VHSL 2A STATE FOOTBALL: Two-time state champs invade Bullitt Park
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Seth Johnson of Richlands goes for the tackle on Appomattox QB Javon Scruggs during the 2016 VHSL 2A state title game. Scruggs is still calling the signals for the Raiders.
APPOMATTOX, Va. — Appomattox put a hurting on Union last year. It was a lopsided, bruising type of win, the kind a losing team doesn’t easily forget.
Now Union wants revenge.
“I think the atmosphere got us at Appomattox,” Bears senior linebacker Bryce Lane told the Bristol Herald Courier this week, referring to last year’s 43-0 thrashing. “The crowd was so loud and we weren’t ready for that. It should be a different game this time.”
The Raiders (12-1) will be far from the friendly confines of Bragg Stadium for the second straight week. After earning the Region 2C title at Glenvar, Appomattox now travels 4 hours and 30 minutes to the southwest to face a hostile crowd at Bullitt Park in Big Stone Gap, where Union (13-0) is hoping to get even and a large crowd is expected for the 2A state semifinal.
“It’s definitely gonna be loud,” Appomattox coach Doug Smith said this week. The coach tried to prepare his team by blaring music and various noises over the PA system at Bragg. “I hear they do a great job at their home games. They’re probably very excited about being at home this year, like we were last year, and not having to travel.”
Union, Smith pointed out, is a much improved squad than the one that suffered swift defeat one year ago in the third round of the 2A playoffs. Six-foot-4 senior James Mitchell, a 210-pounder who has shared quarterback responsibilities with two other Bears since starting QB Bailey Turner went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 2 of the regular season, has 21 touchdowns to his credit.
Union has other players Appomattox will have to watch out for too, including blocking back and outside linebacker Braxton Zirkle and 6-3, 316-pound lineman Jeb Stidham.
The Bears also sport a 29-game winning streak at home.
Appomattox players said this week they aren’t worried about playing on the road after enjoying home-field advantage throughout each of the last two postseasons.
“This is just another game. You’ve got to approach it that way,” said wide receiver De’Von Graves, who enters with a team-high 821 receiving yards on 27 catches. “You can’t be worried about going away. A football field is a football field. I don’t want to have away games like the rest of us, but if you smack them in the mouth early, then you can’t blame [anyone] for a loss.
“It’s gonna be hard to smack them in the mouth because they’re a really good team. But if we come out and play Raider football we can do it.”
Athletes like Graves could plague Union today. The senior enters averaging a devastating 30.4 yards per reception, so he’s burning opponents with his speed and crisp routes. Fellow receiver Devin Dews (17 catches for 488 yards) averages 28.7 yards per reception, while tight end Drew Mann, used mostly on short, up-the-middle routes one year ago, averages 20.9 yards per reception.
Union is also tasked with trying to stop quarterback JaVon Scruggs, the Raiders dual threat who has passed for 1,695 yards and 27 touchdowns in his senior season, commanding the offense with precision.
Scruggs has also chewed up 1,080 yards on the ground, adding a solid running attack in the veer offense that features durable back Omar Bailey (1,315 rushing yards) and a third option in Jaylen Holland (553 yards).
Scruggs and Graves team up in the secondary, giving the Raiders the type of speed and agility that could bother Union again.
“Last year they passed the ball a lot more than they do now,” Scruggs said. “So that is a key: To not worry about the pass, but do not fall asleep so that we’re not looking for it and get beat on a big play.”
One element Smith emphasized in this week’s practice was taking care of the football. The Raiders fumbled an unprecedented six times, losing it on three occasions against Glenvar.
For Scruggs, the week was largely about studying film. “Everybody’s getting their keys and reads, so I feel good about [today],” he said.
On the other side of the bracket, R.E. Lee-Staunton (12-1) hosts Poquoson (10-3) in a 2 p.m. contest. Today’s winners meet in the state championship on Dec. 9.
The Raiders, of course, know they’re the team to beat. Two straight state championships, a 32-game winning streak that was snapped this season and a subsequent 10-game winning streak are enough to put a target on any team. Appomattox is averaging 40 points per game in the playoffs, while limiting opposing teams in those three games to just 17 points. Union held on in the first round with a 13-10 win over Richlands, blew out Marion 49-15 in Round 2, and then crumbled Graham, 37-0, last week.
“They’re strong, they’re good up front and have a secondary that runs really well,” Smith said of Union. “They’re blitzing and covering up and they know what they’re doing. So we’ve got to know what we’re doing, too.”
- Ben Cates | B-H Media
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Seth Johnson of Richlands goes for the tackle on Appomattox QB Javon Scruggs during the 2016 VHSL 2A state title game. Scruggs is still calling the signals for the Raiders.
APPOMATTOX, Va. — Appomattox put a hurting on Union last year. It was a lopsided, bruising type of win, the kind a losing team doesn’t easily forget.
Now Union wants revenge.
“I think the atmosphere got us at Appomattox,” Bears senior linebacker Bryce Lane told the Bristol Herald Courier this week, referring to last year’s 43-0 thrashing. “The crowd was so loud and we weren’t ready for that. It should be a different game this time.”
The Raiders (12-1) will be far from the friendly confines of Bragg Stadium for the second straight week. After earning the Region 2C title at Glenvar, Appomattox now travels 4 hours and 30 minutes to the southwest to face a hostile crowd at Bullitt Park in Big Stone Gap, where Union (13-0) is hoping to get even and a large crowd is expected for the 2A state semifinal.
“It’s definitely gonna be loud,” Appomattox coach Doug Smith said this week. The coach tried to prepare his team by blaring music and various noises over the PA system at Bragg. “I hear they do a great job at their home games. They’re probably very excited about being at home this year, like we were last year, and not having to travel.”
Union, Smith pointed out, is a much improved squad than the one that suffered swift defeat one year ago in the third round of the 2A playoffs. Six-foot-4 senior James Mitchell, a 210-pounder who has shared quarterback responsibilities with two other Bears since starting QB Bailey Turner went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 2 of the regular season, has 21 touchdowns to his credit.
Union has other players Appomattox will have to watch out for too, including blocking back and outside linebacker Braxton Zirkle and 6-3, 316-pound lineman Jeb Stidham.
The Bears also sport a 29-game winning streak at home.
Appomattox players said this week they aren’t worried about playing on the road after enjoying home-field advantage throughout each of the last two postseasons.
“This is just another game. You’ve got to approach it that way,” said wide receiver De’Von Graves, who enters with a team-high 821 receiving yards on 27 catches. “You can’t be worried about going away. A football field is a football field. I don’t want to have away games like the rest of us, but if you smack them in the mouth early, then you can’t blame [anyone] for a loss.
“It’s gonna be hard to smack them in the mouth because they’re a really good team. But if we come out and play Raider football we can do it.”
Athletes like Graves could plague Union today. The senior enters averaging a devastating 30.4 yards per reception, so he’s burning opponents with his speed and crisp routes. Fellow receiver Devin Dews (17 catches for 488 yards) averages 28.7 yards per reception, while tight end Drew Mann, used mostly on short, up-the-middle routes one year ago, averages 20.9 yards per reception.
Union is also tasked with trying to stop quarterback JaVon Scruggs, the Raiders dual threat who has passed for 1,695 yards and 27 touchdowns in his senior season, commanding the offense with precision.
Scruggs has also chewed up 1,080 yards on the ground, adding a solid running attack in the veer offense that features durable back Omar Bailey (1,315 rushing yards) and a third option in Jaylen Holland (553 yards).
Scruggs and Graves team up in the secondary, giving the Raiders the type of speed and agility that could bother Union again.
“Last year they passed the ball a lot more than they do now,” Scruggs said. “So that is a key: To not worry about the pass, but do not fall asleep so that we’re not looking for it and get beat on a big play.”
One element Smith emphasized in this week’s practice was taking care of the football. The Raiders fumbled an unprecedented six times, losing it on three occasions against Glenvar.
For Scruggs, the week was largely about studying film. “Everybody’s getting their keys and reads, so I feel good about [today],” he said.
On the other side of the bracket, R.E. Lee-Staunton (12-1) hosts Poquoson (10-3) in a 2 p.m. contest. Today’s winners meet in the state championship on Dec. 9.
The Raiders, of course, know they’re the team to beat. Two straight state championships, a 32-game winning streak that was snapped this season and a subsequent 10-game winning streak are enough to put a target on any team. Appomattox is averaging 40 points per game in the playoffs, while limiting opposing teams in those three games to just 17 points. Union held on in the first round with a 13-10 win over Richlands, blew out Marion 49-15 in Round 2, and then crumbled Graham, 37-0, last week.
“They’re strong, they’re good up front and have a secondary that runs really well,” Smith said of Union. “They’re blitzing and covering up and they know what they’re doing. So we’ve got to know what we’re doing, too.”
