WVSSAC Super Six Football Championships

Beavers Complete Deal
Saturday, December 1 , 2007
By SHAWN RINE- The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register

A program doesn’t win nine state championships by giving up when times get tough.

Faced with a 12-7 halftime deficit during Friday night’s West Virginia Class AA state football championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium, coach Fred Simon’s Bluefield Beavers, facing a James Monroe team for the second time this season, didn’t panic.

A defense that had given up a couple big plays in the first half tightened the screws.

An offense, that had been shooting itself in the foot, used a different means than usual to put points on the board.

In the end, Bluefield (13-0), shut out the Mavericks in the second half for a 20-12 victory in front of roughly 4,300 fans.

‘‘We were down a little bit (at halftime), but kind of happy because we were just one score away from taking the lead,’’ Simon said. ‘‘Really, as poorly as we played we still had a chance.

‘‘That was kind of my mindset going in at halftime, if we could just play better— just everybody play better — we had a chance to win the game.’’

The Beavers still turned the ball over in the second half, but used two Will Cole touchdown passes — both of 57 yards — and a defense that seemed to bend, but come up with a big stop just when it seemed the Mavericks were poised to strike.

On four occasions in the second half, James Monroe moved the ball into Bluefield territory. Four times, it was turned back.

On the first, the Mavericks marched the ball from their own 36 to the Beavers’ 40 before the drive bogged down. That came on the heels of Cole’s first touchdown strike, this one to Chase Joyner off a pump fake to give Bluefield a 14-12 lead.

Six plays into the Beavers’ next drive, Ansel Ponder took what was a 5-yard pass, turned upfield and outraced the James Monroe defense to the end zone.

The third of the four was best of the opportunities.

A nine-play drive that took a little more than 2 minutes, included seven Taylor Robertson carries and a fourth-and-2 conversion, ended on downs at the Bluefield 15.

Bluefield had a chance to ice it when Brooks took the ball around right end and scooted 25 yards.

Trying to stay inbounds to keep the clock running, he cut back to the middle of the field but was stripped of the ball, with Robertson recovering the fourth, and final, Beavers turnover.

‘‘We kept turning the ball over — we’re very fortunate to win with four turnovers,’’ Simon said. ‘‘ The character of our players overcame that and I’m proud of them.’’

James Monroe took over at its own 34 with 2:06 remaining.

However, the six-play drive, that included four of the Mavericks’ five penalties, ended at the Bluefield 30 when Joyner picked off a Robertson pass.

‘‘We battled our doggone rear ends off, that’s what we do every Friday night,’’ James Monroe coach David Witt said. ‘‘That’s the way we come to play and their athleticism caught up to us on a couple plays there in the second half and that basically was the ballgame.’’

This was clearly a game in which the statistics were misleading.

? James Monroe held the ball for 29:23, or nearly 11 minutes more than Bluefield. The Mavericks ran 70 plays to 40 for the Beavers.

? James Monroe had 19 first downs, to 11 for Bluefield.

However, the Beavers made the most of their opportunities, outgaining the opposition by a 367-308 count. Brooks, Bluefield’s Samuel A. Mumley Player of the Game, carried 13 times for 165 yards, while Cole, who was intercepted on his first and last passes — both times by the Mavericks’ Josh White — finished 5 of 8 for 122 yards.

‘‘It’s James Monroe, they always play tough because they’ve got some good boys over there,’’ Brooks said. ‘‘But playing for the state championship, you wouldn’t want it any other way.

‘‘We never give up; that’s how we play football.’’

Then, he went on to pay his opponent the ultimate compliment.

‘‘I’m so glad we played James Monroe. Even though they lost, they’re still state champions in my book.’’

Robertson, who Witt estimated was playing the game at about 80 percent because of various injuries, took Player of the Game honors for the Mavericks after carrying 32 times for 121 yards and completing 4 of 16 passes for 104 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown to Ernie Tincher on the game’s opening drive.

‘‘They had a pretty good game plan. If you can’t get the ball, you can’t score,’’ Simon said. ‘‘I would have liked to play a little better, but we didn’t.

‘‘Some of the mistakes we made hurt us, but we just never seemed to be able to quite get that final lick in there to knock them out. It went 12 rounds.’’

Super Six Notes

Each of Bluefield’s three touchdowns went for more than 50 yards. ... The Mavericks were 5 of 16 on third down, and 3 of 5 on fourth down. Bluefield converted 5 of its 8 third downs. ... The teams combined to run the ball on 56 of 80 plays. ... Parkersburg (12-1) and St. Albans (12-1) meet at noon today for the Class AAA title. Wheeling Central (13-0) will be going for its fourth straight Class A title at 7 tonight when it takes on Williamstown (11-2).

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W.Va. Class AA

State Championship

(At Wheeling Island Stadium)

No. 1 Bluefield 20, No. 2 James Monroe 12

James Monroe 9 3 0 0 — 12

Bluefield 7 0 13 0 — 20

J — Tincher 25 pass from Robertson (kick failed)

J — Ray 22 FG

B — Brooks 51 run (Sexton kick)

J — Ray 37 FG

B — Joyner 57 pass from Cole (Sexton kick)

B — Ponder 57 pass from Cole (run failed)

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Team Stats

JM Blue

First Downs 12 20

Rushes-Yards 54-204 32-245

Passing 104 122

Comp-Att-Int 6-16-1 5-8-2

Total Yards 70-308 40-367

Penalties-Yards 5-25 4-31

Fumbles 0-0 0-0

Time of Possession 29:23 18:37

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Individual Stats

Rushing — James Monroe, Robertson 32-121; Kisiel 13-57; Tincher 8-31, Frazier 1-(-5); Bluefield, Brooks 13-165-td, Lilly 6-28, Ponder 1-28, Bowes 8-24.

Passing — James Monroe, Robertson 6-14-104-td-x, Tincher 0-2-0; Bluefield, Cole 5-8-122-2td-2x.

Receiving — James Monroe, Tincher 3-62-td, Frazier 2-12, Ray 1-30; Bluefield, Ponder 3-60-td, Joyner 1-57-td, Brooks 1-5.