LINDSIDE — Despite finishing with four losses this season, the Bluefield Beavers showed why they are the defending state champions in Class AA.
The Beavers upended previously unbeaten No. 2 James Monroe 24-14 Saturday in the Class AA semifinals on the Mavericks’ home field.
Bluefield earned a return trip to Wheeling on the strength of its defense, which bottled up the James Monroe running attack.
“The last time we played them, they ran all over us,” Bluefield head coach Freddie Simon said. “My hat’s off to them. They came off the ball and played physical with us. They just outplayed us in Bluefield. I was just hoping we could improve. I didn’t know if we would or not.
“The players have worked hard since that loss and they’ve gotten a little better.”
Although the Mavericks finished with 206 yards rushing, neither Andrew Robertson nor Jason Jackson really got into a rhythm running the ball. The Beavers picked off two passes and forced one fumble to kill three James Monroe drives.
“We did a better job of attacking them defensively,” Simon said. “We moved the ball pretty good, too, at times.”
Bluefield (8-4) got rolling early.
After stopping James Monroe (12-1) on its first possession, the Beavers marched 68 yards in six plays for the contest’s first score.
Halfback Shawn Brooks plowed in from three yards out and Sean Cornelius added the PAT to put Bluefield up 7-0 with 7:40 left in the first quarter.
“What I was surprised with was that we stopped their first series,” Simon said. “That’s been hard for us to do for a long time. We did a decent job of that early.”
The Beaver defense held the Mavericks in check again on their next possession, forcing them to turn the ball over on downs at the Bluefield 26-yard line.
From there, quarterback Eric McClanahan moved the Beavers back down the gridiron. The sophomore signal-caller connected with senior receiver Mark Page for a 36-yard gain to open the five-play drive. Brooks capped the drive with a 16-yard run for his second TD of the day.
The Mavericks finally got their offense on track on the ensuing possession. Jackson and Robertson moved the Mavs down the field with a 13-play, 67-yard drive. Jackson connected with tight end Ben Preston for a 15-yard strike to put James Monroe on the scoreboard. Dalton Pritt added the point after to cut the Beavers’ lead to 14-7 with 11:14 remaining in the half.
“We had another score that they blew the whistle early on that would have made it 14-14,” Mavericks head coach David Witt said. “That’s a big momentum swing, and you just never know what might have happened from there. But that’s just the way it goes.”
The Beavers added a third score in the first half when McClanahan found Ansel Pounder in the back of the end zone for a 22-yard score.
The second half turned into a defensive struggle until James Monroe’s Ben Preston partially blocked a Bluefield punt. The Mavs took over the ball on the Beavers’ 36, and four plays later, Robertson sprinted 11 yards to paydirt.
That was as close as James Monroe would get as Bluefield ground out the clock with its running game. Fullback Allen Carter, a 6-foot-2, 263-pound junior, was a key contributor in the rushing attack as the clock wound down. Carter gained 39 of his 43 yards in the second half.
“When you’ve got a big back like that,” Simon said, “you just hope that you can keep the ball away from (James Monroe). We never stopped them on a regular basis, either.”
J.T. Powell led the Bluefield ground game with 114 yards on 15 carries. Brooks added 73 yards on 13 touches.
Cornelius’ 19-yard field goal with 4:02 remaining ended any hopes the Mavericks had of a final rally.
“We had a heck of a season,” Witt said. “We’ve got eight starters coming back on defense and seven on offense. We were awful young this year. We’ve been starting six sophomores and a freshman on defense and a bunch of sophomores up front in our offensive line. We probably accomplished some things this year and went a lot farther this year than anybody would have bet we’d have gone.”
Bluefield moves on to play Weir in the championship game Friday in Wheeling.
— E-mail:
rjett@register-herald.com
Bluefield 24, James Monroe 14
B (8-4) 14 7 0 3 — 24
JM (12-1) 0 7 7 0 — 14
First Quarter
B: Shawn Brooks 3 run (Sean Cornelius kick) 7:40
B: Brooks 16 run (Cornelius kick) 4:08
Second Quarter
JM: Ben Preston 15 pass from Jason Jackson (Dalton Pritt kick) 11:14
B: Ansel Ponder 22 pass from Eric McClanahan (Cornelius kick) 1:41
Third Quarter
JM: Andrew Robertson 11 run (Pritt kick) 0:38
Fourth Quarter
B: Cornelius 19 field goal 4:02
]INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — B: J.T. Powell 15-114, Brooks 13-73-2, Allen Carter 8-43, Devin Clements 7-30, Jonathan Payne 5-22, McClanahan 2-4, Travis Steptoe 1-(-1), Team 1-(-1). JM: Robertson 18-90-1, Heath Mullins 6-61, Jackson 14-55.
PASSING — B: McClanahan 4-8-1-73-1. JM: Jackson 3-14-2-46-1, Mullins 0-1-0-0-0.
RECEIVING — B: Mark Page 1-36, Ponder 1-22-1, Maurice Jordan 1-19, Payne 1-(-4). JM: Corey Miller 1-24, Preston 1-15-1, Pritt 1-7.
TURNOVERS — B: Powell (int), Jordan (fr), Ryan Albert (int). JM: Preston (fr), Taylor Robertson (int).
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