Just a week after taking a butt whipping at the hands of Glenvar, the James River football team beat Three Rivers District rival Alleghany in football. The Knights took a very satisfying 22-13 win in Low Moor Friday night.
“I thought we made a good showing,” said River coach Tim Jennings. “We had a couple really good days of practice last week. Of course, we had four good days of practice before the Glenvar game and it didn’t translate.”
A week prior, Glenvar’s team came to Springwood and beat the Knights every which way but loose, 56-0. Jenkins was anxious to see how his team would respond after that game and he was pleased with the result, as River shut out the Mountaineers on their home field in the first half, taking a 14-0 lead. Hunter Forbes ran for a two-yard TD and quarterback Dyllan McAllister hit Khalique White with a 48-yard TD score. Kevin Theimer ran for a two-point conversion after the second TD.
Alleghany cut the lead to 14-7 on a 29-yard pass play in the third quarter, then drew to within one in the fourth period on a 51-yard TD hookup. The Mountaineers went for two to try and take the lead but River stopped the conversion attempt and maintained a 14-13 edge.
River put it away with about four minutes to go. An interception stopped an Alleghany drive at midfield, and on River’s first play of the ensuing drive McAllister hit Kevin Austin on a 51-yard TD play.
“I thought we controlled the game,” said Jennings. “The yardage was close, but they had a couple big plays. Otherwise,we controlled the game.”
River held a 277 to 237 edge in total yardage, with a balanced attack of 129 rushing yards and 148 passing yards. Forbes had 66 rushing yards on 14 carries to lead the Knights while Theimer had 39 yards rushing and McAllister had 29.
McAllister was eight for 17 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. White caught four balls for 95 yards and Austin had two receptions for 41.
On defense, Theimer had 13 tackles to lead the team, including six solos. Nathan Farris had 10 tackles, Addison McCaleb had seven and Jack Voight had five. Both Theimer and Tanner Dillow had big interceptions.
The win got River back to even at 3-3 with a trip to Radford this week.
