Published: October 02, 2008 09:25 pm      

Tornado looks to rule over Hurricane

RICHLANDS, Va. — For the fifth time in as many years, the Richlands Blue Tornado (4-2, 3-0) is at the front of the pack in the Southwest District.

Richlands puts its perfect SWD record on the line tonight against the Marion Scarlet Hurricane, which comes into Ernie Hicks Stadium tonight after a district win over Grundy a week ago.

Richlands is also coming off a district win against Tazewell with a 14-0 shutout over their cross-county rivals.

Greg Mance, Richlands’ head coach is impressed with Marion tailback Brock Hanna, who compares to former Blues’ scatback Caleb Jennings.

“For starters, Marion is good up front and they have a halfback that runs like Caleb Jennings,” Mance said. “They come at you with a lot of different formations and looks, and there’s a reason they’re 3-2 so far this season.”

The ‘Canes outscored Grundy, 27-6, led by Hanna who rushed the ball 20 times for 134 yards. He accounted for two Marion touchdowns in the home win along with Matt Noe, who also found the end zone twice shoring up the district win.

Hanna is the top rusher for the ‘Canes with 623 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.

“Brock does a good job for us,” Marion head coach Mike Briscoe said. “The line has opened up some holes for us and when Matt (Noe) scored against Grundy, it was his third touchdown of the season. He (Noe) also throws really well for us.”

The Blues are paced by the efforts across the skilled positions with playmakers coming on late to spark a winning streak of three games, turning the corner after what Mance termed an “embarrassing” performance in a loss to Powell Valley.

“Anytime you have a setback (like Powell Valley), you want to be able to learn from it and we think we have,” Mance said. “The kids have responded to what we want them to do and we’re improving week-to-week.”

Senior signal caller Joel Elswick continues to pilot the Blues from under center and has taken the authoritative role when the Tornado offense comes to the line. Elswick has completed 50 percent of his passes in 134 attempts with eight interceptions and more importantly, 730 yards and nine touchdowns through the air and nine on the ground.

Elswick leads the Tornado in rushing with 400 yards, averaging almost five yards every time he pulls the ball down and squares his shoulders upfield.

“Mentally, Joel is 100 percent better,” Mance said. “And our wideouts , Christian Hearl, Bradley Strong, Cody Bartkoski (and) Blayke Wilson are all doing a great job and Taylor Sizemore is doing a great job running the ball.”

A week ago against Tazewell, Elswick battled not only the hard, bull rush of the Bulldogs all night, but a driving rain storm for 48 minutes. Despite the slippery slope, he passed for 84 yards on six completions, threw a touchdown and ran for another in the Tornado shutout.

Hearl has become Elswick’s prime target with 21 catches for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Bradley Strong has also caught three touchdowns for the Blues this season in his 15 catches which nears the 200-yard mark for the season. Wilson also joins the duo with three touchdowns among his 12 catches good enough for 142 yards.

Derek Jackson leads Richlands’ defense with 41 tackles, 26 assists and two sacks, with his season high coming in against Powell Valley with 13. Cody Thomas and Chuck Payne have with 29 and 28 tackles respectively and Strong, Hearl and Sizemore have two interceptions apiece.

Marion had 13 first downs when they played Grundy Friday night and rolled up 255 yards on the ground.

They had little need to pass, completing two passes for four yards.

“Richlands has a very good football team and they beat a good Graham team,” Briscoe said. “I was there for half of that game. (Elswick) is a good runner and they have some quick wideouts for him to get them the ball.”

“They’re well coached and their defense has been giving us trouble for several years. They were having some trouble earlier in the season with turnovers and young players, much like we have had, but they seem to have gotten it corrected.”

Tonight’s game is the fourth SWD game for Richlands after consecutive wins over Abingdon, Graham and Tazewell.