Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 3, 1994 TAG: 9412230076
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 6-foot, 178-pound senior is closing in on a second consecutive 1,000-yard season in coach Jim Hickam's wishbone attack.
Hickam had to be persuaded by assistant coach David Tibbs to give Thompson an opportunity as a runner before his junior year. Thompson was a fine cornerback - and still is - for Northside during his freshman and sophomore seasons.
"He's one of the best defensive backs we've ever had," Hickam said. " We kind of looked at our personnel [in 1993] and we had some experienced running backs in our program. Coach Tibbs campaigned hard for him from the very beginning. He says let's give him a chance.
''From the very beginning, he had the ability that good running backs have. He had the peripheral vision; he sees holes before they develop. He's the first to gain 1,000 yards and we've had some good running backs, but I would have to say he's one of our best."
The Vikings have two of the better offensive tackles anywhere on the scholastic level in 6-foot-7, 314-pound Roth Townsend and 6-foot-5, 265-pound Jeff Painter, son of the late Richard Painter who was an outstanding player at William Byrd and Carson Newman.
Sometimes, the Vikings will put Painter, at tight end - a position he used to play - and Townsend at right tackle in their "tackle-over" formation. Thompson 's eyes light up with the mention of his two towering tackles on the same side.
"On tackle-over, you feel like you're going to get goods yards on the play," he said. "Some teams will overplay to their side and we'll run a counter. We scored a touchdown like that last week [in the victory over Lord Botetourt]."
Townsend and Painter, who have been friends since the sixth grade, are humble about their blocking abilities, particularly the tackle-over formation.
"It's a power formation," said Townsend, who went from a 6-foot-4, 260-pound sophomore tackle into a 6-foot-7, 310-pound junior tackle through a natural growth spurt.
"We try to get a power surge off the ball," Painter added: "We use it depending on what defense the other team is in; usually, we use it on third down-and-short and fourth-and-one situations."
With the duo blockers and Thompson running, it may be as close to an unstoppable formation as Northside has.
"I don't want to say that," Townsend commented. "I'm not going to say we can't be stopped but we do try to knock the guy [defensive player] three yards off the ball."
The team first used the formation this year against Spotswood.
"They had two good defensive ends," Hickam explained. "It was going to be hard for our tight end to block him. When we went to it, they had to adjust."
Teams face a dilemna when the Vikings go into the formation. Should they overload to the tackle-over side to stop a power play ? If they do, they risk the counter to Thompson to the weakside being turned into a touchdown. If they play the Vikings' duo one-on-one, they risk being overpowered physically and Thompson picking up 15-20 yards.
Thompson doesn't make people miss when he gets into the open field. It's not in his repertoire.
"He's doesn't have a favorite move, he's trying to run over people," the linemen said simultaneously.
Thompson is the fourth-strongest player on the team in the bench press [235 pounds] with his powerful blockers being the strongest - Townsend at 300 and Painter at 285.
Northside's triumvirate was ecstatic with Thompson becoming the first thousand-yard rusher in Hickam's 20-year career.
"It's hard to gain a 1,000 yards," Painter said. "Especialy since we run the wishbone; seeing him get it was exciting."
The threesome will make a college decision in early 1995. Thompson is looking at North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Tennessee; Townsend at Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Auburn; and Painter has his eye on Virginia, Duke, Vanderbilt, James Madison and North Carolina.
"Coach Tibbs sends out 10 videos a week," Hickam said. "All three will get an offer - it just depends on the needs of people."
The Blue Ridge District title, which would also be a first for Hickam, is what they want in the immediate future. Both linemen like run-blocking and if blocking for Thompson is what it's going to take to capture the Blue Ridge, then so be it. A 15-14 loss to Cave Spring was a bitter defeat for the trio.
"We had a little talk on the bus after the Cave Spring game," Townsend said. "We decided we didn't want to lose another game."
After that talk and behind these three, a 9-1 regular season and a district crown is highly possible for Northside.
by CNB