Richlands Falls To Brookville, 47-0

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Richlands senior quarterback Joel Elswick entered Stinger Stadium longing for a storybook performance.

The opponent for Richlands, top-ranked Brookville, was fueled by three NCAA Division I prospects and a bad memory.

“[Brookville] was by far the best team we’ve seen,” Elswick said. “We had to play a near-perfect game to win, and we didn’t come close to doing that.”

The Bees took advantage of five Richlands turnovers en route to a 47-0 win in Saturday’s Group AA, Division 3 football semifinal.

Brookville (13-0) faces James Monroe (12-1) for the state title next Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg. James Monroe held off defending state champ Monticello for a 44-41 decision in Saturday’s other semifinal. Richlands defeated Brookville by a 24-14 margin in a Division 3 semifinal contest last season in Richlands. The Brookville players harped on the redemption factor before, during and after Saturday’s victory.

“That game last year motivated [Brookville] a little more, but we just got beat by a better team,” Elswick said.

Led by multi-talented 6-foot-6 senior quarterback Logan Thomas, the Bees ended the suspense by taking a 34-0 halftime lead. Richlands was held to 14 total yards in the first half while Brookville was effective in all facets of its attack.

Thomas, who has committed to play at Virginia Tech, ran for two touchdowns and passed for two scores, while accounting for 225 yards total offense. Thomas also directed the experienced Brookville secondary at times.

“I wanted to be back in this exact same spot in the playoffs so bad,’’ Thomas said. “We weren’t really sure how [Richlands] would come out, but we played tough and the score shows it.”

Richlands hoped to exploit the middle of the Brookville defense with a variety of creative pass patterns. The Blues were doomed by four first-half turnovers, including two fumbles on punt returns.

“We hadn’t turned the ball over like that since the third game of the season,” Richlands coach Greg Mance said. Brookville seized on every Richlands mistake as linemen Devin Bolling (6-5, 275 pounds), David Brandt (5-11, 240) and Cory Patterson (5-8, 210) controlled the line of scrimmage.

Bolling has been offered football scholarships by the likes of Boston College, Connecticut and Virginia Tech. Six-foot-five junior defensive end Zack McCray, who returned an Elswick interception 30 yards to set up a score, is also a prized recruit.

“Our kids didn’t quit, but we knew that we were behind the eight-ball coming in,” Mance said. “Brookville has exceptional quickness and they exploited their height advantage at receiver.

“[Brookville] had the revenge factor and the home field, and they were by far the best team today.”

Fourth-year Brookville coach Jeff Woody was delighted with his how his team answered the 2007 playoff loss in Richlands

“Obviously, we were hungry,” said Woody, a former standout receiver at Brookville and Hampden-Sydney College. “Richlands is always a tough opponent. They know how to reach this game and win it.
“Our offensive and defensive lines played well, and those turnovers helped us tremendously. We’re playing out best football of the season.”

Brookville was also helped by 5-foot-8 running back Stacey Houston, who is being recruited by Ivy League schools. Running with a mix of power and speed, Houston contributed 102 yards rushing and two scores on 20 carries.

“We’ve got many buttons that we can push,” Thomas said.

Few teams in Virginia had been able to stop the passing of Elswick the past two years, so Woody devised a novel strategy.

“We saw Elswick picking apart zone coverages on film,” Woody said. “We decided that if we play zone against that guy he would kill us. Our goal was to put pressure on Elswick and play a little physical with their receivers.”

The Bees applied heavy pressure on Elswick and recorded two interceptions. Meanwhile, Richlands was held to negative rushing yardage nearly the entire game.

Elswick managed to put a positive spin on his frustrating afternoon, though.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a few times and didn’t play well,” Elswick said. “I’m just glad I got the opportunity to play on the same field with a lot of these guys who will be playing on Saturday afternoons over the next few years.”

The 17 Richlands seniors closed their prep careers with an overall record of 47-9. The Blues have posted a mark of 72-17 the past seven years.

“It’s been a great run,” Elswick said.

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Richlands 0 0 0 0-0
Brookville 20 14 13 0-47
Scoring Summary
B-Thomas 4 run (Tordoff kick)
B-Smith 36 pass from Thomas (kick failed)
B-Houston 1 run (Tordoff kick)
B-Thomas 1 run (Tordoff kick)
B-Thompson 29 pass from Thomas (Tordoff kick)
B-Mason 50 pass from Thomas (Witt kick)
B-Houston 9 run (kick blocked)
Team Stats
First Downs: R 6, B 15; Rushes-Yards: R 18-0, B 42-162; Passing Yards: R 108, B 179; Comp.-Att.-Int.: R 11-34-2, B 8-12-0; Penalties-Yards:R 3-15, B 8-70; Fumbles-Lost: R 3-3, B 1-0; Punts-Avg.: R 6-34, B 6-29.