John Battle vs. Gate City

[Jason 299]

Why was Collier run so much tonight? Lucky no major injury to him tonight.

[RiverRat24 274]

No kidding. That one pass he completed for the big first down he got hammered and I thought for sure he was hurt bad when he layed there and jerked his helmet off. Collier seemed to be the only one following his blocks tonight...maybe that had a lil something to do with it. Suprised they didn't air the ball out a little more...because I know JB was obviously keying on Collier and Hamilton considering that's 90% of the offense. Should have mixed the play calling up a bit more.

[Jason 299]

And please no more checkerboard in the endzone!

[Jason 299]

Collier had 38 carries for 204 yards tonight per ktn

[mw0729 18]

Collier is a stud. The toughest kid that I've seen in a long time. Radio stats were 38 carries 214 yards.

[FalconVoice 38]

Jeez. Yeah, when they played Abingdon all I could think is this guy is playing on one bum ankle and getting hit left right and center, and without McClung back there to take the pressure off (though Hamilton has improved a lot), they kind of live and die by him.

 

Sounds like it was a great game though and Battle keeps grinding. I've gotten to know a lot of their kids this year. Great group of kids down there.

[RiverRat24 274]

Holy cow....didn't think Collier had that many yards. But 38 carries is absolutely ridiculous too though. Having McClung would have been huge to take pressure off of him. Goes to show how much GC killed themselves tonight though.... they only had 9 pts with 3 minutes left in the 4th qtr yet Collier had that many yards. I guess maybe JB didn't limit Collier as much as I thought they did, they just managed to eliminate the big plays for TDs.

[Soccer_Dad 29]

The craziest thing for Battle was that they lost the Patrick Henry game the EXACT same way. They had a 4 point lead, went for it on 4th & short around the 20 with about 4 minutes to go & didn't get it (like tonight). Then PH went about 80 yards (like tonight), aided by two 15 yard penalties (like tonight), allowed a TD with about 90 seconds to play (like tonight), & tossed a pick to end the game(just like tonight)..... Now what are the odds of that happening twice in the same season?

[GC_Quincy 582]

Hopefully we'll get some kids back next week. We had several on the sideline. I still hate that we don't have an open date until the end of the year.

[Leatherhead Larry 530]

3 defensive starters were on the sideline last night, one of those being a 2-way starter and one of the others had accumulated 4 turnovers in 3 games. But all that really matters is that we put another one in the "W" column last night and never gave up. But, we gotta get healthy before going up to Wise next week.

[Great City 210]

Stats from KTN:

 

First Downs     Battle 6     GC 22

Rushing Yds    Battle 55   GC 258

Passing Yds     Battle 139 GC 90

Total Yds         Battle 194  GC 348

 

Offensive Plays    Battle 30     GC 75

 

 

Had several out hurt and Collier was sick, but like Larry said, a "W" is what that really matters.

 

Hats off to Battle. I believe they showed the most sportsmanship of any team we have played, and they easily played well enough to win. 

[BigWinners 1,643]

I admit seeing how well Battle is playing, how close they game at a red hot GC team, def has me worried about Unions season ending trip to Battle.

[West12aaa 99]

Battle is going to be the 3rd team in the mountain and might challenge next year for number 1

[Hokie Bound 109]

Battle has proven to be an improved team this year as Gate City is improving weekly. Glad to see Battle playing competively on a weekly basis.

[BigWinners 1,643]

Battle is going to be the 3rd team in the mountain and might challenge next year for number 1

Union has too travel to Battle to end season, and while Union would likely still win tiebreaker, if Battle wins, it'd be three teams with 1-conference loss. I know everyone expects Union to win, but it's a road conference game and Battle is much much improved. GC played Union very close at GC as well, Union managed a win but Battle was only one yard away from likely sealing a win and making the finale a game for the conference.

 

Union seems to be playing very well, they coulve literally scored 100 or named score last nig but Eastside is terrible, but a game against a tough Letcher Co school followed by a road trip to Battle are two very tough games. Just hope Union realizes how important winning out really is.