Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
They played for an undefeated eighth grade team at Giles High School. They alternated at wingback for the Spartans varsity as 10th graders. Collectively they spent more time off the field than on it as juniors.
And now as seniors they represent what amounts to a backfield twin killing for the Spartans.
Through five games, they were as close statistically speaking as two running backs can get. Slusser, the fullback, had 486 yards rushing; tailback Hoston had 478; Slusser is averaging 97.2 yards per game, Hoston 95.6; they are 1-2 in the Three Rivers District in scoring, Hoston with 64 points (including 10 touchdowns) and Slusser with 48 (seven TDs).
But don't ask them if they have any sort of private competition as they do the cloud-of-dust routine at the expense of the Spartans opponents. All you'll get is a stunned look from both of them.
``This is a team game, man,'' said single wing tailback Hoston as if it pained him to answer such a foolish question.
``All we do,'' added Slusser, ``is carry the mail for our line.''
Pro-line rhetoric is the party line at Giles, but then so is a thunderous ground game. Slusser and Hoston are the most recent heirs to a tradition that has chewed up more real estate than a big-time strip mining operation.
``One game one of them will have a great game and another game the other one will and sometimes they both will at the same time,'' Giles coach Steve Ragsdale said. ``It really gives us a nice 1-2 punch that definitely keeps our opponents off balance.''
There's a lot there to keep the enemy out of whack, which has made people wonder, where have these hard-running dudes been all this time?
That's a long story.
``They've been waiting in the wings for Raypheal Milton to graduate,'' Ragsdale said.
That would be the star tailback of the past three years who did finally attire himself in gown and mortarboard and walk the aisle last spring. While he was stampeding and strafing Giles' enemies the past three years, Slusser and Hoston have had their own lives to lead.
As sophomores, they alternated at wingback, the position at which many of Giles' better running backs have apprenticed over the years. Slusser had some huge games in relief of Milton, but Hoston's year was more forgettable because of a pulled groin that cost him as many as half the games the Spartans played.
Last year, Hoston was hurt again the first game of the season (a knee went this time), missed the next couple of games, then was hurt again.
``I missed playing a lot,'' he said.
No more so than Slusser, though. He didn't play at all. A disciplinary scrape not only kept him off the team but also out of the stadium on game night.
``I didn't see a game all year,'' he said.
Hoston has had a brush or two with authority himself. Both players say they've learned their lessons. They also say that all the time off has given them a renewed appreciation of the game itself.
``Football has straightened me up,'' Hoston said.
The army of Giles fans doesn't seem to lack in appreciation of the two running backs. Perfectly understandable, that. There is a lot to like.
Both guys have tons of athletic ability, at least some of which might have been in the blood. Slusser's father Mike was a noseguard for Blacksburg back in his playing days. Hoston is the first cousin of Leon King, generally considered the first of the great Giles running backs. Hoston wears his number 43.
Hoston hasn't had to throw much (the tailback handles most of the passing in the single wing), but he can air mail a pretty spiral when necessary. So far he's 4-for-5 for 110 yards and a touchdown. Slusser can throw or catch.
Giles has another nice luxury this year not counting one of the more terrific offensive lines around: backfield depth. Hoston and Slusser don't have to do it all. Chris Ratcliffe at wingback is another good runner and ballhandler. Coming off the bench, Brandon Steele can play fullback and give Slusser a rest or allow Slusser to move over to tailback should Hoston need a rest.
One look at Hoston, though, and you wonder if he's even capable of being tired.
Said one guy who knows the program well, ``If I had that body when I was in high school, the girls ... ``
And the girls might not even be aware of the football statistics.
by CNB