Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509110084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lord Botetourt's Wesley Cox took the kickoff and was smacked hard out of bounds by Glenvar's Eric East in a collision of two backs who had run for nearly 2,800 yards last year.
The hit set the tone as Glenvar romped to a surprisingly easy 28-6 victory. Equally as astonishing was the fact that neither of the returning backsgained 100 yards rushing. However, the Highlanders' versatile offense was more than enough to dominate the game.
``He [Cox] was coming up the sideline, so I popped him,'' said East, who wound up rushing for 96 yards - 70 of them after halftime when his lead blocker, Lynwood Twine, returned after sitting out the opening half for disciplinary reasons.
Before East started chugging out the yardage, quarterback Corey Willis delivered a telling blow by throwing two touchdown passes to give the Highlanders a 21-6 lead midway through the third quarter. Willis finished with 117 yards passing, an improvement over last year when he rarely went to the air.
``Our line's a lot stronger. They lifted weights a lot harder this summer,'' Willis said about protection that allowed him to throw scoring passes of 5 yards to Don Elliott and 34 yards to Troy Henderson.
Of course, Willis was the starting quarterback when Glenvar opened practice.
``Last year, he wasn't the starter'' for the first four games, said Brian Hooker, Glenvar's coach. ``This year we could put in a lot of things that were designed for his mobility.''
Glenvar had the ball only twice in the first half - and scored both times, on marches of 81 and 53 yards that consumed 24 plays. East scored the first touchdown from the 4 and Willis passed to Elliott on fourth down from the Lord Botetourt 5 for the second score.
Meanwhile, Glenvar's defense held Cox for one series. Then, the junior joined fullback Rocky Lark in sparking the Cavaliers' only scoring drive, a 67-yard march. Lark, who picked up 31 yards, scored from the 2 after Cox had rushed for 41 yards during a drive that also included a 5-yard penalty.
Willis put away the game when he hit a 34-yard pass to Henderson in the third quarter. The touchdown and conversion kick gave Glenvar a 21-6 lead.
``They had the tight end covered and he [Henderson] was wide-open. At first I didn't think I had the time to get my feet set,'' Willis said.
As if that wasn't enough, the Highlanders recovered a fumble on the kickoff and used just seven plays before East ran in from the 1 with 3:51 left in the third period. Botetourt gave up two touchdowns in the third quarter and didn't touch the ball for 8:09.
``They were using up the clock in the first half, too,'' said Andy Ward, the Cavaliers' coach. ``They took eight minutes on the first drive. After we scored to make it 7-6, our defense had the inability to stop the run, and then we missed some defensive coverages. That adds up to a good old-fashioned butt-kicking.
``We've got a young line with two sophomores and the rest are juniors. Our defense is one man away because we're missing a key player [Jeremy Conner who because of an injury can play only on offense]. But we'll be back.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB