Radford…This Friday night at Norman G. Lineburg Field, Bobcat Stadium, Radford will take on the team that knocked them out of last year’s playoffs, the Honaker Tigers. Last year Radford had to travel to Honaker and was winning 23-21 with just over two minutes to go.
The Tigers would score late and got a two-point conversion to win the ballgame 29-23. They will come to Radford this year, and the Cats will work hard to erase last years contest. To add insult to injury, Radford’s Marcus Finley got hurt in last years game against Honaker. A severe ankle injury cost him most of the Bobcat basketball season, .
Honaker will come into the game with 8 wins and 3 losses, the same as Radford. Head coach Doug Hubbard leads them. They are averaging 32 points a game, while defensively giving up just an average of 12 per game. Their victories are over Lebanon, Castlewood, Eastside, Holston, Grundy, Hurley, Twin Valley, and last week they beat Northwood to advance to play Radford. Their losses are to J.I.Burton, Ridgeview and George Wythe.
Honaker and Radford have two common opponents in George Wythe and Twin Valley. George Wythe beat Honaker at Honaker 21-3. The Bobcats defeated George Wythe at Wytheville 55-27 in the opening game of the season. Honaker beat Twin Valley 45-26, while the Bobcats beat Twin Valley last week in the playoffs, 49-0.
Avin Parrott a senior running back leads the Tigers on offense. Their quarterback is sophomore Hartley Hilton and senior Brent Coleman is their top receiver. Two other kids that will be in on a lot of action on offense will be senior Bryson Bostic and sophomore Matthew Testerman, both running backs.
Defensively the Tigers big man on the line is Josh Miller a senior, along with linebackers Colby Howard and Chris Marshall. Howard is a senior and Marshall a sophomore. Parrott is their secondary mainstay.
Radford head coach Matthew Saunders said, “On offense they like to show different formations. They will run out of a power I. They will show twin wide outs and then two tights. They will show reverse, sweeps, spread and trap.”
Coach then said, “On defense they like to show 4-4 and 5-3 schemes. Most of the time the secondary is cover three, with some man to man. They like to blitz with linebackers from different areas.”
Radford is as healthy as they have probably been for the last four weeks or so. These two teams are no strangers to each other. Second year in a row these two proud football programs have faced off in the second round of the playoffs.
The Bobcats on offense will go with Shawn Reed at center, Wes Parcell and Nick Ridpath at tackles, with Hunter O’Brien and Brett Armentrout at guards. Marcus Finley is at quarterback. The skilled people will be Heth Grant at running back, Nathan Dobos, Mitch White, DJ Baylor and Dontae Biillings at slots and wide receivers. Michael Vick and Markell Thompson will see action at wide out and running back as well.
Radford, when on defense, will go with Ridpath, Bradley Davis and Thompson on the line. Mike Vick, Parcell, Grant, White and Armentrout as the linebackers. The secondary will consist of Dobos, Baylor and Finley. Roam Bonet and Liam Jessie will get some time in also on “D”.
Finley will do the punting, with Logan Jessie doing the placekicking. Elijah Duncan is the long snapper with Finley the holder.
Coach Saunders remarked, “We are facing a strong team with a lot of tradition. They are big, strong and athletic. Parrott and Hilton are very good.”
Kickoff for this battle of two Group 1A West Region teams will be this Friday at 7 pm.