Big game

RICHLANDS, Va. — How big is Friday’s football game for Richlands’ senior Cody Johnson? Pretty big.

“It means everything to me right now to win this game,” Johnson said. “It is really life or death to win this game.”

At least for Richlands’ season. Johnson and the Blue Tornado (10-1) will travel Friday to Roanoke to face Cave Spring (9-2) in the Region IV, Division 3 championship game.

The game will be played at Cave Spring Middle School’s Bogle Field. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.

The winner advances to play either Northside or Liberty-Bedford in Division 3 state semifinals. The loser...prepares for basketball season.

Now wonder Johnson is so hyped for this particular game.

“This is definitely the biggest game I have ever played in,” Johnson said. “Right now I’m not looking past this game, I’ve just been concentrating on this game 110 percent.”

With good reason. For the sixth straight season, Richlands is playing for a regional title. They won the previous five. The Knights stand in the way of number six.

“I’m real excited, I think it is going to be a great game,” Johnson said. “As long as we do our part everything else will fall in place.”

Long before this season even began, Johnson was hearing about Cave Spring, and the possibility of the Blue Tornado facing the Knights. Sure enough, after 11 games apiece, it’s happened.

“I’ve heard it forever, but I knew they had a good team and we’re a good team,” Johnson said. “I knew if we both did what we’re supposed to, we would meet now and I’m now glad to play in a game with this atmosphere.”

Johnson transferred to Richlands last May from Big Creek, and worked his way into the starting role at quarterback for the Blue Tornado’s spread offense attack.

“The biggest challenge for me is — I was accepted by the crowd pretty good, that was easy — but I think a lot of it was just learning that offense, but once I did that, I felt pretty comfortable here,” Johnson said.

“(The offense) is a lot different, there is a lot more reads and stuff like that, but I just took a lot of time with coach (Greg) Mance and the players made it a lot easier for me. I got a lot of help from them too.”

He’s done just fine, throwing for 1,165 yards and 16 touchdowns, and he’s run for another 596 yards and 12 more scores, all while making the adjustment from Class A football in West Virginia to Group AA in Virginia.

“It’s been great here, I’ve played in some great games this year,” said Johnson, who led Big Creek to a 7-3 record and a playoff appearance in 2008. “Some close games, some we played good, some we didn’t play good, but it’s been a great season all around.

“It’s been a change in competition a little bit, but I adapted to it pretty well.”

Johnson was joined in August at Richlands by three cousins, including Devon and Austin, who have given the Blue Tornado an element of speed that Mance has said they had been missing in the past.

“I knew with us three, as long as we worked hard everything else would fall into place,” Johnson said. “I’m just glad that all three of us were able to come up here.

“It was a hard situation and it was good to have family there with you.”

The season didn’t start the way Johnson would have liked. The Tornado dropped a 10-7 decision to Gate City where the offense struggled, but they haven’t done that much since.

Richlands has scored 36.3 points a game, tallying at least 27 points in eight games and reaching at least 42 in six.

“We just knew after that Gate City game that we wanted to be the best team in the region,” Johnson said. “We knew we couldn’t accept anymore losses after that one so we just came in and worked hard and got our game plan together and in every game we have come out and been successful.”

A quarterback is only as good as the players around him. Johnson has been protected by a much-improved offensive line led by senior Cody Lee and junior Todd Smith.

“It’s been great. Me and Cody, we try to get the younger guys and just show them the aggressiveness of the game and just get them out there playing hard,” Johnson said. “Cody helps a lot with the line and they step up and they do a good job for us on Friday nights.”

There’s also plenty of weapons to contribute, including Bradley Strong (24-458, 5 td receiving), Sean Overton (11-121), and Cody Parnell (44-167, rushing) in addition to his talented cousins, Devon — who has run for 1,058 yards and 13 touchdowns and Austin — who has accounted for 16 scores, including four on kick and punt returns.

“It doesn’t matter who is the game, I know that any one person can break a big play at any time,” Johnson said. “It’s good as a quarterback to have that comfortability with your teammates and I know they’ve got my back at any time.”

Johnson also plays defense for the Blues, having recorded 19 tackles for Richlands, and he’s second to Will Lowe (9) with seven sacks. The Richlands defense has allowed just 14.1 points a contest this season, including more than 20 just three times.

“I love playing defense, I love being out there with everybody,” said Johnson, who also plan on playing basketball and baseball for Richlands. “Everybody gets real aggressive, I love getting the crowd behind us on defense, that is a big change and I like it.”

While Johnson is hoping to play college football next fall, he’s more interested in playing Richlands football right now.

A big game awaits. For him, at least at this stage in his life, it’s his biggest.

“We’ve got to come out and play the most physical game we have played all year,” Johnson said. “We’re going to have to take down a lot of the penalties that we have had and cut down the turnovers.

“As long as we do our part, I don’t know what their game plan, but I know if we do our part everything else will fall into place.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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