varsity.roanoke.com

Fifteen minutes into Friday's game, the Salem Spartans had already committed three major mistakes and fallen behind River Ridge District rival Cave Spring 14-0.

Then the Spartans came back.

A spectacular 85-yard touchdown run by Andre Hairston got the Spartans on the board before halftime, then Salem put up three touchdowns on three more big plays in the third quarter and held off a Cave Spring comeback to earn a 28-21 victory.

"We feel like we survived," said Salem coach Steve Magenbauer.

Hairston ran for 102 yards on 10 carries and caught two passes for 29 yards for the Spartans (7-1, 2-1 River Ridge).

"We relied on big plays a little too much," Magenbauer said. "We wanted to establish the run; we never did do that."

Salem quarterback Matt Shawver completed eight of 15 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted twice.

Tony Spradlin caught three passes for 112 yards, including an 83-yard touchdown catch. Brian Webb snatched a 45-yard touchdown pass from Shawver and also intercepted a pass from Cave Spring quarterback Beau Austin.

Austin ran for 67 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries for Cave Spring (6-2, 1-2). He completed five of 15 passes for 25 yards. He was shaken up after intercepting a Shawver pass in the third quarter, but returned to action after missing just one series.

"It was a big game; I was trying to do my best for my team," Austin said.

Brian Thompson ran for 40 yards and a touchdown on nine carries and caught three passes for 15 yards.

Cave Spring took advantage of a 33-yard kickoff return by Thompson and a pass-interference call to drive 56 yards for a touchdown on the opening series of the game. Thompson scored the touchdown on a 12-yard reverse.

The Knights' Wayne Hammes recovered an onside kick at the Salem 31 and Cave Spring took four plays to get into the end zone again. This time Austin ran in from the 7.

The teams traded punts, then Cave Spring's Andrew Sellers stripped the ball from Salem's Joey Daniels and Jeremy Spradlin recovered to give the Knights the ball at midfield to go along with their 14-0 lead.

"It was frustrating, but we had to try not to get too frustrated or you can't play," Shawver said.

A punt pinned the Spartans at their 9, but three plays later Shawver handed off to Hairston at the 15. Hairston pulled through the line, then broke toward the left sideline. He was 50 yards downfield by the time Hammes caught up with him. But just as Hammes was about to push him out of bounds, Hairston cut to his right and dashed the remaining 35 yards to the end zone.

"[Hairston] has good vision, and our receivers were downfield blocking for him," Shawver said.

Three plays into the Spartans' first drive in the second half, Shawver hit Tony Spradlin behind the Knights' secondary at the Cave Spring 40 and Spradlin sprinted untouched to the end zone to tie the score.

Salem was driving again when Austin intercepted Shawver at the Cave Spring 3. Austin hit the ground hard and bounced into the end zone.

"I was pretty woozy," Austin admitted, displaying a cut under his chin.

With Austin out, Kenny Horan took the snaps and handed off to Thompson. On the first carry, Thompson picked up two yards, on the next he made it to the 10 before Cameron Chaney stripped the ball away and ran back to the end zone for a 21-14 Spartans' lead.

On Salem's next drive, Shawver hit Webb for a 45-yard touchdown and a 28-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Austin capped a 66-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 28-21, and Cave Spring got the ball back on another fumble by Daniels at the Spartans' 49 with 7:12 to go in the fourth quarter. But the Knights' drive stalled out.

"We put ourselves in a hole," Magenbauer said. "We were fortunate to get out of it."

Salem 0 7 21 0 - 28

Cave Spring14 0 0 7 - 21

CS - Thompson 12 run (kick failed)

CS - Austin 7 run (Thompson run)

S - Hairston 85 run (Hall kick)

S - Spradlin 83 pass from Shawver (Hall kick)

S - Chaney 10 fumble return (Hall kick)

S - Webb 45 pass from Shawver (Hall kick)

CS - Austin 7 run (Fanti kick)

Salem CS

First downs 6 12

Yards rushing 26-129 42-161

Passes C-A-I 8-13-2 5-26-2

Yards passing 192 18

Penalties-yards 5-50 3-20

Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1

Punts-average 3-39.3 5-37.6

Individual statistics

RUSHING - Salem, Shawver 8-7, Daniels 7-20, Hairston 10-102, Smith 1-0. Cave Spring, Austin 13-67, Lemmer 17-43, Thompson 9-40, Osborne 1-2, Aiken 2-9.

PASSING - Salem, Shawver 8-13-2-192. Cave Spring, Austin 4-15-1-25, Aiken 1-1-0,-(-7).

RECEIVING - Salem, Webb 1-45, Spradlin 3-112, Hairston 2-29, Hannaburg 1-3, Daniels 1-3. Cave Spring, Thompson 3-15, Austin 1-(-7), Horan 1-3.