GW BOMBARDS NITRO 65-22
Publication: THE
Published: 09/08/2001
Page: 1B
Headline: GW BOMBARDS NITRO 65-22
Byline: RICK RYAN
rickryan@wvgazette.com
All in all, it wasn't a bad night for the Nitro offense - 17 first downs and
nearly 300 yards of offense against one of the state's top-ranked teams. But
while the Wildcats were merely hitting singles, George Washington was
busy hitting home runs.
Junior Cortez Lacy ran for 171 yards and four touchdowns Friday night, while
junior quarterback Doug Foster threw for a pair of scores and ran for another
as the Patriots used the long ball to pile up a 65-22 victory over Nitro in
front of about 2,500 fans at Laidley Field.
GW (3-0), ranked No. 3 in the Gazette Class AAA ratings, finished with 528
total yards and scored TDs on plays covering (in
order) 67, 78, 84, 46 and 38 yards.
"I've got to give credit where credit's due," said Nitro coach Robert
"Little" Burdette. "They're really good. They're the type of
team that can line up and play with anybody."
The Patriots led just 21-12 at halftime and that was narrowed by three points
when Nitro's Joe Painter nailed a 22-yard field goal to cap a 10-play drive
that started the second half. Then GW started to go deep again.
On the next offensive snap, Lacy burst off right tackle and outran the
secondary for a 78-yard scoring run. Following a Nitro punt, it took GW just
three plays to score again - this time Foster hitting tight end Jonathan McGhee
on a deep seam route that went for an 84-yard TD.
"We made a couple adjustments at halftime," said GW coach Steve
Edwards Jr. "We knew we had to take control of the third quarter. We knew
we had to get momentum going if we were going to have a successful
evening."
GW would score 30 straight points to blow the game open. Shannon Edwards caught
a 46-yard scoring pass from Foster and backup tailback Kerel
Whitehead turned on the jets for a 38-yard TD run on his first carry.
Foster also broke free for a 67-yard romp to the end zone in the second quarter
and recovered from a slow start to complete 6-of-11 passes for 181 yards. He
was picked off twice in the first half. Lacy's TDs came on plays of 7, 7, 78 and 2 yards. GW ran for 347
yards on just 37 carries - an average of 9.4 a play.
"We were making things happen," Lacy said. "If you take care of
the small stuff, the big stuff will happen."
Lacy, listed at 5-foot-9 and 230 pounds, shocked the crowd with his 78-yard
scoring burst, showing speed that a lot of people didn't know he had.
"It felt great. I knew I could do it all along," Lacy said about the
long-distance carry. "When you've got a great team like we've got, you
know the receivers will be blocking for you downfield."
Burdette said Nitro's defense may have been out of position on some of GW's big plays.
"I'll have to see the [game] film," he said, "but we made some
adjustments at halftime and I think we got lined up wrong a couple times in the
second half - especially on Lacy's run after we made
it 21-15. But even when we lined up right, they ran the ball right at us."
Another adjustment worked in GW's favor in the second
half, as the Patriots' defensive front was able to get more pressure on Nitro
junior quarterback Derek Midkiff.
In the first half, Midkiff completed 9-of-13 passes
for 121 yards, including a 63-yard bomb to Jon Lowe (six catches, 100 yards). Midkiff would finish the night 15-of-25 for 186 yards. In
the second half, he was intercepted once and sacked twice.
"Our kids up front were able to put some pressure on him," Steve
Edwards said. "Nitro had a good game plan. I thought they would try to
take advantage of us in the secondary, because we're so young back there."
After Nitro pulled within 21-15 in the third quarter, it wasn't able to match GW's firepower. The Wildcats' next four possessions ended
this way - punt, punt, interception and a sack in the end zone for a safety by
John Lutz.
Nitro (1-2) ended up with 293 yards, 107 of them on the ground. Junior Chris
McGhee, who was averaging 221 yards rushing, was held to 69 on 16 carries, but
did manage a 28-yard scoring run with 8:05 remaining to play.
Of Nitro's 35 running plays, 21 netted 3 or fewer yards.
Of its 15 pass completions, eight were for less than 10 yards.
Nitro's other score was a 21-yard rumble by 250-pound junior fullback Greg
Eads.
GW place-kicker Brian Mierke was perfect on all nine
of his extra-point tries and booted three kickoffs into the end zone.
The Patriots try to keep their unbeaten mark going next Friday at Hurricane.
Nitro plays host to Ripley.