Sports

Saturday, September 21, 2002

BHS' Wade runs wild over Wildcats


Junior back racks up 203 rushing yards in win at Normal West


By Jim Benson
Pantagraph staff

NORMAL -- The muddy Normal West field might have slowed down James Wade for awhile Friday night. Then a Bloomington High School teammate came to Wade's rescue.

"I switched cleats with one of my partners on the team (John Dick)," said Wade. "He gets a lot of the credit."

West still might be chasing Wade if he didn't stop in the end zone. The junior halfback ran for 203 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns and also caught a long scoring pass as the unbeaten Purple Raiders flexed their big-play muscle in a 53-13 victory over West in a Big 12 Conference West Division football game.

"Coach (Rigo Schmelzer) told me just hit the outside. Nobody on their team is faster than you. Just go ahead and hit the sideline and you'll break one every time," said Wade, who recorded his second 200-yard plus game of the season. "I took that advice and tried to hit the sideline every time."

Wade scored on runs of 16, 70 and 58 yards as BHS, ranked No. 3 in the Class 6A state poll, improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the West Division with its 29th straight regular-season win. The Raiders' seven offensive touchdowns netted 419 of their 486 yards of total offense.

West lost its 10th straight game in falling to 0-4 and 0-2, respectively.

BHS might have thought it was transported back in time to last Friday. For the second straight week, BHS didn't get the ball until halfway through a scoreless first quarter. Like last week's 52-0 victory over Mattoon, the Raiders scored on the first play of the second quarter -- and were off to the races.

Wade's 16-yard touchdown run started a touchdown avalanche that produced a 39-6 halftime lead. Wade turned a short pass from Andre Brown into a 64-yard touchdown before Damon Mehlberg's 28-yard fumble recovery put BHS ahead 20-0 less than four minutes into the quarter.

Brown's next two passes -- both out of the shot-gun with an empty backfield -- went for touchdowns. Eric Esch was wide open for a 68-yard scoring pass and Chad Olson turned a wide receiver screen into a 42-yard score.

West scored the first touchdown this season against BHS' No. 1 defense. After a BHS turnover, Caleb Strader made a nice cutback move and ran 39 yards for a touchdown. But the Raiders answered quickly as Brown heaved a long pass in stride to Olson for a 52-yard touchdown with 1:01 left before halftime. Brown finished 5-of-8 for 247 yards and four TDs.

"It was flat-out speed. We had the people where they should be," said West coach Jim Baker. "If it was any other team than Bloomington's sprint team, we would have been there. We just don't have that speed."

Wade's first two carries in the second half resulted in scoring plays of 70 and 58 yards. West's Scott Chenoweth scored on a 3-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

According to Schmelzer, there was a big difference between the Mattoon and West games in the first quarter.

"Mattoon earned their downs and yards. Here the first downs came on our offsides and roughing the punter and a poor defensive play allowing their tight end to go vertical and catch a first down. They (the Wildcats) took advantage of it and held on to the ball and worked it down," said Schmelzer.

"One of the things we've told them -- you've got to stay focused and come out fired up. That's a little bit of a concern."

Strader gained 65 yards in 10 carries for West, which had 146 yards in total offense. The Wildcats lost wingback/defensive back Jordan Comadena in the second quarter with a knee injury.

"There are more positives than negatives. We emphasized learning, learning, learning," said Baker. "In the first quarter, when we were fresh and it was all fresh in their minds, I thought we did an outstanding job. You take away their speed and this would have been a lot closer game."