Schedule remains tough for G-Men

BLUEFIELD, Va. — It doesn’t get any easier for the Graham G-Men.

Following last week’s 48-0 loss to Bluefield, the G-Men must now go to Roanoke and face the mighty Cave Spring Knights, which might be better than the team that beat Graham twice last season, 55-12 and 42-0.

“I don’t think their offensive front is as good as Bluefield’s, Bluefield has a good offensive front, but I think their skill people are as good if not better than Bluefield,” Graham head coach Doug Marrs said. “Skill-wise, I think they are better than they were last year.

“Up front they are going to block you, they are going to do their job, but they are not as imposing up front...They are a very skilled football team, they have got people.”

Cave Spring, which ended Richlands’ five-year run of Region IV dominance last season, opened its season with a 41-21 victory over Staunton River. The Knights accumulated 392 yards, including 209 on the ground and another 183 through the air.

Leading the Knights is defensive standout Michael Cole, who has verbally committed to Virginia Tech, and quarterback Josh Woodrum, who will play next at Liberty. There is also junior tailback Sam Wright, who led Cave Spring last week with 166 yards and two touchdowns.

Marrs was busy all week, watching film on last year’s losses to the Knights, both in the regular season and in the second round of the regional playoffs.

“We have spent more time watching last year’s film on them because they play us differently than they do the other schools just because of what we do,” Marrs said. “I have spent more time watching last year’s team and watching their schemes against our schemes.”

While Graham struggled to move the ball against Bluefield, finishing with 115 yards, Marrs noticed that the G-Men did gain yards against the Knights last season, but first half drives deep into Cave Spring’s territory resulted in a missed field goal, interception and fumble.

“Watching film last year, I guess you forget things over a nine-month period ... but you forget how well we moved the ball,” Marrs said. “In the first half last year we had about 175 yards rushing in the first half and had no points to show for it.

“Hopefully we can take what we learned off of last year’s film to our advantage.”

Marrs was pleased with the play of senior quarterback Aaron Davidson against the Beavers, who was 11-of-23 for 69 yards, with several drops mixed in there. His problem was time, as the young G-Men offensive line was overwhelmed by the larger and faster Bluefield defenders.

“There wasn’t too many good things to see, I thought our quarterback played well under a lot of pressure, every pass looked like a screen and it wasn’t.” Marrs said. “We didn’t see anything up front that we had seen in the first two scrimmages, there are a lot of reasons for that maybe, and that would come down to excuses and purely excuses and there is no excuse.

“Young is just an adjective, it doesn’t define who you are, whether you are young, old, outmanned, you have got to perform. You have got to perform, age is not a factor, you have got to perform.”

Davidson also led Graham in rushing with 30 yards, while Lamont Edwards added 20. Bluefield stuffed Aderrius Jackson, holding the speedy back to negative yardage on nine carries. He did catch four passes, and Marrs was also pleased with the effort of 125-pound Gabe Hurt on both sides of the ball.

While Marrs has pointed out that Graham has more speed than its had in the past, it can’t operate without help.

“We’ve got to give our guys a chance to run, we have to,” Marrs said. “Speed is no good if you don’t give them a chance to use it, they have got to be able to get out of the backfield or you have got to give the quarterback time to get them the ball...

“We have got to have time to allow things to happen, and we just didn’t have time to allow that to happen.”

While Bluefield won the Class AA state championship in West Virginia last season, Cave Spring reached the Division 3 semifinals in Virginia. There are no cupcakes on the G-Men’s schedule, but that is the plan, preparing Graham for Southwest District play in another month.

“We don’t apologize for the schedule ... it only makes you stronger, it will only make you better,” said Marrs, who G-Men will host Virginia High on Sept. 17, and open SWD action the following Friday at Marion. “We are going down there to win, but if (a loss) happens it happens.

“It is not some place we have not been before, we sell our kids on playing a tough schedule and getting ready for district play and our kids buy into it...

“Going into district play, we ought to have a good idea after our schedule early. We should have a good idea of what we can do.”

Graham has refused to dwell on last week’s loss to Bluefield. After all, as Marrs said, it’s not a one-game season, and what is most important is to get better as the year goes on.

“We sell on our kids on the fact that is doesn’t matter where you start, it is where you finish and you have got to finish strong,” Marrs said. “You have got to improve not just weekly, you have got to improve daily and get better today than you were yesterday.

“That is what we have done, that is what we have done this week. I promise we are a much better football team going into tomorrow night’s game than we were this past Friday, we are much better football team...

“We are going to make it through. We are going to get better and we are going to be a good football team before this is all said and done.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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