Dec. 3—CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. — Graham High School’s football team played lights-out defense during Saturday’s VHSL Class 2 state semifinal football game with Radford at Christiansburg High School.
Unfortunately for the defending Class 2 state champs, Radford’s swift, swarming and hard-tackling defensive unit did a slightly more thorough job turning the G-Men’s offensive lights out.
Defending VHSL Class 2 Player of the Year Ty’Drez Clements rushed for 137 yards but only saw the end zone once and Radford put together a 22-10 victory over Graham (12-2) in the VHSL Class 2 state semifinals at Christiansburg High School on Saturday.
The Bobcats (14-0) will advance to next week’s Class 2 state championship game at Salem City Stadium, where they’ll face Riverheads. The Gladiators (13-1) — who have earned a state finals berth in their first season after having moved up to Class 2 status — defeated Poquoson 37-7 at Staunton on Saturday.
Radford initiated scoring at 6:01 in the first quarter on quarterback on quarterback Landen Clark’s 2-yard touchdown toss to Max Kanipe. Louis Webster’s PAT kick put the Bobcats up 7-0.
With less than four minutes left to go in the first quarter, Graham responded with a 7-play, 52-yard scoring drive capped by Clements’ 14-yard touchdown run. Dylan Nash’s kick knotted the game up at 7.
Clark added a 19-yard touchdown run at 7:58 in the second quarter. The Radford signal caller followed the score with a 2-point conversion pass Sincere Taylor for the 15-7 advantage.
Nash added a 24-yard field goal to cut Radford’s halftime advantage to 15-10.
Graham’s defense had been slow to keep up with Radford’s high-tempo offense at first, but by the second quarter was up-to-speed enough to complicate things for Clark.
He was ultimately sacked twice by Yubrenal Isabel and once Gabe Lilly (who hurried another…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/radford-outlasts-defensive-duel-graham-124700316.html
Author : Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
Publish date : 2023-12-03 12:47:00
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