Clintwood Edges Burton for a Repeat

WISE, Va. – Clintwood continues to have J.I. Burton’s number.

On a frigid evening at the University of Virginia’s Carl Smith Stadium, Clintwood defeated J.I. Burton 22-19 for the Region D, Division 1 football championship.

The two teams had met in the title game last year, with the Greenwave taking a 24-20 win, so it’s back-to-back titles for Clintwood. The Greenwave also topped Burton during the regular season.

“Our first goal was to win the LPD,” Clintwood coach Rick Mullins said. “Our second goal was to win right here. This bunch has taken it one game at a time. I know that’s a cliché but this group has done that all year.”

There wasn’t much scoring between the two high-powered teams. In the first half, J.I. Burton was on the board first a six-play drive after a short Clintwood punt. The Raiders drove 39-yards, with Jaycob Coleman scoring on a 1-yard rush. The conversion was wide left and Burton held a 6-0 lead with just under five minutes to play in the first half.

The Greenwave had some trouble getting consistency in the running game. But they took the ensuing kickoff and drove down the field on a couple of big pass plays by quarterback Heath Counts. Counts found Trey Meade with a 35-yard TD pass to tie the game. Derek Robbins kicked the conversion to give the Greenwave a 7-6 halftime lead.

The Raiders took the second half kickoff. On their second offensive play, Martinez Miles broke free up the middle and sprinted 60-yards for a touchdown. Will Godsey kicked the extra point and the Raiders held a 13-7 lead.

Clintwood answered quickly with a 75-yard drive. The big play was another pass from Counts to Meade for a 46-yard gain, to set up a 3-yard TD rush by Devin Elswick. With the Robbins kick, the Greenwave retook the lead 14-13.

That’s where the score remained until early in the fourth quarter. After a Greenwave punt the Raiders took over on their 19. A couple big runs by Miles and Coleman and J.I. Burton
had the ball at the Clintwood 34. But a costly fumble by the Raiders that was recovered by Clintwood’s Jacob Robinson turned the game around. Alec Osborne had a 51-yard run to move the ball deep in Raider territory. J.I. Burton almost kept the Wave from scoring, but on 4th-and-3 Counts hit Robinson with a 7-yard TD pass.

“I knew we had to get it in the end zone,” Counts said. “Or turn the ball over. The play was designed to go to Robinson and it worked.

“Burton has a great team, they’re hard to beat. Our guys worked hard to get the win. Burton has a lot of seniors too and this is quiet a rivalry.”

Some trickery followed when the Greenwave faked the kick and Meade tossed the ball to Osborne on a reverse for the two-point conversion.

“When we played them the first time they brought a lot of pressure up the middle on extra points,” Mullins said. “We thought if we needed it somewhere along the way, that it left the outside open. When we did it, that put us up two scores and that was huge.”

The two points were critical when Burton blocked a punt and it was scooped up by Michael Hensley and returned 23-yards for a touchdown. But the following onside kick attempt was recovered by the Greenwave and they ran out the clock.

It was a tough loss for 14 J.I. Burton seniors on the roster.

“My kids just played their hearts out for four quarters,” J.I. Burton coach Jim Adams said. “We just came up a play or two short. This is a very special group of seniors that will be truly missed. They were a great group to be around."