varsity.roanoke.com

ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

George Miller is escorted onto the field by cheerleader Kristan Reynolds as the members of William Fleming's inaugural athletic hall of fame class are introduced prior to Friday's game.

Photos by JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

William Fleming's Branden Taylor attempts to tackle E.C. Glass' Mike Goins during the third quarter Friday. The Hilltoppers defeated the Colonels 14-6 in front of a standing-room only crowd at Fleming's new football stadium.

Fleming running back Malcolm Hardy led the Colonels with 42 yards rushing Friday.

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Based on the rave reviews of its shiny new football stadium, William Fleming doesn't need any home improvement.

But the Colonels' offense might be in line for an extreme makeover.

Limited to just 70 yards in the first three quarters, Fleming's offense never got untracked as visiting E.C. Glass ruined the Colonels' debut in their new digs Friday night with a 14-6 nondistrict victory.

A standing-room-only crowd several rows deep jammed the stadium on a night when Fleming inducted the inaugural class into its athletic hall of fame in a ceremony before the 2010 season opener.

All that was missing was a victory as Glass used a fourth-quarter goal line stand to take the win back to Lynchburg.

"It broke my heart," Fleming senior fullback Trell Foster said of not being able to deliver for the home fans. "But we've got more games on this field. This is not our last one. I guarantee you we will win on this field."

Fleming appeared poised to at least take its first lead of the night midway through the fourth quarter on a first-and-goal situation from the Glass 3-yard line, with the Hilltoppers leading 7-6.

However, Glass stuffed Jonathan Hagins and J.B. Waker on two inside runs, then sacked Fleming quarterback Kevin Waid on third down. The result was a 25-yard field goal attempt by Shangler Joseph -- filling in for injured Abdull Yussuf -- that sailed wide left with 7:35 to play.

"That [sack] hurt bad," Fleming coach Lee Johnson said. "Our starting kicker was out with a sprained knee. That's putting [Joseph] in a tough position but we were down there and needed to try to take the lead."

Fleming's offense couldn't recover as the Colonels ran 14 plays overall that lost yardage and Waid was sacked five times behind porous pass protection.

"It was horrible," Johnson said. "It was non-existent. We're a play-action pass team. We definitely have to shore up some pass protection and give Kevin some time to throw it."

Fleming finished with just 93 yards rushing and almost half of that came on the game's final drive against a prevent-defense as the Colonels stalled out on the Glass 25 when Tajik McGeorge's shotgun snap never made it back to Waid on the last play.

Malcolm Hardy led Fleming with 42 yards on 12 carries. "We were trying to do what we do and establish the running game," Johnson said. "At times we did it and at times we'd shoot ourselves in the foot. We've just got to find some combinations that work."

After a scoreless first half, Glass grabbed a 7-0 lead with 6:16 left in the third quarter on a 4-yard run by Lamont Hamlette.

Fleming answered as freshman Trevor Mike recovered a muffed punt at the Glass 20, and Foster etched his name in school history with the first Colonels TD in the new stadium on a fourth-down run from the 1.

"It was exciting," Foster said. "It picked the team up. I thought the team was going to come and rally."

Instead, Glass, which lost 28-21 last week at Franklin County, blocked Joseph's extra point, then took a 14-6 lead with 2:03 to play when quarterback Jordan Anderson hit Daniel Bowling on a 34-yard TD pass on a bold fourth-and-2 call.

"We feel like we've got to give our kids every opportunity to win," Glass coach Richard Trent said. "We're not going to sit back and play not to lose. We're going to play to win "It's huge. We played an incredible ballgame last week and we came up a little short. We had to come up here against a great atmosphere for Fleming. I feel very fortunate to come out on top."

Waid, who also was victimized by two dropped passes, said there was pressure to perform in front of the large crowd. "It's real tough, a lot of people out here watching," the Fleming senior said. "But we've got to move on. We can't worry about what people say. This is our team, not theirs."

Fleming will look for its first win next week at Magna Vista.

"This was an emotional week," Johnson said. "I'm glad that part's over. It was a wonderful event. It was great for the community. I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything. But now the kids can kind of get settled back down."

E.C. Glass 0 0 7 7--14

William Fleming 0 0 6 0--6

ECG -- Hamlette 4 run (Boedeker kick)

WF -- Foster 1 run (kick blocked)

ECG -- Bowling 34 pass from J.Anderson (Boedeker kick)

EC WF

First downs 10 11

Yards rushing 35-82 41-93

Passes C-A-I 4-8-0 4-12-1

Yards passing 72 33

Penalties-yards 7-58 7-56

Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-2

Punts-average 5-22.8 3-32.7

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- E.C. Glass, Hamlette 11-29, Simmons 5-25, Goins 13-24, Gaines 2-16, Moore 1-(-1), J.Anderson 3-(-11). William Fleming, Hardy 12-42, Richardson 5-17, Hagins 6-15, Foster 4-8, Waker 2-7, Waid 12-4.

PASSING -- E.C. Glass, J.Anderson 4-8-0-72. William Fleming, Waid 4-12-1-33.

RECEIVING -- E.C. Glass, Bowling 1-34, Hamlette 1-15, Reeves 1-14, Riley 1-9. William Fleming, Richardson 2-10, M.Anderson 1-12, Cao 1-11.