Published: September 01, 2007 01:18 am      

Blue print

Beavers beat other rivals

PRINCETON — It’s Miller time for the Bluefield Beavers.

Michael “Moose” Miller has been waiting for his chance to shine, and did just that on Friday night, recording a sack and recovering a fumble in Bluefield’s 20-0 win over Princeton on Friday night at Hunnicutt Stadium.

Will Cole threw for a touchdown and ran for a score, while Bluefield’s defense held Princeton to only 168 yards on offense.

Miller, a 6-foot-3, 259-pound jovial senior, has been waiting for his chance to play a big role for the Beavers since arriving at Bluefield four years ago. His time has arrived.

“I think we played real well, the defensive line — we read our keys, we kept our heads up and had good form tackling — and that’s what we want to do is keep points off the board,” Miller said. “We have all seniors on our line.

“It’s our last game (with Princeton) and we had to do it. I thank God for our effort and our strength, I just thank the man up above.”

A first half that was highlighted by a missed field goal and a dropped pass in the end zone for the Beavers was followed by a much-improved effort that saw the Beavers pull away for their second straight shutout over the Tigers.

“I was just happy to win, anytime you can come to Princeton and win, that is good,” said Bluefield head coach Fred Simon, whose Beavers defeated the Tigers 7-0 last season. “They do a nice job of coaching with those kids and they’ve got a few young ones.

“They’re very inexperienced at some positions and I thought their players played very hard. I was pleased with how our guys overcame some adversity and won.”

Princeton head coach Ted Spadaro, who was able to see his Tigers play on a brand new turf field, was disappointed in the loss, but pleased with the effort. That was especially true of signal-caller Jerrell Powell, who was pounded by the Bluefield defense, but refused to quit.

“I give Jerrell Powell all the credit, he’s a sophomore and he took a beating in there and hung in there strong and never did let up,” Spadaro said. “My kids didn’t quit, and I’m proud of them.

“I’m not proud of the loss, but I am proud of their effort. When you’ve got a team like that you hold them together and have a lot of patience with them and good things are going to happen on down the road.”

A lucky bounce of the ball helped Bluefield score first. Shaun Brooks, who led all rushers with 85 yards, fumbled inside Princeton territory in the second quarter, but Beavers’ senior tackle Joe Stone picked the ball up and even picked up a few six yards of his own.

“I just blocking my guy and all of a sudden I felt the ball hit my leg,” Stone said. “I picked it up and tried to run and got a couple of yards out of it.

“That was a great play and I’m very happy that I recovered it. I just tried my best...We played hard and we came out with the victory.”

Four plays later, Bluefield faced a 4th and 3 from the Tigers’ 17, and Cole was able to connect with Cody Wassum for a first down. Jake Lilly followed two plays later by scoring from three yards out, and Asher Sexton added the extra point for the 7-0 lead.

“We got up on them 7-0 at halftime,” Bluefield’s Donald “Deak” Kersey said. “We came out in the second half and had some fun.”

A pair of Cole to Wassum 12-yard passes late in the third quarter set up Bluefield’s second score, a 1-yard plunge by Cole that followed a 10-yard run by Aaron Bowes.

A fourth period touchdown was set up by a Miller fumble recovery at the Princeton 23. Cole followed with a 23-yard scoring pass to Chase Joyner in the back of the end zone. Cole finished with 100 yards through the air.

“I thought Will made some nice reads and made some nice passes right on the money tonight and we just didn’t hang onto them,” said Simon, who watched Joyner drop a sure touchdown pass earlier in the game. “We did in the second half.

“I was pleased with our second half performance and I thought it was really a nice adjustment that we made....I thought Will played with some poise, I thought our line did a better job in the second half and I thought our defense did a nice job containing them.”

Princeton had problems generating consistent offense. Powell ran hard, finishing with 62 yards, and freshman Tevin Allen added 47 yards for the Tigers. Princeton drove inside Bluefield’s 40 twice, but could get no closer, with one drive stopped by a Ansel Ponder interception.

The Tigers did unveil the refurbished Hunnicutt Stadium, called by Stacy Hicks — who led the project — as ‘beautiful, the best facility in the state.’

“I just wish it wasn’t a shutout for the first time here, but that’s just the way it is,” said Spadaro, whose Tigers travel next Friday to St. Albans. “It just comes down that they made the big plays and we didn’t. They’re 2-0 and we’re 0-1.”

While Princeton will travel next Friday to St. Albans, Bluefield will host William Campbell, a Group A power in Virginia.

“I’m happy to have two wins over very good opponents, two well-coached teams,” said Simon, whose Beavers defeated Graham last week. “I’m very happy to have won those two games,

“We’re playing good quality teams and that is only going to make us better.”

Miller was especially happy after the win. His goals are set.

“It feels wonderful to be 2-0,” Miller said. “This is my last year, and that’s the way I want to do it. I want to go all the way.

“I hope we make it to state this year, and that’s what we’re planning on doing.”



at Hunnicutt Stadium

Bluefield.............................0 7 6 7 — 20

Princeton..............................0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring

Second Quarter

BF—Lilly 3 run (Sexton kick) 5:52

Third Quarter

BF—Cole 1 run (kick failed) 3:59

Fourth Quarter

BF—Joyner 23 pass from Cole (Sexton kick) 9:11

———

Team Statistics

BF PR

First Downs 13 15

Rushes-Yards 36-220 49-125

Passing Yards 100 43

Att-Comp-Int 16-7-0 14-5-1

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1

Penalty-Yards 12-100 3-25

Punts-Average 6-36.5 7-31.1

———

Individual Statistics

Rushing: BF—Brooks 10-85, Patterson 6-54, Lilly 11-48, Bowes 5-25, Stone 1-6, Cole 2-2, Joyner 1-0; PR—Powell 25-62, Allen 18-47, Wilborn 2-11, Tabor 4-5.

Passing: BF—Cole 16-7-0-100-1; PR—Powell 14-5-1-43-0.

Receiving: BF—Wassum 3-34, Ponder 3-43, Joyner 1-23; PR— Lafferty 1-24, Allen 1-5, Tabor 1-8, Anderson 1-6, Benners 1-0.