varsity.roanoke.com

Special to The Roanoke Times

Undefeated Cave Spring rolled on as the Knights coasted to a 35-7 win over Blacksburg on a chilly night at Dwight Bogle Stadium.

The Knights (6-0) used a trick play and a balanced attack to put away the Bruins in their first River Ridge District game of the season.

Beset by injuries to his quarterback and two tailbacks, Blacksburg coach David Crist wouldn't use that as an excuse for his 1-5 squad.

"You've got to play the game," Crist said. "Cave Spring's a real good football team. We didn't do some things we should have done in the first half."

The Bruins got off to a rough start when they fumbled a Cave Spring punt early and the Knights recovered, driving for their first score - a 27-yard Alex Lemmer run - midway through the first quarter.

What proved to be the game-winner came at the start of the second quarter on a play Cave Spring has not used all season: a halfback option pass from Danny Aiken to David Redick.

"They were just packing it in on us and the safety was biting. We just kind of took advantage of it," Knights coach Ben Foutz said.

Redick, a 6-foot-4 wide receiver-tight end, caught the pass in stride at midfield and went 84 yards for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

"Aiken threw a perfect pass to me and I was able to get in front of the defender," said Redick, who also had a strong game on defense. "I was in a dead sprint the whole way."

Aiken, also a backup quarterback, said his throw "was a little taste. It felt good."

The junior was also happy to get some carries at a running back with workhorse Lemmer resting for much of the second half.

"We have a great overall team," Aiken said, "but we can't do it without that offensive line."

Six Knights rushed for 136 yards to go along with 178 yards passing.

Cave Spring upped its lead to 28-0 before halftime on short runs by Brian Thompson and Lemmer. A 22-yard pass to Aiken on the second TD drive gave him 143 total yards of offense on the night, including 84 passing, 37 rushing and 22 receiving.

Starting quarterback Beau Austin heaved a 21-yard pass to Wade Hammes in the end zone for the final Cave Spring score with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

The Bruins broke the shutout with 9 minutes left on a two-yard run by Kevin Gregory.

Blacksburg 0 0 0 7 - 7

Cave Spring 7 21 7 0 - 35

CS-Lemmer 27 run (Scott kick)

CS-Redick 84 pass from Aiken (Scott kick)

CS-Thompson 6 run (Scott kick)

CS-Lemmer 1 run (Scott kick)

CS-Hammes 21 pass from Austin (Scott kick)

B-Gregory 2 run (Matthews kick)

B CS

First downs 9 8

Yards rushing 65 136

Passes C-A-I 4-13-1 6-7-0

Yards passing 91 178

Penalties-yards 1-15 2-10

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Punts-average 5-42 4-45

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Blacksburg, Cooke 1-0, Matthews 8-20, Bennett 8-22, Gregory 11-22, Savage 1-(-2), Jennings 2-3. Cave Spring, Aiken 8-37, Thompson 9-20, Austin 5-35, Lemmer 11-43, Horan 4-1, Roth 1-0.

PASSING-Blacksburg, Cooke 4-13-91-1. Cave Spring, Austin 5-6-94-0, Aiken 1-1-84-0.

RECEIVING-Blackburg, Grant 1-18, Matthews 2-50, Plemmons 1-23. Cave Spring, Thompson 2-15, Redick 2-120, Homas 1-21, Aiken 1-22.