Published: August 30, 2008 01:16 am            

Epic battle

Goal line stand the difference

BLUEFIELD — In the last few minutes of an epic contest Will Cole took the Bluefield Beavers on a 97-yard drive.

He needed to take them 98.

Cole’s attempted quarterback sneak came up just a little bit short and the Graham G-Men held on for a 25-23 win over the Beavers at Mitchell Stadium Friday night in arguably the greatest chapter in the history of a historic rivalry.

“We came up against a very, very good football team,” said Graham Head Coach Doug Marrs, “A very well-coached football team.”

“I thought our players showed a lot of character,” said Bluefield Head Coach Fred Simon. “They never quit. Our kids played their butts off.”

The G-Men were able to win the game because of their consistent running attack. Graham’s runners did not bust loose for long gains — their longest gain of the game was 22 yards. However, they did control the line of scrimmage and gained 270 yards on 56 carries.

Marrs came into the game believing they could do exactly what they did.

“We ought to be able to,” Marrs said. “We’re bigger than they are. That’s what we expect our people to do and our hat’s off like crazy to Coach Simon and his crew. They fought like crazy. We felt like we were fortunate to do what we did and we were fortunate to get by with it.”

“In the first half, they came pretty strong,” said junior Dominique Lane, who gained 99 yards on 25 rushes. “They came strong in the second half. I’m not going to take anything away from them guys. They worked hard as we did.

“But in the end, it shows that whoever works the hardest will come out on top, man. Tonight was just our night and I think God for everything that happened tonight.”

“We were trying for that,” said senior Ronnie Scott, who gained 76 yards on 18 carries for the G-Men, “Trying to run as much clock out.”

“We couldn’t stop it there,” Simon said. “They did a nice job.”

Bluefield raced out to a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Will Cole threw a pair of touchdown passes, a six-yard strike to Cody Wassum and a 21-yard catch and run to Jake Lilly. Cole went 6-for-6 for 66 yards in the first quarter.

Then he went cold. He went 11-for-25 for the rest of the game, finishing 17-for-31 for 191 yards.

Graham responded with a long touchdown drive in the second period. Skyler Bunker recovered a fumble by Ronnie Scott in the end zone to draw Graham closer.

The turning point in the game for the G-Men came right before the half. Trailing 16-7, Graham went on another long touchdown drive that culminated in a two-yard plunge by Scott. The touchdown brought Graham within 3 points of the Beavers going into the locker room.

“It was big,” Scott said. “We were able to feed off of that touchdown.”

“That was big,” Marrs said. “That gives us a little bit of momentum going into the half.”

Graham’s defense came up huge in the opening of the third quarter. On a third-and-15 on Bluefield’s 21, Cole was sacked by several G-Men and lost the ball. Zach Mickel picked it up on the six and dove in the end zone to give Graham its’ first lead of the contest.

“We just played really good defense tonight at times,” Marrs said. “At many times we still had letdowns. We bent but we never broke. We’ve got to credit our defensive guys. They did an awfully good job.”

Another Bluefield fumble on their next possession by Marcus Patterson led to another Graham touchdown. They went 59 yards in 11 plays. David Marrs snuck in the end zone and the G-Men went into the fourth quarter up 25-16.

Bluefield got within striking distance in the fourth quarter thanks to an 85-yard punt return by Patterson that gave the Beavers a first and goal at Graham’s one yard line. Cole sneaked over and the Beavers were within two points.

With 2:38 remaining in the game Will Cole and the Beavers got the ball on their own 2 yard line. Even though Cole had gone cold during the second half he somehow managed to use his arm to drive the Beavers to the doorstep of victory.

“I thought he did a heck of a job and showed a lot of character,” Simon said of Cole. “Will’s a good boy and I’m very proud of him. Under a lot of heat and stuff he did a heck of a job tonight.”

With 10 seconds remaining Bluefield decided not to kick a field goal and tried to put the ball in the end zone. Cole kept it himself on a quarterback sneak. He soon disappeared into a mass of bodies near the goal line. As the officials rushed in to untangle the mess the clock ran out. The Beavers stood their waiting for the signal of a touchdown that never came.

The win meant Scott admitted that he felt some nerves as Cole was driving the Beavers toward the Graham goal.

“A little bit,” Scott said. “But we stuck in there and we got a W.”

The victory meant the world to the G-Men. It was the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice.

“This is the greatest feeling in the world,” Lane said. “I’ve been waiting on my junior season ever since I got here. I’m finally here. We did what we needed to do.

“I’ve been wanting to come to Graham High School ever since I was in diapers, man, since I watched my cousin Ahmad Bradshaw. Now I’m trying to follow in his footsteps and just do all the right things we’ve got to do to come out on top.”

Bluefield (0-1) will host Princeton next Friday.

“We’ll have to rebound,” Simon said. “Our players have been able to do it all along.”

Graham (1-1) will host Blacksburg next Saturday. While the G-Men excelled Friday night, they still committed nine penalties for 85 yards, too much for Marrs’ comfort.

“We made too many crazy penalties tonight,” Doug Marrs said. “We’ll fix it.”

But Friday night, all parties were proud to be part of an epic struggle that will be remembered for decades to come.

“It was a heck of a game,” Simon said. “I hated to see it end when it did.”

— Contact Jed Lockett at

jlockett@bdtonline.com



at Mitchell Stadium

Bluefield (0-1)..................13 3 0 7 — 23

Graham (1-1)......................0 13 12 0 — 25

First Quarter

Blu — Cody Wassum 6 pass from Will Cole (Kick failed), 6:24

Blu — Jacob Lilly 21 pass from Cole (Cole kick), 1:52

Second Quarter

Gra — Skyler Bunker fumble recovery in end zone (Landon Furry kick), 8:53

Blu — Cole 27 Field Goal, 3:50

Gra — Ronnie Scott 2 run, :08

Third Quarter

Gra — Zach Mickel 6 fumble return (Run failed), 11:15

Gra — David Marrs 1 run (Pass failed), 4:48

Fourth Quarter

Blu — Cole 1 run (Cole kick), 9:53



TEAM STATISTICS

Blu Gra

First Downs 17 17

Rushes-Yards 22-55 56-270

Passing Yards 191 25

Comp.-Att.-Int. 17-32-0 1-3-0

Punts-Avg. 1-29 3-27.6

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties 5-25 9-85

Time of Possession 18:12 29:48

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Bluefield, Marcus Patterson 7-48, Jacob Lilly 10-30, Will Cole 5-(-23); Graham, Dominique Lane 25-99, Kyle Harris 10-90, Ronnie Scott 18-76, David Marrs 3-5.

PASSING — Bluefield, Will Cole 17-32-0 191, Marcus Patterson 0-1-0 0; Graham, David Marrs 1-3-0 25.

RECEIVING — Bluefield, Marcus Patterson 5-83, Cody Wassum 4-48, Isaiah Manns 2-29, Jacob Lilly 2-24, Levi Beckett 2-7; Graham, Kyle Harris 1-25.

        

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