Christian powers Mustangs over Rockets

Cody Dalton
Sports Correspondent

Eastern Montgomery junior quarterback Shawn Christian threw for five touchdown passes and rushed for one, as both the Mustang offense and defense clicked on all cylinders in rout to a 65-20 victory over Craig County on Friday.

“Well, I thought our kids played real well,” said Mustangs coach Mark Poston. “A week like this is hard to get ready for a coaching staff because they don’t exchange films. They burned us early on a couple of trick plays. Their kids played hard. No complaints against the way their kids played, but our kids are pretty good and resilient.”

The Mustangs opened up scoring with the first drive of the game. After a Craig County punt, Eastern Montgomery would take control of the ball. It would take only three plays for the Mustangs to score, as Christian would scramble for a 53-yard touchdown.

Craig County put up a fight on their second drive and with the help of quarterback Josh Oulette, would put up some big passing numbers. Passes of 30 and 5 yards along with a flea flicker by James Jones to Jacob Rickett helped the Rockets close the game to 7-6 after a blocked extra point attempt.

The rest of the half would belong to both the Mustang offense and defense. Christian would guide the Mustangs to score on all seven of their first half possessions. Michael Shelor scored on the team’s second possession, but them it would be all Christian.

The junior connected on five touchdown passes in five possessions. The first two were both 14 yard scores to receivers Julian Stewart and Brad Wooten. Christian would hit Stephen Lilly on the next Mustang’s drive on a 53-yard touchdown.

Wooten would once again catch another Christian pass for a 1-yard touchdown. The final Mustang score would come in the waning minutes of the first half, as Christian found Matt Epperly for the 41-yard touchdown throw and catch.

More impressive than the offensive performance of Eastern Montgomery was the defensive effort. After the early Craig County touchdown, the Mustangs held the Rockets in check by forcing six sacks, seven tackles for a loss, and only -34 total rushing yards in the first half.

“When you win, everyone gets the credit,” Poston said. “That is the big message of tonight. Everyone contributed. Everyone did the right thing. The coaching staff did the right thing. In all honesty, I would like to drop Craig and get Holston on the schedule. That is what I personally want.”

Christian led the Mustangs in the game, completing 7 of 10 passes for 201 yards and five passing touchdowns in the first half. He also had two rushes for 48 yards and a score on the ground as well, as Eastern Montgomery took a 53-6 lead into the break.

The Mustangs padded their lead in the third quarter. Following a few exchanges in possession between the two schools and a Craig County fumbled punt return, Eastern Montgomery’s Michael Shelor would score from a yard out to extend the Mustang lead.

Craig County continued to push hard against the Mustangs despite the score. On the following drive, running back Barry Hoover would score on a 1-yard run. The Rockets would score on their next drive as well, as Oulette found Brenton Christian for a 42-yard touchdown pass.

That would be it for Craig County though. The Mustangs would add an exclamation point to the game, as Shelor would run back the final kickoff 76 yards for the touchdown, sealing Eastern Montgomery’s fourth win of the year.

“All we did was practice really hard all week,” said Christian, who has 19 touchdowns on the year (13 passing, 6 rushing). “Coaches are telling us not to practice for Craig or Bland next week. Hopefully, we will be a contender in the Three Rivers and keep playing like we are now, we’ll have a playoff game here.”

The Mustangs welcome Bland at home next week, as they celebrate homecoming at Eastern Montgomery. The Bears knocked off the Mustangs last year, 21-0, on the road. A homecoming win against Bland would match Eastern Montgomery’s win total in the regular season from a year ago.

“We’ve got to get ready to play a first class team in Bland,” Poston said. “They’ve had our number over the last few years. Coach Hart does a tremendous job. We’ve got to be mentally focused and ready to go. I think we will be. We’ve got good leadership. We’ll be ready to go.”














Knights use strong third quarter to down Auburn

Cody Dalton
Sports Correspondent

What seemed like a smooth start in the first half turned into a nightmare second half for Auburn, as James River scored 26 points in the third quarter to knock off the Eagles, 39-6, on Friday.

James River got the scoring going eight minutes into the quarter, as Ian Johnson scored on a 10-yard run. Auburn would answer towards the end of the quarter, as quarterback Derrick Duncan connected with Ryne Scott on a 51-yard pass for the touchdown. The two point conversion was no good, making the score 7-6.

The Knights would score once more before the halftime break. Quarterback Jordan Talbott would find Chris Ware for the 28-yard touchdown pass. The extra point try failed, making it a touchdown game heading into halftime.

After a first half of play, it looked as if the Eagles would keep the game close all the way until the end. However, James River would score 26 points in the third quarter with the help of Ian Johnson and Jordan Talbott.

Johnson scored two touchdowns on runs of 23 and 24 yards, while Talbott got a 24-yard run of his own and returned a Zac Blankenship interception 43 yards for the score.

The James River defense held Auburn in the second half, not allowing an Eagle point. Auburn was held to just 187 yards in the game and fumbled the ball five times.

The next opponent for the Eagles will be Narrows. The Green Wave are coming off of a tough loss to Giles, 21-16, on Friday. They are 1-3 on this young season, losing to Giles, Monroe (from Lindside, WV 21-7), and Eastern Montgomery (32-3). Their lone win is against Craig County (35-0).


















Bobcats shut out Maroon Tide, set up “family affair”

By Cody Dalton
Sports Correspondent

Radford picked up their first win of the season on Friday, as they shut out the Galax Maroon Tide on the road, 42-0.

The win sets up an interesting match up between Radford and Gretna. Radford coach Matthew Saunders will be going against his brother, Kevin.

“He’s a good coach,” said Radford coach Matthew Saunders in an earlier interview. I know what they are going to bring and they are going to be physical. They are real well coached. I’ll treat that game no different than any other.”

The Hawks come into the game 2-1, winning their last two games against Dan River (27-21) and Tunstall (18-0). Their only loss of the season came in a 15-7 loss to Liberty Christian in the season opener.

The match up between the two schools was set when a scheduling conflict was created on the Bobcat’s schedule.

“Rural Retreat dropped us in our contract,” Saunders said. “You work on the schedule two years in advance. They ended up not signing late. The only game that date for us was Gretna. That’s the way it worked out, but to be the best, you have to play the best.”

(9-30-09)