Running attack in full force in Charleston's 63-0 win

Friday, October 26, 2012
Charleston sophomore Rontavious Clark out-runs a pack of Grandview defenders on Thursday during the Bluejays' 63-0 win during the Class 2, District 1 tournament at Charleston High School. (Photo by Brent Shipman, Staff)

sports@standard-democrat.com

CHARLESTON -- Just like in all seven of their regular season wins, Charleston's rushing attack came out in full force on Thursday for the opening of the Class 2, District 1 tournament.

Once again led by the combined efforts of Robert Bogan and Rontavious Clark, the Bluejays put up 393 yards on the ground as they ran over Grandview 63-0 to set up a semifinal matchup with Malden.

"I feel like our backs are running hard and our lineman did some things tonight," Charleston head coach Brett Blackman said. "We talked to them about blocking to the whistle and I thought we did that better tonight.

"We're going to face a big test next week and Malden is a good football team. We have to do some things better."

For the sixth-straight week, Bogan easily eclipsed the 100-yard mark, finishing Thursday's contest with 128 yards on seven carries for a 18.3 yards-per-carry average.

He broke off two runs of over 50 yards, including a 51-yard sprint down the left sideline that gave the Bluejays an 8-0 edge after a two-point conversion.

With a few extra carries in the second half, Clark went on to out-gain Bogan on the night with 143 yards on 13 carries for an 11-yards-per-cary average and two touchdowns. The two backs combined for three of Charleston's first four touchdowns as the Bluejays took a 38-0 lead into the half.

"Both of them run hard and each of them our hard to tackle," Blackman said of the two backs. "They're two different styles of runner and then you throw Demontrail Clark in there and try to mix Demontrail Winston in there as well. I think they all complement each other pretty well."

Grandview's most promising drive of the night came when they successful converted a surprise onside-kick to start the game before driving down to the Bluejays 15-yard line. While attempting to fake a field goal on fourth down, however, the Eagles fumbled the ball and came away without any points.

For the rest of the night the Bluejays' defense was able to keep Grandview out of the red zone and held them to only 124 yards of total offense.

"We played a lot better than we have been and we're just clicking on all cylinders right now," Charleston lineman Cole Byford said. "They kind of spread it out on us and it's something we haven't really seen, but we had practiced all week for it and were able to stop them tonight."

With the defense forcing the Eagles into punts or turnovers each possession, Charleston's offense set up the turbo-clock right before the half.

Taking the ball on their own 30-yard line with only 40 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Charleston took advantage of a 25-yard run by Clark and an ensuing face mask penalty to put the ball on the Eagles 29 with 12 seconds to go.

One Bluejays receiver dropped an open pass in the endzone before quarterback Mike Hull came back on the next play and connected with Sumner Foster for the touchdown.

Foster's score came with 4.9 seconds left before the break and gave Charleston the 35-point advantage needed to keep the clock running the entire second half.

"We played great tonight," Hull said. "Our running game is definitely important to our team. It pushes us and we're trying to open up the pass a little bit more too."

With their win against Grandview in the books, Charleston can set its sights on Malden, who took down St. Pius X 37-6 in their opening round game.

The two teams will meet in Malden on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Blackman expects a tough matchup.

"They're well-coach football team," Blackman said of Malden. "I would say you look at Romello McCoy and he is probably, if not the best, one of the better running backs in Missouri.

"He runs hard and will probably win the Carr trophy. He's a top-notch running back and a Division I recruit. He'll be a load for us to handle."

Grandview0000-0
Charleston1622196-63

First Quarter

C -- Robert Bogan 51 run (Deiontrail Winston run good), 6:53

C -- Rontavious Clark 26 run (Rontavious Clark run good), 2:02

Second Quarter

C -- Deiontrail Winston 12 run (Sumner Foster pass from Mike Hull good), 7:53

C -- Rontavious Clark 3 run (Ryan Housman kick good), 3:18

C -- Sumner Foster 29 pass from Mike Hull (Ryan Housman kick good), 0:04

Third Quarter

C -- Delfinko Bogan 49 run (Ryan Housman kick good), 6:54

C -- Mike Kellum 44 interception (Ryan Housman kick bad), 4:33

C -- Robert Bogan 4 run (Ryan Housman kick bad), 0:51

Fourth Quarter

C -- Demontrail Clark 33 run (Ryan Housman kick bad), 10:52

GC
Total Yards124432
Rushes-Yards43-11131-393
Passing1339
Comp.-Att.-Int.2-11-22-5-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Grandview, Wes Sullivan 18-86, Curtis Kellar 4-21, Kyle Ramsey 3-(-6), Christian Murphy 11-43, Tyler Billingsley 7-(-33). Charleston, Rontavious Clark 13-143, Deiontrail Winston 5-29, Robert Bogan 7-128, Domontrail Clark 2-36, Delfinko Bogan 1-49, James Wright 1-(-1), Tennarious Ewing 2-9.

Passing -- Grandview, Curtis Kellar 0-3-1 0, Tyler Billingsley 2-8-1 13. Charleston, Mike Hull 2-5-1, 39.

Receiving -- Grandview, Christian Murphy 2-12. Charleston, Rontavious Clark 1-10, Sumner Foster 1-29.

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