Richlands rolls over Falcons

BY ALLEN GREGORY
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

RICHLANDS, Va. – Richlands football coach Greg Mance faced a challenge entering the 2009 football season. With just five seniors on his roster, the veteran coach of the Blue Tornado was forced to experiment with his lineup.

Will Lowe has led the search and discovery mission. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound junior defensive end flashed his all-star form again Friday as Richlands opened Southwest District play with a 58-21 decision over Abingdon.

Displaying quickness and strength, Lowe collected eight tackles, including five for loss. Meanwhile, the Blues relied on the speedy Johnson cousins to open a 51-7 halftime lead and accumulate over 480 total yards.

“I’m having tons of fun,” said Lowe, who can bench press 305 pounds. “I’ve been working to develop my game since I was in the seventh grade, and I went right back in the weight room as soon as last season ended. The extra work has made a difference in my play.”

The arrival of cousins Cody, Austin and Devon Johnson has also made a dramatic difference for Richlands.

Devon, a 6-1 sophomore, rushed for 147 yards and four rushing touchdowns Friday on just six carries. Austin, a junior, compiled 258 all purpose yards and three scores, while Cody Johnson rushed for 76 yards and threw for two scores.

“The speed has helped our team a lot,” Lowe said.

Austin Johnson set the tone on the game’s first play, zipping through the AHS defense en route to a 60-yard touchdown reception. The remainder of the night was a highlight package for the Johnson family and the aggressive Richlands defense.

“I liked what I saw tonight,” Richlands coach Greg Mance said. “We didn’t play well in our opening game against Gate City, and we really haven’t been satisfied with our offense in the first three games.”

Mance said he spent the past week showing game tapes to his players. The reviews from Friday’s show were glowing.

“We pointed out our mistakes from the previous games and showed them what we needed to be doing,” Mance said. “With our speed, we knew we were capable of making some big plays and putting points on the board.”

The big play parade for Richlands included an 85-yard scoring run by Austin Johnson, a weaving 30-yard scoring run by junior Brad Strong and a jaw-popping 58-yard blast by Devon Johnson.

“Devon can run, and the good thing about him is that he’s just a sophomore,” Mance said.

Mance saw that Austin Johnson, who can run the 40-yard dash in the 4.5-second range, is actually the fastest player on the team and perhaps the quickest athlete in school history.

“Austin can catch and run, and he’s got the extra gear to pull away,” Mance said. “We just need to get the ball to our guys and give them space.”

The college-type atmosphere in the Richlands program was amped up a new level Friday when the Blue Tornadoes (3-1, 1-0) came out with new jerseys featuring the last name of each player.

“The kids went nuts when they saw those jerseys,” Mance said. “I’m proud of our effort. We just have to go back to the drawing board and keep getting better.”

Six-foot-three junior linebacker Cody Thomas led Richlands with 10 tackles.

Quarterback Jacob Hess paced Abingdon (1-2, 0-1) with 93 yards rushing on 10 carries, while Zac Crosswhite was held to 20 yards on 16 carries. The lone AHS score in the first half came on a 62-yard halfback pass from Caleb Widener to Corey Spencer. 

“I thought we would play better,” AHS coach John Bowles said. “We played well against a good team [J.I. Burton] last week, but we just never did get out of the starting blocks tonight. It was a bad game all the way around.”

Bowles admitted that the Falcons had no remedy for the speed of the Johnson cousins.

“Richlands had two or three guys that were hard for us to catch or tackle,” Bowles said. “Richlands just has more speed than we have. That’s all you can say about that.”

Abingdon 0 7 7 7—21
Richlands 24 27 7 0—58

Scoring Summary

R-A. Johnson 60 pass from C. Johnson (R. Strong kick)
R-R. Strong 27 FG
R-A. Johnson 37 pass from C. Johnson (R. Strong kick)
R-D. Johnson 41 run (R. Strong kick
R-B. Strong 30 run (R. Strong kick)
A-Spencer 62 pass from Widener (Case kick)
R-D. Johnson 58 run (kick failed)
R-A. Johnson 85 run (R. Strong kick)
R-A. D. Johnson 1 run (R. Strong kick)
R-D. Johnson 40 run (R. Strong kick)
A-Widener 15 run (Case kick)
A-Spencer 16 pass from Hess (Case kick) 

Team Stats

First Downs: A 10, R 13; Rushes-Yards: A 115, R 344; Passing Yards: A 148, R 138; Comp.-Att.-Int.: A 8-19-1, R 4-8-0; Fumbles-Lost: A 1-1, R 3-1; Penalties-Yards: A 4-25, R 8-40; Punts-Average: A 5-35, R 2-33