Post by bigsmooth on Dec 10, 2005 6:31:48 GMT -5
i hope coach rocco is going to JMU today to see jay terrell. we could certainly use another quality athlete! his cousin zach turned out to be a real find!
The most frightening player in the Group A Division 2 football playoffs? Easy. That would be Manassas Park quarterback Jay Terrell.
Ray Cox
The most frightening player in the Group A Division 2 football playoffs? Easy. That would be Manassas Park quarterback Jay Terrell.
The mere thought of the guy is enough to induce irregular heartbeats, anxiety-induced hyperventilation, and athlete's foot in his foes.
Giles coach Steve Ragsdale and his staff have been thinking about Terrell a lot this week. The 12-1 Spartans are playing the 13-0 Cougars at 4 p.m. today at James Madison University for the state title.
Ragsdale told the Washington Post that Terrell compared to Park View-Sterling's Allen Pinkett and the Jones brothers, Thomas and Julius, of Powell Valley. In other words, Terrell matches up favorably to the best players Giles has seen in the last 25 years.
At Manassas Park, it's been all Terrell, all the time the past two seasons. The defending state champion has a 27-game winning streak. The first 14 games of the streak came with another Terrell, Jay's cousin Zach, at the quarterbacking controls. Zach has since gone on to gain 668 yards and score a pair of touchdowns and was named first team running back All Big South Conference for Liberty University. He was also the league freshman of the year.
Meanwhile, Jay, a 6-foot-, 175-pound senior, arrived just in time this year, a transfer from AA Brentsville District.
Understandably, Cougars coach Jeff Lloyd politely evades requests for detailed comparisons of the cousins.
"They're both very athletic and both see the field very well," he said.
Manassas Park runs the spread offense with four wide receivers and one running back. Terrell is the trigger for everything the Cougars do.
"What we want to do is get our kids out in space where they can make plays," Lloyd said.
Given that opportunity, Terrell has rushed for 1,828 yards and scored 32 touchdowns while throwing for 1,324 yards and 13 TDs.
"He's slippery as an eel and like a rabbit in headlights," Ragsdale said. "You never know what he's going to do next. The thing that worries me is not so much his passing, which is very good, but when he goes back to pass, then decides to run when he's got our defense spread out all over the field."
At least Giles has a little bit of an idea about what to expect against a quarterback like Terrell. This year, Giles has faced Christiansburg's Andrew Hoffer, William Campbell's Danny Broggin, George Wythe's Derrick Davis, and Haysi's Lance Compton, all dangerously mobile big-play machines. Terrell may be the best of that breathtaking lot.
Terrell has four big play-capable receivers including defending state 110-meter hurdles champ Raphael Rigaud not to mention a running back, Todd Smoot, who is just 7 yards short of 1,000 yards rushing.
Lloyd has his own concerns, primary among them preparing players in one week for an offense, the single wing, that they've never seen.
"The thing that really jumps out at me when I see tape of Giles is how well-coached those players are," Lloyd said. "They just don't make mistakes."
To be sure, the Spartans have played terrific football since losing to Division 1 finalist William Campbell 36-13 the fourth game of the season. Challenges have been limited in the nine outings since. In the last two games, Giles has whipped two once-beaten teams, George Wythe and Haysi, by a composite score of 68-22.
Giles has two 1,000-yard rushers in fullback Ryne Hevener and tailback Ricky Cook. Cook, who missed part of the season with an ankle injury, nevertheless amassed 1,553 all purpose yards and scored 22 touchdowns. Cook, a marvelously gifted athlete who also starts at safety (as does Terrell), is among the best players to ever put on a Giles uniform and that's saying plenty for a program now playing in its fourth state title game in the past quarter century.
The conventional wisdom is that Manassas Park will have the edge in speed on turf and Giles will have an advantage because of the single wing. Giles may have one more advantage. The Spartans played a good regular season schedule that included four playoff teams and two AA schools. Manassas Park didn't see its first playoff team until the playoffs. The AA schools on the schedule, Potomac Falls, Broad Run, and Brentsville District, were a combined 7-22.
Lloyd gives Giles one more edge: the kicking game. He likes what he's seen of Spartans place kicker Nathan Tanner, also the team's wingback.
