Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9310230192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Blacksburg went from the mashed to monsters and Christiansburg from monsters to mashed in one week.
The Indians played their most splendid game of the season, crushing their archrivals from across Montgomery County 23-0 in a New River District game Friday night that gave Blacksburg at least a tie for the league title. Radford edged Carroll County 16-12, leaving the Indians alone in first place.
Christiansburg, which had erased a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to upset 1992 Group AA Division 4 state champion Richlands 22-21 on Oct. 15, was hurled into the depths of gloom.
Blacksburg, on the other hand, picked itself off the deck after a 26-14 loss to Graham that had Indians coaches and players muttering darkly to themselves a week ago.
"We were telling our coaches this week that we were never going to allow that many points again," said Blacksburg linebacker Tony Wheeler.
The Indians talked a big game, but they delivered against a team that had been scoring points by the tractor-trailer load. Blacksburg (4-4 overall, 2-0 in the New River District) held the Christiansburg Wing-T offense to 123 yards - 115 of those on the ground - and six first downs, three in each half.
Blacksburg defensive back Jim Reemsnyder picked off a Mischa Alexander pass in the Indians' end zone late in the first half to thwart the Blue Demons' best threat.
Christiansburg's Andra Beasley, the seventh-most productive rusher in Timesland with a 103 yards-per-game average coming in, was limited to 27 yards on nine carries. Wing back Kareem Koonce, whose 34-yard run late in the fourth quarter was the Demons' biggest play of the night, finished with 55 yards on six carries.
"They did a nice job of adjusting to what we did," said Mike Cole, Christiansburg's coach. "I'm not going to say what [the adjustments were] because somebody else might try it."
Blacksburg's aim was to prevent the big play.
"Beasley and Koonce are very dangerous when they get 5 yards from the line of scrimmage," said Dave Crist, the Indians' coach. "We tried not to let that happen."
They succeeded.
"We watched the films and Christiansburg's back made a lot of yardage by breaking tackles," Wheeler said. "We tried to gang tackle as much as we could."
The Indians were similarly precise offensively, rolling up 249 yards and 17 first downs. A balanced rushing attack ground out 183 yards, and quarterback Greg Shockley completed seven of 10 passes for 66 yards.
Shockley, who completed all four of his second-half passes, scored Blacksburg's first touchdown on a 1-yard sneak with 3 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Tim Schnecker booted the extra point, then added a 32-yard field goal with 4:08 left in the second period to make it 10-0 at the break.
The Indians got some bad news in the first half when running back and defensive back Nick Burroughs wrenched his left knee while blocking on a punt return. Burroughs, who had 61 yards on five carries, said he was told by a doctor that the best he could hope for would be to return for the playoffs. Otherwise, surgery and gone for the year. An examination is scheduled for today.
Wheeler and fullback Tucker LaForce picked up nicely for their injured comrade. LaForce scored on an 11-yard run in the third, and Wheeler added 7-yard scoring jaunt in the fourth period. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB