varsity.roanoke.com

The circumstances surrounding Saturday night's William Fleming-George Washington Western Valley District football game at Patrick Henry Stadium were so weird, no wonder it took more than half the game before the teams got into the swing of things, so to speak.

Late in the third quarter, tempers flared, offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties were enforced and one GW player was ejected. The commotion seemed to be just the wake-up call the Colonels needed.

Once Fleming (7-2, 3-1) got its act together, the Colonels steamrolled GW 24-14, reeling off three touchdowns in a span of 7 ½ minutes, then taking a knee twice inside the opponent's 10 as time expired. The Eagles scored both of their TDs early in the second half.

Fleming will travel to Brooke Point for a Northwest Region playoff game next week. The Eagles (5-5, 2-2) will visit Osbourn.

Originally scheduled to be played Friday night, the game was postponed a day because the Western Virginia Football Officials Association did not have the game on their schedule.

Playing in front of a reduced crowd, Fleming took a 3-0 lead at the break on an Ane Abdullah 25-yard field goal.

Danville ran off an 11-play, 68-yard drive early in the third period, almost half of the yardage coming on a Kevin Shuler to Alan Smith 31-yard pass play. DeVaughn Benion bulled over from the 3 for the go-ahead touchdown.

The Eagles executed an onside kick and scored again three minutes later, this time Benion running the ball in from the 10.

Fleming's Malcolm Hardy returned the ensuing kickoff past midfield, but as Hardy was tackled, extensive pushing and shoving occurred and players from both sidelines came onto the field. After order was restored, the officials consulted for more than five minutes before calling unsportsmanlike penalties on both teams and ejecting Danville's Victor Lanier for leaving his team's bench.

"Anytime Danville and Fleming meet, the players get a little chippy," Colonels coach Rob Senseney said.

The Colonels, as they shredded the Eagles' defense the next three times they touched the ball, executing scoring drives of 45, 52 and 40 yards. Meanwhile, the Eagles disintegrated, giving up a fumble, an interception and shanking a punt. Devin Dean scored for Fleming each time and finished the game with 138 yards rushing and 46 yards passing.

"The game changed on that one incident," Eagles coach Dan Newell told his players after the game. "You guys know the rules. We can't have that anymore."

"I take full responsibility for the [brouhaha]," Dean said, "Me and No. 23 [Danville's RaShaun White] got into it. I apologized to my team and their team.

"The second half required some mental adjustments for all of us. Coach [Senseney] told us at halftime that the offensive line had played like crap. We all had really, because we got inside their 40 three times and came away with just three points."

George Washington 0 0 14 0--14

William Fleming 0 3 6 15--24

WF -- FG Abdullah 25

GW -- Benion 3 run (Campbell kick)

GW -- Benion 10 run (Campbell kick)

WF -- Dean 1 run (kick blocked)

WF -- Dean 6 run (Beane pass from Dean)

WF -- Dean 47 run (Abdullah kick)

GW WF

First downs 14 14

Yards rushing 40-217 48-218

Passes C-A-I 6-15-1 4-7-0

Yards passing 67 59

Penalties-yards 4-45 9-57

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Punts-average 5-29.0 3-36.7

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- George Washington, Benion 18-80, Mease 3-63, Jackson 11-32, Moore 2-22, Adams 1-13, Smith 2-8, Petty 1-7, Shuler 2-(-8). William Fleming, Dean 22-138, Hagins 18-67, Cofer 2-7, Waid 4-6, Hardy 2-0.

PASSING -- George Washington, Shuler 6-15-1 67. William Fleming, Waid 2-3-0 13, Dean 2-4-0 46.

RECEIVING -- George Washington, Smith 3-41, Benion 2-23, Petty 1-3. William Fleming, Richardson 3-52, Redd 1-7.