Fairlea – A week ago Greenbrier East sophomore Ian Cline had the best performance of his young career and one of the best performances in program history.
His 284 yards rushing were good enough for the third best single-game performance in program history behind Zayvion Lawson who rushed for 346 and 325 on separate occasions during the 2015 season.
Settling for third best wasn’t good enough for Cline as he had an encore for the ages.
Cline ran the ball 30 times against Hampshire this past Friday, rushing for 357 yards and five touchdowns in the Spartans’ 56-6 victory. The performance was the best in program history, topping Lawson’s by 11 yards.
For his efforts, Cline has been named the Week 9 Lootpress Players of the Week by the Lootpress sportswriters. The award is sponsored by Bodyworks and the Law Offices of Brandon Steele.
Bluefield’s Ryker Brown was the winner of the online fan poll, finishing with over 40 percent of the vote.
Greenbrier East head coach Ray Lee sees a lot of similarities between Cline and Lawson, who was a Kennedy Award finalist in 2015.
“The similarities between him and Zayvion is how hard they work,” East head coach Ray Lee said. “They both seemed to have clicked as sophomores and haven’t looked back. Ian’s just a hard-worker. He runs the ball for us a lot and I’ll ask him if he’s okay or if he needs a break and he’ll tell me he’s perfectly fine. h\He works hard.”
Most players will never approach the mark Cline had in his 284-yard performance against Ripley. Cline not only approached it the following week but obliterated it. He doesn’t force the issue, knowing he won’t accumulate those totals every game.
“I just try to make sure I don’t put too much pressure on myself after something like that,” Cline said. “Those kind of games are not going to happen every single week, but I hope to have big games like that. I just don’t want to not do anything this week, so I’m going to keep playing my game and try to have fun out there.”
To date Cline has rushed 177 times for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns, meaning nearly 50 percent of his yards have come in the last two weeks. He hasn’t necessarily struggled, piling up yards in wins against Beckley and Point Pleasant as well as a loss against Oak Hill, but has gotten better as the season has progressed.
Lee credits that to his coachability, as he’s soaked in the tips and pointers the staff have given him in an effort to slow the game down. Whether it’s aligning wider pre-snap or reading the defense faster, his willingness to listen has catapulted him into the all-state conversation.
“My experience is growing week in and week out,” Cline said. “That’s helping a lot and the little tips and pointers they give me at the start of each week, I just implement them in my game. It helps me slow the game down and makes sure I can see the linebackers and where they’re going, where the holes are going to open up at. It’s all helped me out.”
Those pointers culminated in the best performance in program history even with the Hampshire defense cognizant of his impact on the game and what he did the previous week.
“They were kind of stacking the box a little bit,” Cline said. “The week before I had a pretty good game so I guess they were trying to stop me a little bit so I when I’d cut inside and the holes blew up I’d bounce it out and get some blocks on the outside. I’d make a couple of cuts and I was in the open field.”
Cline will be honored at the Lootpress Fall Sports banquet, along with the fall sports Player of the Year winners and fellow Player of the Week winners, on Dec. 11 at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
Email Tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow him on Twitter @tjack94.
