Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993 TAG: 9312190112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The two Roanoke Valley District seniors delivered a lot of yards and tackles on their way to top honors on the 1993 All-Timesland football team.
Jones, who started as a receiver and wound up as a running back, is Timesland's offensive player of the year. Dunnigan, a relative unknown two years ago, was a household name this fall as perhaps the state's best lineman. He is Timesland's defensive player of the year.
These two head the All-Timesland team, which features three returning players. Back for a second year on offense are Carl Lewis of Pulaski County, who moves from kick-return specialist to running back, and kicker Shane Griffith of Grayson County. Returning to the defense is linebacker Eric Webb of Pulaski County.
The team is dominated by Pulaski County, which saw its 21-game winning streak evaporate in a 14-7 loss to Annandale in the Group AAA Division 6 championship game. Joining Dunnigan, Webb and Lewis on the first team are offensive lineman Larry Newcomb, linebacker Jammon Payne and defensive back Andre Eaves.
Five schools had two selections. Jones is joined by Fleming teammate Ernest Harrington, a defensive back. Giles, which won the Group A Division 2 title and went 14-0, is represented by offensive lineman Jason Ratcliffe and defensive end Patrick Steele. Blacksburg had two first-team selections in linebacker Tony Wheeler and center Tim Schnecker, both juniors. Piedmont District champion Magna Vista is represented by offensive lineman Freddy Roberts and defensive back Rodney Redd, and Piedmont runner-up Martinsville has wide receiver McQuail Gravely and linebacker Chris Frith on the first team.
Three players besides Dunnigan, Jones and Eaves moved up from second team status a year ago. On offense, Alleghany's Todd Wheatley at tight end and Patrick Henry's Shannon Taylor at quarterback stepped up, and Northside's John Huffman moved to the first team as a defensive lineman.
The first-team offense is rounded out by running back Marcus Cardwell of North Cross, lineman Shane Allen of Carroll County and kick-return specialist Timmy Lewis of Rockbridge County.
The other first-team selections on defense were George Wythe linebacker Robert Dillow and Radford punter Casey Underwood.
Giles' Steve Ragsdale is the coach of the year for the first time since 1980, when he shared the honor with Northside's Jim Hickam. That also was the last time the Spartans won a state title, taking the Group AA championship.
Three first-team selections from 1992 - Salem running back Marcus Parker and defensive linemen Chad Custer of the Spartans and Jimmy Penn of Magna Vista - didn't return to either All-Timesland squad this year for various reasons.
Parker, the most notable of the three, suffered a knee injury in the spring and played in only five of Salem's 11 games, making him ineligible. A player must have appeared in at least half of his team's games.
Jones played in 8 1/2 games, but nobody stopped him, including Pulaski County. Jones rushed for 81 yards on 20 carries through three quarters against the Cougars. Fleming, down 10-0, had to go to the air. Jones never ran the ball again, but he caught five passes for 25 yards as he went over 100 yards offensively.
"I wasn't amazed that people couldn't stop him," said Sherley Stuart, Fleming's coach. "I've been watching him for four years.
"We knew he'd be pretty good because he scored 15 touchdowns as a running back in eighth grade when he was playing on our ninth-grade team."
Jones was versatile. He finished among Timesland's rushing and receiving leaders with 1,321 yards on 218 carries and 182 yards on 18 receptions. He scored 13 touchdowns.
"The pass catching comes from my ninth- and 10th-grade years, when I was a receiver," said Jones, who had to wait a couple of seasons to move to running back his path was blocked by another Colonels standout, Larry Basham.
In the past two years, Jones has rushed for nearly 2,200 yards and caught 29 passes for 247 yards.
His "half-game" this season, which counts as a full contest, came against another tough Group AAA team, once-beaten GW-Danville. Jones had 73 yards on 10 carries.
It was Jones' last attempt, his first in the second half, that ended his evening. He strained tendons in his right leg on the play, a 22-yard gain, and was finished for the rest of that night and the next week.
Jones is an all-around performer who is one of the favorites to win the Timesland Boys' Athlete of the Year Award. He is an outstanding wrestler and baseball player. His aim, though, is to play football in college.
"I really worked hard last summer and I thought it would pay off," Jones said. "I wish I could have done better, but I can't play anymore in high school. So I might as well be satisfied."
Dunnigan was a strong two-way performer for the Cougars. His blocking was just as important to Pulaski County's Wing T offense as his tackling was to the Cougars' overall success.
Dunnigan was an emotional player. He was one of the most devastated Pulaski County players after the Cougars were beaten by Annandale.
