RADFORD — Luke Gaither transferred to Liberty Christian in June. Then Peyton Dobbins went down with an injury just this past Wednesday.
As the Radford High School football team was preparing to face James River on Friday night in its first action in 21 days, the quarterback situation looked grim. Even backup signal-caller Brady Sutherland was dealing with a broken wrist.
The Bobcats had to craft something that would work, a strategy that would keep its offense moving for four quarters. What they concocted was a two-quarterback system, split between Sutherland and wide receiver Tucker Williams, thrown into the crucial role just days before kickoff.
Their shared time worked wonders. Both sophomores threw touchdown passes as Radford roared out to a 31-0 lead and knocked off James River 38-22 in its Three Rivers District opener at Norman G. Lineburg Field.
“We just said hey, we’re going to do it as a team. It’s not competing with each other, it’s not competing for a job, right now we are competing to win as a team,” Bobcats head coach Michael Crist said. “We’re going to support each other and the team’s going to rally behind those guys.”
Sutherland and Williams took turns leading the offense on drives, but weren’t merely game managers responsible for gathering snaps and handing off the ball. After Sutherland started the evening 3-of-3 for 10 yards on his team’s opening possession, resulting in a 31-yard field goal from Louis Webster, Williams’ first pass on the second possession was a 50-yard scoring strike to Colten Garner-Williams, with Garner-Williams running most of the way.
Sutherland then got the first of two touchdown passes when he hit Garner-Rollins in the back of the end zone from 2 yards out on a third-and-goal with six seconds remaining in the first half. The last-minute drive started on a 36-yard hookup from Sutherland Trenton Carter.
Aided by a 100-plus yard interception return touchdown by Pace Prioleau, the Bobcats (3-1) had a 24-0 lead at halftime.
“It was a quick turnaround,” Williams said on learning the position. “I’ve been playing receiver the whole year, only had two practices (at quarterback), but it was pretty good coming in tonight. I just had to lock in I guess.”
Sutherland opened the second half as well and led a nine-play, 85-yard touchdown drive. He showed off his athleticism by rolling out and ducking a defender before flicking a short pass to Carter while getting slammed into the drenched grass field. Stewart eluded would-be tacklers and squealed into the end zone for a 5-yard score and Sutherland’s second TD pass of the night.
Both players threw exactly 15 passes. Sutherland completed a dozen, including his first nine, for 127 yards with an interception that came about when a receiver couldn’t haul in a slick ball from second-half rain and Wyatt Dewhirst picked it off for the Knights (3-2). Williams completed six attempts for 69 yards with one interception.
“The last couple days it’s just been getting used to the wide receivers, getting used to the new wristbands and figuring it all out,” Sutherland said. “We’ve been practicing and (Crist) has seen us, so I feel like we’ve been put in this situation before. He told us we got this, so he trusts in us and I trust in him.”
The duo completed throws to six different receivers, all in the first half. Prioleau, in addition to his pick-six, led Radford with six receptions for 56 yards, while Carter added four catches for 65 yards and Garner-Rollins hauled in three catches for 59 yards to go along with his two scoring receptions.
“That is a prime example of when you do what you’re supposed to all the time, you work relentlessly in the weight room, always in the playbook, this comes to fruition like that, for both of them,” Crist said.
James River scored all of its points in the fourth quarter as running back Gavin Binns heated up, collecting 129 of his 186 yards and three touchdowns in the final frame. The Knights got back within two possessions in the final 90 seconds, but the Bobcats had enough of a lead to pull out a big victory, rebounding from a surprise Week 2 loss to Giles.
They then had their open week, which was followed by a win via forfeit from Galax, keeping them off the field and sitting with that loss for almost three weeks.
“Our kids had a sour taste in their mouths,” Crist said. “I felt like we had to increase our speed and our execution. That was our focus for two whole weeks, was speed, execution and toughness, and I think they bought into that, they focused on that and they beat a really good football team.”
Radford travels to Vinton next week to face William Byrd (3-1) for the first time since 1989. Dobbins is questionable to return at QB.
Contact Matt Case at mcase@roanoke.com
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