The James River football team remained unbeaten after three games as the Knights defeated long-time rival Parry McCluer last Friday. The Knights took a 28-14 win in Buena Vista, and they did it “Blues Style.”
“We wanted to beat them at their own game,” said River coach Jake Phillips. “We went up there with the idea that we were going to be physical and run the ball. That’s really not our style of football, but that’s just what we did.”
River rushed for 264 yards Friday night and held the Blues to just 86 yards. While Parry McCluer is famous for three yards and a cloud of dust, it was the Knights who kept moving the chains in this game. River’s second score of the evening came on a 15-play drive that covered 73 yards and took 6:49 off the clock. Their final drive was a 17-play, 90-yard march that ate up 7:52.
“That was a big test for us, to see if we could play that style of football,” said Phillips. “We ran the football and beat them at their own game. I’m very proud of our guys.”
River led 14-0 at the half. Both scores came on passing plays, as Coulter Hodges hit Kevin Theimer on a 48-yard hookup, then connected with River Clonch for a 12-yard TD to finish off a long drive.
Hodges hit Clonch again for a score, this time from 18 yards, to give the Knights a 21-0 lead in the third quarter. The Blues cut the lead to 21-7 late in the quarter but the final march to the end zone put it away, this time with Hodges doing the honors himself on a two-yard run. River owned the time of possession in the second half, 17:58 to 6:02.
Hodges finished with 95 yards rushing on 27 carries and he was 10 for 13 passing for 141 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Clonch had 81 rushing yards on 12 attempts and six catches for 62 yards and also kicked four extra points. Dyllan McAllister had 60 yards rushing on eight carries and one catch for 15 yards.
Meanwhile, the Knights’ defense held Parry McCluer featured back Marcellas Dawson to just 77 total yards on 16 carries. Dawson was averaging 178.5 yards per game rushing coming into the game.
Addison McCaleb had nine tackles for River, followed by Daniel Holter, Luke Peay and Andrew Bridges with seven each. Kevin Austin had six.
The win kept the Knights undefeated and earned them a nod as “poll busters” on the WDBJ-7 Friday Football Extra television show.
“It’s nice to see the kids get some recognition,” said Phillips. “We had a tremendous preseason camp and this vindicates it. They’re pretty excited right now.”
THIS WEEK’S GAME
The James River football team will take its 3-0 record to Covington this week with hopes of remaining undefeated. The game has been moved to Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Covington’s Boodie Albert Field and the jayvee game, originally scheduled for Thursday in Springwood, has been cancelled.
Covington should be a good test for the Knights, who are off to their best start in years. The Cougars are 2-1 with wins over Alleghany (28-7) and Greenbrier West (28-20) sandwiched around a 28-14 loss to Glenvar.
“They’re a solid football team,” said River coach Jake Phillips. “They like to run the ball and they have a very good offensive line. They have a young quarterback and some backs that can run hard.”
Covington is coached by Chris Jones, who is in his third year at the school. Last year the Cougars were 8-4, making it to the second round of the Class 1 regional tournament, and they return nine starters on both offense and defense. They have a 16 player senior class, which is excellent for a Class 1 size school.
Last year the Cougars beat River in Springwood in an overtime thriller, 26-24. This one could come right down to the wire again on Thursday night in Covington.
