The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

November 27, 2009

What can Richwood’s Brown do for the Kennedy Award?

By Dave Morrison

This much we know: Richwood running back Dustin Brown is not going to win the Kennedy Award.

Who will?

That remains to be seen.

But it won’t be Brown.

In fact, save a couple of votes that I know of, including my own, he may not get mentioned at all.

If Da’Von Marion didn’t garner much support last year at Mount Hope, rest assured Brown is going to get even less.

And that is a shame.

I’m not saying he should win the award, given to the state’s top player.

But he darn sure deserves some consideration.

The numbers offensively are staggering.

He has rushed for 2,305 yards — 2,001 of that in the regular season.

He has 33 rushing touchdowns. He has six receiving touchdowns.

He led the state in scoring.

Sound familiar?

Yes, those are very similar to the stats put up by Marion last season. And he barely got a sniff for the award that was won by Bluefield quarterback Will Cole.

There’s more.

He also has seven field goals. He has booted 40-plus extra points.

Coach Jason Rogers also noted he had 14 tackles and an interception in last week’s 44-26 playoff win over Wirt County.

“If he doesn’t (merit consideration), then something is wrong with the system,” Rogers said. “You see all these guys down in the Kanawha Valley rushing for 500, 600 yards and they are getting mentioned. I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t even be mentioned. Maybe the fact that we aren’t close to any big cities.”

What can Brown do for the Kennedy Award?

“I don’t know,” Brown said of whether he thought he should win the award. “It would be a huge honor just to be mentioned for that, but ... I don’t know. I’d love it. I’d like it.”

Brown said his eyes are on another prize.

“The most important thing is to win (the state title),” said Brown, who along with his teammates will play at Man in the Class A semifinals Saturday night. “The state title, that’s my goal. As for the awards, I’ll just leave that up to whoever does that.”

That would be the state’s sportswriters.

As spread out as the state’s media is, and with as little publicity as Richwood has gotten — a state title run is helping in that regard — it’s almost impossible for a Class A player to win the award.

The last Class A player to win it? Sistersville’s Jeff Swisher in 1986.

We’ve heard all the arguments about how Class AAA players face stiffer competition.

That’s true.

They also have more talent around them, finer weight facilities for the most part, and a lot of times they play just one way.

Brown is on the field nearly every play, including extra points and kickoffs.

“I do think that it’s a little unfair to Class A athletes,” Brown said. “Usually you are playing both ways and that makes it a little tougher.”

No argument here.

The kid has helped turn a program that had six combined wins the last two seasons into a 12-game winner this season.

He’s got my vote.

— E-mail: demorrison@

register-herald.com

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