Published: August 28, 2008 08:52 pm            

Blues anxious for return to winning

RICHLANDS, Va. — The Blue Tornado faced a practice week of looking over the mistakes that led to a season-opening loss a week ago at Gate City.

The traditionally fine-tuned Richlands football machine ran up against the Blue Devils’ wall of big defensive plays and coupled by the fact that they made few mistakes and could not make a case for a win in the opening half.

However, Richlands was able to lay down a solid argument in the second half. After the Tornado effort came into full swing in the fourth quarter, they looked like the traditional Blues by hitting their blocks and marks offensively.

The Tornado also came out defensively in the third and fourth quarter and won field position in the second half.

“We went down to Gate City and didn’t play Richlands-style football,” Richlands head coach Greg Mance said. “We made bad decisions offensively, we didn’t have leverage off the line, we had three turnovers in the first half and overall we didn’t have good technique.

“We told our kids (at halftime) that that we needed to come out and win the second half. The kids responded and did that and we feel good about that.”

Tonight, the Tornado hopes to continue what they started in last week’s second half action and reincarnate their winning ways while playing host to the Honaker Tigers on their newly-christened EMATS Field.

The Tigers are also coming off of a loss with a 16-14 defeat to Lebanon a week ago, with the agony of defeat coming in the second half staged by a Pioneers’ comeback.

Lebanon came into Honaker a week ago and opened the game by recovering a Tiger fumble on the opening kickoff at 29-yard line. The Pioneers bent the Honaker defense backward to the 6-yard line before a stellar goal line stand stopped Lebanon from scoring.

The Pioneers went on to take a 16-7 lead in the fourth quarter before an interception return in the fourth frame closed the gap by two points. However, the Tigers could not close the deal.

Tonight when Honaker comes into Richlands, they will be without running back Logan Ball who graduated a year ago after leading the Tigers offensively last season with 1,524 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns.

The load of the Honaker offense is on the shoulders of quarterback Justin Hall, a three-year All-District starter who tossed 12 touchdowns and threw for 1,700 yards. Hall also rushed for seven touchdowns for 360 yards finishing behind Ball last season.

“Honaker returns 19 starters,” Mance said. “They have size at their skilled positions and they have Hall, who is in his third year as a starter. He’s over 6-foot tall and over 200 pounds, and he can run the ball.

“It’s going to be the same as at Gate City. They have a lot of their starters back and we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

Corralling Hall’s passes will be receiver David Keene who finished as an All-Black Diamond District honoree a year ago.

The Tornado offense will looking to flex their muscle this week after being stifled against a stubborn Devil’s defense. Richlands quarterback Joel Elswick led the Blues offensively last week with a pair of touchdowns, one rushing and the other came on a short passing play to Christian Hearl.

Quarterback draw plays in the second half boosted Elswick’s rushing numbers to 41 yards on the ground on eight carries.

Looking across the ball, the Tornado defense was exploited a week ago against the Blue Devils. Twice on their opening drive, the Blue Devils ran at will across the left side picking holes in the Tornado defense for big gainers.

Then, when the Blues defensive line would tighten their grip, Gate City mixed their attack to the air getting several opportunities when receivers got behind the Richlands secondary. Before the Blues had proper adjustments made, Gate City had run up a score.

The key to the Tornado defense this week will be to fill those holes, with Hall looking to find the seams in the running game. The secondary will also need to cover Keene and the Tigers’ other receivers.

Honaker will also be looking for their first win of the season, with this game promising to be competitive for all four quarters. Richlands won last year’s matchup 39-0.

“We went back to the drawing board in practice this week and corrected our mistakes,” Mance said. “The kids were aggressive in practice and we had to break up a couple of skirmishes so we should be ready to go at game time.”

        

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