By Marty Gordon
Then there was one. Only one of the area’s two playoff teams advanced on Saturday.
Landon Clark contributed to five scores as Radford High School rolled 50-30 over Appomattox. Clark has been major contributor on the offensive side of the ball all season, but it was on defense, he made the difference this week.
Clark returned two interceptions for touchdowns as Radford will host Glenvar on Saturday in the Class 2C regional championship game. This will be the second time the schools have met this season.
The first was a 36-3 win by Radford (12-0).
Clarke had interception returns of 60 and 36 yards. By the way, he also completed 12 of 23 passes from his quarterback position for 269 yards with another score. He also rushed for 89 yards with two more scores on 16 carries.
Clark is probably happy to get receiver Mac Kanipe back from injury as he has been the go-to guy for the past two playoff games. Saturday, he recorded six catches for 164 yards with a score.
For the season, Kanipe now has 49 catches for 1,179 yards with 13 touchdowns.
Clark is on the verge of rushing for 1,000 yards and passing for 3,000 this season. After this week, he has passed 253 times with 154 completions for 2,613 yards with 32 touchdowns. Clark has rushed 96 6imes for 947 yards with 23 scores.
Glenvar held on at the end of the game to beat Gretna 38-34 to advance to the Radford game. QB1 sophomore Brody Dawyot three 17 of 25 passes for 274 yards with four scores.
Meanwhile, Christiansburg fell 27-20 to Magna Vista. Last year’s region champs in Christiansburg made a furious rally in the second half after falling down at halftime and had the ball with a minute remaining in the game. But they were unable to find the endzone as the clock ran out.
Sophomore quarterback Izaiah Cotto finished eight of 15 through the air for 140 yards with touchdowns in the loss. Christiansburg will finish the season with a 8-4 record.
Magna Vista will advance to play William Byrd in the Region 3D title game, also on Saturday.