Published: September 01, 2007 01:16 am            

Graham improving, but still 2-0

BLUEFIELD — If the Graham G-Men could produce more quarters like the third period Friday night, they would not have a 0-2 record.

But in the other three quarters, the Blue Demons of Christiansburg got to the end zone five times and took a 34-14 win at Mitchell Stadium-June O. Shott Field.

Graham held a 97-to-79-yard edge in rushing in the first half, but a couple of quick strikes, combined with four Graham fumbles, had them behind 14-0 on the scoreboard.

On the game’s second snap, senior quarterback Wes Bond chucked the ball to wideout Patrick Asconi behind the G-Men coverage for a 61-yard TD.

With 2:40 left in the first half, Sidney Brown took a quick pitch down the right side of the field for a 38-yard score.

Blue Demons head coach Tim Cromer said, “You’ve got to give them (Graham) credit. They beat us up there in the first half. We weren’t able to finish some drives.

“We were a little shaky with some things. I don’t think it was first-game jitters; I just believe it was them, defensively. They’re a good football team.”

The G-Men lost fumbles late in the first and second quarter, however.

Graham exercised their option to take the ball to start the second half, and kept if for most of the next 13 minutes, running 21 plays on two long drives. Christiansburg had six snaps, with Jonathan Brewster making a key play to smack Asconi hard and deny a completion that would have prolonged their only drive of the quarter.

On the second play of the fourth period, G-Men quarterback David Marrs found J.K. Goins wide open for a 10-yard touchdown pass-and-run, cutting the margin to 14-6. The conversion run attempt failed.

Graham head coach Doug Marrs said, “We’re throwing the ball around a little bit. We get a guy wide dad-gum open, and we hit him on a touchdown, and we come back with it the other way and we miss it. But it’ll come. It’ll come. We’re not going to give up.”

After Graham’s score, Sidney Brown of Christiansburg broke the game’s big play, a 43-yard acrobatic catch-and-run, to set up a short touchdown.

Cromer said, “They put a pretty nice drive together ... to cut it to 14-6, but then I think we responded pretty good. That was just a great catch by Sidney Brown down there. I think that might have been the one that broke their back.”

Marrs said, “We broke down a couple of times in the secondary. We’ve got to get better in the secondary. We’ve got to get better defensively. We’ve got to get better as a football team.”

Marrs said, “We are growing. And you go through growing pains, and it’s painful. We’re going to grow into it.”

In the final analysis, Torren Bird overcame a hurting back to grab three catches for 59 yards, Dominique Lane ran for 82 yards despite a bad ankle, and Ronnie Scott added 60 yards with sore ribs.

Marrs said, “That’s a mentality. I’d like to have 11 Ronnie Scotts.”

Discussing Bird, Marrs said, “We talk about the difference between pain and injury, and you play with pain. If you’re injured, you can’t go. But if you’ve got pain, you can play with pain. And you’ve got to play through it.”

Cromer said, “I thought our defense played real well.”

He said his team was aware of what Graham was likely to do. “We knew they were going to try to grind on us. But they opened it up early, and did some things outside, and their play-action pass was working real good early.

“This was a great game for us. We knew we were going to have to hunker down and stop the run. For the most part, we did a pretty good job at that.”

Bond completed 9 of 15 passes for 216 yards. Cromer said, “Wes Bond had a great game at quarterback. He threw the ball with touch, and (our players) made some nice catches.”

The G-Men travel to another tough River Ridge District foe, Blacksburg, on Friday while Christiansburg will host Giles, state runners-up in Group AA, Division 3 last year.

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com



At Mitchell Stadium/June O. Shott Field

Christiansburg (1-0)............7 7 0 20 — 34

Graham (0-2)........................0 0 0 14 — 14

First Quarter

Chr - Patrick Asconi 61 pass from Wes Bond (Brad Cox kick), 11:02

Second Quarter

Chr - Sidney Brown 38 run (Cox kick), 2:06

Fourth Quarter

Gra - J.K. Goins 10 pass from David Marrs (run failed), 11:17

Chr - Miles Ailstock 5 run (kick blocked), 10:06

Chr - Keith Johnson 15 run (Bond run), 7:37

Chr - Zac Evans 48 run (kick blocked), 2:51

Gra - Dominique Lane 24 run (Lane pass from Marrs), 0:24

———

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — Chr, Sidney Brown 5-42, Keith Johnson 12-60, Zac Evans 5-65, Wes Bond, 2-(—20), Ryan Fisher 1-(—5), Miles Ailstock 1-5, Team 1-(—3). Gra, Dominique Lane 11-82, Tyler Barreras 13-41, Jonathan Brewster 10-18, Ronnie Scott 12-60, David Marrs 6-4, Team 1-(—3).

PASSING — Chr, Bond, 9-15-0 intc.-1 TD-216 yds. Gra, Marrs 7-14-0 intc.-1 TD-86 yds.

RECEIVING — Chr, Asconi 5-117-1 TD, Evans 3-56, Brown 1-43. Gra, Torren Byrd 3-59, Brewster 1-29, J.K. Goins 2-11, Lane 1-(—13).

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.