RIPLEY CAN'T SHAKE OFF LAST YEAR'S GAME J.R. HOUSE BACK TO REMIND VIKINGS OF 'FIFTH-DOWN' DEFEAT

Publication: CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL
Published: 09/26/1997
Page: P1B
Headline: RIPLEY CAN'T SHAKE OFF LAST YEAR'S GAME J.R. HOUSE BACK TO REMIND VIKINGS OF 'FIFTH-DOWN' DEFEAT
Byline: TOM ALUISE

Ripley High's football team was doing its best to forget about last
year's infamous fifth-down play in the closing minutes at Nitro, an
extra down that helped the Wildcats defeat the visiting Vikings,
20-18.

Ripley also thought it had purged from its mind the passing exploits
of Nitro's Kennedy Award-winning and record-setting quarterback J.R.
House.

House, of course, returned to Nitro from Florida's Seabreeze High
School this week, just in time to suit up for tonight's encounter at
Ripley's Death Valley.

"We were getting ready for the run offense, now you've got to get
ready for a whole new dimension,' Ripley Coach Frank Marino said
earlier this week. "We broke out last year's films.'

The Vikings are 2-2. Nitro is 3-1.

House, now a junior, threw for 232 yards in Nitro's victory over
Ripley last year, a loss which possibly cost the Vikings home field
advantage in the playoffs.

A loss tonight could jeopardize Ripley's playoff chances, period.

"This is a must game for us,' Marino said. "It will be a good test.'

Ripley leads its series with Nitro, 6-5.

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HOUSE SAID Florida has tremendous individual athletes. But he said his
teammates at Nitro could compete with Seabreeze, an AAAA school near
Daytona Beach. Florida's biggest division is 6-A.

"The guys I was playing with, our guys at Nitro could have played
with them,' said House, who had thrown for over 600 yards in three
games at Seabreeze.

The team was 1-2 when he left.