Dinwiddie Pitches Another Shutout
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>Generals Dethrone Defending Champs:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> Three playoff games in the books, three
shutouts for the Dinwiddie Generals. Hosting
the reigning Division 5 State Champion Lake Taylor Titans, Dinwiddie continued
its mastery of postseason football by blanking their visitors from Norfolk, 28-0
on Friday night.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Out of an empty set, Dinwiddie senior
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Ronald Kearney broke off a 71-yard
touchdown on a quarterback trap play, going virtually untouched on his way to
the end zone. That burst propelled the
undefeated Generals, now 13-0 overall, to another dominating performance, and
proved to be a sock in the gut that the Titans could never recover from.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Lake Taylor had a really good football team and this
was a defensive game. I can't be any
prouder of my defense than I am," remarked Dinwiddie Head Football Coach
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Billy Mills afterwards.
style=> "They gave us opportunities, and Kearney
started it off with a big play that got us rolling.
style=> The way that he played tonight, he just gets
better and better as the week goes on."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>So far this postseason, Dinwiddie has outscored foes
132-0. On the year, every win has been
by at least 21 points. This win was the
first over Lake Taylor, which had eliminated the Generals from the 1982
playoffs, 14-10. In addition, Dinwiddie
became the first team to blank the Titans since Norcom
did it 29-0 in 2010.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Mills was pleased to see his team's outstanding
execution shine through at the right time.
His team continues to dominate in just about every way imaginable,
giving it a kind of special feel that could end in December in Lynchburg
hoisting a trophy.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Every game is win or [you're] out," Mills reminded.
style=> "They've done a good job of keeping it all in
perspective, trying to get a little better every week, not get too high or too
low, and my leaders have done a great job of keeping the rest of them that way."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Pitching Shutouts,
Snatching Takeaways:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Besides
pitching shutouts this postseason, the Dinwiddie defense is ripping the ball
away from opponents. Friday night's
performance marked their best yet. They
came up with a season-high six takeaways, intercepting quarterback
class=SpellE>Shiheem
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Johnson and
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Nhyre
normal'> Quinerly a combined five times.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Nabbing two turnovers apiece were junior defensive
backs Denzel Williams and
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Malik Scott, whose interception with
4:55 remaining in the opening quarter eventually set up the team's second
touchdown to give them a 14-point lead before the start of the second period.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It all translates from the hard work we've put in during
practice. Coaches push us to the limit,
to raise the bar every week, and it's always about taking that next step.
style=> We've got a family that sticks together, play
in and play out, and we know as long as we keep our heads that good things will
happen," Williams said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"The score didn't show it, but on the field they gave
us a good opponent, a good matchup. Being
able to get those turnovers were big. We
had to keep on pounding away and knew we couldn't let up any because they could
come back."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Williams was part of a hard-hitting defensive effort,
finishing with a game-high 11 total tackles, seven of the solo variety.
style=> William & Mary commit
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Rashaad
normal'> Goodwyn chipped in six total stops, and
sack master John Branch (14 sacks on
the year) added five tackles.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For Lake Taylor in defeat, Ohio State commit and
All-American Jalyn
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Holmes recorded 10 total tackles, two
for loss, to go with his season-high seven receptions for 48 yards on the
offensive side of the ball.
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Marquise Poole tallied nine tackles.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Lake Taylor came in having turned the ball over 25
times on the year. Their six turnovers,
three in each half, squandered a few scoring opportunities, including one drive
to start the third quarter where they took 6:56 off the clock and were stopped
at the Generals' four-yard line.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I know they had put the ball on the ground.
style=> We had seen that from film.
style=> I told the guys they want to run the
veer. If we can stop the veer, we're
going to make them do stuff they don't want to do," Mills commented.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I told them to get excited when that happens, make
plays and we were resilient. They were
getting us on a couple bubble [screens] and I was resistant
to change the defense because I knew that they could break a dive any time for
all of it."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
mso-highlight:yellow'>Ground Gains:
Rushing for 264 yards is a major plus for Dinwiddie and something of
the norm in many ways. Seeing Lake
Taylor give up 264 yards on the ground is no ordinary sight.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In fact, the Titans had held 28 straight foes under 200
yards rushing. It was the most rushing
yards by a team on Lake Taylor's usually stingy defense since
class=SpellE>Churchland racked up 295 yards on the ground in a 2010 overtime
victory over the Titans.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Keying the effort was senior
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Sadarius
normal'> Williams, whose moves had Lake Taylor defenders often chasing him
from behind instead of keeping the dangerous back in front of them.
style=> Williams rushed for 144 yards and two
touchdowns with two runs of 30 yards or longer, which included a 33-yard dagger
late in the third quarter to put it out of reach.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Williams entered the contest with 1719 yards and 19
touchdowns rushing on 170 attempts.
