THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9512300144
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
THE LARKSPUR/SALEM Lions and the Woodstock Mustangs entered last month's championship game of the community football league 120-pound division with unbeaten records.
Something had to give. Something did, but not by much.
``I expected a hard-fought game and that's what it was,'' said Mustangs coach Sid Pearl. ``We were looking to score twice and shut them down.''
The Mustangs scored only half as much as Pearl was hoping for, but it proved to be enough as Woodstock posted a 6-0 victory.
After a scoreless first half, the Mustangs received the second-half kickoff and, on the third play of the quarter, John Cason turned an off-tackle run into a 70-yard gain. A diving tackle by the Lions' Marcus Watts stopped Cason on the 5-yard line. Woodstock took care of the scoring two plays later. Mustang quarterback Jake Hindlin threw a quick 5-yard slant to Mike Kreider for the game's only score.
The two had dominated their divisions during the eight-game regular season.
Coach Charlie Bentsen and his Lions scored 302 points; their opponents, 12. They amassed 1,024 yards in total offense and yielded a minus 355.
Bentsen said, ``I knew they were going to be good. I don't know if my players realized how good.
``I'm not taking anything from Woodstock. They're a great team, but we beat ourselves, too. Over 80 yards in penalties at crucial times.''
Bentsen is looking forward to next year. Ten players come back, including five returning starters.
``We thought our speed (on defense) would stop them,'' said Pearl. ``We have a good group of linebackers, probably the best we've had.''
That's quite a statement coming from a man who has coached for almost three decades and has won three city championships in this decade. Pearl took the Mustangs to back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992.
In the 140-pound championship game, Larkspur/Salem completed a Cinderella season by defeating the Courthouse Tigers, new kids on the playoff block. The Lions went 5-3 during the regular season, suffered nine injuries and lost quarterback Mike Strader with a broken arm. For Courthouse and its coach, Otis Summers, the trip to a title game was a new one.
``You always hear about the Woodstocks and the Larkspurs,'' said Summers, after his semifinal win the previous weekend. ``Maybe now we'll get noticed.''
They did. The Tigers used a beautifully executed deep post pattern to score a touchdown and tie the game late in the half. Tiger quarterback Brandon Summers dropped back and threw a perfect 40-yard spiral to Stephen Miles. Miles caught the pass in stride over his right shoulder and ran the final 20 yards into the end zone untouched.
The halftime score, 6-6, didn't please coach Summers.
He pointed to four first-half turnovers by the Tigers and told his team that they couldn't win playing that kind of football.
The Tigers may have found a way to stop the turnovers, but they couldn't find a way to stop Lion running back George Nieto.
Courthouse scored first in the second half on another well-conceived pass play. The Tigers split a receiver wide right and sent him on a deep curl over the middle. Summers hit star running back Bruce Harrison in the vacated flat underneath the coverage and Harrison did what he did so well all year. He ran 55 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. The play put Courthouse up, 12-6.
Harrison scored 19 times during the regular season and three times in the semifinal win over Bayside.
Enter George Nieto.
Nieto had iced the semifinal game the week before with a 65-yard touchdown sprint against the Woodstock Rams in a 16-10 victory.
He scored Larkspur/Salem's tying touchdown on a 2-yard run after a long drive following the Courthouse score.
He scored the go-ahead touchdown on an inspired 30-yard dash around left end on a pitchout. Two Courthouse tacklers hit Nieto at the 25 yard-line. He stumbled, put his right arm down, kept his balance and ran into the end zone.
``There's a running back,'' said a coach who watched Nieto damage defenses all season. ``You can't teach second effort.''
Nieto scored his third touchdown of the half on an 8-yard sweep. He took two Tigers into the end zone with him.
Larkspur/Salem won 26-12.
``We spread our defensive strength around, but No. 32 ran away from whatever we tried,'' Otis Summers said.
Gilbert has coached Larkspur/Salem since 1990 and his teams have been to the playoffs every year and won a city championship in 1993.
``I'm real proud of this group of players because of the way we won it,'' said Gilbert. ``Coming back from so many injuries. I had to move Dion (Bridges) from running back to quarterback after Mike broke his arm.''
Courthouse turned around from a 2-6 record in 1994 to 8-2 this year.
``We came a long way,'' Summers said. ILLUSTRATION: YOUTH FOOTBALL
Photo by GARY EDWARDS
Woodstock Mustangs running back John Gilchrist looks for rushing
room against the Larkspur/Salem Lions in the 120-pound championship
game.
by CNB