Scott's Roberts overwhelms Indians
Saturday, November 17, 2007
By RICK KOZLOWSKI - The Journal
A run of bum luck left Berkeley Springs without a run Saturday afternoon.
And Indians’ Class AA quarterfinal playoff game against Scott turned into a 54-20 runaway for the Skyhawks and record-breaking quarterback Jordan Roberts — the team’s great Scott — at Martinsburg’s Cobourn Field.
The 5-foot-11, 210-pound senior pretty much did in Berkeley Springs on all fronts as the Indians were trying to reach the semifinals for the first time in school history. Instead, the Skyhawks, who earned their first playoff win ever two seasons ago against Berkeley Springs, will face top-ranked Bluefield next weekend with a spot in the Super Six on the line.
While Roberts produced Class AA playoff records for rushing yardage and rushing touchdowns during the victory, it was a defensive play that resonated particularly powerful.
Roberts drove up and put a shot on Berkeley Springs’ tailback Cody Hess that echoed throughout the stadium and left the all-state running back thinking maybe he had ventured to Boone County.
“I thought I hit him pretty good,” said Roberts, who had the words “No tomorrow” etched into his eye black. “I’m sure I knocked him out.”
Berkeley Springs had already lost fullback Cody Reed, their leading rusher, to a high-ankle sprain a couple of series earlier, and with Hess suffering a concussion, the anticipated high-scoring affair between the two teams never materialized as the pair of running backs who produced some 3,200 rushing yards between them coming in were shuttled off to a hospital emergency room, and the Indians were forced to alter their offense.
Roberts did most of the running and scoring, accounting for all eight touchdowns scored by the Skyhawks, a playoff record, and rushing for what the official game statistician called 399 yards, also a playoff high. Scott officials had Roberts for 405 yards.
The effort pushed Roberts to 3,670 yards for the season to break the all-time rushing record set by Nitro’s Josh Culbertson two seasons ago. Roberts was already the regular-season rushing king.
“We slid Jordan Roberts in at middle linebacker last week (against Sissonville),” Scott coach Shane Griffith said. “Both tailbacks went out the last two weeks on hits from him.
“I give credit to our defense. Coming in, a lot of people weren’t giving our defense a whole lot of credit. Everybody was saying, ‘Last team to score,’ stuff like that. Our defense came to play.”
That unit yielded an opening-drive touchdown on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Matt Colwell to Justin Thomas as Berkeley Springs moved 65 yards in three plays and 34 seconds.
Roberts countered 53 seconds later with a 25-yard scoring romp, but a dropped pass on the two-point conversion left the Skyhawks trailing 7-6.
Berkeley Springs (9-3) moved right back down the field, but lost Reed when a defender rolled up on his ankle, and the Skyhawks stopped Jerry Kelly two yards short of a first down on a fourth-down pass play at the Scott 15-yard line.
Roberts took the next snap, darted left, cut right and outraced everyone to the end zone for an 85-yard score. The rout was on.
Griffith insisted that had Berkeley Springs’ two Codys remained healthy, the outcome of the game would have been no different.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
The loss of their stars smacked the Indians physically and mentally, however.
“It was pretty upsetting,” said Colwell, whose three touchdown passes eclipsed his total of two entering play. “It was hard for us for a while.
“It’s football; you got to pick yourself up and finish the game.”
In some sense, Roberts looked like he was in a parking lot pick-up game, just taking the snap in shotgun formation and running wild, daring someone to at least get a hand on him.
Roberts ran 31 yards for a touchdown on the next offensive possession for the Skyhawks, added the two-point conversion to make it 20-7, then put his devastating hit on Hess the next series.
It was all Roberts after that as he had a sequence, including the 31-yard score, of four consecutive rushes for touchdowns. The other scoring runs covered 29, 64 and 44 yards as the senior finished the first half with 13 carries for 312 yards and six TDs.
The effort just might’ve been enough to push Roberts atop the chart of Kennedy Award candidates.
“I think so,” Roberts said. “My main goal is to win the state championship, but that award would be pretty nice.”
Roberts added touchdown runs of 59 and 5 yards before taking a spot on the bench early in the fourth quarter. He also completed 2 of 6 passes for 68 yards.
The Skyhawks piled up 552 yards of total offensive, compared with 284 by Berkeley Springs.
“I thought our line blocked real well, I hit the holes and made the cuts,” Roberts said. “I think we just came out and executed.”
The Indians’ rushing attack was limited to 109 yards, both under the individual averages of their two Codys. Reed had four carries for 21 yards and Hess seven for 36 before their injuries.
“That’s life,” Berkeley Springs coach Angelo Luvara said. “You can’t do anything about that stuff. Like I told the kids, things in life like that happen. You do the best you can do; I don’t think we did bad.
“For being white as ghosts (early), we did pretty good.”
Colwell, who was a perfect 7 for 7 through the air in a 55-40 win over Logan a week earlier, threw the ball effectively without his rushing attack. He went 13 for 26 for 185 yards and one interception, adding a second touchdown pass to Thomas and throwing a third to Dean Vosburgh.
Thomas caught six passes for 125 yards and also had a 76-yard touchdown reception called back because of an illegal block penalty.
In the end, though, for the Indians, there was too much Roberts and not enough Codys.
