Pearisburg…Sometimes history repeats itself. Sometimes teams have trouble winning. Young teams have to learn to win and this year’s Radford Bobcats have resembled all of this after six games.
Tied at 14 all going to the fourth quarter, they came out on the short end of a 28-14 loss to the Giles Spartans.
Down 21-14 with less than five minutes to go, Radford was on the move, but they fumbled at the Giles 20-yard line. The Spartans would then drive to score and put the game away.
Radford was led by freshman PJ Prioleau as he rushed for 136 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown. The other score was a Chris Carter 89-yard second half kick-off return that put the Cats up 14-7. Carter had 110 yards on kick-off returns for the game.
Giles (4-2) was led by senior Ryan Beidleman. He carried the pigskin 47 times for 237 yards and scored three touchdowns. James Lyle rushed seven times for 78 yards and a touchdown.
Radford (1-5) finished with 191 total yards while Giles totaled 347 yards. Head coach Matthew Saunders said, ”We once again turned the ball over at a critical time of the game. It’s tough for the kids and I feel bad for them. We have trouble finishing a game off.” He then added, ”We are young but we need to finish the games. We’ll go back to work this coming week.”
Radford has either led or been tied going into the fourth quarter of all six games they have played. In fact in all of their losses, they have been within less than five minutes to go. I guess this team has learned how to lose if there is such a thing, or as some people would say, this team has had growing pains.
The Bobcats will be back on the road this Friday as they go to Floyd to take on the Buffaloes. Kick off is scheduled for 7:00 pm.

Radford 7 0 7 0 -14
Giles 0 7 7 14-28

Total Yards- Radford 191, Giles 347

First Downs – Radford 8 , Giles 20

Penalties – Radford – 1-10 yds., Giles 3 -25 yds.

Turnovers – Radford – (2)- 1 interception, 1 fumble, Giles- (1) – fumble