Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312120144
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-10 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
On the left side of his forehead, the blood had dried where he had had a small cut.
His white uniform pants had been discolored to a dull brown from the turf at Spartan Field.
And for a while, he was speechless after all that had happened to him Saturday afternoon.
Janney and his Giles High School teammates captured the Group A Division 2 state football title with a 27-18 victory over previously unbeaten Lunenburg Central, last year's champion.
The win capped a perfect 14-0 season for the Spartans.
"It's just I'm so happy," said Janney, who grasped his side as if he was gasping for air. "I'm not hurt."
Janney had a lot to be happy about. He rushed for 152 yards on 36 carries and scored three touchdowns on an afternoon that featured a below-zero wind chill factor and intermittent snow showers.
"I told him before the game he was getting a lot of carries today with the way the weather was," said Giles coach Steve Ragsdale. "It was the type of day we didn't want to do a lot of ball handling."
So Janney, who alternated between tailback and fullback in the Spartans' Single-Wing offense, took a lot of direct snaps and took off with the football.
Janney did most of his running in the first half. He had 106 yards rushing, while the rest of the Spartans combined to lose three yards on the ground.
"They kept giving him the ball, and he did the job for them," said Lunenburg Central coach Chippie Chappell. "They were effective running the ball in the first half. In the second half, we did a better job [defensively], but we still didn't shut it down."
Those first-half runs included several which had a direct impact on the game. The first was a 19-yard touchdown sweep around the right side that allowed Giles to bounce back from an early 6-0 deficit.
"I knew that was important because they already had a lead on us when they scored on the third or fourth play of the game," said Janney. "We had to have that score to get back even with them."
A successful extra point kick by Maurice Milton made it 7-6 Giles.
Then, with the score 21-12 late in the first half, Janney had a few more big runs.
The first came on a third-and-10 at the Lunenburg Central 28. Janney ran through the middle for 20 yards just 40 seconds before halftime.
"We were getting the blocking, and the backs were running as hard as they could," said Janney, who finished the season with 1,307 rushing yards and 136 points. "It seemed like we could pound the ball up the middle. It seemed they were stopping us around the end."
Two plays later as the clocked ticked down to 17 seconds, Janney gave Giles a 27-12 halftime edge when he plunged over from the 1.
In the second half, the contest turned into a defensive struggle. Janney was in on that, too. He made eight tackles from his linebacker position.
"I've been playing both ways since the ninth grade," said Janney. "I was just going to the ball, getting through the blocks. It was just playing Spartan football."
When the final gun sounded and Giles had won the championship, Janney was greeted by a multitude of happy fans. That include the two people who walked Janney to the locker room - his girlfriend, Jean Ann Bailey, and his father, Bobby Janney.
"He'll be as happy about the win as anybody," Janney said of his father. "He was the first person on the field [after the game]. I'm sure of it."
by CNB