Beavers, Mavericks fought to the end
Saturday, December 1 , 2007
By TOM BONE- The Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Two football teams returned south this weekend from their state championship appearance with the clear conscience that they both tried their hardest.
The Bluefield Beavers scored the final 13 points Friday night to capture their ninth football championship 20-12 against James Monroe, after the Mavericks had taken a 9-0 lead in the first quarter.
Shaun Brooks, the game’s leading rusher with 165 yards for Bluefield on 13 carries, said winning the title is “the best feeling in the world.”
Almost in the same breath, he credited the desire of both teams. “They came to play, and we came to play, too. They hit hard; we hit hard. Just whoever wanted it more, and whoever came up with the most points, (would wind up) on top.”
Quarterback Will Cole said, “Going undefeated and winning the state championship. You can’t ask for anything else.”
Cole said, “They (James Monroe) were hitting real hard and playing (well). They were playing tough the whole game. ... We never got down, we never gave up, we just stayed focused, the whole game. We were determined that we were not going to lose this game!”
Beavers head coach Fred Simon and his coaches each had short congratulatory speeches for the team after the game, and emotions ran high.
He told the media afterward, “It was fun to be back up here. They (the tournament organizers in Wheeling) treat us first-class. ... We’re very happy to win.”
As the Bluefield High School band played the fight song, senior teammates Chase Joyner and Cory Copolo danced to the tune on the edge of the Beavers’ victorious huddle.
Copolo said, “In 20 years, what I’m going to remember is the brotherhood that this team is. This is the best fraternity in Bluefield, and I love every person on this team — all 60-some, odd, of us. I love every one of them. And we’re a family.”
Once the awards ceremony concluded, the Beavers marched to the fence at the edge of the playing field to talk with their extended family — dozens of happy fans standing in the 25-degree night air.
Simon complimented the Mavericks’ game plan, saying, “They did a nice job of keeping the ball away from us.”
The statistics bear that out. Much like the regular-season meeting of the teams, James Monroe had an edge of more than 10 minutes in time of possession, and ran 70 plays. But the Mavs averaged 4.4 yards per play, compared to 9.2 for the explosive Bluefield attack — which fought back from two fumbles, both lost, and two interceptions.
James Monroe coach David Witt stood in the cold with his arms crossed and his team kneeling at midfield during the postgame ceremony, after instructing his players to keep the ballgame in perspective. There was more to playing the game than the final score, he said.
Witt told the media a few minutes later, “That’s what high school sports is about. It’s not about winning state championships and stuff like that. People want to blow all that stuff out of proportion.
“We’ve got a daggone bunch of farm kids (who) work their daggone butts off. We’ve learned a lot through the season. We’ve had a lot of good times. This bunch is the closest bunch I’ve ever coached.
“And that’s what they’re going to take away from this season, the friendships and the fun they’ve had together.”
James Monroe tailback Taylor Robertson said, “We can’t hang our heads. We worked hard all year, we worked our butts off this year. You know you’d like to win it, but — it happens.”
Referring to Bluefield, the junior said, “You’ve got to give all the credit to them. They have great athletes.”
Senior wingback Ernie Tincher, Robertson’s running mate in the single wing backfield, was subdued but composed when talking to the media outside the locker room. He said, “Somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose, and it just so happened tonight that it was us.”
Robertson rushed for 121 yards, running his season total to 1,871 yards, and passed for 104 more. Tincher caught three passes for 62 yards, including the game’s first touchdown, and his 31 rushing yards left him just 43 yards short of gaining 1,000 yards on the ground.
Nick Kisiel added 57 yards to his 1,002 for the season, before leaving the game with an apparent leg injury. The Mavericks just missed having three thousand-yard runners, a powerful testament to the blocking of the offensive line.
Witt said that Robertson hadn’t been at full strength since game five of the regular season.
The coach said, “He’s had both ankles sprained. He’s had a knee sprain twice. He probably played tonight about 80 percent.” Kisiel was about “90, 95 percent” healthy, Witt estimated. “But they played their guts out. They played hard. That’s what we came to do.”
They came within a half of having the win. Robertson said, “I think they were coming out and expecting to get on us pretty early. But we kind of got on them, and that (produced) its momentum.
“But in the second half, they came out and made a few big plays and the momentum swung.”
“They played hard, just like we do.”
At halftime Simon and his assistants “challenged our players a little bit,” Simon said. “We said, ‘Hey, we haven’t played our game the way we’re capable of. Just get out there and give it a shot. Try your best. Let’s play our game.’ They did a nice job of doing that in the second half.”
Senior Ansel Ponder said, “We played aggressive, the second half.”
In the first possession of the third quarter, a third-down sack of Robertson by Michael “Moose” Miller and Cody Wassum forced James Monroe to punt the ball away.
Two touchdown passes by Cole, each 57 yards, to Joyner and to Ponder, soon followed.
Cole said, “At halftime we made some adjustments. Our coaching staff’s real smart, and they put into good situations to win this game.”
Asked about the scores by Joyner and Ponder, Cole said, “They did a great job the whole year. They got open, and I just got the ball to them, and they made plays. You’ve got to give credit to them — and give the glory to God.”
Brooks said, “We were prepared for everything. The only thing that we weren’t prepared for was No. 30 (Tincher) throwing the ball.”
He said about trailing at halftime, “We were down at Richlands, too. In the locker room, we were talking about how we can do it, and how good we can be. We just had to come out here and perform.
“The game wasn’t over to us. It was just another situation that we had to fight our way out of. ... We just did like we did in practice. That’s all we did.”
He spoke highly of “senior leadership that we had. Even when we were down, we still looked upon each other to make big plays.”
Ponder said, “We just came out. We showed heart, and we showed teamwork — just like all year.”
Brooks said, “Ansel Ponder did his job in the secondary. Ansel made the plays. He (Tincher) got that one touchdown, but after that, he didn’t get (any) more.”
Witt said, “We played good, fundamental defense. We did a good job playing our techniques, and keeping our shoulders square to the line of scrimmage, and did a good job tackling. We played good defense in the second half; they just made two long plays ... .”
Witt said, “It’s be nice to win. We came down here to win. But somebody’s got to lose. ... You go out and play, and that’s it. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference between losing 20-12 and losing 48-12.”
Witt spoke about the Mavericks’ tough regular-season schedule and close playoff victories. “It wasn’t like we had an easy road to get here,” he said. Then he spoke about the team’s togetherness.
“And that closeness is where they hang in there and keep battling together and rely on each other and count on each other, and that’s something they’ll carry away from here.”
Tincher said, “We came up here and did what we set out to do — and that was to give everything and let the chips fall where they may. ... Somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose, and it just so happened tonight that it was us.”
Tincher said even with the halftime lead, “We knew we had to stay on our toes.” Looking back on the second half, he said, “They popped one on us. It happens. We did the best we could. ... You can’t quit, and we didn’t.”
His prep football days are done, but Tincher predicted the Mavericks will “be right back in the playoffs next year.”
Robertson said, “As the year went along, we got better. We surprised people. ... We were a great team. We were together. We were a unit. ... We were a family, pretty much.
“And I’m going to miss these seniors like crazy. Everyone else in this county are going to miss these seniors, too.”
Robertson said, “It’s nice to be able to be the first team out of your school to go to the state (football) championship. It means a lot to everybody that’s played at James Monroe. It’s not just us. It’s the people that’s played in the past. We did it for all them, too.”
Brooks and Robertson were chosen to receive the Plumley Award, presented by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission to one player from each team in the “Super Six” championship weekend.
