By Austin Bishop
November 04, 2009 10:56 am
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If you are looking for a way to slow down Weir's Cramer Miller, don't waste your time soaking down the field.
The senior back has become a mud bog specialist over the last three weeks, rushing for 623 yards on a whopping 114 carries over that span.
On Friday night he carried the ball 35 times for 204 yards and three touchdowns in the Lions 46-12 win over their county rivals on a sloppy track.
"He is just an outstanding back," FCA head coach Nathan Wright said of Miller. "We couldn't tackle him and he just kept pushing forward for yards. They were just more physical up front than our defensive line was. That was a concern for us going in."
While Miller has the ability to use his speed on the outside and to make cuts in the open field, the last month has been more about him running the ball between the tackles with authority.
"We told them it was going to be smash mouth football and it was," Weir head coach Danya Turner said. "If the weather keeps being like it has been and the field conditions are like that and we keep blocking like that, then we are going to keep running him."
Weir closes out its regular season at home against Noxapater on Thursday, while French Camp travels to face West Oktibbeha on Friday when the Panthers fight for their playoff lives.
"If we beat them we are definitely in," Wright said of his team's game against the 5-5 Timberwolves. "They are pretty good, so we are going to have to play. If we lose to West Ok, then we will have to go to the drawing board (to look at tie-breaker scenarios)."
Weir established itself on the first drive of the game, marching 58 yards on 10 plays, with Miller scoring on a 17-yard run with 5:50 to play in the first quarter. Jamarrian Woodard ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0, then the Lions tacked on 24 second-quarter points to roll into halftime leading 32-0.
Jay Miller scored on a 2-yard run with 8:10 left in the half, before Cramer Miller scored on a 3-yard run with 2:41 left to make it 24-0.
Then came the play that Turner said finally allowed him to breath a sigh of relief.
Four plays into FCA's next possession, Dannaris Potts stepped in the middle of a screen play, picked the ball off, and rambled 44 yards for the touchdown with 36.8 seconds left until intermission. Cramer Miller's conversion run made it 32-0.
"That was big," Turner said. "I really felt like after we picked that ball off that we were in control."
French Camp scored less than two minutes into the third quarter when Jared Douglas picked up a fumble and raced 47 yards for the Panthers first touchdown of the night.
Weir scored third-quarter touchdowns on a 24-yard run by Cramer Miller and a 20-yard pass from Jay Miller to Sammie Carter.
FCA scored on a 24-yard pass from Jesse Hosket to Chris Nickson with 35.2 seconds left in the game.
Hosket hit on 4-of-14 passes for 47 yards for FCA, while Jovon Turner had 27 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Jay Miller rushed for 39 yards on 12 carries and hit on 2-of-4 passes for 23 yards for the Lions.
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