NITRO'S SWOON BENEFITS DOTS
Publication:
Published: 11/09/1996
Page: P1B
Headline: NITRO'S SWOON BENEFITS DOTS
Byline: TOM ALUISE
DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER
POCA - Nitro High Coach
Robert "Little' Burdette can rest
comfortably. The Wildcats are in the Class AAA playoffs.
Now, if he can only figure
out why his team has suddenly developed an
aversion to the third and fourth quarters of games.
And Burdette had better hurry.
Nitro (7-3) is facing a possible
first-round playoff matchup at either Capital, John
Marshall or
Musselman.
Poca, meanwhile, gets to stay home for
its Class AA playoff opener
next week, thanks to its 35-10 romp over the Wildcats Friday at O.O.
White Stadium, a.k.a. the Mud Bowl. The Dots (9-1) are looking at a
possible first-round matchup against Liberty-Harrison
(6-3).
"We're 9-1. There's no
way I ever thought we'd be there,' Poca Coach
Bob Lemley said. "I feel good about this team. I
don't think we're all
that talented up front. But we're starting to execute better and we're
learning how to block better.
"And I think our
backfield is starting to come together. It's just not
totally Jason Redman. We've got other guys contributing.'
It was mostly Redman
against 10th-rated Nitro, the school from which
he transferred this season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior tailback
burned his ex-teammates for four touchdowns and 153 yards rushing on
19 carries.
Redman had TD runs of 65,
3, 8 and 11 yards to boost his season TD
total to 22. His 65-yard scoring run came on the final play of the
first half and cut Nitro's advantage to 10-7. More important, it
provided momentum for the fifth-rated Dots.
"At first I was
nervous,' Redman said. "But as soon as the game
got
going, I took it as any other game.'
Minus Redman's TD run,
Nitro controlled most of the first half. The
Wildcats scored on 31-yard Barry Dickerson field goal and a 20-yard
screen pass from quarterback J.R. House to Zack Collins.
Nitro ran 35 plays to Poca's 20 in the first half.
But much like last week's
second-half collapse at Herbert Hoover,
Nitro snoozed through the third and fourth quarters against the Dots.
Poca ran 40 plays to Nitro's 18 in the
second half and outscored the
visitors, 28-0. In its loss to Herbert Hoover last week, Nitro was
outscored 38-0 in the second half.
"That's two weeks in a
row that we haven't played in the second
half,' Burdette said. "It bothers me going into
the playoffs.'
"They did a good job
controlling the ball on us,' Lemley said. "In
the second half, it was just the opposite.'
Nitro produced only 19
yards of total offense after halftime and 187
on the night.
House, who finished
15-of-35 through the air for 146 yards, was
3-of-12 for 23 yards in the second half as the Wildcats had trouble
getting their vaunted passing game to click in the wet, muddy
conditions.
House's first-half scoring
pass to Collins gave him 28 on the season,
tying him with two others for the state single-season record.
Poca in the second half amassed 230 of
its 350 yards of offense.
"We had to make some
adjustments at halftime,' said Redman. "We tried
to get away from going outside. We used me as a decoy. Everybody on
the team had a great game.'
Two other Poca rushers, Jason Gray and Ian McQuinn,
amassed 58 and 54
yards respectively.
Nitro's leading receiver
was Collins with seven receptions for 76
yards. The Wildcats top receiver on the year, Chris Martin, caught
only one ball for 5 yards. Martin had 66 catches for 1,205 yards
entering the game.
Redman played Martin in the
first half and Patrick Dunn took over in
the second.
"Basically I played
him straight up,' Redman said. "We bumped him and
wouldn't let him get off the line of scrimmage.
"We did that to all of
their receivers but Martin was especially
important.'
"We knew Martin was
their favorite receiver,' said Lemley, who was as
muddy as many of his players. "We tried to slow
him down and take him
out of the game a little bit. That's basically what we did.'
"He was under a little
pressure out there,' Lemley said.
"I'm sure it
wasn't the most pleasant game he's been in. But he came through for
us.'