THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511250365
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Every great football program has a special drive embedded in its lore. If Indian River didn't have one before, it does now.
James Boyd's 12-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Cason with 5.1 seconds left Friday night capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive and gave the Braves a 14-7 victory over unbeaten Green Run and their third straight Eastern Region Division 6 championship.
Indian River (10-2) plays the winner of today's Northern Region final between Chantilly (11-0) and Lake Braddock (10-1) next Saturday at Oscar Smith in the state semifinals.
Green Run finished its season at 11-1.
Indian River's winning drive almost never happened.
Coach Bob Parker sent the punting team on the field on fourth-and-1 at the Indian River 29. But he reconsidered after calling time out and fullback Sam Hardy gained seven yards and the first down.
Another Hardy run netted two yards and then Boyd took over. The junior quarterback rolled right on a bootleg, cut it back across the middle and rumbled 35 yards to the Green Run 27.
Two more runs by Boyd gave the Braves a first down at the 11 and Indian River called its last timeout with 20.9 seconds left.
On the next play Boyd threw incomplete and with 13 seconds left Parker sent his field goal team on the field.
Green Run then called a timeout to rattle Danish kicker Casper Petersen and Parker again changed his mind, with some prodding from assistant coach Scott Johnson.
``I was going to kick the field goal because I didn't want to have rush it with no timeouts left,'' Parker said. ``But after Green Run called timeout Scott talked me into trying one more pass.''
Boyd rolled right, waited for someone to get open and then found Cason lurking near the pylon at the front of the end zone. Cason made a shoetop grab and stepped into the end zone for the touchdown.
``The play was designed for me to run a post-corner, but I broke it 10 (yards) and out,'' Cason said. ``I just stuck my foot (over the goal line) and the ref gave it to me. I wasn't sure I was in until then.''
Green Run was in a zone coverage.
``They were supposed to keep everything in front of them,'' Stallions coach Cadillac Harris said. ``It was a very close call. If we just make the tackle time runs out and we're in overtime.''
Indian River's game plan was to control the ball and deny Green Run's big-play offense any long gains.
Indian River ran 59 plays to Green Run's 31. Boyd led all rushers with 102 yards in 20 carries and Hardy added 68 yards in 16 attempts.
``All we had to do was shut down the big play,'' linebacker Mike Toliver said. ``They got one, but we knew they couldn't drive the ball down the field on us.''
Green Run made a tactical mistake to start the second half, electing to kick off rather than receive.
Indian River ran off more than 7 1/2 minutes before turning the ball over on downs at the Green Run 8. The Stallions had only two possession in the second half, but one of them carried to the Indian River 14.
The Braves stiffened and Jermaine Maull missed a 31-yard field goal attempt.
Indian River scored first on a 1-yard run by Boyd with 3:07 left in the half. The drive was set up when Green Run quarterback Eddie Cuffee fumbled the center exchange at his own 12.
Green Run came right back to tie when Cuffee capped a four-play, 61-yard drive with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Lanier Washington.
Washington ran a short slant and faked out Boyd and Cason on his way to the end zone. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Tamara Voninski, The Virginian-Pilot
James Boyd drove Indian River 80 yards for the winning score as the
Braves eliminated Green Run from the playoffs for the second
straight season.
by CNB