"Being the last game and all, I took that the hardest," Dunnigan said. "But I couldn't have dreamed of having a better career, and now I look toward college."
Dunnigan will be a Division I-A signee sometime this winter. There have been precious few Division I signees from such a successful program.
"I believe he's the best two-way performer we've had here in respect to Division I. Among linemen, there's Randy and Todd Grantham [who signed with Virginia Tech]. But Todd wasn't as known for his defense as he was his offense," said Joel Hicks, Pulaski County's coach. "I don't see how Randy could have had a better season. He lifted [weights] and worked hard.
"When you get a kid who is looked at as much as Randy, they sometimes don't play as well. They get the big head. In Randy's case, it seems like the recruiting process motivated him. He stood out and had some great games."
Dunnigan and Newcomb were elevated to the varsity as freshmen in the last few games of the season. Dunnigan started on defense as a sophomore and for the past two years has started both ways.
Taylor was quite a quarterback, passing for 1,288 yards and rushed for 652 yards. Including his playoff game against Stonewall Jackson-Manassas, the Patriots' quarterback surpassed 2,000 yards total offense. He is among the most hotly recruited Roanoke football players in years. He also played defensive tackle in crucial situations.
Cardwell led North Cross to the Private School Division I state championship with his offense. He accounted for 216 points in 12 games, more than any other Timesland player scored. In the state playoffs, Cardwell scored 56 points and rushed for 462 yards in two games as the Raiders beat Brunswick Academy 55-27 and Huguenot Academy 47-24. For the year, Cardwell ran for 1,798 yards.
Pulaski County's Lewis averaged 83 yards rushing during the regular season. In the postseason, he stepped up the pace. In the final two playoff games against Indian River and Annandale, Lewis rushed for 242 yards. His best performance, 134 yards on 29 carries, came against Annandale when he was most of Pulaski County's offense because Webb, the Z-back in the Wing T, was out with a broken jaw.
Wheatley averaged fewer than two catches a game. However, he caught five touchdown passes, including a 70-yarder that helped beat Northside 22-19. He also is considered an excellent blocker.
Gravely was Timesland's leading receiver, with 47 catches for 756 yards, as Martinsville went unbeaten before losing to Magna Vista in the final regular-season game, a showdown for the Piedmont District title.
Timmy Lewis averaged 21.6 yards as a return specialist. He was part of a strong Rockbridge County team that might have put an end to the Salem dynasty in the Blue Ridge District. The Wildcats, in only their second year as a school, won the title in convincing fashion.
Griffith earned his second consecutive All-Timesland selection as kicker when he booted a 54-yard field goal that was just short of the state record. For the year, he hit four of six field-goal attempts and never tried one from less than 37 yards. His misses came from 47 and 48 yards; he connected on kicks of 38, 37 and 42 yards in addition to his near-record boot.
On the line, Newcomb (Pulaski County), Roberts (Magna Vista) and Ratcliffe (Giles) were leaders of three high-scoring teams that lost only twice in 39 games among them. Allen's Carroll County team wasn't as successful, but he was a two-way All-New River District performer and All-Region IV on offense; he becomes perhaps the first player from his school to be selected to the All-Timesland football team.
On defense, Huffman is considered a Division I prospect after starring on a Northside team that featured several big linemen. Steele, a defensive end at Giles, came up with two sacks against Haysi to stop a threat as the Spartans won 8-0 in the state semifinals.
Payne and Webb were part of a Pulaski County defense that was extremely tough against the run. Frith was outstanding for Martinsville, getting in on 100 tackles during the regular season. Wheeler tied for fifth in Timesland in tackles with 130. Dillow, with 148 tackles, helped Wythe go 11-1. The Maroons lost only to Giles in the Region C championship game.
Redd, Eaves and Harrington, the All-Timesland defensive backs, also were excellent offensive performers. Redd and Eaves were quarterbacks, and Harrington was a receiver. These three rarely came off the field, which was unusual considering two of them played Group AAA football.
Underwood was an outstanding kicker and punter. He is a college prospect at either position. In punting, he averaged 39.6 yards a kick, tops in Timesland.
Among the second-team performers are Liberty receiver Gregg Reynolds, the Sizzlin' Sophomore offensive player of the year. Narrows' Whitey Blankenship was one of Timesland's most prolific scorers and he's a second-team running back. Parry McCluer's Craig Floyd is a second-team linebacker for the second consecutive year.
Pulaski County also dominates the second team with five selections, and North Cross has three second-team choices.
by CNB