Month: September 2016

Pioneers to host the Fighting Blues of Parry McCluer

Max Meadows…Coming off of their bye week, the Fort Chiswell Pioneers will take on the Fighting Blues of Parry McCluer. The Fighting Blues are 3-1 on the season with wins over Rockbridge Co. (21-14), Stonewall Jackson (47-0), and this past Friday night they beat Nelson Co. 69-14. Their lone loss was to Buffalo Gap by a score of 20-0. Mike Craft, who’s in his sixth season, coaches the Blues. He has a 41-22 record.

“They are a run, run team,” said Pioneer coach Todd Tiller. “They run out of a straight T formation. They have three excellent running backs. They will run off tackle, fullback trap, sweeps and all three backs are involved in all of those.”

The Blues three backs are senior K J Cook 6-1, 220, sophomore Marcellus Dawson 6-0, 215 and Auburn transfer Jeremy Nelson a senior who is 6-1, 225. Other players to watch for the Blues will be quarterback Zach Clayton. The offensive line is lead by 6-0, 255 junior Josh Cash, 6-0, 225 sophomore Eli Wheeler, and junior 6-4, 245 Josh Fischer. They also will use two tight ends, Lydell Elliott and Jace Wheeler. Elliott is a senior 6-3, 200 and Wheeler is 6-1, 190 senior.

Coach Tiller remarked, “Their ‘O’ line is very good and experienced.” The Blues are returning nine starters on offense and also nine on defense. Last year the Blues finished with a 7-4 record losing at Hurley in the first round of the playoffs.

Defensively Parry McCluer with their nine returnees have given up just 48 points in their four games. Coach Tiller said, ”They run a 4-3 schemed; they will stunt the linebackers some. Their secondary will be in cover four and cover two. They are experienced on this side of the ball as well.” Cash, Robert Fields, Fischer and Elliott will lead McCluer on defense. The main linebackers are Wheeler, Cook and Dawson. Matt Thompson and Claytor lead the secondary.

“Parry McCluer is as experienced as any team we have faced so far this season,” said Coach Tiller. “They’re going to be a handful and we need to step up.”

Fort Chiswell will come into the contest in good health with their week off. On offense they will start Logan Smith at center with Grant Milgrim and Patrick Crawford at guards. Jacob Coake, Alex Brooks will be at guards with Billy Shrewsberry also getting time at guard. Warren “Pookie” Moore will be the quarterback. Sean Morgan is the running back with Andrew Stoots at “H” back. Tanner Bailey and Hunter Parrott are wide receivers and Colby Rider the tight end. Anthony Morris, Tyler Jakubiak will also see some time at receiver and running back.

The Pioneers will have Crawford, Brooks and Devin Newman on the defensive line. Milgrim, Rider, Shrewsberry, Stoots and TJ James at linebackers. The secondary will consist of Anthony Morris and Logan Newman at cornerbacks. Bailey will be at safety. Others seeing action on defense will be Ethan Woods, Jon Gregory, “Loopie” Turpin and Morgan.

Kick off is slated for 7 pm at C F McKinney Stadium at Fort Chiswell High School. It will be sandlot night at the stadium.

Radford defeats Craig Co.

New Castle…The Radford Bobcats jumped on Craig Co. early and often defeating the Rockets 43-0 for their first win of the season. The Bobcats (1-3) scored five touchdowns in the opening quarter to put the game away. They took the opening kickoff and drove 53 yards on four plays as Markell Thompson rumbled in from three yards out and Michael Hill got the point after for a 7-0 lead. The Cat defense stopped the Rockets on three plays and out, setting up their offense in Craig Co. territory. On their third play DJ Baylor rolled out to his left and hit Josh Alley for a 24-yard strike to make it 14-0.

Craig Co. then fumbled, and Radford’s Adam Simpkins recovered. Again the Bobcats would strike quickly as Thompson scored on a four-yard run to go up 21-0. Craig Co. would take over on their 20-yard line, but again they would fumble as Dillon Whitt recovered at the Rocket 18. On the first play Trace Shepherd raced 18 yards for the score and Baylor hit Nicholas Clark with a two-point conversion and the route was on, putting the “city kitties” up 36-0 after one quarter.

Radford scored on the first play of the second quarter with Baylor hitting Josh Alley this time on a 47-yard pass and Hill’s point after made it 43-0 at intermission.

Radford’s defense held Craig Co. to just 62 yards of total offense. They gave up only 44 rushing yards on 24 carries and just 18 yards in the air. Radford finished with 314 total yards of offense. Baylor had 54 yards rushing on four carries and he was six of eight for 117 yards passing and two touchdown passes. Justice Marshall had 45 yards rushing and Chris Carter had 30 rushing as the two freshmen carried the ball 15 times.

“We are slowly getting better,” said a relieved Radford head coach Matthew Saunders. “Defensively we are ahead of our offense. I liked what I saw tonight from Justice Marshall and Chris Carter. Our defense played well and we got a lot of people into the game here tonight.“ Coach Saunders then remarked, “That first win is the toughest and we are improving.”

Radford will come back home next Friday to take on the Knights of James River. Kick off will be 7pm at Bobcat Stadium.

 

 

 

Radford 36 7 0 0 – 43

Craig Co. 0 0 0 0 – 0

 

Rushing- Radford- Baylor- 4-54, Marshall- 7-45, C.Carter- 8-30, Thompson- 3-7, Duncan 5-8, Nester- 4-26, Shepherd- 1-18, Stanley- 1-10,

– Craig Co.- Henderson- 8-(-10), Bradford- 9-67, Burcham- 1-(-14), McMahan-4-(-5), Sloss- 2-6

District Standings

Hello sports fans. I will be upgrading my website here in the next few days. There will be a new page for district standings for the River Ridge, Three Rivers, Mountain Empire, Hogoheegee and Southwest Districts.

Eastern Montgomery has new baseball head coach

The Mustangs of Eastern Montgomery have a new baseball head coach and is familiar to most , Jonathan Hagee. Coach Hagee has been an assistant at Blacksburg High School for the last three season-2013 to 2016. He was junior varsity head coach for two of those three years . He was also assistant coach at Pulaski Co for two years. While there he was the junior varsity head coach as well. Jonathan played baseball at Bluefield College from 2005-09. His senior year (2009) there they won the National Christian College National Championship. Not only was he a baseball player at Bluefield but was all academic team in 2007 and 2008. After graduating he became an assistant baseball coach at Graham High School as well as junior varsity head man. In 2011 Coach Hagee was a volunteer assistant for Concord University.

Chance Harman Classic basketball schedule released

FRIDAY JAN.6,2017

4 pm – Auburn vs. Fort Chiswell

5:30- Huntington Prep(WV) vs Blue Ridge

7pm-Radford vs Blacksburg

8:30- Subway Slam Dunk Competition

9pm- Massanutten Academy vs Wesley Christian (NC)

SATURDAY JAN .7 2017

10 am- Christiansburg vs. Carroll Co.

11:30- Giles vs George Wythe

1pm-North Cross vs Bishop McGuiness (NC)

2:30-Cape Henry Collegiate vs. Mountain Mission ( Grundy,Va.)

4pm- E C Glass vs Northwest Guilford (NC)

5:30-Floyd Co. vs Gate City

7pm-Oak Hill Academy vs Huntington Prep (WV)

8:30- Massanutten Academy vs Hargrave Academy

Pioneers defeat Radford in nail-biting contest

Radford…Sometimes its not how you start but how you finish. That was the case for Fort Chiswell as they came from behind twice and scored with just 1:05 to go. The Pioneers took their first lead of the game as they pulled out a 20-14 thriller over the Radford Bobcats.

Radford was honoring their 1971 state championship team at halftime while enjoying a 7-0-intermission lead. With a scoreless first half until 14.3 seconds before half, the Cats got a 35-yard touchdown pass from Trace Shepherd to Jeremy Chadwick, and place kicker Michael followed up by splitting the uprights.

The second half saw the Pioneers go to a “wildcat formation” with senior Colby Rider toting the pigskin. He took a snap from center and went off right endvfor a 58-yard touchdown. Tyler Dunford’s point after tied the contest with 5:51 left in the third quarter.

Radford came right back driving down the field and from 10 yards out, Dale Stanley went off left tackle untouched into the end zone.

The Pioneers would score again with Rider going up the middle of the line at his own 34. He ran over two or three Bobcats and bounced out to his right and scampered 66 yards for the tying score just 52 seconds after Radford had taken the lead.

The game became a field position proposition as the two teams traded four punts in the fourth quarter. Fort Chiswell would take over at their 31 and manage to garner a first down at their own 43. Quarterback Warren Moore picked up three yards to the 46. On the next play Moore dropped back and heaved the ball down the field. Colby Rider jumped up over the Bobcat defender and some how stayed on his feet for a 54 yard touchdown with 1:05 left to take their first lead of the game and to pull out a big win on the road for the Pioneers.

Rider rushed the ball 15 times for 176 yards in the second half; 144 came in the third quarter alone. He scored all three of the Fort Chiswell touchdowns as he caught one pass for 54 more yards. Moore completed eight of 17 passes for a touchdown and 133 yards. He also had one intercepted.

The Pioneer defense was a big story of theme as well as they held Radford to minus 7 yards rushing in the first half. They only gave up one yard in the game on 26 rushes. “I thought our defense kept us in the game,” said Fort Chiswell head coach Todd Tiller. “I know Radford is 0-2, but Coach Saunders had them ready and took it to us the first half.” He then added, ”The wildcat seemed to turn things around for us. It got things rolling. My hat goes off to our kids. They fought and clawed all game long. It’s a big win for us and this team has each others’ back. They are like brothers and I’m proud of them here tonight.”

The first half wasn’t the prettiest played game. Both teams had a total of just eight first downs. Radford (0-3) had just 92 yards of offense with 35 of that coming on one play. The Pioneers (2-1) had just 57 yards.

Like Coach Tiller said, ”A win is a win and this one was earned the hard way.”

Radford head coach Matthew Saunders remarked, ”Big plays have killed us this season, so far. The Pioneers wildcat bothered us on defense and our defense was on the field too much tonight. We are struggling offensively and that’s my fault. Our defense ran out of gas.”

Fort Chiswell has a bye this coming week and Radford will travel to Craig Co. for a 7 pm kick off.