PREP FOOTBALL: J.I. Burton blasts Haysi

BY LLOYD COMBS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
NORTON, Va. – It’s fitting that Lawson-Fitchko Stadium overlooks Park Avenue, because J.I. Burton scored all the points it needed Saturday in a New York minute.

The Raiders scored three times on their first six plays and went on to crush Haysi, 42-6, in the Region D, Division 1 semifinals Saturday afternoon.

Martinez Miles ran 15 times for 230 yards and four touchdowns for J.I. Burton, which advances to the Region D, Division 1 finals Saturday at UVa.-Wise, where it will face LPD rival Clintwood for the third year in a row.

While Haysi (5-6) used up much of the first-half clock with its short passing game, J.I. Burton (9-2) scored quickly and often, with an efficiency that would impress Peyton Manning.

It took the Raiders four plays to score the first touchdown of the game, a one-yard TD run by Miles. Burton then scored on the first play of its next two possessions.

Freshman quarterback Tanner Crowder hit Timmy Goins in stride over the middle for a 57-yard touchdown pass at the 5:05 mark of the opening period. Miles added an 80-yard sprint that staked the
Raiders to a 21-6 lead with 8:54 remaining in the first half.

That score took 13 seconds for Burton, which needed all of a minute and four seconds to go 217 yards and score three times. Miles’ 35-yard run and Crowder’s 21-yard pass to Andy Short set up the first touchdown. Crowder was 3-for-3 passing for 124 yards, all in the first half.

“We scored six touchdowns the first six times we snapped the football,” J.I. Burton coach Jim Adams said. “We kept a short script, the old ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ If they’re going to roll everybody up in the box, I mean, just because we’ve got a freshman [at quarterback] doesn’t mean we can’t throw it.
“They kept the ball away from us. But once we scored a couple touchdowns we started playing some coverages and gave them those short passes. And we just got the ball to number two.”

While the Haysi defense was dealing with number two (Miles), the Haysi offense, which was held to minus-15 yards on the ground in the first half, managed to keep the football for over 17 minutes in the first half with a series of short passes.

Chris Fleming was 12-of-19 passing in the first half, and 20-of-32 overall for 159 yards. The senior also lined up outside on a couple of plays, and hauled in a 4-yard touchdown pass from Derick Blair to get the Tigers within 14-6 on the first play of the second quarter.

Blair then recovered a Burton fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Raider 35-yard line. Haysi picked up a first down at the 18, but Russell Rice and Alex Mazza sacked Fleming on consecutive plays and forced the Tigers to punt.

“The sacks killed us,” Haysi coach James Colley said. “We had our opportunities in the first half, we just didn’t get it in [the end zone]. We didn’t get it done.
“We had no answer for number two [Miles]. His [last touchdown], that was the prettiest run I think I’ve ever seen. We had five guys there and he made a move and turned sideways and broke through.”

On that play Miles maneuvered through five defenders for a 5-yard TD run with 1:35 remaining in the third period, the second of three Burton touchdowns in the quarter.

“I thought I was going to have to hurdle the defender, but I turned sideways and landed in the end zone,” Miles explained. “It always starts with the line. I just tap them [on the shoulder] and follow them through the hole.”

Miles, who rushed for 149 yards in the first half alone, set up his final touchdown of the night with a 36-yard gain. He set up his third touchdown run with a 33-yard carry on the opening series of the second half.

“[Miles] is really starting to come into his own,” Adams added. “He’s starting to show leadership out there.”

J.I. Burton got its final touchdown on special teams. Seth Pennington blocked a Haysi punt and recovered the ball in the end zone on the final play of the third period.

Mazzo was in on the first, and the sixth and last, of a half-dozen quarterback sacks for the Raiders. Burton’s Riley Maggard had an interception in the fourth quarter.

Dakota Stanley caught eight passes for 78 yards for Haysi, which finished with two yards rushing. After their only touchdown, the Tigers were at the Raiders’ 30-yard line or closer on five different possessions. Haysi lost speedy wide receiver and punter Hobart Newberry to a knee injury in the first quarter.

The Raiders and Clintwood will meet for the sixth time in three years when they play in Saturday’s regional finals. Adams says it will, in all likelihood, be much closer than Burton’s 36-0 win in the regular season. Clintwood has won the last two Region D, Division 1 titles.

“It’ll be a different game; it’s the Region D championship,” Adams said. “They are who they are; they’re a good, well-coached football team, and they’re the LPD champions.
“They’ve won nine games. It’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to be ready to play.”