By MIKE DAVIS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
RICHLANDS, Va. —
Intermittent thunder showers pelted Ernie Hicks Stadium/EMATZ Field an hour before game time in Richlands Friday night with the Blue Tornado and Honaker set to take the field in the fifth annual Clinch River Bowl.
The storm clouds had moved out of the area by the opening whistle everywhere except on the field. The Tornado stormed their way to their second win of the season with a 61-22 non-district win including 48 points in the opening half rolling up 376 all-purpose yards in the game with nine touchdowns.
“Our quarterbacks did a great job getting the ball to our receivers,” Richlands head coach Greg Mance said. “And our receivers did a good job making people miss for extra yards and the offensive line did a good job giving the quarterbacks time to throw.”
The Tornado came out pumped up from the opening kickoff and was the beneficiary of an unsportsmanlike penalty when the Tigers were late coming out of the locker room. Richlands returned the ball to the Honaker 46-yard line to set up shop after the short kickoff.
“We gave them good field position after that penalty, but, I thought that was a horse crap call,” Honaker head coach Doug Hubbard said. “You can make that call and you can’t make an offsides call. That’s a horse crap call. By my watch we were a couple of minutes late, but, I guess we have to get our watches with the officials.”
The Blues had a couple of short gains before a pass behind the line of scrimmage brought up fourth-and-5 at the Tigers’ 49-yard line. Richlands decided to go for the first down and Lockhart dropped back in pass formation and found Bradley Strong open in the short field. Strong weaved his way in and out of traffic for a 49-yard touchdown 2:09 into the game. Reece Strong booted the point after pushing the Tornado ahead, 7-0.
The Richlands defense held the Tigers to negative three yards on the ensuing possession and took over at the Honaker 32-yard line. It took the Tornado one play to double their score when Devon Johnson took a handoff 32 yards for a touchdown with 7:52 showing on the first quarter clock.
Then, Honaker surprised the Richlands secondary when Jordan Dye slipped behind the coverage and Tiger quarterback, Ty Hall, fired a completion near the right sideline. Dye turned on the burners and took it to the house for a 72-yard touchdown catch and run. The extra point was wide left holding the score, 14-6.
“Honaker’s got a good football team and we knew that coming in,” Mance said. “They had beaten Chilhowie and Clintwood and they moved the ball well against Lebanon (last week). They’re going to win a bunch of games this year.”
The Blues came back and moved the ball 60 yards in less than two minutes and Johnson scored his second touchdown of the night on a 2-yard run and Reece Strong booted the point after.
The Tornado scored 27 points in the second quarter beginning with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Lockhart when he found Overton on a post pattern. The drive went for 55 yards in four plays four plays and took just 59 seconds to complete.
Lockhart broke a 9-yard run later in the frame, then, Reece Strong fired a 33-yard touchdown pass to Cody Thomas to put the Tornado ahead, 42-6.
“It was awesome,” Lockhart said. “Coming out in the first couple of series and it put us a little cushion on it.”
Then, a torrential rainstorm hit the stadium sending fans running for cover, however, the action on the field never halted. Honaker’s Blake Gent broke a 65-yard run for a score, then, ran in the two-point conversion.
Richlands returned the favor on the ensuing kickoff when Will Lowe fielded the kick and ran it back 72 yards for the score. The Blues attempted a conversion, however, the pass fell incomplete.
Richlands ran just seven plays in the second half and scored 13 points in the process when Johnson bowled in from the 4-yard line in the third and Bradley Strong ran back a 78-yard return in the fourth. Honaker scored a touchdown in the third quarter on a 5-yard run from Jared Honaker, then, Hall completed a pass for a conversion to Jeremiah Dye.
“Our kids played well, we just didn’t have the horses to stay with them,” Hubbard said. “We got down early and had some good runs and some good things, but I was disappointed in our special teams.”
Johnson rushed for 147 yards on 13 carries for three touchdowns for the Blues and Honaker was paced by Gent who had 65 yards on five carries with a touchdown.
“Devon is a brute and usually the first guy doesn’t bring him down,” Mance said. “We’re still not where we need to be in attacking the hole as sharp as we want, but, he’s doing a good job with extra yards. Will Lowe did a good job and fullback and he broke a couple of runs for us.”
Lockhart completed 5-of-6 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another and Reece Strong completed 4-of-7 attempts for 79 yards with an interception and a touchdown.
Bradley Strong earned MVP honors in the game with 72 yards receiving on four catches and a touchdown and a 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Overton caught three passes for 45 yards and a touchdown and had an interception in the first half.
Thomas had a catch for 17 yards and a touchdown and had three tackles in defense.
“The other receivers got things opened up and Cody and Reece both made good throws,” Bradley Strong said. “The line did a good job giving them time to throw the ball.”
Hunter Brown led the Tornado on defense with three tackles and a assist and Thomas had three tackles with an assist.
Richlands plays host to Powell Valley next week and the Tigers host Coeburn.
Ernie Hicks Stadium/EMATZ Field
Honaker....................................6 8 8 0 — 22
Richlands...............................21 27 6 7 — 61
Scoring summary
First quarter
R – B. Strong 49-yard pass from Lockhart (R. Strong kick)
R – Johnson 32-yard run (R. Strong kick)
H – Dye 72-yard pass from Hall.
R – Johnson 2-yard run (R. Strong kick)
Second quarter
R – Overton 21-yard pass from Lockhart (R. Strong kick)
R – Lockhart 9-yard run (R. Strong kick)
R – Thomas 32-yard pass from R. Strong (R. Strong kick)
H – Gent 65-yard run (Gent run)
R – Lowe 72-yard kickoff return (conversion failed)
Third quarter
R – Johnson 4-yard run (kick failed)
H – Honaker 5-yard run (Jeremiah Dye pass form Hall)
Fourth quarter
R – B. Strong 78-yard kickoff return