"I hope the game doesn't come down to a field goal," Lloyd said. "Because if it does, we're going to be behind the 8-ball."
The most frightening player in the Group A Division 2 football playoffs? Easy. That would be Manassas Park quarterback Jay Terrell.
Ray Cox
The most frightening player in the Group A Division 2 football playoffs? Easy. That would be Manassas Park quarterback Jay Terrell.
The mere thought of the guy is enough to induce irregular heartbeats, anxiety-induced hyperventilation, and athlete's foot in his foes.
Giles coach Steve Ragsdale and his staff have been thinking about Terrell a lot this week. The 12-1 Spartans are playing the 13-0 Cougars at 4 p.m. today at James Madison University for the state title.
Ragsdale told the Washington Post that Terrell compared to Park View-Sterling's Allen Pinkett and the Jones brothers, Thomas and Julius, of Powell Valley. In other words, Terrell matches up favorably to the best players Giles has seen in the last 25 years.
At Manassas Park, it's been all Terrell, all the time the past two seasons. The defending state champion has a 27-game winning streak. The first 14 games of the streak came with another Terrell, Jay's cousin Zach, at the quarterbacking controls. Zach has since gone on to gain 668 yards and score a pair of touchdowns and was named first team running back All Big South Conference for Liberty University. He was also the league freshman of the year.
Meanwhile, Jay, a 6-foot-, 175-pound senior, arrived just in time this year, a transfer from AA Brentsville District.
Understandably, Cougars coach Jeff Lloyd politely evades requests for detailed comparisons of the cousins.
"They're both very athletic and both see the field very well," he said.
Manassas Park runs the spread offense with four wide receivers and one running back. Terrell is the trigger for everything the Cougars do.
"What we want to do is get our kids out in space where they can make plays," Lloyd said.
Given that opportunity, Terrell has rushed for 1,828 yards and scored 32 touchdowns while throwing for 1,324 yards and 13 TDs.
"He's slippery as an eel and like a rabbit in headlights," Ragsdale said. "You never know what he's going to do next. The thing that worries me is not so much his passing, which is very good, but when he goes back to pass, then decides to run when he's got our defense spread out all over the field."
At least Giles has a little bit of an idea about what to expect against a quarterback like Terrell. This year, Giles has faced Christiansburg's Andrew Hoffer, William Campbell's Danny Broggin, George Wythe's Derrick Davis, and Haysi's Lance Compton, all dangerously mobile big-play machines. Terrell may be the best of that breathtaking lot.
Terrell has four big play-capable receivers including defending state 110-meter hurdles champ Raphael Rigaud not to mention a running back, Todd Smoot, who is just 7 yards short of 1,000 yards rushing.
Lloyd has his own concerns, primary among them preparing players in one week for an offense, the single wing, that they've never seen.
"The thing that really jumps out at me when I see tape of Giles is how well-coached those players are," Lloyd said. "They just don't make mistakes."
To be sure, the Spartans have played terrific football since losing to Division 1 finalist William Campbell 36-13 the fourth game of the season. Challenges have been limited in the nine outings since. In the last two games, Giles has whipped two once-beaten teams, George Wythe and Haysi, by a composite score of 68-22.
Giles has two 1,000-yard rushers in fullback Ryne Hevener and tailback Ricky Cook. Cook, who missed part of the season with an ankle injury, nevertheless amassed 1,553 all purpose yards and scored 22 touchdowns. Cook, a marvelously gifted athlete who also starts at safety (as does Terrell), is among the best players to ever put on a Giles uniform and that's saying plenty for a program now playing in its fourth state title game in the past quarter century.
The conventional wisdom is that Manassas Park will have the edge in speed on turf and Giles will have an advantage because of the single wing. Giles may have one more advantage. The Spartans played a good regular season schedule that included four playoff teams and two AA schools. Manassas Park didn't see its first playoff team until the playoffs. The AA schools on the schedule, Potomac Falls, Broad Run, and Brentsville District, were a combined 7-22.
Lloyd gives Giles one more edge: the kicking game. He likes what he's seen of Spartans place kicker Nathan Tanner, also the team's wingback.
"I hope the game doesn't come down to a field goal," Lloyd said. "Because if it does, we're going to be behind the 8-ball."
