Published: October 28, 2008 05:56 pm            

VMS set to defend 2007 gridiron title

For the second straight year, the Valley Middle School Greyhounds are in the Fayette County Single-A Conference football finals.

And the VMS faithful hope this year turns out like 2007 did.

Attempting to defend a title it won to cap an unbeaten season last fall, Valley will face once-beaten Mount Hope Thursday at 6 p.m. at Martin Field. The ‘Hounds (7-1) defeated the Colts 28-8 earlier in the campaign.

Valley advanced to tomorrow’s championship affair with a 44-14 conquest of the visiting Ansted Trailblazers last Thursday.

“Overall, I thought we played real well,” said VMS coach Chip Warden. “It was one of the better games we played all year.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of lapses or letdowns.”

Eighth-grader Ken Haynes had “a very good night” to power the VMS attack, said Warden.

Haynes carried nine times for 151 yards, scoring on runs covering 58, 12 and 14 yards in the process. In doing so, he surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing barrier for the year. He also snared a pair of TD passes from quarterback Matt Whiteside, with one covering 69 yards and the other 51 yards.

Whiteside (55 rushing yards) also had a 5-yard scoring run and completed a 52-yard pass to Arik McGinnis.

Also for the Valley offense, Haynes, Cody Winter and Whiteside had two-point conversion runs, and Whiteside completed a two-point pass to Keyshawn Payne.

The Valley defensive effort was led by Casey Stewart, who collected nine tackles. Drew Jones had eight stops and Slayton Beard seven. In addition, both Nathan Phillips and Winter had five tackles and a fumble recovery, and McGinnis registered four tackles and an interception.



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Warden says Mount Hope “is one of the most dangerous teams we play.”

The Valley win in the first game this season was aided by a couple of late Mount Hope mistakes, Warden said. “A lot of times, the score doesn’t indicate how close a game is.”

The key for the ‘Hounds, says the coach, will be to control MHMS back Jalen Jones.

“Trying to keep Jones under wraps will be our biggest job,“ said Warden. “They’ve got other guys who can play, but it’s no big secret … that we can’t let him beat us.”

Mount Hope advanced with a wild 38-36 victory over Fayetteville, a game in which the Colts trailed 16-0 at one point. Jones scored two rushing TDs, reached paydirt on a 70-yard fumble return and passed 25 yards to Larry Palmer for another six-pointer.

“We played terrible at Valley,” said Mount Hope coach Bo Morrison. “We had a fake punt called back on a clip, and that would have made a big difference.

“They (Valley) are the best team, and they deserve to be No. 1.”

“It will boil down to execution,” said Warden. “I think it’s going to be a very good ball game.”

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com

        

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