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Big plays were the difference in last Friday night’s battle of unbeaten high school football teams in Buchanan.
Parry McCluer didn’t get enough of them, James River got three huge ones, and the Knights knocked off their longtime rival 41-15. With the nondistrict loss, the Fighting Blues fell to 2-1 on the season.
The first big play for the Knights (3-0) came on their very first play from scrimmage. JR started its initial drive of the game at its own 33-yard line, and Gavin Binns took a handoff and raced untouched for a 67-yard touchdown run. Evan Byers added the extra-point kick to give JR an early 7-0 lead.
The two teams exchanged punts on the next two possessions, when the Blues mounted their first real threat of the game. PM twice converted on third down – a statistic that would become very important later in the contest – once when PM sophomore quarterback Nathan Glass connected with Landon Catlett on a 39-yard pass play on thirdand- 15. The drive reached the JR 4-yard line, where the Blues had first-and-goal. But on third down, Jackson Brockenbrough was stopped at the JR 1-yard line, and Glass was stuffed at the line of scrimmage on fourth down, leading to a turnover on downs for the Blues.
However, on JR’s next play, Brockenbrough and Parker Camden brought Binns down in the end zone for a safety to put the Blues on the scoreboard with 2:44 remaining in the first quarter. On the ensuing drive, which began at the JR 32-yard line after a JJ Jones kick return, Glass completed 2-of-3 passes, including a 20-yard TD strike to Aaron Pruett. The two-point conversion run was short, leaving the Blues with an 8-7 advantage with just over a minute left in the first period.
Then came big play number two for the Knights, just seconds later. Maddox Woodyard fielded the PM kickoff at his own 26yard line, and after eluding a couple of would-be tacklers, he sped down the left sideline to complete a 74-yard return for a TD to give JR a 13-8 lead. The extra-point kick was blocked, but the Knights never trailed again.
JR added a third big play with 9:46 left in the first half when quarterback Zeal Hammons passed to Trey Taylor for a 48yard TD, and when Byers kicked the extra point, the Knights extended their lead to 20-8.
That kickoff return seemed to take some of the steam out of the Blues. After the TD pass that put PM in front, the Blues mustered only two more first downs the rest of the first half and converted only one third-down try. The Blues were 4-for-14 on third downs in the game and had just four first downs in the second half, three of them coming on their final scoring drive late in the game.
The Knights added one more TD in the first half, when Binns sprinted 13 yards for the score with 2:07 to play before intermission, and the lead grew to 34-8 when Hammons found a wide-open Nathan Stewart for a 7-yard score with 3:39 to play in the third quarter.
Binns finished the game with 122 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries before being carried off the field with an injury in the second half. Hammons completed 4-of-8 passes for 101 yards, two TDs and an interception.
Meanwhile, the Blues mustered only 85 yards rushing, with Brockenbrough leading the way with 50 yards on 13 tries. Glass was 11-for-22 passing for 133 yards, two touchdowns and a pick, while Catlett hauled in four passes for 72 yards.
A muffed punt led to another JR TD, this time by Hayden Thompson on the fumble return, to complete the scoring for the Knights. After failing to pick up a first down for most of the second half, the Blues finally got the offense going late in the contest.
Glass capped the scoring with a 24-yard TD pass to Shaiden Ratcliffe with just 1:22 remaining.
The Blues will travel to Quicksburg on Friday for a nondistrict contest at Mountain View (1-2) at 7 p.m.
PM 8 0 0 7 15
JR 13 14 7 7 41
First Quarter JR – Binns 67 run (Byers kick) PM – Team safety PM – Pruett 20 pass from Glass (run failed) JR – Woodyard 74 kickoff return (kick block) Second Quarter JR – Taylor 48 pass from Hammons (Byers kick) JR – Binns 13 run (Byers kick) Third Quarter JR – Stewart 7 pass from Hammons (Byers kick) Fourth Quarter JR – Thompson 0 fumble return (Byers kick) PM – Ratcliffe 24 pass from Glass (Conley kick) PM JR
Rushes-yards 34-85 35-164 Passing yards 133 101 Comp-Att-Int 11-22-1 4-8-1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – PM, Brockenbrough 13-50, Pruett 7-29, Glass 8-19, Jones 3-(-1), Team 2-(-4), Catlett 1-(-8). JR, Binns 13-122, Hammons 4-27, Woodyard 8-9, Carlough 3-7, Taylor 4-7, Team 2-0, Byers 1-(8). PASSING – PM, Glass 11-22-1 133. JR, Hammons 4-8-1 102. RECEIVING – PM, Catlett 4-72, Ratcliffe 2-30, Jones 2-8, Pruett 1-20, Gonzales 1-3, Camden 1-0. JR, Taylor 2-71, Byers 1-23, Stewart 1-7.
