Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312120135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Long
Neither the mud of Dec. 4 nor Saturday's snow could stop the Spartans on their appointed rounds on the way to the Group A Division 2 state title. Giles completed a perfect season with a 27-18 victory over visiting Lunenburg Central.
Peter Janney's three touchdowns keyed a 27-point first half for Giles (14-0), which knocked off its third consecutive undefeated team in Lunenburg Central (13-1), the 1992 state champion.
The state championship is the Spartans' first since 1980, when Giles won the Group AA title over Park View-Sterling.
"I'm not so sure that the second time doesn't feel the best," said Steve Ragsdale, the Spartans' coach. "The first time we won it, it's not that I didn't appreciate it, but I was just in my third year as coach. Now, on down the road a bit, now that I can reflect on things, it's real satisfying to be on top."
None of the players on this year's state championship squad was in grade school then, but the legend of the 1980 Spartans is an oft-heard tale in Giles.
"Yeah, oh yeah, I've heard about it," said Patrick Steele, a senior linebacker who grew up listening to his two uncles, Mike Ratcliffe and Phillip Steele, spinning yarns of their conquests with the 1980 squad.
"The only thing [Ragsdale] said about it was that everybody around here had heard about the 1980 team. He said, `Little kids grow up hearing about that team. If you win today, all the little kids will grow up hearing about you.' "
There will be many a tale with which to regale future Spartans, who will be suiting up for playoff games sometime around the year 2006.
They'll hear about the weather and about how this team skated to a state title across a frozen field one week after wallowing in a downpour to beat Haysi 8-0 in a semifinal.
They'll hear about Maurice Milton. After scoring the only touchdown against Haysi, he began a second-quarter blizzard of points Saturday with a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown.
And future Spartans most certainly will hear about Janney, who covered more ground than the light snow in accumulating 152 yards on 34 carries out of Giles' Single Wing. With junior tailback Raypheal Milton, Maurice's twin, restricted to playing on passing downs because of a gimpy ankle, Janney carried the load.
Janney scored all three of the Spartans' offensive touchdowns on runs of 19, 4 and 1 yards.
"Coach Ragsdale, he told me right before the game, `You're [going to be] running . . . the ball,' " Janney said. "I didn't realize it would be that much."
Janney carried 11 times for 57 yards during an epic 13-play drive that put away the game with 17 seconds left in the first half. After getting stuffed from the 1 - and with no timeouts left - Janney powered across the goal line on the next play.
Raypheal Milton's arching toss to Patrick Steele made it 27-12.
"That score was really important," Janney said. "We went into the locker room more than one touchdown ahead."
Giles was outgained on the ground, 231 yards to 172, but the Spartans' defense held Lunenburg Central without a first down in the second half until eight minutes were left in the game.
"Our defense was quicker," said nose guard Chris Fields, who had a 100-yard game as a fullback earlier this season.
The Chargers scored the only touchdown of the second half, but it came with 3 minutes, 2 seconds to play on a drive that took 16 plays and six minutes.
Lunenburg Central's threat was effectively negated when quarterback Sidney Chappell was sacked on a two-point conversion try and the ensuing onside kick sailed out of bounds.
Giles held on to the ball until 15 seconds were left. Lunenburg Central ran a couple of plays, then surrendered the field to an onrush of Giles fans clad in bandannas, the fashion trademark of Spartans players and followers.
"Fourteen-and-oh," Steele said. "You can't go out much better than that."
The Spartans took the lead for good 4 1/2 minutes into the game, when Janney scored on a 19-yard run set up by Raypheal Milton's 32-yard pass to J.C. Riggs and Maurice Milton booted the extra point to make it 7-6.
Lunenburg Central scored on the game's third play when Michael Hurt took a pitch and ran 58 yards down the left sideline. Cory Whitby's extra-point kick was blown wide right - the first of three failed Chargers conversions - leaving the score 6-0.
"After they scored on the long run, one huge key was coming back to score on the next series," Ragsdale said.
Following an exchange of possessions, Maurice Milton picked off a Chappell pass in the flat and raced unchallenged to the end zone.
"The coaches always tell me, if I'm keying on the tight end to drop back," said Milton, whose extra-point kick was pushed aside by the breeze. "I looked at the quarterback's eyes to see where he was throwing and I broke on the ball."
Seconds later, Giles' Bucky Burton recovered a fumble on the Chargers' 8 yard-line. Two plays later, Janney strolled in from the 4 as the Spartans went up 21-6.
Lunenburg Central came back with a nine-play, 59-yard drive, capped by Roger Gayles' 4-yard run that made it 21-12 with 4:11 left in the half. It was as close as the Chargers would get until the fourth quarter.
Lunenburg Central was looking for its fifth state title since 1980, but instead lost the state championship game for the fourth time in six seasons.
"I've been on both sides [of a state championship result] a lot of times," said Chippie Chappell, the Chargers' coach. "We have a bunch of kids hurting right now."
by CNB