ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210118
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
THE FIGHTING BLUES conduct a clinic in beating Pioneer District rival James River 14-6.
Cold. Windy. Wet. Just this side of miserable. Call it Parry McCluer football weather.
Playing in conditions that suited their power running game like the basic blue and white of their uniforms suit their image, the Fighting Blues played ball control, took advantage of breaks, and hit like a car wreck on defense in beating James River 14-6 in a Pioneer District game at soggy Camden Field on Friday night.
It was vintage Blues on both the scoring drives - an 87-yarder in the second quarter and a 57-yarder in the third quarter.
That effectively wiped out two quarters, which wasn't such a bad idea since James River (3-4 overall, 2-1 district) has shown big-play capability on offense all year long. "We have improved quite a bit since the beginning of the year,'' Parry McCluer coach Charlie Wheeler said. "Especially in the line.''
T-formation teams like Parry McCluer, and there aren't many of them left, must have sound blocking up front, and the Blues certainly had that, one of the reasons they were able to roll up 151 yards rushing and 11 first downs. The main mover for Parry McCluer was halfback Robert Snider, a 5-foot-7, 140-pound speedster who would just as soon lower his shoulder into a would-be tackler and keep on churning.
Snider had 98 yards rushing and caught two Donald Schley passes for 47 yards. The receptions both came during the first-half scoring drive and were on the other side of simple, cleanly executed swing passes to either side. Snider followed the back-to-back catches three plays later with a 10-yard scoring run with 1:35 left in the half.
That, along with Eric Catlett's conversion kick, gave the Blues their first lead, 7-6.
The game began in a sullen rain that continued through the first half. The teams had hardly found their footing before James River got the first break of the game, a Parry McCluer fumble recovered at the Fighting Blues' 25.
James River quarterback Travis Blankenship had his troubles on the Knights' first snap, fumbling, then recovering just in time. A play later, tailback Brian LeFlore slashed through the right side of the Fighting Blues' line, quickly cut back left, and raced 25 yards into the end zone. The kick failed and the Knights led 6-0 with 8:49 left in the first quarter.
James River moved the ball well at times, but ball-handling continued to be a major issue. The Knights had six fumbles and lost three of them. Knights coach Doug Ross declined to take the weather as an alibi.
``At the start of the game, when the rain was the hardest, [the Fighting Blues] were the ones fumbling and we were the ones holding on to the ball,'' he said. "The conditions were the same for both teams.''
One fumble was particularly lethal for James River. Late in the third quarter, the Knights had put together their best drive of the evening and had advanced to the Parry McCluer 5. On third down, Blankenship rolled to his left, angling for the corner of the end zone. Judging from the celebration, the James River players thought he'd scored. The ruling was a fumble and the Blues recovered at the 1.
``I couldn't see it,'' Wheeler said. ``The players said he didn't get in. You know how kids are.''
Ross thought Blankenship might have gotten in.
``Parry McCluer has a hard-hitting team,'' he said. "Those things [fumbles] happen.''
That was as close as anybody got to the end zone for the rest of the game, which meant that the last score of the game came with 4:32 left in the third. The Blues had required 12 plays, the last of which was an 8-yard scoring toss from Schley to a wide-open Jason Snider.
``They have a good club,'' Wheeler said. ``I knew from the beginning of the season that this would be one of our toughest games.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB