Photos by Jon Fleming
The James River football team will look to get back on the winning side after dropping a 36-26 decision in Blacksburg last week. The Knights will host Parry McCluer at 7 p.m. Friday in Springwood and it will be Military Appreciation Night.
River coach Jack Baker is very familiar with the Parry McCluer program. He coached the Fightin’ Blues during the 2021 season.
“I lived there for four or five years, went to church there and then took a job there,” he said. “I’m very familiar with their program but this week will be more about us. We need to play well and keep getting better.”
The Knights hung tough on the road against a Class 4 school last week. They trailed just 15-13 at the half, answering twice after Bruin scores. Both came on runs by Gavin Binns, a one-yard run in the first quarter and a seven-yard run in the second. River failed on a two-point conversion on the first score and Knox Taylor kicked the point on the second touchdown.
Photo by Leigh Downey
Blacksburg went up 22-13 with five minutes gone in the second half but again the Knights answered, this time on a three-yard pass from Merit Hammons to Binns. However, on the ensuing series Sam Szefc ran 66 yards for a touchdown and the Bruins opened a 36-20 lead with eight minutes to go. River scored on a pass from Hammons to Nate Stewart with a minute and a half remaining to account for the final score.
River finished with 152 yards rushing, led by Binns with 133 yards on 21 carries. Hammons was 11 for 18 passing for 130 yards and spread the ball around to a variety of receivers.
On defense, Landon Flores and Ryan Daniels had six solo tackles each for River. Jack Beheler, Efraim Echarravia and Sam Wilson had four each while Beheler had a sack and two tackles for losses. Mitchell Snare had a fumble recovery.
“I’d like to see us execute at a higher level, but we competed,” said Baker. “We fought but never could quite take the lead, we just needed a break somewhere and didn’t get it. I thought we represented ourselves quite well.”
