Patrick Henry defeats Bland County

By JERRY SCOTT/Correspondent

Prophetic words came from the mouth of Bland County assistant coach Dennis Grindstaff late in the Bears’ season opening football loss to PH-Glade Spring in Bastian on Aug. 28.
“They’re cubs right now,” he said. “When they grow up, they’ll be bears.”
Truer words may never be spoken during the 2009 season. Growth comes with practice and game-time experience. Currently the Bears need both and lots of it.
With a roster of only five seniors, Bland County saw its youthfulness become an early-season Achilles heel as the visiting Rebels drew away in the fourth quarter for a 26-8 win. Jonathan Whitesides threw for a pair of touchdown passes and ran for a third as the Rebels sent Bears’ coach Harris Hart to his first season-opening loss in his five years at the Bland County helm.
Whitesides completed 12 of his 21 passes for 129 yards, including scoring strikes of 45 yards to Nick Groves and three yards to Josh Compton. However, the Rebels led just 14-6 entering the fourth period before Whitesides’ 3-yard scoring dash with 2:04 left to play put the game on ice.
The Rebels’ first possession of the game resulted in a 7-0 lead as Whitesides connected with Groves on fourth down from 45 yards out. The score, which came with 6:22 left in the opening period, climaxed a drive of 67 yards in seven plays.
During the drive, the Rebels converted on third down from their own 37 following a 14-yard run by Whitesides and were facing fourth-and-inches following a 4-yard run by sophomore Andrew Groves to the BC45 that set up Nick Groves’ over-the-middle catch-and-run.
Bland County, however, came back to march 65 yards in 11 plays, scoring at the 1:16 mark of the first quarter when Dylan Kidd hooked up with senior wideout Luke Gibson in the right side of the end zone for a 14-yard score. Key plays in the drive were a 19-yard pass play by Kidd to Jacob Lambert on second down from the BC39 as well as a Kidd keeper on fourth-and-inches from the PH-Glade Spring 32. The Bears trailed 7-6 as Jason Simms’ PAT kick attempt was short and to the left.
The second stanza saw neither team make much offensive noise. The Rebels had drives to stall at their own 38, the Bears’ 38, and the Bears’ 15 when placekicker Caleb Frye missed a field goal in the waning seconds. Likewise, the Bears had possessions squelched at their own 44 on a Lambert fumble and at their own 34 when Lambert was forced to punt on fourth-and-five. Bland County had the ball at its own 24 as time expired on the first half.
PH-Glade Spring had the ball to open the second half and promptly scored to hold a 14-6 edge by the 8:33 mark of the third quarter. The Rebels ate up some 54 yards of turf following Nick Groves’ 34-yard kickoff return in 10 plays, taking the eight-point advantage when Whitesides and Compton connected from three yards out for the score. The Rebels had five plays in the drive of eight yards or more, twice converting third down opportunities.
Bland County’s first possession of the second half resulted in a punt by Lambert, to which the Bland County defense stiffened to get the ball back with just over three minutes remaining in the period. Junior Garrett Mustard had a big sack on Whitesides for an 8-yard loss to the Rebels’ 24 and, following a false start by PH-Glade Spring, Whitesides threw incomplete on both second and third down from the 19 to force a Rebels’ punt.
The Bears drove as far as their own 44 on the ensuing possession before punting and the Rebels’ also punted after advancing to the BC48. The Bears still found moving the ball a chore and punted from their own 18 to set up PH-Glade Spring’s next scoring opportunity.
From their own 48, the Rebels needed eight plays to reach the end zone, a 37-yard jaunt by Duel Caudill on first down from the PH38 giving the Rebels a first down at the Bears’ 15. The drive found new life moments later on third down from the 17 as Bland County was flagged for roughing the passer, the end result a first down at the Bears’ 10. Four plays later on fourth-and-goal at the five, Caudill broke free for the score at the 7:19 mark of the fourth period.
Aaron Blankenship sacked Whitesides for a safety three minutes later as the Bears cut the deficit to 20-8 and the Bears had possession at the PH48 following the free kick. However, a fumble by Blankenship that was recovered by the Rebels’ Junior Taylor as well as another by Kidd at the 2:10 mark that was pounced on by Josh Shortt on the 3-yard line set up Whitesides’ game-icing score with 2:04 to play.
The Rebels held a 224 to 146 edge in total yardage, thanks to Whitesides’ 129 aerial yards. Bland County held a 105 to 95 advantage in rushing yardage.
Caudill had 45 yards on six carries for the winners and Nick Groves caught three passes for 91 yards. PH-Glade Spring held a 3-0 edge in turnovers with Shortt getting a pair of fumble recoveries.
Hart was disappointed after the loss, not so much with the effort the Bears gave but with their execution. He knows there’s a long road ahead to get to where the Bears need to be.
“We obviously saw a lot of mistakes out there tonight,” Hart stated. “You saw a good effort but when you make the turnovers that we made, that’s tough to bounce back from that. PH was a good football team, they were bigger, had more speed, and were able to spread us out. They have great athletes whereas ours are so inexperienced, it just takes a while to learn. Again, I was pleased with our effort and pleased with our attitudes as a team.”
The PH-Glade Spring head coach felt fortunate to come out of the den with the win. He was also pleased with his teams’ effort.
“The kids that we had out there, they sucked it up,” the coach said. “We don’t have a lot of guys on this team but the 38 that were here were into the game. We made some fundamental mistakes but caught the breaks when we needed to. A lot of people are going to be surprised by those guys over there [the Bears]. We were lucky to come up here and get a win.”
Kidd hit three of eight passes for 41 yards with Gibson catching two balls for 22 yards. Lambert was BC’s top rusher with 38 yards on 12 carries and Kidd netted 28 yards on 15 carries. Kidd also had four kickoff returns for 89 yards for the Bears (0-1).
Defensive standouts for the Bears were Lambert and Jakob Haun with 10 overall tackles each. Each had three solo takedowns. Blankenship finished with nine tackles, including two solo. He, Haun and Mustard were credited with sacks for the Bears.
The Bears hope to get in the winning column as they entertain the Craig County Rockets this coming Friday in Bastian with a 7:30 p.m. start time. Like the Bears, the Rockets are 0-1 following a 16-13 setback at the hands of Auburn’s Eagles last Friday. One game certainly doesn’t do the Bears in just yet.
“We’re going to take what we learned tonight and work hard with it,” Hart said. “We’ll come back out here on Monday, continue to work, and continue to get better.”

