Greenwave to Use Speed to Challenge Mighty Broncos

Clintwood coach Rick Mullins got a surprise last Saturday after his team’s 41-21 win against Holston in the state semifinals.

He learned that his team would play Franklin, not William Campbell, for the Virginia High School League Group A, Division 1 championship.

“William Campbell all year long has been the top of the class in Division 1,” Mullins said in his post-game remarks. “[Franklin] must be a heck of a team to beat William Campbell.”

Four days of Franklin film study proved Mullins’ contention correct.

“They are a big, big team,” Mullins said on Wednesday. “They might have a little more size than us, but I think we have a bit more speed.”

When the Greenwave plays Franklin at noon today in Salem, Va., spectators will be treated to yet another installment of the age-old gridiron debate: Size or speed?

If this were the SEC Championship, the Greenwave would be cast as the Florida Gators: combining serious star power with lethal speed.

On offense, Clintwood is keyed by senior running back Chris Robinson, who has rushed for 1,698 yards and 27 touchdowns through the state semifinals.

However, the Greenwave attack is augmented by quarterback Heath Counts’ ability to deliver the football to a stable of athletic wide receivers. Through the Holston game, the senior has passed for 1,235 yards and 18 touchdowns, with only three interceptions.

As gaudy as those numbers might be, this Clintwood squad reached the title game because of its defense. The speedy Greenwave held opponents to 11.5 points per game.

The Clintwood instigator on that side of the ball is Alec Osborne, an outside linebacker who also returns kicks. Using a collection of stunts put in by defensive coordinator Kent
Grant, Osborne collected 28 tackles for loss and eight sacks during the regular season.

“We’ve got a lot of team speed,” Mullins said, “and that makes us pretty darn tough on defense. We’ll see if it’s enough to get around [Franklin’s] big offensive line.”

That would make Franklin the equivalent of Alabama: a collection of unsung athletes molded around a gigantic offensive line.

Franklin powered its way through the regular season at 8-2, but didn’t even win its own district after losing to 32-6 to Tri-Rivers champ Sussex.

Utilizing the Power-I formation, the Broncos rarely throw the ball. Quarterback Donzell Shearin has attempted only 49 passes, completing 22 for 693 yards and seven touchdowns.

Franklin might not pass much, but when the defense is lulled to sleep and the safeties begin creeping toward the line, the Broncos like to slip in deep, game-changing pass patterns.

Derrick Thompson’s 70-yard, third-quarter touchdown catch from Shearin provided the winning margin in Franklin’s 22-21 upset of William Campbell last Saturday.

Most of the time, however, Franklin is content to mash the defense with a straight-ahead running game crafted out of the I-formation, combined with some single-wing plays.

This type of offense appears destined to produce 1,000-yard backs, something Franklin is conspicuously short on. The Bronco’s leading runner is Isaiah Hudson, who has 968 yards on 146 carries.

“We’re humble,” Franklin coach Darren Parker said this week. “We never talk about [individuals] in the paper. It’s always the team. Everyone has a job to do, and if they do it 100 percent, we’ll be fine.”

It’s appropriate then that the strength of this team – both on offense and defense – is the line. The hulking frames of Justin Everett, Lacurt Boone, Daquan Frazier, Lamon Davenport and Deandre McNeil combine to produce a unit that averages 252 pounds per man.

That’s about 30 pounds heavier than the Clintwood line. As Mullins said earlier, all the speed in the world will do the Greenwave defense no good if it wrecks itself on the rocks of Franklin.

“It feels great to be playing well right now,” said Parker, whose team has avenged both of its regular season losses during the playoffs. “The kids know the system, and the kids are peaking right now.

“It’s going to be physical game between two rush offenses.”

It’s right there that Mullins feels he has an opportunity. The Clintwood coach makes no bones about the Bronco defense – it’s going to be very difficult to crack.

But in the Bronco offense he’s seen a crack in the dam, a spot of dark ice.

What is this flaw, this opening for the Clintwood defense? Nice try.

“I think I’ll hold on to that for now,” Mullins said.

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