Radford Stuns Giles
Radford's William Saunders (#15) fights for yardage against the Giles defense. The Bobcats rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to open Three Rivers District play with a thrilling 35-28 victory.
Photo by David Grimes
PEARISBURG, VA - Trailing by 14 at the half, Radford outscored Giles 28-7 in the second half, to spoil the Spartans Homecoming activities and open up Three Rivers District play with a huge 35-28 victory against the defending district champs.
Trailing 21-7 at the half, the Bobcats (5-1, 1-0 TRD) would come out of the locker room at the half, with fire in their eyes. Wasting no time to claw its way back into the district opener, Radford pulled to with seven, 21-14 on a Dontae Carter to Will Saunders flea-flicker 7-yard pass to Jon Thompson and a Michael Goodman's PAT. The Spartans (3-3, 0-1 TRD) would up their advantage to 28-14 on a 32-yard scamper by Cody Journell and then he would kick the PAT. Radford once again wasted no time in lighting up the scoreboard. Carter would then connect with Thompson on 77-yard pass reception and Goodman's PAT would pull the Bobcats back to within a touchdown, 28-21, going into what proved to be the crucial fourth quarter.
Radford would tie the game at 28-all in the fourth quarter when Patrick Webb was the recipient of a 30-yard pass from Carter and Goodman converted the PAT. Radford would then take the lead for good when Carter called his own number and ran 6-yards for the score and Goodman's PAT would make it 35-28, as a shocked Spartan team and their faithful saw their team's three game winning streak come to an end. But more importantly, the chances of Giles returning to the playoffs this season also took a big sack.
After a scoreless first quarter, Giles would jump out to an early 14-0 lead in the second quarter on a 21-yard scamper by Justin Gautier and an 80-yard gallop by Journell. Radford would cut its deficit in half, 14-7, behind a 52-yard run by Webb and the PAT by Goodman with 1:47 left in the quarter. The Spartans would quickly answer back when Travis Robertson bullied his way end from 2-yards out and Journell's PAT would make it 21-7 with 10 ticks left before halftime.
Radford tallied 388 yards of total offense, with 240 of those yards coming via airmail. Dontae Carter completed 15-of-29 passes for 233 yards. Carter also led the ground game, rushing for 53 yards on nine carries and Patrick Webb picked up 50 yards on three attempts.
Giles racked up 405 yards of total offense, with 384 yards coming on the ground. Cody Journell led the ground with 165 yards on 22 carries and Travis Robertson had 145 yards on 13 tries.
Radford - 0 7 14 14 - 35
Giles - 0 21 7 0 - 28
2nd Qt.
GHS -- Goutier 21 run (Journell kick)
GHS -- Journell 80 run (Journell kick)
RHS -- P. Webb 52 run (Goodman kick)
GHS -- Robertson 1 run (Journell kick)
3rd Qt.
RHS -- J. Thompson 7 pass from Saunders (Goodman kick)
GHS -- Journell 32 run (Journell kick)
RHS -- J. Thompson 77 pass from Carter (Goodman kick)
4th Qt.
RHS -- P. Webb 30 pass from Carter (Goodman kick)
RHS -- Carter 6 Run (Goodman kick)
