ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
This is a Giles High School football team like no other.
``This is the story of this year's team,'' coach Steve Ragsdale was saying as he hurried to practice in an ice-bearing wind this week. ``There are no stars.''
Then he paused, aware of the possibility of being misunderstood.
``That is not a knock, because we have a lot of very good players,'' Ragsdale said. ``But this is a team in the strictest sense of the word.''
How do you knock a group that's 10-0?
Just say this: Nobody's found a way to damage these Spartans yet.
More accurately, nobody's found a way to slow them. Damaged, they have been and continue to be.
Damaged but not halted. This is a team an orthopedic surgeon could adore.
Starting center Roger Simpkins broke a leg and was sidelined for weeks. Back-up running back Micah Steele broke an ankle and is just coming back. Starting single-wing tailback Chris Ratcliffe began the season with a badly twisted ankle, then wrenched the other on opening night. He was gone for three weeks.
At times, the locker room looked like an emergency medical facility in a war zone. Some of these guys still may feel like they're in a war zone.
Simpkins, back in the Giles lineup, may be able to locate his leg these days because that's the direction from which the throbbing pain originates.
``I don't think it's healed yet,'' he said.
As for Ratcliffe, his injuries probably cost him the team rushing title, a distinction that went to fullback Shaun Vaught, the author of 1,070 yards on 131 economical carries. Ratcliffe finished the regular season with a very solid 842 yards (9.3 per carry).
The lean 6-foot-1, 170-pound slasher said he didn't worry about following in the mega-yardage footsteps of past Spartans backs such as Reggie Hoston and Kevin Slusser from last year's team or any of the rest of a long line of much-admired Giles runners.
``Anybody who runs tailback or fullback in our offense is going to have a huge year,'' he said. ``That's the way the offense is set up.''
Ratcliffe's modesty becomes him, but that too is a Giles tradition. Each and every guy who has carried a ball for Ragsdale is given three marching orders: run hard; don't say anything to inflame the enemy; and praise your linemen.
Praise comes easily for players who have manned the front lines of an offense that has been all but unstoppable. Some of them are not your typical linemen. Tommy Workman, for one, is one of the team's fastest runners. Others have a deeper understanding of power. Tackle Adam Jeffers, for example, is the student council president.
Giles crushed Blacksburg in the Spartans' opening game and hasn't let up since, no matter the lineup. And say this about this group, no matter who's been in the lineup, they've mostly been seniors (Giles has 25 on its roster). Only Vaught, an 11th-grader, is not a senior among the starters.
``We saw that we could be pretty good after the first game,'' said Jeremy Saunders, who has played on the line as well as handled all the kicking. ``But it didn't really sink in until we started beating everybody like that.''
How does this team compare with past Giles steamrollers, most specifically the Brandon Steele-Slusser-Hoston-led state semifinalist team of last year?
``Hard to say,'' blocking back Chris Bales said. ``The only way to find out would be to play each other.''
Giles is going to have to settle for playing Patrick Henry of Glade Spring to open the Group A Division 2 playoffs Friday night in Pearisburg.
``Everybody talks about the Giles single wing, but let me tell you something,'' said PH coach Richie Thomas, ``they can really play some defense.''
The line, again, has been terrific behind guys such as three-year starter Chris Ruth and ultra-quick nose guard Timmy Sutphin. The big surprise has been Emanuel Young, who never started a game at inside linebacker until opening night and has gone on to lead the team in tackles, recover six fumbles and intercept four passes - Giles has forced 21 more turnovers than it has surrendered - two of which he returned for touchdowns.
``He has done an excellent job,'' Ragsdale said. ``An excellent job.''
They all have.
``I didn't plan on anything,'' wingback Chris Hutchison said. ``I play it one game at a time. I don't predict. That's what gets you beat. But I knew we had potential.''
So did his teammates.
Said running back Matt Whitehead: ``I think we are what we are because we believed in each other.''
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Chris Ratcliffe's injuries probably costby CNBhim the team rushing title, but he finished the regular season with
a very solid 842 yards (9.3 per carry). color.