J.I. Burton 25 Covington 13 The Burton Raiders moved a step closer to the Division 1 VHSL state title by a methodical 25-13 pasting of Covington. The Raiders schooled the Cougars in old fashioned LPD football by grinding out 286 yards on the ground, 230 of which were accounted for by Reggie Sensabaugh in yet another super effort. The Raiders established the fact they would dominate the line of scrimmage early as they took the opening drive 76 yards on 12 plays with Sensabaugh accounting for all the yards & capping the drive by smashing in from the 4 to put Burton up 6-0 with 7 minutes remaining in the quarter. After stuffing Covington on it's possession, the Raiders were off again. This time on a 13 play, 77 yard drive that featured 48 yards passing by Matt Ward. It was Ward's 16 yard strike to Mike Sowden that put the ball at the 1, where Sensabaugh took care of the rest as he bulled in at the 10:55 mark of the 2nd quarter to give Burton a 12-0 lead. The Burton defense was magnificent on the day as they held the Cougars to 6 yards rushing in the 1st half & only 43 for the game. Quinn Smith played a big part from his NG position as the Cougars had 5 fumbles on the QB/center exchange. Covington got briefly into it just before halftime when their big TE Travis Bogar hauled in a 3 yard scoring pass from QB Brent May to cut the lead to 12-6 at the half.
The 2nd half was more of the same, as Raider LB Elijah Roop recovered a Cougar fumble caused by Smith to set up Sensabaugh's 3rd TD of the day from 15 yards out to put the Raiders up 18-6 with 7 minutes to go in the 3rd. Covington refused to wilt though & with 6:39 left, drew to within 18-13 as Bogar hauled in another TD pass from May of 16 yards. That would be as close as Covington would get though. A holding penalty on the kickoff caused the Raiders to start from their own 14, but once again the huge front line & Sensabaugh proved too much as the Raiders drove 86 yards with Sensabaugh rushing for all 86 & the final 23 yards leading to the end zone to put Burton in front at 25-13 as Sam Keys added the PAT with 2:57 left. Covington couldn't muster another drive, and the Raiders ran the clock out. With the win Burton improved to 8-5 on the year and will now face Surry Co. for the state championship next Saturday at Western Albamarle HS in Crozet. It will be the 3rd year in a row that Surry has been in the finals, losing the last two to the Appalachia Bulldogs.
J.I. Burton 6 6 6 7 25 Covington 0 6 0 7 13 C JIB B-Sensabaugh 4 run(run fail) 1st downs 7 19 B-Sensabaugh 1 run(pass fail) Rushing 30-43 53-286 C-Bogar 3 pass from May(kick fail)Passing 101 76 B-Sensabaugh 15 run(pass fail) Passes 7-15-0 6-7-0 C-Bogar 16 pass from May(St. Total 144 362 Clair kick) Fumbles 5-1 3-2 B-Sensabaugh 23 run(Keys kick) Punts 4-40 1-25 Penalties 6-49 3-30
Powell Valley 40 Giles 0 The Powell Valley Vikings returned to the scene of their last defeat 26 games ago looking for a bit of revenge. They got that and more in a 40-0 rout of Giles on the Spartans home field. In the process of erasing that defeat, Julius Jones also erased a VHSL State playoff record held by Appalachia's Shane Gibson as he rushed for 336 yards on 19 carries & scored 5 TD's in the rout. PV's Killer D set the tempo early as they stuffed the Giles single wing attack on 3 play & forced a punt. Giles got a brief reprieve when a penalty helped stop a PV drive at the Giles 15, but it only delayed the inevitable as the next PV series resulted in Jones scooted in from 21 yards out to make it 7-0 with JT Wells PAT. PV was once again on the move in the 2nd quarter with Jones runs being mixed in with timely gains by Matt McCoy (7-78 0n the day) & Victor Williams (11-60). Jones scored the Vikings 2nd TD from 8 yards out to make it 13-0. Giles got a brief drive strung together, but Landry Boggs recovered a fumble at the PV 35 to end it. From there it was Jones again leading the way & scored once again from the 8 to make it a 20-0 PV lead at the break.
The 2nd half got underway with PV's Josh Callahan taking the kick back to the Viking 36. Jones then cut down the left sidelines for an apparent 64 yard TD, but the Vikings were flagged for holding on the play. Not that it mattered though as a couple of plays later Jones did the same thing, only from 76 yards away to make it 27-0 early in the 3rd. As busy as the offense was at grinding out the yards, the defense was just as busy grinding the single wing into the ground. Last week FB Micah Steele had 350 yards in a route of John Battle, but had only 62 yards on 16 carries on the day. The Spartans were able to muster little against the quick Viking defense and were shut out on the day. PV's scoring was capped by QB Jake Stepp hitting TE Josh Warren on a 24 yard TD & the final scoring came when Jones capped off his afternoon by taking it in from 43 yards away for the 40-0 final. PV rushed for 505 yards on the day and never punted. PV now moves on to face Madison Co. at Harrisonburg HS for the state title next Saturday. PV defeated Madison for their 1st state title back in 1982 and have won 6 more since. This will be the 6th time an LPD team has faced Madison for a state title with the LPD owning a 4-1 record.
Powell Valley 7 13 7 13 40 Giles Co. 0 0 0 0 0 PV G PV-Jones 21 run(Wells kick) 1st downs 23 13 PV-Jones 8 run(kick fail) Rushing 43-505 43-127 PV-Jones 8 run(Wells kick) Passing 42 44 PV-Jones 76 run(Wells kick) Passes 2-3-0 4-13-1 PV-Warren 24 pass from Stepp(kick fail) Total 547 171 PV-Jones 43 run(Wells kick) Punts 0-0 6-27 Fumbles 2-1 3-1 Penalties 3-30 2-20