Bland County defeats Van

BEARS CLOBBER BULLDOGS 55-6 TO WIN 5TH GAME
By JERRY SCOTT/Staff

If Bland County’s day had went like to game’s opening kickoff, Bears’ coach Harris Hart might have left Concord University’s football stadium scratching his head in wonderment. As it turned out, he was left wondering what he had to do to keep the final score down.
Korey Kennedy ran for 135 yards on 14 carries, scoring two touchdowns as Bland County routed Van, W. Va., 55-6 to raise its record to 5-1.
Brother Kristopher Kennedy also scored a pair of touchdowns as did freshman Jakob Haun. As a team the Bears rushed for 379 yards.
On a day when his Bears tied team records for points and touchdowns scored in a single game, Hart has to feel confident as Bland County enters district play this coming Friday with a home contest with Narrows. The 55 points tied the team record set back on Oct. 7, 2005, against Pocahontas in a 55-0 win and the Bears scored eight touchdowns for the fifth time in their history, the previous time being in that same game against Pocahontas.
“We got a great effort for a lot of people,” Hart stated. “We were able to look at some of the younger kids and they showed how much they’ve improved since the beginning of practice in August. The first team offensive unit played hard, executed well.”
The Bears muffed the opening kickoff with Van’s Tony Giachetti recovering at the Bears’ 16-yard line. Things didn’t look very good at that point but the scene quickly changed and the rout was on.
On Van’s very first play from scrimmage, Bears’ safety Josh Shrader stepped in front of the Bulldogs’ intended receiver in the end zone and picked off Jarred Thomas’s first pass. It was one of two picks on the day for Shrader and the first of five Van turnovers.
The Bears capitalized quickly, embarking on a nine-play, 80-yard drive to take a 7-0 advantage with 8:08 left in the first stanza. Shrader completed passes to Nick Leighton, Korey Kennedy, and Kristopher Kennedy during the drive totaling 32 yards with Kristopher Kennedy scoring on a 13-yard run to cap the drive.
Shrader’s second interception came at the Bears’ 45 on second down of the ensuing possession and his return of 16 yards to the Bulldogs’ 39 set up another Bland County score. This one came by Korey Kennedy on an 18-yard run with 4:45 left in the opening period. The drive was aided by a critical pass interference call against the Bulldogs on third-and-12 from the Van 28 as the Bears ran their lead to 13-0.
The Bulldogs continued to struggle offensively against the Bears and were forced to punt from their own 45 and the Bears again answered with an impressive scoring drive. From their own 15, Bland County marched 85 yards in 10 plays to extend the lead to 21-0 by the 9:38 mark of the second quarter.
Korey Kennedy, who finished the first half with 102 yards rushing, ripped off a 19-yard gainer on first down to the BC34. Moments later Shrader added a second down run of 15 yards to the Van 46 before Dylan Kidd’s 21-yard burst had the Bears with a first down at the Van 25. The score came as Shrader connected with Kristopher Kennedy for a 25-yard scoring pass, Shrader’s first touchdown pass of the season. For good measure Kristopher Kennedy also caught the two-point conversion pass.
Kidd recovered a fumble by Van freshman Tyler Gunnoe on the game’s next series but the Bears responded with a stalled drive and the first of only two Leighton punts. Likewise, the Bulldogs couldn’t move the ball and were also forced to punt. Kidd’s 27-yard punt return to the Van 31 set up Korey Kennedy’s second scoring run, this one on first down with 4:04 remaining in the first half as the Bears led 28-0.
Bland County saw its lead expand to 35-0 with just over three minutes gone in the third quarter. Jacob Lambert’s three-yard scoring run culminated a drive of 75 yards in seven plays, a drive keyed by pass receptions by Josh Pennington and Luke Gibson totaling 34 yards as well as a 21-yard jaunt from Kidd from the Van 42 down to the 21.
With 7:48 left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs finally got on the board to abort any hopes the Bears had at recording the 11th shutout in the program’s history. Gunnoe’s 72-yard run came on a pair of broken tackles and made it 35-6.
Bland County added its second touchdown of the third quarter on a 36-yard scoring run by Kyle Kennedy. The senior scored with 3:09 left as the lead jumped to 42-6 and came as the Bears got the ball on downs at their own 46. Lambert’s 12-yard run from the 48 to the 36 set up Kennedy’s score.
Lambert also had a hand in the Bears’ next scoring opportunity as he recovered the second of Gunnoe’s three fumbles on the ensuing possession at the Van 29-yard line. Three plays later, Haun was in the end zone following an 18-yard run as the lead ballooned to 48-6.
Gunnoe fumbled a third time at the Van 42 on the next series and this time Anthony Dunnack was the fumble recoverer. Four plays later, Haun scored again, this one a 29-yard scoring run with 9:22 left in the game as the Bears led 55-6.
The woes for the Bulldogs continued. On the next possession a bad snap on first down from the Van 45 ended with a 27-yard loss back to the 18 and after two incompletions, Van’s fourth punt of the afternoon went for minus-four yards which left Hart in a no-win situation.
With the ball at the Van 14, Hart decided not to go for the scoring record, electing take a knee on three straight downs even though there was still over three minutes left in the game. Much to everyone’s surprise, Van did the same thing on their four downs as the clock ticked away.
On a day that saw the Bears play their first ever game on an artificially covered field, Hart’s club ran up a total of 460 yards. In addition to Korey Kennedy’s 135 yards, Kyle Kennedy and Haun both ran for 54 yards and Shrader added 53 yards. Kidd finished with 47 yards and Shrader hit six of his eight passes for 91 yards.
The Bears defense limited the Bulldogs (2-5) to 112 total yards. Gunnoe finished with 79 yards in 13 carries, 72 coming on his scoring run, as the Bulldogs netted 68 rushing yards. Thomas hit six of 18 passes for just 44 yards and lost 41 yards rushing. Van added 85 yards in kickoff returns.
“We came in here with just 16 kids. Physically, they beat us to death,” Van coach Bob Mullett stated following the game. “We lost six kids to injuries in the first half. At the end of the game, we basically only had nine healthy kids so we just kneeled down just to finish the game. We had guys who got hit a couple of times and wanted out of the game. When that happens, we’re in trouble and we know it.”
Defensive standouts for the Bears were Lambert, with six tackles and a fumble recovery, and Shrader with five total tackles and two interceptions. Leighton, Kristopher Kennedy, and B. J. Gibson added four tackles apiece.
“Defensively, we adjusted well to all the different formations that Van showed us,” Hart noted. “We definitely stopped what we needed to stop.”
The Bears start MED play this Friday as they host Narrows. The Green Wave comes in at 1-0 in the MED, having already beaten Grayson County, and 5-2 overall following their 10-6 loss to James Monroe WV last week. Bland County will be looking to go to 6-1 through seven games for the third straight season.
“We were fortunate to get to see them play last night against James Monroe,” Hart stated about Narrows. “They are a big, physical football team.  And we will need to come out and be physical with them and I feel good about what we could do against them.”

