Gallery by Tina Laney
Oak Hill – There was anticipation along the Bluefield sideline that head coach Fred Simon would get a gatorade bath after eventually claiming his 300th career victory.
He was instead showered by the chilling rain storm that swept through the state, perfectly summing up the night for his Beavers.
Playing to the elements, Oak Hill put Simon’s celebration on hold, erupting for 296 yards on the ground, winning in the trenches on both sides of a 26-0 win Friday night at John P. Duda Stadium in Oak Hill.
On the other side of the ball the Red Devils stiffed the Beavers, limiting them to just 40 yards of total offense without a completed pass on the evening.
It was a script flip for the Red Devils who secured their first win in the series since 2003, doing so with a season high in rushing yards.
“That’s a season high for us for sure,” Oak Hill head coach Davon Marion said. “The guys up front, they gel together. The guys up front wanted it bad enough. I told them in the mud, find your footing. If you’re a mentally tough football player it’s not going to matter what the elements are doing. Find your footing and drive people back and that’s what they did. And J.D.’s (Mauritz) a workhorse. I think we have him listed at 205 pounds but he’s more like 225. Once you get that running downhill on a cold wet night, it’s hard to stop and late in the fourth quarter we felt like we had the advantage and just kept pounding them.”
Mauritz served as the Red Devil’s early battering ram, nearing the 100-yard mark in the first quarter but it was an improvised play by QB Malachi Lewis that opened the scoring. Facing third-and-7 at his own 42, Lewis dropped back and saw the middle of the field open up and thus bolted up the middle and to his right. After 58 yards he successfully found pay dirt.
The play provided an offensive spark and carried over to the next drive where the hosts proved it’s better to be lucky than good. On fourth-and-4 at the Bluefield 42, Lewis again dropped back but threw to his right where Bluefield’s Tyquise Powell was camped. The ball somehow slipped through Powell’s hands and right into Mikey Spack’s who scooted down the right sideline for a 42-yard score.
Meanwhile the Beavers found no such luck.
Their offense produced 45 yards in the first half and registered minus-5 in the second half as they crossed the 50 just twice, never advancing past the Red Devil 40.
“We just gave up some big plays early that we didn’t need to give up to stay in there and fight,” Simon said. “It hurt us. With the way the weather was our passing game didn’t work and it was the same for them too. We didn’t play up to the task as well as they did.”
The Red Devil defense continued to flex its muscles in the second half, with Adam Long recovering a fumble on a punt attempt and returning it 20 yards to push the lead to 20-0.
The Beavers managed one last gasp when a slippery snap slipped through the hands of Levi Kiszka and was recovered by Powell at the Bluefield 39 but the drive, which lost a yard, ended with a punt.
In total the final four Bluefield drives ended without any positive yardage, with losses of 3, 4, 1 and 7 yards, respectively.
“Just the attitude,” Marion said. “Something we say around here is ‘Tough guys only’ and I told them to play defense for me you’ve got to be tough. The guys, they were up for the challenge and they executed the game plan we put in this week because we knew they depended on the quarterback and they were going to run if Sencere (Fields) was in the game. We had a beat on them early and the guys up front – the d-line and Adam Long played a daggone great football game tonight and he was all over the field for us. We figured out what they were doing early, stuck to the plan, made a few adjustments and the kids executed.”
An 11-play, 81-yard scoring drive capped by a Tyler Ashmore plunge from a yard out with 4:10 remaining accounted for the final score, moving the Red Devils to 7-1, their best start since they started 8-0 in 1985.
For Simon and Co. the loss deals a crushing blow to their playoff hopes, putting them in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.
“They have good linemen, and a big back,” Simon said. “They could just run behind them. We started out early okay but as the game wore on we didn’t play with that same intensity. They’ve got a good team and (Marion) has them much improved.”
Lewis and Mauritz rushed for 126 and 146 yards, respectively, in the win. Gerrard Wade led Bluefield with 45 yards rushing in the loss.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
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