Blues roll over G-Men in county battle

By DAVE COX/Staff
BLUEFIELD- If there was any doubt left that Richlands has turned the corner from a poor start to the 2008 football campaign, it was dispelled by about halftime of the Blues’ Southwest District game against Graham at Mitchell Stadium last Friday night!
Richlands (3-2, 2-0 SWD) played turnover-free for the second straight week in pummeling the G-Men 41-20 in a contest in which Graham was heavily favored to win.
It appeared that the predictions of a G-Men victory might hold true after the home team put on a steady, nine-play, 76-yard scoring drive on their first offensive series of the night. Graham (2-3, 1-1 SWD) held a huge lead in time of possession through the first quarter, running 18 offensive plays to just seven for RHS, but the scoreboard told the real story as Graham led by only one point at 7-6 at the end of the period.
The second quarter and the rest of the game belonged to the Blue team! The G-Men didn’t help their cause any, drawing six first quarter penalties to dramatically slow down their momentum.
Richlands took advantage of the G-Men’s frustration, posting 21 second quarter points and the rout was on as the Blues hung up 34 unanswered points after the initial Graham touchdown.
“I think we had a couple of calls go against us and we lost our composure,” said Graham head coach Doug Marrs. “You can’t lose your composure against a god football team.”
Dominique Lane was the man of the hour for the G-Men. He racked up 148 rushing yards on the night and hauled in five passes for 84 yards. Thirty of those rushing yards and 21 of the pass reception total came on Graham’s first possession of the game. Lane bolted in from three yards out and sure-footed Landon Furry booted the extra point to give GHS a quick 7-0 lead with 8:21 left to play in the first quarter.
Richlands answered right back and gave a preview of things to come on a nice 67-yard, 7-play march that featured a nifty mix of running and passing. Taylor Sizemore took care of the running part and quarterback Joel Elswick racked up 55 yards in the air on the drive with 45 of them going to Christian Hearl and a 10-yard scoring toss to Blayke Wilson with 5:27 remaining in the opening frame. Tanner Howell blasted in to block the extra point kick, but that was about the only thing that went against the Tornado all night.
Elswick peeled off a 40-yard run on the Blues’ next offensive possession and capped off an 8-play drive with a 3-yard run into the end zone with 7:48 left until halftime and gave his team a lead it would never relinquish. Brandon Olmsted’s extra point made it a 13-7 game.
The Blues’ third offensive series resulted in their third touchdown of the game when Richlands took advantage of a Graham gamble on a forth-and six situation when the G-Men elected to pass rather than punt. That pass fell harmlessly to the ground and the visitors were back in business at the Graham 25!
Moments later, Elswick ran in from a yard out for his second rushing touchdown of the game and Olmsted tacked on the extra point to give the Blues a 20-7 edge with 3:20 left in the second stanza.
Bradley Strong set up the next Richlands score when he picked a receiver’s pocket and returned the interception 20 yards to the Graham 37. Five plays later, Elswick hit Wilson again, this time on a 7-yard scoring strike with just 14 seconds left until the break. Elswick completed a key third down, 34-yard pass to Olmsted during the drive. Olmsted wrapped up four scores on four possessions by the Blues in the first half with his extra point kick to give the visitors a commanding 27-7 halftime advantage.
“We capitalized on their turnovers, which good teams do, and we didn’t turn the ball over again,” said Richlands head coach Greg Mance. “I think we spread the ball around pretty well tonight.”
Graham stopped the Blues for the first time all evening to start the second half, but couldn’t keep the visitors out of the end zone on their second possession of the third quarter. Strong gave the Blues another opportunity with his second pick of the game, this one at the Richlands 41. It took just four plays for the Tornado to pad its scoring total. Elswick tossed his third TD pass of the night to Hearl on a nice 21-yard catch and run. Olmsted booted the extra point to make it a 34-7 game with 3:29 left in the third period.
Graham finally managed another touchdown with 11:40 to play on a 34-yard pass from David Marrs to Casey Barreras. Furry’s kick set the score at 34-14.
Feeling a little pressure, the Blues turned a muffed punt return attempt into their final score of the game. The rushing chores were turned over to freshman Eli Hearl and he responded by picking up 32 yards of an 67-yard drive that ended on an Elswick 17-yard run to the end zone for his third rushing touchdown on the night. Olmsted kicked his fifth extra point to make it 41-14 with 6:55 to play.
Lane sped 66 yards on the G-Men’s next offensive play to score the final points of the night with 6:31 remaining. The extra point kick was no good.
Richlands finished with 189 rushing yards, led by Elswick with 97 on 12 carries. Eli Hearl managed 53 yards on 10 totes. Sizemore had 39 yards on 14 carries.
Elswick passed for 171 yards on 14 attempts and 10 completions. Christian Hearl caught five passes for 88 yards.
“I thought that Joel Elswick did a great job of commanding our offensive tonight,” said Mance. “The offensive line really pulled together tonight and did a great job of giving Joel time to throw. By far, offensively, that’s the best we’ve played. We played great defense up until about six minutes to go in the game. We beat a very good football team tonight.”
Cody Thomas led the way for the Blues defensively with eight tackles and three assists. Ethain Keene registered six tackles and two assists. Chuck Payne turned in four tackles and two assists. Derek Jackson was his steady self with five tackles and five assists. Christian Hearl had five tackles and Cody Bartkoski had a sack.
Richlands turns its attention to the undefeated Tazewell Bulldogs in SWD action this Friday at Ernie Hicks Stadium/EMATS Field.