The Shadow
COVINGTON – With the weather effects of Hurricane Helene on the horizon in the Alleghany Highlands, Friday’s home varsity football game at Casey Field between Alleghany and Radford was moved up a day.
That had little effect on the undefeated Cougars who kicked off their Three Rivers District schedule by knocking off the defending Class 2 State Champion Bobcats following a 27-9 home victory on Thursday evening.
The win itself was a statement victory for the Alleghany High School football program who can now call upon their doubters and ask what else is left to prove that they belong at the top of football programs being talked about.
It was a breakout performance from Carter Nicely who bulldozed through the Radford defense en route to a 230-yds on the ground on 22 rushing attempts. Nicely had five carries of 10 or more yards, including a 61-yd rushing score that broke a 6-6 tie game.
Des Jordan had another star-studded performance throwing for 177-yds as he completed 12 of his 16 pass attempts and added a touchdown pass. Jordan also ran for 70-yds on 15 rushing attempts and one score. The junior was also a problem defensively as he had an interception on the Bobcats second drive during the first quarter.
For Radford, they can only kick themselves for several missed opportunities.
The Bobcats were too aggressive early in the game and tried to catch Alleghany off-guard on a failed a sneak onside-kick attempt following a 71-yd touchdown that gave them a 6-3 lead in the first quarter, which led to the Cougars getting great field position resulting in a Mason Hale field goal.
The Bobcats blunders continued in the second half due to missed interception chances to change the momentum, as well as key drops on offense while in the end zone. RHS had so many chances at making the game a lot closer.
A result of a great defensive scheme by Alleghany head coach Will Fields and his staff, Radford during the fourth quarter had two drives with the ball inside the AHS 5-yard line and could not score. The Bobcats were also 0-for-4 on fourth downs.
Early on at the start of the game both teams struggled out of the gate. Alleghany and Radford both went three-and-out on their first drive on offense, which was a first for the Cougars this season where they failed to score or get a first down on their first look of offense.
Offensive woes continued for Radford on their second drive as it lasted only two plays before Jordan picked off Luke Gaither. Alleghany would make the most of the turnover by using up majority of the first quarter clock on a 10-play drive resulting in a Hale 29-yd field goal.
The defending Class 2 state champions would not bow out quickly after two bad drives on offense. 45 seconds after the Cougars put the first points on the scoreboard, the Bobcats found the end zone on one long 71-yd touchdown pass from Gaither to Jaden Hendricks. A big play not talked about enough was on the ensuing extra point attempt, a bad snap resulted in the Bobcats to attempt a two-point conversion in which the kicker Louis Webster’s pass to the end zone was picked off by Gavin Via.
The failed two-point attempt put a little damper on the momentum for Radford. However, you don’t become a state champion without being an aggressive team, but there’s also a time where being too aggressive can come back at you. The Bobcats tried to catch Alleghany off guard with an onside kick attempt which went out of bounds at the Bobcats own 34-yard line. The mistake by the Bobcats eventually resulted in three points for the Cougars on Hale’s second field goal of the game, this time from 26-yds out.
Now all the momentum was shifted to Alleghany who stopped Radford on a fourth down attempt on their next offensive drive inside the Cougars 30-yard line. Two plays later, Nicely broke loose up the middle and 61-yds later was in the end zone to put the Cougars back in front.
It was a lead that AHS would not relinquish.
Following a punt on Radford’s next drive, Alleghany was looking to bust the game open and nearly did so. Jordan connected with Sarge Persinger on a 14-yd pass, however Persinger would fumble the ball which was scooped up by the Bobcats.
Looking for some momentum the Bobcats would settle for a 35-yard field goal from Webster to cut the lead down to 13-9.
Just before the end of the first half, Alleghany would build a 20-9 lead following a 13-play scoring drive resulting in an 8-yd rushing score from Jordan.
Both teams would come out red hot in the second half, however, no points would come from it. On the first play of the half, Nicely broke loose on a 55-yd run to move the ball to the Radford 20-yard line. The Cougars would come up short on the drive resulting in a turnover on downs.
The near same result for Radford ensued on their first drive on offense. Gaither moved the ball down the field from the 17-yard line to near midfield. However, the end result of the drive was a punt from the Bobcats.
The third quarter would come to a close with neither team putting points on the scoreboard despite multiple chances moving the ball down the field.
In the fourth quarter it would take Alleghany less than two minutes to get back onto the scoreboard following a 32-yd touchdown pass from Jordan to Xzavier Hayslett. Hayslett led the Cougars in receiving with 82-yds on the evening on four catches.
As Alleghany built a 27-9 lead, Radford had a pair of chances inside the Cougars 5-yd line that resulted in turnover on downs. This would lead to the Cougars icing the game in the final 3 minutes and 57 seconds as Nicely took it upon himself to get three first downs to seal the win.
The Cougars finished the game with 22 first downs, while Radford had eight.
Gaither only completed 14 of his 32 pass attempts, but did have 236-yds in the air. Hendricks led all receivers with five catches for 117-yds.
With the win Alleghany improved to 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in the district. The Cougars have their bye week coming up this Friday. AHS is back on the field on October 11th when the team concludes their four-game home-stand when they host Glenvar.
Radford 6 3 0 0 – 9
Alleghany 3 17 0 7 – 27
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
AHS – M. Hale 29yd field goal – 2:36
RAD – J. Hendricks 71 pass from L. Gaither (2pt try failed) – 1:51
Second Quarter
AHS – M. Hale 26yd field goal – 11:56
AHS – C. Nicely 61 run (M. Hale kick) – 8:37
RAD – L. Webster 35yd field goal – 7:07
AHS – D. Jordan 8 run (M. Hale kick) – 0:33
Fourth Quarter
AHS – X. Hayslett 32 pass from D. Jordan (M. Hale kick) – 10:17
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – RAD: J. Grubbs 12-33, L. Gaither 1-(-2). AHS: C. Nicely 22-230, D. Jordan 15-70, Hu. Knighton 6-25, B. Griffith 1-6. PASSING – RAD: L. Gaither 14-32-236. AHS: D. Jordan 12-16-177, B. Griffith 0-1-0. RECEIVING – RAD: J. Hendricks 5-117, L. Woodard 2-58, S. Taylor 4-38, C. Garner-Rollins 3-23. AHS: X. Hayslett 4-83, Hu. Knighton 4-59, S. Persinger 2-19, J. Godfrey 1-9, Hay. Knighton 1-7.
