Published: October 13, 2007 01:11 am      

Dominant

Highlight reel night for Ponder

BLUEFIELD — The Bluefield Beavers executed, and then some, and nothing seemed to go right for the Mount View Golden Knights Friday night. The Beavers ran their record to 6-0 with a 62-0 win at Mitchell Stadium.

Mount View lost four of eight fumbles and all three of its pass attempts were intercepted by the Beavers. For Bluefield, Ansel Ponder netted three scores and Shaun Brooks ran for 141 yards and a pair of scores on just 10 tries.

Golden Knights coach Leon Gravely said, “We played a good football team. They executed. They did everything right. We did a lot of things wrong. ...

“Bluefield’s an excellent program. You’ve got to be ready. And, at times, we weren’t ready. And good teams like that, they’re going to capitalize on every mistake you make.”

It was Ponder, here and yonder, from the very start. He took the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown in the game’s first 15 seconds. Mount View’s first play from scrimmage was a pass, intercepted by Marcus Patterson.

Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said, “We were very fortunate (that) some things went right, right off the bat.”

Senior offensive tackle Chris Harris said that for Mount View, “Their heart, is to beat us. We know we have to come out there and start early.”

In the second quarter, with the Beavers ahead 26-0, Ponder ran an interception 88 yards for his second touchdown, and got his third TD with 2:48 left in the half on a 6-yard timing pass from Will Cole to the back corner of the end zone.

Ponder said, “I’ve never had a game this exciting, this intense, coming out and executing like I did today. Once I got out here I just asked God to help me and lead me the way, and to play with the uncanny focus ... and He blessed me, and I did that.”

He said, “We just came out here and executed and we all played like a team.”

Simon said that Ponder’s long interception return, “where our whole team tried to do their best to get in front and lead him down there, was just a thing of beauty.”

Mount View’s electrifying Cordero High was limited to 34 yards rushing on 12 carries, only one of which went for more than eight yards. He left the field midway through the second quarter and did not play after that. Gravely said High bruised his shoulder.

Ponder said the Knights “came out there and they tried to play hard. They played pretty hard, but I think we played a little harder than they did tonight, and it showed at the end.”

He said, “We forced a lot of turnovers, especially with our D-line and our linebackers. Everybody on defense came up and just crowded ’em — and we just swarmed like bees tonight.”

Harris said Mount View was “a very good opponent. The intensity wasn’t there for them. The intensity was there for us. ... It was just a hard game (for them). Some teams have off games.”

He said about the line play, “We did our thing tonight. All we do is work hard, driving, all week.”

Before it was over, Brooks scored on runs of 1 and 67 yards, tackle Joe Stone scored on a fumble recovery, Asher Sexton had a pair of field goals, and backup running backs Deak Kersey and Alex Morris reached the end zone.

The first team for Bluefield took the field briefly after halftime. Simon said, “We wanted to leave them in just for a couple of series to start the second half to keep their timing down and so forth. And once we went two series, they came out and we just started subbing the rest of the time.”

Gravely said in the second half, his team had to “play with pride. When you’re down, you’ve got to continue to play it out. You can’t be quitters.”

The Beavers get acquainted with Richlands this week, a Virginia-side team Bluefield has not played in recent years. “It’ll be a tough game for us down there,” Simon said.

Mount View turns its attention to another Class AA powerhouse, the James Monroe Mavericks, who will visit Golden Knights Stadium on Friday.

Gravely said, “We’ve got to come back this week and work hard. We’ve got a tough opponent in James Monroe. ... We’ll be ready to go, next week.

“To see where you are, you’ve got to play the best teams. We’ve got the challenge, and we’ll keep playing with them.”

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com



At Mitchell Stadium

Mount View (3-3)...............0 0 0 0 — 0

Bluefield (6-0)..................23 17 14 8 — 62

First Quarter

BHS–Ansel Ponder 94 kickoff return (kick wide), 11:45

BHS–Sean Brooks 1 run (Asher Sexton kick), 6:16

BHS–Sexton 30 FG, 3:04

BHS–Joe Stone 20 run with fumble (Sexton kick), 0:32

Second Quarter

BHS–Sexton 31 FB, 10:27

BHS–Ponder 88 interception return (Sexton kick), 6:20

BHS–Ponder 6 pass from Will Cole (Sexton kick), 2:48

Third Quarter

BHS–Brooks 67 run (Sexton kick), 9:31

BHS–Deak Kersey 2 run (Sexton kick), 0:59

Fourth Quarter

BHS–Alex Morris 43 run (Kyle Harris run), 3:38

———

Team Statistics

MV Blfd

First downs 8 14

Rushes-yards 43-132 29-332

Passing yards 0 11

Comp-att-intc 0-3-3 2-9-0

Punts-avg. 5-25 0-0

Fumbles-lost 8-4 3-2

Penalties-yds. 5-18 2-20

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — MV: High 12-34, Thomas 6-15, Parker 1-(minus 1), Cunningham 10-74, Saunders 9-21, London 2-6, team 3-(minus 17). BHS: Brooks 10-141, Bowes 4-20, Patterson 4-51, Cole 2-(minus 8), Lilly 3-48, Kersey 1-2, Harris 1-11, Williams 1-19, McClanahan 1-7, Morris 1-43, team 1-(minus 2). PASSING — MV: Parker 0-2-0 yds.-2 intc.-0 TD; Thomas 0-1-0 yds.-1 intc.-0 TD. BHS: Cole 2-9-11 yd.-0 intc.-1 TD. RECEIVING — MV: none. BHS: Ponder 2-11-1 TD.