THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995               TAG: 9512030224
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C10  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

BRAVES' QB THINKS HE'S A RUNNER, NOT A PASSER IR'S BOYD, WHO RAN FOR 152 YARDS, WANTS TO SWITCH TO RUNNING BACK NEXT YEAR.

Indian River quarterback James Boyd has an interesting proposition to offer his coach.

If the 6-foot, 190-pound junior leads the Braves to the Group AAA Division 6 state football championship next Saturday, somebody else can quarterback Indian River next year.

The reluctant quarterback still wants to be a running back.

``We'll talk about it later on,'' said Indian River coach Bob Parker as he smilingly looked at the scoreboard that flashed a 31-10 victory over Lake Braddock in the state semifinals Saturday at Oscar Smith.

``Coach knows I would rather be a runner,'' said Boyd, who broke away on a 73-yard touchdown run on the game's third play. In the third quarter he hurdled past the last defender on a 33-yard touchdown scamper.

Boyd finished with 152 yards rushing in only 10 carries, nearly setting a state playoff record for best yardage per carry.

Boyd and the Braves' coaches laughed about the bootleg play that produced his first touchdown. ``Nothing new,'' said Boyd. ``We run it all the time and it keeps on working. Everybody expects me to pitch it.''

Parker said the Braves had put in some new wrinkles for the game. ``But what we put in, we didn't have to use,'' he said. ``We thought we would mix it up more and throw more passes. But we didn't have to do it.''

Defensively the Braves shut down a Lake Braddock offense that had averaged 28.5 points, limiting the Bruins to one touchdown for the first time this year. The Bruins' top runner, Eric Pilson, gained nearly 800 yards in the regular season and was limited to 39 by the Braves.

``Our intention was to stop them on first-down plays and we did that, particularly in the second half,'' said IR defensive coordinator Scott Johnson. ``Mike Toliver prompted a big fumble in the third quarter that Boyd recovered and led to a touchdown. Sam Hardy had an interception that set up a field goal. And we put pressure on to cause a bad snap on Lake Braddock's last punt try that gave us the ball on the 1-yard line for our last touchdown. Our defense came to play.''

Maybe Saturday's upcoming state championship game against Hylton, a 21-14 victor over Varina in the other semifinal, will be Boyd's last at quarterback.

``But I do know I want the same thing to happen that happened today,'' he said. ``And we think it's gonna.'' by CNB