Reidsville cruises past Magna Vista

By STEVE WILLIAMS
Special to Media General News Service
Published: September 27, 2008

RIDGEWAY, Va. — Another week, another romp for the Reidsville Rams.
A 49-6 thrashing of Magna Vista on a damp Friday night gave the Rams a 5-0 start in which they have outscored the opposition to 340-32.
“Overall, we’re pretty pleased with where we stand right now,” RHS coach Jimmy Teague said. “I don’t think we’ve been tested yet, which I guess is not really what you want out of your non-conference schedule, but our guys have answered every challenge so far.”
Reidsville’s last visit to Ridgeway was just two years ago and Magna Vista actually held a 7-0 lead at halftime of that game before losing 21-7. But the Warriors have fallen on hard times the last couple of seasons. The fourth-quarter TD against Reidsville’s reserves was only their third of 2008 in a 0-6 start against a tough schedule.
Magna Vista certainly had no answer for Reidsville’s passing attack featuring senior lefty Ray Ray Butchee. The RHS quarterback is now in his fourth varsity year and his third as a starter and — despite directing a run-first offense the last two seasons — he became just the fourth Ram quarterback to surpass 5,000 career yards passing.
He rung up a career-high 305 yards passing against Magna Vista with an 11-of-15 effort. He hasn’t thrown an interception all season while competing 70 percent of his passes (46 of 66). He’s now at 5,295 on the career yardage ladder.
“The last three or four years, we’ve relied more on the run,” Teague said. “This year we’ve got to rely on Ray’s arm more and with the receivers we’ve got, that’s an attribute we’ve got to take advantage of too. It’s a little different than what we’ve been using in the past but it’s very effective I think.”
Three of Butchee’s tosses Friday night went for TDs, marking the third time this season he has thrown for three scores in a game.
Once again he got solid protection from the offensive line featuring Lance Spivey, Jazz Totten, Devin Sessoms, Bryran Johnson and Gabriel Hildebrand. And he got another sure-handed effort from his corps of talented receivers who also know how to find the end zone after the catch. Split end Kenzel Doe led the way with six grabs for 144 yards. The TD tosses went to Doe for seven yards, tight end Steve Williams for 61 and Aaron Easton out of the backfield for 21.
Jarrett Barnett had two catches for 53 yards and Tyrell Houghton snagged one for 21 yards.
It wasn’t a total air show for the Rams, however, and the first three TDs came on the ground. Butchee did the opening honors with a 40-yard keeper less than four minutes into the game. Mike Stacey then scored from the four and Butchee bulled in from the one to make it 22-0 early in the second quarter.
In all, they scored on seven of their nine possessions in the game. A fumble halted one first-half drive and Reidsville was at the Magna Vista seven when the game clock ran out.
The Rams had only three possessions in the second half as the Virginia slaughter rule (running clock) was implemented after it became 36-0.
A.J. Williams also put a toe in the Ram offense, connecting on all five of his point-after attempts. Two other PAT chances never got off the ground after the snap-hold failed to connect but Niko McGirt improvised a two-point pass to Zach Simpson on one of those.
Reidsville’s defense also shared in the glory, limiting Magna Vista to 100 total yards. Almost half came on a 44-yard pass play with 6:42 left in the game with the RHS starters watching from the sideline.
The defense put the offense in position for two short-field TDs. Lyshod Graves intercepted a pass and returned it 29 yards to the Magna Vista 12, setting up the Rams’ third score.
And late in the first half, A.J. Williams blocked a punt and the Rams took over at the Warrior 21. The Butchee-to-Easton 21-yard pass play came on the next snap.
Damien Lee led the Rams in tackles with eight, including two for loss. Stacey added seven tackles (including a sack), Bryran Johnson had five tackles (including a sack) and Steve Williams also had five tackles.
Other tackle leaders were Daron Barnett, Ryan Broadnax, Mike Allen, Lavert Butchee, Covington and Houghton.
After three straight road games, the Rams will return home this Friday to face High Point Andrews in what is expected to be their toughest test to date.
Andrews is 3-1 after a Thursday night 18-6 upset loss to Asheboro in which starting quarterback Jordan Reid didn’t play. A showdown between two undefeated teams had been anticipated.
“It would be a bigger marquee game if they had won,” Teague said. “But it will still definitely be our biggest challenge, which is good before we get ready to play conference games.”
The North State 2-A league play begins on Oct. 10 with Reidsville facing West Stokes at Community Stadium.