Gallery by Heather Belcher
Bluefield – With Bryson Redmond eligible to play next week, Friday’s start against Independence was likely Sencere Fields’ last as the starting quarterback for Bluefield, a position he unselfishly accepted out of the team’s necessity.
It’s always best to go out on top.
Fields ran for 155 yards and three touchdowns in addition to passing for 126 yards, adding a touchdown pass as Bluefield snapped its three-game losing skid against Independence with a 43-21 win over the Patriots at Mitchell Stadium.
Fields connected on 7 of 8 passing attempts in the first half for 100 yards with 30 of them and a touchdown being hauled in by fellow senior R.J. Hairston. The duo helped Bluefield, which scored on six of its nine offensive drives, establish a 26-7 halftime lead and ultimately hang onto when the Patriots threatened.
“It was nice to finally beat their butts and get them down here for a change,” Bluefield coach Freddy Simon said in reference to the Independence program that ended the Beavers’ last two campaigns. “They’ve done a heck of a job up there and every dog has his day and it was our day. I was very proud of our players and we needed it. What I liked too is we lost momentum early in the second half and got it back and that was basically R.J. and Sencere gutting it out and helping us out.”
The senior duo guided the ship home in the second half and wrecked Indy’s in the first.
After the Patriots engineered a nine-play, 67-yard scoring drove that ended in a Trey Bowers touchdown run from 13 yards out, the Beavers reeled off 26 straight points with a disruptive defensive front leading the way.
It started with a seven-play, 71-yard scoring drive in response to Indy’s opening stanza, one in which Fields found pay dirt from three yards out.
Then the Bluefield defensive front went to work.
On Indy’s second series, facing second-and-20 from its own 21, Bowers was flushed back to the end zone and in an attempt to get ride of the ball was called for grounding, resulting in a safety. An Eli Riffe field goal later in the quarter extended the host’s advantage to 12-7 but Bowers wasn’t out of the clear.
Indy’s following drive ended in misfortune when Hairston bolted off the edge, deflected a backwards pass, scooped it and returned it to the Indy 33. Three plays later he was rewarded with a 20-yard touchdown on a screen pass.
The duo of Fields and Hairston capped their terrific half in the final two minutes on opposite sides of the ball. Fields connected with Landon Crane on a 55-yard pass that set up his second touchdown run, a 1-yard surge with 1:21 to go in the half and Hairston put the finishing touches on it with a sack of Bowers on the penultimate play of the half.
“We’re quick on defense,” Simon said of limiting Bowers at QB. “We’ve contained just about everybody we’ve played, we’ve just been hurt a little bit. We could’ve done a good job against (Beckley wide receiver) Elijah Redfern, we did a good job against (Graham running back Ty’Drez) Clements and a good job against Princeton. Once we get everybody healthy we feel like we’ve got a heck of defense coming.”
While the Beavers found an answer to containing Bowers at QB, they didn’t have the same success against him as a receiver.
Forcing Bluefield to punt for the first time out of the half, the Patriots took to the air with Sylas Nelson at QB and Bowers at receiver. Usually on opposite ends, Nelson launched a 48-yard touchdown pass to Bowers that jumpstarted the Indy offense.
Bowers finished with five catches for 103 yards and touchdown, all of which he accumulated after the break.
“We worked on that this week and we felt that we could get him 1-on-1 and they were press covering us,” Indy assistant coach Kevin Grogg, who was filling in for head coach John H. Lilly (medical procedure), said. “We thought Trey could use his speed and get by them and he did and it worked.”
The one-play touchdown strategy worked again on the Patriots next drive.
After forcing and recovering a Fields fumble at the 50 and tacking on 15 bonus yards after a Bluefield personal foul penalty,Tyler Linkweiler opened and closed the Indy’s drive with a 35-yard touchdown scamper to make it a 26-21 game with 7:17 left in the third quarter.
In danger of coughing up a second-half lead for the third time this season, the hosts moved efficiently, fielding a kick at their own 48 and marching 41 yards to the 17, extending their lead to eight points when the freshman Riffe booted a 27-yard field goal.
The Bluefield defense held the rest of the way, forcing Indy to turn the ball over on downs on the final play of the third quarter. The Beaver offense marched 61 yards on the opening drive of the fourth, the final 18 of which was picked up on Fields’ final scoring scamper of the evening.
JoJo Campbell put the finishing touches on the game with 1:07 left when he returned a Bowers interception 90 yards for a score.
“We didn’t tackle well tonight,” Grogg said. “Our tackling tonight was horrible, but that was really the only downfall I saw tonight out of these kids. A lot of that’s got to do with playing young kids on defense and that’s something we can get better with. We’ll work on it. We’ve got some work to do down the stretch to win these last few games and try and make the playoffs.”
Fields’ 155 yards and three touchdowns were a season-high for the talented senior whose natural position is receiver, but may see some time at running back as well.
“We may have to put him at running back,” Simon said. “Man, is he something else? He’s probably the best runner we have. He sees it and he can do it! We’ll figure it out but I’m sure proud of him with that effort he gives us.”
Bluefield (2-3) will host PikeView next week while Independence (2-3) will attempt to snap its two-game skid when it hosts Westside on Friday.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
