Burton clinches LPD crown, playoff spot in 51-7 win over Gate City

By Cody Dalton
TriCitiesSports.com
November 3, 2006

Norton, Va. — The J.I. Burton Black Raiders captured their first outright Lonesome Pine District title in 34 years after beating Gate City, 51-7.

Burton put together a tremendous first half of play, only allowing six total yards of Gate City offense. They also scored 28 points in the second quarter alone. The Raiders would head into the locker room with a dominating 35-0 lead.

“I thought the first half was about as good an execution as you can have from a high school football team,” said Burton coach Jim Adams. “We ran the inside and outside running game well and threw the ball well when we wanted to. Defensively, other than two plays, we had them in negative yardage. We played a complete first half.”

After coming out to play in the second half, Burton continued to play tremendously in the second half. In the end, Gate City would be too far behind to catch up. Sophomore Running back/Linebacker Skylar Peters lead the team with 10.5 tackles and two sacks on defense and a rushing touchdown on offense.

This win marks the first time Burton has defeated Gate City since 1952, a 54 year span between wins. This win also the first time since 1972 that Burton’s team has went the entire season undefeated.

“This win is very important to us,” said Adams. “More than anything else, it means a lot to beat Coach Colobro. He is a hall of fame coach, as well as a hall of fame person. It is important to beat an icon like him because I have a lot of admiration for him and his program.”

Gate City ends its season at 4-6 and 3-4 in the Lonesome Pine District. They will look to concentrate their efforts in the off-season and working hard to be at an ever more competitive level.

“I thought we played hard every ball game this season,” said Gate City coach Nick Colobro. “In the ball games we’ve played, but we’ve played good.”

Despite the way the season and game turned out, coach Nick Colobro remained optimistic about the possibility of the future of the team.

“We have a bunch of young kids,” said Colobro. “We have learned some things this year and we are going to try to get better this off-season and get better next fall.”

J.I. Burton will now wait to see where they will be in the playoffs. From the standings, Burton will have home-field advantage in the playoffs. Burton is likely to play against Lonesome Pine District foe Powell Valley High School.

1 2 3 4 FINAL
Gate City 0 0 0 7 7
J.I. Burton 7 28 8 8 51

J.I. Burton – Ethan Stewart, 1-yard run (Will Godsey kick)
J.I. Burton –Josh Miles, 19-yard run (Godsey kick)
J.I. Burton – Jay Coleman, 49-yard run (Godsey kick)
J.I. Burton – Ethan Stewart 18-yards to Will Godsey (Godsey kick)
J.I. Burton – Ethan Stewart 48-yard pass to Jared Pugh (Godsey kick)
J.I. Burton – Skyler Peters, 8-yard run (2-point conversion)
Gate City – Payton Jenkins, 6-yard run (Ked Byrd kick)
J.I. Burton – Martinez Miles, 86-yard kickoff return (2-point conversion)
Gate City J.I. Burton
First Downs 9 10
Rushing Att-Yards 33-51 23-265
Passes Comp.-Att.-Int. 3-5-0 4-6-0
Passing Yards 55 97
Total Offense 106 362
Punting 6-38.4 1-50.0
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2
Penalties 3-15 4-35


Individual Stats

RUSHING
J.I. Burton – Miles, 7-73, TD; Sensabaugh, 7-68, TD; Jay Coleman, 4-67; Jaycob Coleman, 3-47; Peters, 2-10.
Gate City – Jenkins, 20-33; Kern, 4-(-19); Pope, 3-19; Jones, 2-(-1); Hensley, 1-10; Estepp, 1-5; Faulkner, 1-2; Godsey, 1-2.

PASSING
J.I. Burton – Stewart, 4-6-0, 97, 2 TDs.
Gate City – Kern, 2-4-0, 23, 0 TD; Anderson, 1-1-0, 32, 0 TD.

RECEIVING
J.I. Burton – Pugh, 1-49; Godsey, 1-18; Caudill, 1-12; Sensabaugh, 1-9
Gate City – Estepp, 2-23; Hutchins, 1-32.