PH-Glade Spring 7 0 7 12—26
Bland County 6 0 0 2—8

SCORING—
First quarter:
PH—N. Groves 45 pass from Whitesides (Frye kick) 6:22
BC—Gibson 14 pass from Kidd (kick failed) 1:16
Third quarter:
PH—Compton 3 pass from Whitesides (Frye kick) 8:33
Fourth quarter:
PH—Caudill 5 run (kick failed) 7:19
BC—Safety, Whitesides sacked in end zone by Blankenship 4:26
PH—Whitesides 3 run (kick failed) 2:04

TEAM STATISTICS—
PH BC
First downs 11 8
Rushes/yds 34/95 40/105
Comp/Att/Int 12/21/0 3/8/0
Passing yds 129 41
Returns/yds 3/58 6/137
Fumbles/lost 1/0 4/3
Penalties/yds 4/25 5/37
Punts/avg yds 5/36.2 6/35.3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS—
Rushing:
PH-Glade Spring—Caudill 6/45, Whitesides 12/23, A. Groves 9/21, Andis 5/8, Frye 1/0, Compton 1/-2. Bland County—Lambert 12/38, Kidd 15/28, Haun 3/19, Blankenship 8/15, Simms 1/3, Parker 1/ 2.
Passing:
PH-Glade Spring—Whitesides 12/21/0, 129 yds. Bland County—Kidd 3/8/0, 41 yds.
Receiving—
PH-Glade Spring—N. Groves 5/91, Crisp 3/19, Compton 3/11, Caudill 1/8. Bland County—Gibson 2/22, Lambert 1/19.
Returns:
PH-Glade Spring—N. Groves 1/34, Frye 2/24. Bland County—Kidd 4/89, Lambert 2/48.
Bland County tackles:
Name-solo-assists-sacks—Simms 2-0-0, Collins 0-3-0, Blankenship 2-7-1, Lambert 3-7-0, Dillow 1-4-0, Gibson 4-3-0, Haun 3-7-1, Fisher 1-5-0, Williams 3-1-0, C. Greene 0-4-0, Stowers 0-3-0, Kidd 0-1-0, Radford 1-1-0, Mustard 1-1-1, Mabe 0-1-0. (Team 21-48-3)