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Saturday, September 11, 2004

Demons sweat out win

Christiansburg scores on seven of its first eight possessions then holds off a Giles rally.

PEARISBURG - Kaylee Graves admits she had to struggle.

"Slightly," she said with a smile. But as a Christiansburg cheerleader, she had agreed to participate in certain traditions - including performing one pushup for each point the Blue Demons scored.

"I did all 45," she said proudly.

So did her squadmates, so expect some jacked-up ladies to be roaming those Montgomery County halls this week. The Blue Demons scored on seven of their first eight possessions and stiff-armed a late rally from the home team to prevail 45-37 at Giles on Friday.

Christiansburg quarterback Andrew Hoffer, who spearheaded the effort with both his arm and his legs, wasn't about to apologize to his distaff classmates.

"Oh, no," he said, grinning. "We wanted to put up 50."

Either way, six touchdowns and a field goal were enough to lift Christiansburg (2-0) to its second straight win over a Three Rivers District power. The Blue Demons defeated Radford with a last-minute pass last week.

This time, however, they were the ones sweating out the final minutes. A good chunk of the home crowd had left by the time Ricky Cook threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Michael Earley with 3:09 to play. A two-point conversion run by Cook got Giles (0-2) within a score.

But Christiansburg recovered the ensuing kickoff, and Hoffer made a gutsy 10-yard scramble on third-and-9 to preserve the victory.

Christiansburg needed every bit of the lead it built in the third quarter with two rushing touchdowns by Hoffer and and a 13-yard TD run by Chad Chapman. Senior Terrell Burkes had 131 yards to pace Christiansburg's 225-yard rushing attack.

Christiansburg coach Tim Cromer credited the scoring outburst to his offensive line, which didn't allow a sack on 23 passing attempts.

"We thought we could move the ball on them, but we certainly didn't think we were going to move it like that," Cromer said. "When we're able to throw the football, we do a pretty good job."

No problems there. Hoffer connected with big-play receiver Jacques LaBoone seven times for 153 yards. Senior Zach Boyd added five receptions for 90 yards, including a pair of drive-saving grabs in the second half.

"We had all time in the world to throw the ball," Hoffer said.

Despite the loss, Giles got a huge lift from the return of Cook, who played sparingly on offense in an opening-night loss to Blacksburg two weeks ago. Showing no effects of the high-ankle sprain that plagued him this preseason, Cook rushed 29 times for a game-high 204 yards and four touchdowns.

"He had a great first half," Burkes said. "We knew he could play."

Christiansburg 7 14 17 7 - 45

Giles 0 17 0 20 - 37

G-Cook 5 run (Tanner kick)

CB-Chapman 1 run (Boyd kick)

G-Cook 39 run (Tanner kick)

CB-Burkes 58 run (Boyd kick)

G-Cook 65 run (Tanner kick)

CB-Boyd 22 FG

CB-Hoffer 3 run (Boyd kick)

CB-Chapman 13 run (Boyd kick)

CB-Hoffer 2 run (Boyd kick)

CB-Hoffer 10 run (Boyd kick)

G-Cook 8 run (Brown pass from Cook)

G-Earley 80 pass from Cook (Cook run)

C'Burg Giles

First downs 23 18

Yards rushing 225 272

Passes C-A-I 15-23-0 6-11-0

Yards passing 274 144

Penalties-yards 10-65 4-25

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0

Punts-average 1-44 3-32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Christiansburg, Burkes 17-131, Chapman 14-54, Hoffer 4-25, Grandy 2-12, Dawson 1-3; Giles, Cook 29-204, Hevener 9-22, Witt 1-18, Earley 4-17, Hamilton 1-11,

PASSING - Christiansburg, Hoffer 15-23-1-274; Giles, Cook 6-11-0-144.

RECEIVING - Christiansburg, LaBoone 7-153, Boyd 5-90, Burkes 1-14, Collins 1-13, Grandy 1-4; Giles, Earley 2-89, Tanner 2-31, Widrig 1-13, Blevins 1-11.

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