ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 1, 1996 TAG: 9612020121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
With a 14-7 victory, Giles High School's football team leaves Powell Valley wallowing in the mire.
Contrary to appearances, Giles High School's football team does not pray for rain every time it reaches the state semifinals.
As well as Giles plays in these games, it could play in bright sunshine, in the desert, or on the North Pole and still shine.
Prompting memories of their 1993 Group A Division 2 semifinal victory in a monsoon at Haysi, the Spartans glided through a cold and unceasing rain Saturday afternoon to a 14-7 victory over two-time defending state champion Powell Valley.
Next up for the spotless Spartans (13-0) is Powhatan, a 22-14 winner over Northumberland in the other semifinal. The game will be 1:30 p.m. Dec.7 on the neutral field of Midlothian High School.
The means by which the Spartans have progressed this far were readily apparent against Powell Valley. Giles plays marvelous team football, from a suffocating defense, to opportunistic special teams, to a well-drilled precision offense.
Although it has been said that Giles lacks individual stars, that wasn't true Saturday. Considering the horrid conditions, the stakes, and the opponent, it would be difficult to conceive of a more stellar effort than the one put forth by Giles' Chris Ratcliffe.
One of the few Spartans to play both offense and defense, Ratcliffe, a single wing tailback, had 152 yards total offense and had a hand in every point his team produced. He scored one touchdown, threw for another, and added a two-point conversion toss. He was a contributor in the defensive backfield as the Region D champion Vikings were held to four first downs and 147 total yards.
Ratcliffe carried the ball 38 times for 94 yards. He had more than 100 until taking a knee the last three plays of the game as the clock was winding down.
``The line did a great job for me,'' he said. ``They opened up some great holes. They gave me time to throw, too, although it wasn't easy to throw that ball as wet as it was.''
Giles trailed 7-0 throughout the first half after Powell Valley sophomore tailback Julius Jones bolted 77 yards for a score the first time he touched the ball. That play, as it would turn out, would be almost half the Vikings' entire output.
``We just couldn't move the football,'' Powell Valley coach Phil Robbins said. ``You have to have more than three or four first downs if you hope to win one of these types of games.''
The Spartans dominated the second half, beginning with a 44-yard third quarter scoring drive that started with a bad snap on a Powell Valley punt. Ratcliffe converted on fourth and 1 with a 10-yard scoring play with 6:05 left in the quarter.
The other Giles score also came courtesy of a Vikings ballhandling snafu. Defensive lineman Zeb Bowden recovered a fumble and six plays later, Ratcliffe connected with blocking back Chris Bales from 11 yards out for the winning touchdown.
``It seemed like the ball was in the air forever,'' said Bales, who caught four passes for 22 yards. ``I was thinking squeeze the football, squeeze the football, squeeze the football.''
Ratcliffe completed five of 11 passes for 58 yards.
``Considering the conditions, we did an excellent job passing the football,'' Giles coach Steve Ragsdale said.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON\Staff. Giles High School's Chris Ratcliffeby CNB(center) tries to work through the mud and Powell Valley's defense.
Ratcliffe had a hand, or leg, in all of Giles' points in its 14-7
Group A victory. color. (photo ran in B&W in Metro edition.)