Weir(y) night for the Beavers
Saturday, December 3, 2005
By TOM BONE - Bluefield Daily Telegraph

WHEELING — Taking a page out of the Bluefield game plan, the Red Riders of Weir High School earned revenge for postseason losses over the last two years with a 40-0 Class AA championship win over Bluefield High School on Friday night at Wheeling Island Stadium.

Weir capitalized on turnovers, shut down first Bluefield's pass, then their runs, and blew open a 6-0 halftime lead with an explosion powered by running back Josh Smith and big plays from defenders.

On a 27-degree night in the Northern Panhandle, the defending champion Beavers held Weir to six plays in a scoreless first quarter. However, all three BHS drives ended fruitlessly -- with Weir's Jason Gatto batting away two passes on the first drive, Joshua Lang recovering a Shawn Brooks fumble, and Dawand Smith knocking Jonathan Payne out on a fourth-down pass at the Weir 26 to open the second period. That came right after a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the Beavers.

Four plays later, Josh Smith of Weir ran to his right, then cut back to the left corner of the end zone for a36-yard touchdown, the only points of the first half.

Bluefield coach Fred Simon said, "The first half, when you're inside the 15 yard line, you don't need to, one, turn it over and two, get a 15-yard penalty. ... "I was disappointed that we didn't get a touchdown there in the first half, because momentum (causes) a big swing in these games, and if we get a field goal or touchdown there early and take the lead, it would have been nice for us."

In the second half, Cory Lyons' 15-yard touchdown run was followed by Josh Smith hauling in a 7-yard scoring pass from senior quarterback Brandon Sperlazza and a 77-yard game-breaker by Smith early in the final period.

Bluefield back J.T. Powell said of Josh Smith, "He's good. He's tough. He runs hard. He's fast. He's a good athlete."

Simon installed Powell back at quarterback to start the second half offensively.

"We were having a hard time moving outside, so we thought we might be able to move the ball outside with J.T. at quarterback some, because he did it earlier in the year. It didn't work out, but we tried -- and that's all you can do, is try."

In a one-minute period halfway through the fourth quarter, the Red Riders gained their final scores. Senior Chaz Davidson caught up with a batted pass from Eric McClanahan and took off for the goal line. Just before he crossed the stripe, he lost the handle on the ball and fellow senior Jason Larch was there to fall on it for six points. Lyons snatched up a fumble on a busted play by Bluefield three snaps later to make the score 40-0 with five minutes left.

Simon said, "They're a good football team, and they deserved to win tonight, but I promise you, they're not 40 points better than we are."

"You just can't turn the ball over for touchdowns, ,,, Penalties and turnovers and special teams, in the playoffs and the state championships are crucial. And we lost that battle tonight."

"A team can be very close, talent-wise and team-wise, but a few turnovers can make it look awful. And that's what happened."

Ryan Albert, a BHS senior, said the outcome hinged on "young mistakes. It takes experience to get up here. We had to learn. Now it's their turn to learn."

Jeremy Hurt, who won the Samuel A. Mumley Player of the Game Award for Bluefield, said, "The team was really trying. ... We'll be back again."

-- Contact Tom Bone at tbone@bdtonline.com