Twin Valley article

[bucfan64 309]

"SHAKES HEAD IN BEWILDERMENT!"

 

 

Greater Beckley Christian gets first-ever gridiron victory

 

 

By Randall Jett

Register-Herald Sports Writer

 

 

HINTON — They had to go to overtime, but the Greater Beckley Christian Crusaders finally earned their first-ever win in football.

 

The second-year program downed Twin Valley, Va., 32-26, in a hot, humid contest that tested all the players’ endurance at Garten Stadium in Hinton Saturday.

 

“The heat and the conditioning was a big factor,” Crusaders coach John O’Neal said. “I’m just really proud of the effort. The guys went through a lot in August to get in shape. We knew that we didn’t have very many players. We didn’t have very many subs, so we really focused hard on conditioning this year. It paid off for us at the end of the game and in the fourth quarter.”

 

Greater Beckley (1-1) faired better in the heat, which was key as Twin Valley (1-2) lost both quarterback Jeremiah Lester and top runner Wyatt Justus to heat exhaustion at the end of the fourth quarter.

 

Robert Rogers led the Crusaders, throwing for 258 yards and two scores and rushing for a third. Rogers picked the Panthers’ defense apart, hooking up with four different receivers.

 

Aaron Williams was on the receiving end of the first pass, a 57-yarder with 9:39 remaining in the first half, while Emmanuel Bland hauled in a 59-yard toss from Rogers at the 6:40 mark in the third quarter.

 

“It just goes to show that Robert has really improved his ability to throw the ball,” O’Neal said. “It also shows that we have a variety of guys that can catch the ball. But the biggest difference over last year is our line protected him. That’s as big a factor as anything as to why Robert is throwing the ball better. He’s got time to get passes off.”

 

While the Panthers were able to move the ball against Greater Beckley, they squandered several scoring opportunities. Twin Valley racked up 243 yards on the ground and 131 through the air but was penalized 16 times for 106 yards and turned the ball over twice on interceptions by Justin Clemins and Rogers.

 

“I’ve been doing this 30-some years and this is the worst that I’ve ever felt,” Panthers coach Charlie Vandyke said. “(This was) the worst game that I’ve ever seen a team of mine play. Not taking anything from (Greater Beckley). They played hard and they did what they were supposed to do to win and we did nothing.

 

“We had the ballgame won before we got here. We won the game on the bus or maybe won it this past week on the practice field. They found out you have to play the game before it’s won.”

 

Twin Valley sent the game into overtime with a 13-play drive that began on its own six-yard line. The Panthers chewed up eight minutes of the fourth quarter with that drive before Lester found paydirt from four yards out.

 

After forcing the Crusaders into a three-and-out series, the Panthers had one last shot at winning the game in regulation. But Rogers plucked an errant Twin Valley pass out of the air as time expired to send the game to overtime.

 

“We made a stop on that last drive,” O’Neal said. “The kids just dug down deep and realized that it came down to that one series. We had to stop them.”

 

Twin Valley got the ball first in the extra period, but defensive end Dimitri Carter sacked back-up quarterback Hunter Simpson on fourth down.

 

The Crusaders took just two plays to reach the end zone. Williams danced around for 14 yards on the first carry and then scampered around left end for the final six. Williams would finish with 46 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and 151 yards and one score receiving.

 

“I’m very happy for our guys, but I’m trying not to react too strongly,” O’Neal said. “We want to be competitive every game and we don’t think this will be the only game that we’re going to win. This isn’t going to be the last time we’re going to win a game, but we’re really thrilled that we got one today.”

 

Greater Beckley Christian travels to St. Marys Friday.

 

 

NUFF SAID

[BigCountry 10]

u wanna know why??...Twin Valley was at The Hurley/Montcalm game screamin stuff like where gonna crush yall...makin little kids pack notes to the players and things like that...if your gonna talk junk u gotta beat Greater Beckly WHOO?? haha..good job TV shoulda been in the BED instead of talkin junk