Another strong performance on the first Saturday in December should put
him over the 2000-yard mark.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Sadarius made some unreal
[runs]. That second touchdown, to stay
inbounds on that toss, and to kind of seal it with that last run to run over
somebody, he's such a workhorse and such a great football player," stated
Mills.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"They load the box and Coach Edwards, my o-line coach,
is a genius. He does such a great job of
pass protection, and that first play of the game he's the one that brought that
to me. He said I think we can get
this. I've got such a great coaching
staff, they work their tails off, have been up here all week and I think my
d-line coach slept here. I couldn't be
more proud of them."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Third Down
Conversions Pay Off:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Coming
in, the Lake Taylor defense had been suffocating on third downs.
style=> Opponents converted only 10 of 112 tries
against the Titans when faced in those situations.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Dinwiddie not only converted 3 of 8 on the night, they
turned two into touchdowns with Williams' 11-yard tippy-toe touchdown run along
the left sideline, plus Kearney's 30-yard touchdown pass to
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Rashad
normal'> Stewart.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Kearney's sprint-out off of trips left and scoring pass
to Stewart gave the Generals some breathing room against a Lake Taylor team
that nearly rallied from 21 down earlier this season against L.C. Bird.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"On that, Kearney made an unreal run.
style=> He's such a coachable, good kid, and he's going
to throw what I tell him regardless. I
was hoping he was thinking along the same lines as me," Mills noted.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Being together so long, he knew that I wanted him to
hit the backside post and made such a great read.
style=> I love that kid.
style=> He's like a son to me, and all my kids are."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>On all four of their third down tries in the first
half, Lake Taylor came up empty. They
also were 0 of 3 on fourth down, while Dinwiddie was 1 for 2.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Two Wins Away:
style=>
line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Dinwiddie is so close that
they can taste a title. Two of the
potential roadblocks to a State Championship, Phoebus and Lake Taylor from the
Tidewater area with a combined eight crowns since 2001, are no longer alive.
style=> The Generals are one of four teams left in
the 4A field.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Up next for Dinwiddie will be Heritage of Newport News,
which defeated King's Fork 13-7 on Friday night to improve to 12-1
overall. It'll be the first postseason
encounter between the Hurricanes and Generals since 2000, the year Heritage
beat Dinwiddie 45-7 in the State Final.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The Hurricanes, who were winless three years ago, are a
much different team than that one. They start
a freshman quarterback in Jeremiah Boyd and
are littered with juniors who have far less postseason experience than a
Dinwiddie team with a boatload of seniors and three and four-year starters.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We did get a chance to see them live against Phoebus,
so we do have some idea of what to expect.
I'm sure just like us, things change over the season and they'll have some
different looks that we'll have to be prepared for.
style=> We'll have another big challenge and they're
a good football team. You don't get this
far and not be," Mills said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"You look over on the board and you'll see all those
goals over there. There will be another
set up there this coming Monday. We'll
come in here, lift weights, watch the film, and work on correcting some
mistakes."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>These days, the Generals are making too many
mistakes. They now sit two wins away
from an elusive state title.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>Postgame Audio with Dinwiddie
Coach Billy Mills
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Final Stats: ***
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Courtesy
href="http://www.statva.com">www.statva.com)
normal'>***
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Dinwiddie
Generals 28:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> (12-0 Overall)
Ronald Kearney - - 4-10 for 51Yds. 1-1TD/Int. ratio; 10Car.
83Yds. TD
Sadarius Williams - - 18Car. 144Yds. 2TD's
Dakarai Wilson - - 7Car. 20Yds;
2Rec. 22Yds.
Rashad Stewart - - 2Rec. 29Yds. TD
Denzel Williams - - 11 Tackles (7 Solo); 2INT's
Rashaad Goodwyn - - 6
Tackles (3 Solo)
John Branch - - 5 Tackles (4 Solo)
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Lake
Taylor Titans 0:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> (10-3 Overall)
Nhyre Quinerly - - 8-16 for
47Yds. 0-3TD/Int. ratio; 2Rec. 20Yds.
Shiheem
Johnson - - 3-15 for 34Yds. 0-2TD/Int. ratio; 6 Tackles (5 Solo
class=GramE>)
Marquise Poole - - 12Car. 62Yds; 2Rec. 13Yds; 9 Tackles (4 Solo), 3TFL
Marcus Hawkins - - 3Car. 10Yds.
Jalyn Holmes - - 7Rec. 48Yds; 10 Tackles (5 Solo),
2TFL
Marcus Carter - - 7 Tackles (4 Solo), Sack, TFL
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
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