ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HAMPTON
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
THE WEST FOOTBALL squad's offense, including Thomas Jones, struggles in the VHSCA all-star game.
It was nothing personal, but Hampton's Donny Green was very happy to stop future teammate Thomas Jones of Powell Valley.
Both players are headed to the University of Virginia, but they were on opposite sides in the Virginia High School Coaches Association all-star football game Thursday night at Darling Stadium.
It was all East in a 23-0 victory as Green and his fellow East linemen put the skids on the West offense that was supposed to showcase Jones, regarded as the state's recruiting prize after setting all kinds of running records for Powell Valley.
The West loss ended a five-game victory streak in this series. It also enabled the East to wind up with a 4-3 edge in the seven all-star games this week.
``Jones is a tough kid. He runs the rock hard. Even when he's down, he runs it hard,'' said Green, named the co-most valuable player for the East along with Bethel linebacker Chris Morant, another UVa signee.
``The defense did the job. The defensive line is where you win this kind of game. Our goal was to contain and read, then gang-tackle.''
The East held the West to 102 yards of total offense. The West running game was in shambles, partly because West Springfield Damone Boone, an All-Group AAA selection, did not show up.
That left it up to Jones, Amherst County's Maurice Clark and E.C. Glass quarterback Andre Kendrick, who is a strong runner.
Clark was the leading ground-gainer for the West with 31 yards, good enough to earn most valuable player honors for his team. With very little passing attack, though, the West was in trouble.
Salem lineman Dan Baker actually handled himself well against the East defense much of the night.
``They were coming backside, coming from all over, '' Baker said.
It went sour early as the West won the toss, and by mistake, chose the wind. That enabled the East to receive kickoffs to start the game and the second half.
On the second play, the East showed the West it would be a long night as halfback Anthony King of Granby uncorked a 52-yard halfback-pass completion to Homer Ferguson's Marcellus Harris to the West 8. The East was forced to settle for a field goal by Mike Link of Stuarts Draft, but it was one of the few times it would come up short.
The East's defense set up the only touchdown of the first half by pinning the West back on its 2. Forced to punt, Pulaski County's Shayne Graham got the ball off only to the 3 under a heavy rush. It was returned by Goochland's Derrick Turner to the 1. On the next play, Deon Dyer of Deep Creek scored from the 1 to make it 10-0.
If it was a long night for the West offense, it was even longer for Pulaski County's Shayne Graham, the Timesland offensive player of the year. He had four punts for an average of 17 yards, not including the one he never got off after another bad snap.
In place-kicking, where Graham came close to setting all kinds of national records, he was way short on a 48-yard try just before the half that might have given the West a spark.
``I just didn't seem to get my timing down on punts,'' Graham said.
Graham, who is going to Virginia Tech, has been practicing his place-kicking without a tee to prepare for college kicking. That worked against him in this game.
``They wanted us to use a tee in this game and I didn't adjust that well to it,'' Graham said.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB