WISE, Va. – Martinez Miles ran right, left and up the middle. He lined up at quarterback, tailback and, for the first time this season, from the “wildcat” formation.
No matter where Miles was at, he was difficult to stop.
Miles rushed for 232 yards and scored all three Raider touchdowns to lead J.I. Burton to a 21-14 win over Lonesome Pine District foe Clintwood for the Region D, Division 1 championship at Smith Stadium at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise.
“Without the line, I couldn’t do what I do,” he said. “They took care of business today.
“This was the first time of running the ‘wildcat’ and we were pretty successful. We had an open week and we got ready to play. It just came natural to us.”
It was a defensive struggle all of the first quarter and most of the second quarter. But a Clintwood fumble was recovered by J.I. Burton at the Clintwood 13. On the first play from scrimmage Miles weaved his way through the Greenwave defense to score. A high snap on the point after kept the score at 6-0 Raiders.
“In a game like this you just absolutely can’t fumble,” said Clintwood coach Rick Mullins. “It wasn’t only the fumbles, but we made a couple other boneheaded plays that really hurt us. In a game like this you can’t do that.”
Clintwood answered quickly with an impressive seven-play, 52-yard drive. A couple big runs by Mancel Powers set up a 3-yard TD run by fullback Austin Dotson. Nick Lewis kicked the extra point and the Greenwave led 7-6 with 23 seconds to go in the first half.
J.I. Burton had won in the regular season at Clintwood 36-0 on October 30. It was a much tougher task on Saturday afternoon. A couple of Greenwave turnovers were costly.
“At the beginning of the season our goal was to beat Clintwood twice,” Miles said. “We came out every day and worked hard in practice. We got it done.”
Clintwood had a couple opportunities to add to its lead in the third quarter, but the Wave missed a field goal and then were denied a score when they lost a fumble at the Burton 14.
“We had them,” Mullins said. “Our offensive line was controlling the line of scrimmage, we were running it down the field and turn it over. That took us away from what we do best.”
Shortly after getting the ball, Miles broke a 59-yard run for the Raiders to the Clintwood 21. Five plays later, Miles scored on a 6-yard run to give the Raiders the lead. Miles added the two-point conversion run for a 14-7 advantage with just over 10 minutes to play in the game.
The Greenwave took the ensuing kickoff and was unable to move the ball. They attempted to punt, but the snap to the punter was fumbled and Clintwood turned the ball over on downs at their own 35.
Eight plays later, from the “wildcat” formation Miles scored up the middle on a 5-yard run for a 21-7 lead with four minutes to play.
“Early in the year we had some trouble with chemistry,” J.I. Burton coach Jim Adams said. “Every since the Powell Valley loss, these kids have been committed. They have just grown as individuals.”
Clintwood added a late touchdown on a 1-yard run by Dotson who finished with 123 yards on the ground. They tried an on-side kick but we unable to recover it and the Raiders ran out the clock.
One of these two teams have won the regional title for seven consecutive years. It was the first title for J.I. Burton since 2006, Clintwood has won the last two until 2009.
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