Friday, November 06, 2009
Bruins stick together through tough season
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
Ray Cox
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The tail end of losing high school football seasons sometimes are accompanied by players acting, well, like tail ends.
Ugly doesn't cover it, the sniping, second-guessing and such. From the outside, it is so sad, assuming you have a heart.
My dear mother always counseled against generalization. Sincere apologies, then. Here goes. One word covers teams that are torn asunder from within.
Loser.
Refreshing it is, then, to visit a squad undismayed by difficult circumstances.
Over at Blacksburg, record 3-6 with one up three down in the River Ridge District, the athletes and their coaches continue to pick one another up.
There's nobility to that, also smarts. The payoff comes tonight in the regular season finale at archrival Christiansburg. With the advent of the newly expanded VHSL Group AA Division 4 Region IV playoffs, there's something more than pride for which Blacksburg to play.
Had the Bruins already come apart at the seams as a result of an exceptionally tough season, we wouldn't be having this discussion regardless of the remaining postseason possibilities.
"It's been frustrating, but it's impressed me a lot how this team has held together," said Ricky Sowers, a senior who plays wide receiver and defensive back.
"A lot of teams might turn on each other after a one-point loss, pointing fingers at somebody else, blaming them. We've stuck together very well, and I'm very proud of that."
One-point losses, the Bruins have had them, back to back, 21-20 to Northside in Game 3 and 35-34 to Patrick Henry in Game 4. Blacksburg has also been on the short end of a couple of beat downs, clashes with district rivals Hidden Valley and Salem falling into that category.
Yet the Bruins have had their tear-'em-up moments, too, last week's 34-3 dismantling of Pulaski County being the most recent example.
It is instructive that in Blacksburg's three victories, it has held the fallen foe to a collective 16 points (while scoring 104). Liberty, a one-loss team, the Bruins limited to 13 points in a three-point setback on the Minutemen's lawn.
Nothing has delighted veteran Blacksburg boss David Crist more this year than the indestructible good spirits of his team. It's what they mean when somebody discusses a team's "football character."
"To see them hang together when it's so easy to go the other way, I think it's a tribute to them, a tribute to the leadership among themselves," he said. "They've just kind of kept the faith in each other."
All can have faith that Christiansburg is going to arrive on the Bruins' home field in ill humor and ready to play ball this evening.
The game with Blacksburg is a mega big deal if neither team had won a game the whole season. Beyond that, fresh on all Demons' minds is last year's 17-14 Blacksburg victory, the immediate result being that Christiansburg's folks sulked at home the next week, their campaign done, while the Bruins advanced to regionals.
Circumstances differ this year in several important respects.
For one, Christiansburg will still be playing next week, regardless. For Blacksburg, the newly expanded playoff format is a welcome gift this year. It's going to be close anyway.
A lot can happen involving Blacksburg, win or maybe even lose. Best advice to the Bruins: win the football game and hope for good news elsewhere.
Crist is well aware what they're up against.
"Christiansburg is so talented," he said.
This is the team, after all, that took mighty Salem to three overtimes in an unforgettable 45-43 loss Oct. 23. It's been part of a three-game River Ridge skid that ought to have the Demons extra riled up.
All those facts no doubt will be covered during Blacksburg's team meetings this week. What's not being talked about much are the postseason possibilities.
"They don't need any more pressure than they already have," Crist said.
Never mind. The players know how to access the Internet and the VHSL power ratings.
"We've talked about that," Sowers said. "There's a lot of talk about that around the locker room and around town especially. A lot of people like you when you're winning, but they'll turn on you when you're losing."
It wouldn't matter if all that were at stake in this game was a half cup of warm Gatorade.
"We want to go to the playoffs as seniors," Sowers said. "[The class] went to the playoffs the first time last year. Of course we want to beat Christiansburg. We've never lost to Christiansburg, so we definitely want to keep that streak alive."
Another effort like last week against Pulaski County would be useful. For the Bruins, it all went back to the aforementioned unity.
"We stuck together when they began to break," center Matt Blankenship said.
In the end, that means more than who wins or loses a football game.
