County went on to drive deep into Rural Retreat territory for the second straight time on their next possession but Harrison sacked the Bears’ Josh Shrader for a 3-yard loss on fourth-and-10 from the 13 to squelch the opportunity. Rural Retreat then drove all the way back to the Bears’ 32 but the Indians’ Aaron Rider dropped a Stoneman pass on fourth down in the end zone with seven seconds left that enabled the Bears to dodge having their fate sealed, at least momentarily.
That came early in quarter three as Mills intercepted Shrader at the Indians’ 36 on Bland County’s second play of the period. Five snaps later, Mills sprinted 41 yards, scoring with 9:40 showing on the clock as the Indians enjoyed a 21-0 lead.
Bland County turned its next possession over on downs at the Indians’ 28 and Rural Retreat took advantage by scoring again on another short plunge by Harrison to lead 27-0 with 4:04 left in the third. Key to the drive was a 55-yard blast by Mills on the second play that was kept only from being a score on a diving tackle by Kristopher Kennedy at the BC9. 
The Bears finally found their way into the end zone on the game’s next possession. Shrader hooked up with Kristopher Kennedy on a 33-yard scoring play that got the Bears on the board with 1:09 remaining in the period. Kyle Kennedy set up the drive with a 20-yard kickoff return, the last of his four returns that gained 73 Bland County yards. Shrader and Korey Kennedy also connected on a 31-yard pass play from the BC34 on third down that kept the drive sustained.
That drive had no effect on the Indians, however, who marched 69 yards in just four plays to go up 34-6. Harrison’s 16-yard run with 11:12 left in the game virtually delivered the knockout blow.
Still able to move the ball fairly well on the Rural Retreat defense, Bland County drove to the RR29 before again turning the ball over on downs. The Bears eventually got the ball back at their own 36 on downs and answered with their final touchdown drive of 2007 to produce the final 34-12 tally. Senior Adam Kirk scored on a 28-yard run with 1:08 left in the game to cap the 64-yard drive.
Rural Retreat accumulated 448 total yards against the Bland County defense. In addition to the combined 325 yards gained by Harrison and Mills, Stoneman added 54 yards on his eight carries. He also passed for 40 yards, spreading his three completions among three receivers.
Bland County picked up 203 yards rushing, led by 60 yards on nine carries by Kirk and 59 yards on 14 carries by Shrader, who also passed for an additional 111 yards.  Korey Kennedy was limited to just 47 yards on 12 carries as his string of consecutive games of 100 or more yards rushing was stopped at five.
Kennedy finished the year with 1, 213 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, one short in his quest of either tying or breaking the team’s single season mark of 15 that is currently held by Casey Elliott (2001) and Thomas Willis (2006). His rushing yardage for a season ranks third behind Elliott’s 1, 515 in 2001 and Todd Morehead’s 1,295 in 1995.
Kyle Kennedy finished the season with a total of 18 punt returns. This is a new Bland County single season record, breaking the old record of 12 that Matt Morris established in 2005. His 170 punt returns yards fell 22 short of Willis’s 192, also from the 2005 season. Nick Leighton’s 38.2 yards per punt in 2007 bettered the old mark of 36.0 set in 2002 by Brandon Kelley.
Defensively, Kristopher Kennedy led Bland County with 11 overall tackles, including eight assists. Jacob Lambert added seven assists en route to nine total tackles with Josh Pennington and Ethan Jones picking up seven tackles each.

Bland County 0 0 6 6—12
Rural Retreat 7 7 13 7—34

SCORING—
First quarter
RR—Harrison 1 run (Wright kick) 2:19
Second quarter
RR—Harrison 3 run (Wright kick) 7:34
Third quarter
RR—Mills 41 run (Wright kick) 9:40
RR—Harrison 1 run (kick failed) 4:04
BC—Kr. Kennedy 33 pass from Shrader (kick failed) 1:09
Fourth quarter
RR—Harrison 16 run (Wright kick) 11:12
BC—Kirk 28 run (kick failed) 1:08

TEAM STATISTICS—
BC RR
First downs 12 17
Rushes/yds 45/203 45/408
Comp/Att/Int 7/10/1 3/8/0
Passing yds 111 40
Returns/yds 6/108 2/15
Penalties/yds 8/30 5/40
Fumbles/lost 2/1 2/1
Punts/avg yds 0/0.0 0/0.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS—
Rushing:
Bland County—Kirk 9/60, Shrader 14/59, Ko. Kennedy 12/47, B. Gibson 3/23, Lambert 4/22, Crouse 1/-2, Kr. Kennedy 1/-6. Rural Retreat—Harrison 23/198, 7/127, Stoneman 8/54, Fields 2/11, Hash 4/9, Holman 1/9.
Passing:
Bland County—Shrader 7/10/1, 111 yds. Rural Retreat—Stoneman 3/8/0, 40 yds.
Receiving:
Bland County—Kr. Kennedy 1/33, Ko. Kennedy 1/31, Leighton 1/22, Pennington 3/21, Kidd 1/ 4. Rural Retreat—Harmon 1/23, Mills 1/14, Harrison 1/3.
Returns:
Bland County—Ky. Kennedy 4/73, Lambert 1/24, B. Gibson 1/11. Rural Retreat: Stoneman 2/15.