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Wednesday, October 22, 1997

Richardson making Terrell fans forget Rhodes

By JAIME ARON / AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) -- John Richardson watched from the bench last year as Burnest Rhodes ran for more than 2,000 yards and led Terrell to its first playoff berth in seven years.

This year, with Rhodes at Texas A&M, the ground game was turned over to Richardson and he admittedly wasn't sure whether he could handle it.

Seven weeks and six 100-yard games later, the doubt is gone.

Richardson, a senior, had his biggest game yet last weekend, rushing 22 times for 303 yards and five touchdowns as Terrell drilled West Mesquite 41-0. The performance also earned him top billing on this week's Associated Press honor roll.

"We did a good job of getting him into the secondary, then he made some good defensive backs miss," Terrell coach Tom Ed Gooden said. "He's very elusive. That's the difference between a run being 15 yards or 85."

Richardson showed it would be his night from the start, running 42 yards for a touchdown on his first carry. Two carries later, he went 86 yards.

When he was done, Richardson had upped his season total to 1,193 yards -- the most in District 12-4A and fourth-best in the Dallas area. More important, Terrell was 7-0 and on it way to No. 9 in this week's AP poll.

Richardson's emergence has allowed Terrell to remain strong despite losing Rhodes and several other key players. Coaches never doubted Richardson's ability, but they didn't expect him to be this good this soon.

"John worked real hard in the weight room and really prepared himself for this," Gooden said. "We knew all along he was going to be the guy, the question was how good would he be. We had been a little spoiled after two years of Burnest rushing for 2,000 yards a year."

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Richardson started in the secondary last year and occasionally carried the ball as Rhodes' backup. Their styles are different: Rhodes was a basher, while Richardson is somewhat of a slasher.

Richardson didn't establish himself as a legitimate threat until the second game of this season, when he had 123 yards on 33 carries.

Those numbers aren't eye-popping, but Gooden said the way he earned them was impressive.

"We didn't block anybody that night," the coach said. "He was still making six or eight yards."

That fits perfectly with what he's done all season. On 165 carries, Richardson is averaging 7.2 yards per carry.

Other outstanding Week 7 performances included: ALL-AROUND

--Michael Lusby ran for 346 yards and four touchdowns, was 3-of-4 on PATS and made seven tackles in Spearman's 27-0 victory over Sunray. It was his fourth 200-yard game of the year.

--Troy Sumrall ran for three short touchdowns and returned punts for touchdowns of 42 and 67 yards in Nederland's 54-13 victory over Port Arthur Lincoln.

--Chano Alvarado helped keep Edcouch-Elsa undefeated, running for 190 yards and two touchdowns and returned an interception 62 yards in a 20-7 victory over defending district champion Los Fresnos.

--Brian Rodriguez ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns, and threw for 155 yards and a touchdown as San Antonio Holmes beat San Antonio Clark 34-19.

ON THE GROUND

--Wheeler gained 666 yards -- all on the ground -- in a 42-7 victory over Claude. Bryan Judd had 249 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries, Jeremy Davis had 201 yards on 17 carries and Aaron Dunnam had 176 yards on 12 carries.

--Marcus Lewis ran for touchdowns of 40, 55 and 75 yards on his only three carries and returned a kickoff 80 yards for another score. Torey Gatson had 138 yards including touchdowns of 47, 42 and 11 yards on just seven carries and Ben Holmes had 132 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown, on just seven carries as Burkeville crushed High Island 73-12.

--Willie Simpson ran for 289 yards and three touchdowns, plus ran in the game-winning 2-point conversion in Austin LBJ's 39-38 victory over Austin Reagan.

--Jonathan Reagins ran just eight times, but scored five touchdowns and had 224 yards rushing in Munday's 62-0 win over Knox City. He also caught a TD pass.

--Jacoby Thornton ran 39 times for 285 yards and a touchdown in Garland Lakeview's 20-17 over Garland Naaman Forest.

--Jacob Lindaman, a junior quarterback making his second start, ran for 270 yards and touchdowns of 76, 80 and 82 yards in Lewisville's 46-33 victory over Keller. He also threw for 38 yards and a touchdown.

--Victor Ike became the Austin Independent School District's all-time leading rusher by running for 148 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of Austin Bowie's 41-7 victory over Austin Johnston. His 3,417 yards are three more than T.J. Washington had for Austin McCallum from 1992-94.

--Isaac Shaw ran for 268 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-6 victory over Calvert.

--Antwoyne Edwards rushed for 258 yards and three touchdowns in Big Spring's 28-20 victory over San Angelo Lake View.

--Charles Morrow ran for 250 yards and three touchdowns in Franklin's 30-20 victory over Somerville.

