varsity.roanoke.com

PEARISBURG -- When Blacksburg and host Giles passed the third overtime in a mind-twisting epic of a football season opener and the score was still tied with no end in sight, Spartans coach Steve Ragsdale started thinking for the first time in his long career about packing it in.

A coach who had won 245 games and three state championships in 29 years was as serious as a certified letter from the Internal Revenue Service, too.

"After about four or five overtimes, I was thinking this may be getting dangerous because these kids are getting dehydrated and they're spent and I thought maybe, just maybe we ought to call it a tie and go home," Ragsdale said.

They kept playing through the humid August night until the Spartans, battling from behind for the last time, finally got a 2-yard touchdown run from single-wing tailback Gavin Lee.

It was over. At 11:15 p.m., Bruins players fell to the turf in despair as Spartans in the standing-room-only gallery and their heroes in uniform went into delirium.

After six overtimes, which equaled a state record, Giles prevailed 46-43.

The marvels seemed to be never-ending. The Spartans, who in the past two years had played 28 games, with one state Group A Division 2 title in 2005 and a state runner-up last season, scored all of their 46 points after intermission. They trailed 23-0 at the break before matching that figure in the third and fourth quarters.

The deadlock, the first of five, didn't occur until Cody Journell, a 6-foot, 170-pound junior, belted a school-record 54-yard field goal with 4:10 left in the fourth. He was just wide to the right on a 57-yard try with less than 1 minute left.

With Giles again facing defeat, Journell would go on to boom another from 42 yards in the fourth extra period to tie the score at 33.

Bruins kicker Caleb Violette nailed a 22-yarder, his fifth field goal of the evening, which ties him with three other players for the VHSL single-game record. That staked the Group AA Division 4 Bruins to a 43-40 advantage.

Violette, who also kicked three extra points, scored 21 points. The boot Blacksburg fans will remember, though, is the 22-yarder he missed in the first overtime that would have won the game.

Journell misfired on a 40-yard field-goal attempt in the first overtime.

Journell started and played the whole way in the defensive secondary for Giles as well as seeing action at wingback.

It was one of a number of examples of extraordinary stamina by the Spartans. