There was time when James River couldn’t beat Parry McCluer in football. That time is long gone.
River played the Blues 25 times from 1970 to 1994 without winning once. They won 18-13 in ’95 but then lost five more in a row. First year James River coach Jack Baker never beat Parry McCluer as a player, but he’s 1-0 against them as the Knights’ coach as River took a 35-7 win over the visiting Blues in Springwood last Friday.
“It was a good win,” said Baker. “Our defense played well and Gavin had a great night.”
River senior tailback Gavin Binns rushed for 303 yards and three touchdowns. He carried the ball just 19 times, not a heavy workload at all, and averaged over 15 yards per attempt.
“He had four runs of 35 yards or more and another for 75 yards, that’s how you get 300 yards on 19 carries,” said Baker. “That’s not an unusual amount of carries at all. That 303 might be a school record but I’m not sure of that.”
Binns scored River’s first touchdown midway through the first period on a 37-yard run. The Blues answered with a second quarter score on a 58-yard pass play and the score was tied 7-7 at the half.
“We could have scored 14 or 21 more in the first half if we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Baker. “We didn’t hurt ourselves in the second half.”
Photos by Leigh Downey
River regained the lead on a 44-yard TD run by Binns just 57 seconds after halftime. Sam Wilson scored on a one-yard run, then Binns scored again to make it 28-7 after three quarters. Quarterback Merit Hammons found Bentley Painter for a 21-yard TD pass to put some icing on the cake in the fourth quarter, and Knox Taylor was perfect on all five of his extra point kicks.
Baker was quick to credit offensive line coach Donald Tucker for doing a good job with the Knights’ offensive line. While Binns will get the headlines the line did the grunt work to spring him for long runs. Reece Brunner, Keegan Price, Jayden Alston, Jack Beheler and Landon Flores had a good night off the ball.
“We got some pretty good blocking, and once Gavin gets loose he makes people miss,” said Baker.
River finished with 402 yards of total offense. Hammons was seven for 11 passing for 109 yards. Painter had three receptions for 44 yards, Josiah Merchant had two for 31 and Nate Stewart and Wyatt DeWhirst had one catch each.
On defense, Ryan Daniels led with nine total tackles, Briar Sink had eight and Eli Baldwin had seven.
With the win the Knights improved to 2-1 on the season and they’re back at home to host Hidden Valley this Friday. The Titans are a Class 3 school in the River Ridge District, but they’ve been a disaster in recent years. They’ve lost 24 of their last 25 games and have been outscored 160-10 over three games this season by Staunton River, William Byrd and Northside.
“They’re a very sizable school,” said Baker. “I’m sure their record isn’t what they want it to be.”