--Allan Adkison ran for 238 yards and five touchdowns on just 18 carries in Perryton's 41-18 victory over Muleshoe. It was his second straight 200-yard game.

--Josh Dormier ran for 237 yards and three touchdowns in Throckmorton's 56-13 victory over Saint Jo.

--Juaron Drake ran for 235 yards and three touchdowns, leading Fort Worth Western Hills past Fort Worth Eastern Hills 45-35.

--Mario Molina ran for 230 yards and scored two touchdowns in McAllen Memorial's 42-35 victory over Mission. It was his third straight 200-yard game.

--Bernardo Bondoc ran for 207 yards and three touchdowns and caught two passes for 55 yards in Laredo United South's 26-21 victory over Laredo Martin. It was just the school's third district win in six years.

--Spencer Tenney ran for 204 yards and three touchdowns, leading Arlington to its first victory over the year, 34-14 over Arlington Bowie.

--Dondi Kennedy ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns, caught two touchdown passes and kicked a field goal in Everman's 36-0 victory over Cedar Hill.

IN THE AIR

--Chris Lowe was 20-of-38 for 455 yards and four touchdowns, but Keller lost 46-33 to Lewisville. Greg Porter had 268 of the receiving yards and three touchdowns.

--Patrick Hutka had another great week, throwing for 418 yards -- putting him over 2,000 for the season -- and five touchdowns on 23-of-35 passing and running in a sixth touchdown in Rogers' 42-16 victory over Hutto. Nelson Kortis caught eight passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.

--Adam Kessler was 19-of-45 for a school-record 362 yards with four touchdowns in Carrollton Newman Smith's 43-30 loss to Duncanville. It was the third time he's set the school standard for single-game passing yards.

--Brandon Johnson, already the state's top 4A passer, hit 13-of-19 passes for 349 yards and four touchdowns in Waco Midway's 44-14 victory over Marble Falls. Kevin Brown caught seven passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

--Joseph Brann was 28-of-42 for 327 yards and four touchdowns in Mission's 42-35 loss to McAllen Memorial. Jamaar Taylor caught 13 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown, and had a 13-yard touchdown run.

--Ell Roberson III was 11-of-14 for 297 yards and had touchdown passes of 92 and 7 yards. He ran for another 38 yards in Baytown Lee's 39-6 victory over Port Arthur Jefferson.

--Jordan Wilson was 19-of-27 for 283 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a score in Grapevine's 37-8 victory over Highland Park. Tyson Olivo had 140 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

--Kelan Luker was 14-of-22 for 263 yards and a touchdown in Stephenville's 28-7 victory over Weatherford.

--Todd Wright was 14-of-24 for 248 yards and three touchdowns in Fort Worth Arlington Heights' 33-0 victory over Fort Worth North Side.

--Justin Mills ran for 220 yards and six touchdowns in Anna's 57-8 victory over Caddo Mills.

--Eric Thompson was 8-of-15 for 204 yards and two touchdowns and threw a 2-point conversion as Thorndale upset Iola 39-32.

--Brad Bell was 15-of-28 for 212 yards and three touchdowns, and ran seven times for 70 yards a touchdown in Gregory-Portland's 45-8 victory over Robstown.

--John Jeffries caught four passes and scored on each of them from 33, 33, 13 and 20 yards in Flower Mound Marcus' 34-12 victory over Euless Trinity. Spencer Stack was 14-of-26 for 259 yards.

--J.R. Sharpe caught 10 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown in Dublin's 28-12 loss to Hico.

DEFENSE

--Kyle Baker made 20 tackles, including a key fourth-and-1 tackle on the 1 with less than 30 seconds left in Lorena's 13-8 victory over Marlin.

--Jesse Dominguez returned interceptions 23 and 18 yards for touchdowns in Benavides' 54-0 victory over Santa Maria.

--Adrian Thomas had 12 solo tackles and 12 assists in South Grand Prairie's 35-25 victory over Irving Nimitz.

--Justin Justice, a freshman, intercepted three passes, leading to two touchdowns, in Eastland's 38-12 victory over Coleman. He also had three tackles, assisted on two others and broke up another pass.

--Percy Forman had 18 tackles, three sacks and an interception in Garland Lakeview's 20-17 victory over Garland Naaman Forest.

--Brian Cyprian had eight tackles, assisted on five others, knocked down a pass and intercepted two passes, both leading to scores in Breckenridge's 43-13 victory over Ballinger.

--Justin Smith had seven tackles, four sacks and caused two fumbles in Sherman's 44-14 victory over Denton.

--Jacob Benavides had 11 tackles, six for losses, as Devine remained undefeated with a 35-14 victory over Bandera.

SPECIAL TEAMS

--Tarron Brooks returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown with 2-1/2 minutes remaining in Austin McCallum's 21-14 victory over Austin Travis.