varsity.roanoke.com

Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Radford's Dontae Carter (3) tries to run the ball up field against Giles. Carter was stripped of the ball for a fumble on the play by Giles' Greg Ray (56) to set up Giles' second touchdown of the game.

Giles' Matt Bane (23) is downed at the 1-yard line past the defense of D.J. Palmer (2) of Radford in the second quarter.

RADFORD -- With the scores of possibilities for the VHSL football postseason playing out on the last night of the regular season, confusion and misinformation can abound. On one point, there was no debate.

Radford is the undisputed Three Rivers District champion after stopping visiting Giles 23-19 on a chilly night at Bobcats Stadium.

Both teams appear to have qualified for the newly-expanded Group A Division 2 Region C tournament that opens next week. Bobcats coach Matthew Saunders had done the math.

"I think Giles will be right back here next week," he said.

If so, it ought to be a dandy of a rematch. Giles (6-4, 3-2) dominated time of possession and outgained the Bobcats 327-279. However, Radford (7-3, 5-0) scored the last two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter and both on big plays, to rally for the victory.

The clincher was a splendid interception of an Andrew Eppling pass by sophomore linebacker Corey Dark followed by a darting, weaving run that covered 70 yards to the end zone.

"When I saw him throw the ball I knew it was coming to me," said the 6-foot, 175-pound 10th-grader. "I took off for the right side of the field when I saw some teammates throwing blocks. Then I ran down the field for the touchdown."

It was the second pick of the year for Dark, who had been playing safety before being moved by Saunders to outside linebacker for this game.

"It was a mistake," said Giles coach Jeff Williams of his team's only interception. "Like we always talk about, in big games like this, turnovers are the No. 1 stat to decide the football game."

An apparent two-point conversion out of a muddle-huddle formation was nullified by a penalty and the Bobcats threw incomplete on the replay.

Giles couldn't mount a drive after that and the Bobcats took over and ran out the clock. The main thing was to get the football away from the power-running Spartans.

"That's what I'd try to do against us, keep the football away from us," Saunders said. "With their offense, they're going to do that anyway."

After a short Radford drive of 51 yards right after halftime produced a 1-yard scoring play by quarterback Dontae Carter and Michael Goodman's kick made the score 13-10, Giles answered with its last TD of the game early in the fourth quarter. The Spartans held the ball for over seven minutes and 19 plays with Eppling slipping over from the 1. A two-point run failed, leaving the score 19-10, Giles with 11:06 left. Thirty-six seconds later, Radford was on the board again.

That was the first of the Bobcats two big second-half plays. A simple off-tackle handoff to fullback Kevin Adkins developed into a 59-yard TD sprint.

"Tremendous blocking from the line," he said. "When I reached the second level, I saw an open spot and just started running."

Goodman's boot trimmed the deficit to 19-17 with 10:30 left.

Carter and Adkins combined for 183 of Radford's 234 rushing yards. Carter, the quarterback, rambled for 92 yards on 16 totes.

"I could see when to cut on the defense," Carter said. "The line was blocking great. I read their blocks and ran."

The big offensive force for Giles and its 280 rushing yards was bruising fullback Justin Gautier who had 128 yards on 22 carries. He scored the Spartans' first TD on a 1-yard plunge.

Giles 0 13 0 6--19

Radford 3 0 7 13--23

R--FG Goodman 38

G--Gautier 1 run (Keaton kick)

G--Robertson 22 run (kick failed)

R--Carter 1 run (Goodman kick)

G--Eppling 1 run (run failed)

R--Adkins 59 run (Goodman kick)

R--Dark 70 interception return (pass failed)

G R

First downs 13 10

Yards rushing 280 234

Passes C-A-I 5-9-1 3-8-1

Yards passing 45 51

Penalties-yards 5-55 10-62

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Punts-average 1-32 1-37

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Giles, Gautier 22-128, Robertson 9-59, Bain 8-50, Eppling 10-43; Radford, Carter 16-92, Adkins 6-91, Palmer 5-29, Mitchell 3-22

PASSING -- Giles, Robertson 2-6-0-21, Eppling 1-2-1-26; Radford, Carter 5-9-1-45

RECEIVING -- Giles, Bane 2-38, Gautier 1-13; Radford, Adkins 1-23, Mitchell 2-13, Thompson 1-5, Palmer 1-4.