Rushing, Defense Key in Gate City Shutout of Richlands (2024)

GATE CITY — In this new-fangled football universe where everything is dominated by the forward pass and hurry-up offenses, Gate City turned back the clock Friday with a dominating rushing attack.

The Blue Devils (1-0) recorded a season-opening shutout of Richlands for the first time since 1995, racking up 330 rushing yards en route to a 20-0 non-district victory at Legion Field. The victors needed to complete just one pass for 23 yards.

Gate City junior running back Walker Hillman — who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year — started off the season in style with 236 yards on 26 carries and one touchdown.

Corey Byrd got Gate City’s second touchdown with an 86-yard scamper in the third quarter and Jackson Jones tallied the final score with a one-yard rush in the fourth.

“I’m going to give a lot of credit to the offensive coaching staff,” Gate City coach Jeremy Houseright said. “They came in on Sunday to put it together, implemented it Monday and it worked to perfection. The kids accepted it and embraced it and they did one heck of a job tonight.

“Walker had a great year last year and we’re expecting him to do some great stuff this year. He’s going to be the first one to tell you that the credit goes to the guys up front.”

Though Hillman already was slated to shoulder a big load for the “Big Blue” offense, he had to do more than expected after starting sophom*ore Kaden Houseright went down on GC’s second drive with what looked like a leg injury.

“I didn’t really actually think I had to shoulder that much more than I already was,” Hillman said. “Jackson (Jones) is a really good leader and he came out there prepared and ready to step up. We missed Kaden, but Jackson came in and got the job done.”

Hillman was also quick to credit his offensive line, which he acknowledged was young and undersized, but got the job done on Friday. It was the first time that Gate City recorded consecutive wins in the rivalry since 2008-09.

“It was a good way to come out for the first game of the season and we over-emphasized the run this week,” Hillman said. “Our line was making incredible holes and helping me get all the way down the field. I had some elite blockers for me tonight.”

Jeremy Houseright said in the postgame interview that his son Kaden was still questionable. After Kaden went out, he did not return and was seen on the sidelines with crutches.

“He’s a little banged up and we’ll see what happens,” Houseright said of his son.

The rushing game might have been the calling card for GC, but it was the defense that really stepped up, holding Richlands (0-1) to just 86 yards of offense and five first downs. It was the first shutout for the blue Devils at Legion Field since a 55-0 thumping of Marion in 2019.

“Hats off to the kids because they followed the game plan that the coaches had and they played their tails off,” Houseright said.

Richlands has lost 13 straight — tying the program’s longest winless streak from 1936-38 — and 19 of the last 21.

Gate City tallied five sacks on the night and gave up just five rushing yards.

Richlands quarterback Jamie Capshaw was 11-for-21 with 81 yards passing while running back Andrew Boyd had 27 yards on the ground.

A key moment came in the second quarter when Gate City junior linebacker and fullback Mason Hickman picked up two personal foul penalties, triggering an ejection from the game. It is unknown whether he will be eligible to return for next week’s road game.

“I really don’t know what happened there,” Houseright said. “I’m still trying to figure it out and I didn’t get to talk to the guy that (threw the flags).”

The game started rather inauspiciously for the Devils as a bad center-quarterback exchange was fumbled at the 2-yard line. Richlands’ Hunter Ratliff recovered and the Tazewell County crew ended up having its best drive of the night before having to punt near midfield.

“In game one, you're going to have mistakes and we need to erase those,” coach Houseright said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a few too many times and we had way too many penalties (10 for 87 yards).”

After a punt and a failed fourth-down conversion attempt on Gate City’s next two drives, Hillman punched it in from one yard out with 3:33 to go in the second quarter to give his squad enough of a cushion.

Gate City will travel to Middlesboro, Ky. next week for a showdown with the Yellow Jackets, which went 9-3 last year before being knocked out of the third round of the playoffs by eventual Class 1A champion Pikeville.

Richlands will have its home-opener next week as it hosts Mountain 7 District favorite Union.

GATE CITY — Hillman 1 run (McLain kick)
GATE CITY — Byrd 86 run (McLain kick)
GATE CITY — J. Jones 1 run (kick missed)