Tornado wins battle of the storms

By DAVE COX/Staff
For the fourth straight game, the Richlands football team had a huge third quarter in a 31-10 win over Marion last Friday in the Region IV, Division 3 semifinals at Ernie Hicks Stadium/EMATS Field in front of a large, loud and rowdy crowd of RHS supporters!
The win means that the Blues will travel to Roanoke this Friday to play Cave Spring in search of their sixth straight Region IV championship.
The Blues were leading by just four points at 7-3 rt halftime Friday, but the flood gates opened quickly in the third frame. Richlands (10-1) put 24 unanswered points on the scoreboard, 14 of them before the packed house barely had time to blink an eye once the third period starting whistle blew. Austin Johnson grabbed the third quarter kickoff and rambled 93 yards to the house. That run was the second longest kickoff return in RHS history! Larry Ratliff holds the record with a 96-yard return against Graham way back in 1970. The run by Johnson was just the start of the second half fun for the Tornado faithful. After Marion got the ball on offense, they held it only one play before Albert Fajardo intercepted a Scarlet Hurricanes pass. Three plays later, the Blues added more points to their side of the scoreboard. All of the above occurred in just over a two- minute period in the third frame!
Richlands added 10 fourth quarter points before Marion (8-4) finally scored again against the Blues’ defensive reserves.
Richlands was not all that impressive to start the contest, although the Blues did manage a first quarter touchdown to post an early lead. There were some blown opportunities! The Blues moved all the way to the Marion five yard line on their opening offensive series. The nice nine-play drive ended abruptly when the RHS quarterback fumbled the football just inches shy of the goal line and Marion’s Garrett Johnson recovered it in the end zone for a touchback. The next Tornado offensive series was more successful. A short Marion punt gave the Blues the ball at its own 40 and four plays later Cody Johnson drilled a 48-yard pass to Bradley Strong. Reece Strong kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Blues’ lead with only eight seconds left in the first quarter.
A costly penalty nullified another opportunity for Richlands near the start of the second chapter. A 93-yard catch and run touchdown by Austin Johnson was called back on an illegal procedure call by the officials. Three plays later, Jack Vance threw an interception to Brett Johnson. That set up Marion’s only score in the first half.
Johnson returned the pick all the way to the RHS nine. Three running plays against the Tornado defense failed to pick up a Marion score, forcing a field goal attempt of 22 yards. Ben Ampudia’s kick was true and the Blues’ lead was cut to 7-3 with 3:34 left in the second period.
Richlands put on an 11-play drive, but turned the ball over on downs at the Marion 10.
“We had way too many turnovers and missed opportunities in the first half,” said Richlands head coach Greg Mance. “But we came out in the second half and I thought we executed well and I couldn’t be more proud of our football team.”
It didn’t take long for the Richlands offense, defense and crowd to get pumped up at the start of the third frame. The Austin Johnson 93-yard romp had the cheering crowd on its feet. Reece Strong booted the PAT and it was 14-3 with 11:47 left in the third period.
Some on-the-field antics drew penalty flags on both teams and moans of disapproval from the crowd. As play resumed and Fajardo picked off Matt Noe’s pass, the RHS crowd grew even louder, frustrating the Marion team even more than the Blues’ exceptional play. Fajardo’s interception set up another quick score for the home team. Three plays covered the needed 33 yards with 26 of them coming on a scoring pass from Cody Johnson as he unleashed a 26-yard toss to Bradley Strong, Strong’s second TD reception on the night. Reece Strong kicked the extra point to boost the Blues’ advantage to 21-3 with 9:58 still to play in the third stanza. The Richlands crowd totally had the Marion game out of sync for the remainder of the third period!
A 21-yard punt return by Bradley Strong set up the next Tornado score. Starting at Marion’s 32, it took six plays to strike pay dirt again. The drive climaxed on a 21-yard scoring pass from Cody Johnson to Cody Thomas who caught the pass just inside the back of the end zone. Reece Strong’s kick was true for a 28-3 Blues’ lead with 11:51 left in the game.
Moments later, another 21-yard punt return by Bradley Strong took the ball to the Marion 14 giving his team yet another scoring opportunity.
Three plays moved the ball to the ‘Canes seven and Reece Strong connected on a 24-yard field goal attempt to put the score firmly in control of the Blues at 31-3.
“We played real well in the second half and the crowd got into the game and the kids really responded,” said Mance. “After being off (for a week), it’s hard to get back into the rhythm, but we did a god job moving the ball and our defense played extremely well.”
Marion added a cosmetic touchdown with 1:26 left in the contest on a 68-yard pass from Noe to David Rivero against reserve RHS defensive players. Ampudia added the extra point kick to set the final score at 31-10.Devon Johnson paced the Tornado ground game with 51 yards on 13 carries. Cody Johnson threw for 174 yards on 17 attempts and 11 completions. He was intercepted once. Bradley Strong caught three passes for 81 yards in the game. As a team, Richlands picked up 115 rushing yards and 175 passing. Marion managed 69 yards on the ground and 102 passing on 11 attempts and four completions. Noe was intercepted twice.
The RHS defense was led by Will Lowe with seven tackles and two assists. Thomas had six tackles and two assists.
The Cave Spring Knights advanced to the Region IV, Division 3 championship game with a 42-0 thumping of Graham last Friday night.