Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412230019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hats off to Blacksburg and Narrows.
Both high school football teams have negotiated the perilous path to the state semifinals. Blacksburg today entertains Region III champion Amherst County in the Group AA Division 4 match and Narrows invades Appalachia for a Group A Divsion 1 engagement at Big Stone Gap.
Both games begin at 1:30 p.m.
That said, both Indians and Green Wave better have their own bonnets buckled on extra tight.
Amherst County and Appalachia are a pair of fearsome foes.
Amherst County (12-0) entered the playoffs as the No.1 team in the state poll and is one of the finest teams ever to compete in the state at this level.
The Lancers dismantled the best team Northside has had in years in the opening round of the regionals, then crushed traditional power Salem 55-19. Amherst County scored touchdowns on each of its five second-half possessions, the last .a 40-yard sprint by freshman Cedric Ellis, the junior-varsity's starting halfback.
Lancers coach Mickey Crouch doesn't even try to downplay his talent.
``If you could draft players in high school football, this is the kind of team you'd have,'' he said.
Appalachia (10-2) is long on tradition, skill, and bulk. The Bulldogs have won 10 of their past 11, smacking five playoff teams - two in AA - in the regular season. Archrival Powell Valley beat them by one point in the Bulldogs' 10th game when Appalachia's two-point conversion (after a 90-yard drive) was squashed in the closing minutes.
Appalachia has won three state championships, the last in 1992. Tom Turner coached the last two title teams and played on the one in 1971. He and Ron ``Flash'' Davis, the coach at perennial AAA power Woodbridge, were on teams that captured both football and basketball crowns that year.
It would be nice to have Turner's views on these topics, but out-of-town publicity apparently doesn't interest him.
``I can't promise you he'll call you back,'' Appalachia athletic director Barry Nelson warned, as he did this past year when the Bulldogs were in the playoffs.
Amherst County doesn't mind notoriety, and it's had plenty of it. So talented, so fast, so mean are the Lancers that they absolutely pulverized Salem, a team Blacksburg beat 19-14 Sept.9.
Amherst rolled up 551 rushing yards on the Spartans with three of their fleet backs, Larry Hunter, Alonzo Mathews and Camm Jackson, gaining 135 or more yards. Hunter had 162 on 18 carries and scored thrice.
Blacksburg (6-6) has been here before under coach David Crist and last year the Indians lost the semifinals in a driving rain at Rustburg. Blacksburg has played for four state titles, winning two of them, most recently in 1989.
Rarely does a below-.500 team make the playoffs, much less reach the final four. The Indians entered the playoffs with a 4-6 record.
Blacksburg has been beset with injuries, the most prominent to its two best defensive players, linebackers Tony Wheeler and Kip Kenyon. Kenyon played for the first time since Sept.23 last week in a 35-26 upset of Richlands; Wheeler, a senior, suffered a season-ending separated shoulder in the first game.
Blacksburg has made do by making few mistakes and moving the ball with a terrific passing attack orchestrated by quarterback Greg Shockley, who has thrown for 1,152 yards and 12 touchdowns this year. His favorite targets are wide receivers Shane Beamer (48 catches, 413 yards) and Jim Reemsnyder (30 catches).
``The way it's been is that one of them would draw double coverage and the other would make all the catches,'' Crist said.
It seems Reemsnyder has been the marked man in the playoffs; Beamer has 13 postseason receptions for 193 yards.
Appalachia runs the straight T formation and looks much the same as the great Parry McCluer state champions of the 1970s and '80s. Halfbacks Travis Clark, kin to Ed Clark, the famous ``Stonega Stallion,'' and Larry Huff each had more than 80 yards rushing when the Bulldogs mercilessly massacred Twin Springs 42-0 last week.
The key to the attack is quarterback Travis Turner, who had 226 all-purpose yards against the Titans in the Region D championship, including a 45-yard scoring reception.
Narrows (10-2) has not been this far since dropping in classification in the 1980s. The Green Wave is sound defensively and balanced offensively, but cannot match the Bulldogs' size.
Narrows has won six straight.
``I've never had a team like this,'' Narrows coach Don Lowe said. ``Every week, we've had a different guy make the big run, or the big catch, or the big defensive play.''
by CNB