Bland County 13 15 20 7—55
Van 0 0 6 0—6

SCORING—
First quarter:
BC—Kr. Kennedy 13 run (Leighton kick) 8:08
BC—Ko. Kennedy 18 run (kick failed) 4:45
Second quarter:
BC—Kr. Kennedy 25 pass from Shrader (Shrader pass to Kr. Kennedy) 9:38
BC—Ko. Kennedy 31 run (Leighton kick) 4:04
Third quarter:
BC—Lambert 3 run (Leighton run) 8:28
V—Gunnoe 72 run (run failed) 7:48
BC—Ky. Kennedy 36 run (Leighton kick) 3:09
BC—Haun 18 run (kick blocked):27
Fourth quarter:
BC—Haun 29 run (Leighton kick) 9:22

TEAM STATISTICS—
BC V
First downs 19 7
Rushes/yds 48/379 32/68
Comp/Att/Int 6/8/0 6/18/2
Passing yds 91 44
Returns/yds 5/61 8/85
Penalties/yds 13/95 2/20
Fumbles/lost 1/1 4/3
Punts/avg yds 2/30.0 4/26.3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS—
Rushing:
Bland County—Ko. Kennedy 14/135, Ky. Kennedy 6/54, Haun 3/54, Shrader 6/53, Kidd 9/47, Lambert 3/16, Kr. Kennedy 4/11, Simms 3/9. Van WV—Gunnoe 13/79, Green 3/17, Harris 3/10, J. Doss 1/6, Harshburger 1/ 4, Ginchetti 2/2, Halley 1/1, White 1/-10, Thomas 7/-41.
Passing:
Bland County—Shrader 6/8/0, 91 yds., Kidd 0/0/0, 0 yds. Van WV—Thomas 6/18/2, 44 yds.
Receiving:
Bland County—Kr. Kennedy 2/38, L. Gibson 1/17, Pennington 1/17, Ko. Kennedy 1/11, Leighton 1.8. Van WV—M. Doss 3/31, Ginchetti 3/13.
Returns:
Bland County—Kidd 2/30, Shrader 1/16, Lambert 1/15, Pennington 1/0. Van WV—Harris 2/39, Gunnoe 2/21, M. Doss 2/19, Harshburger 2/6.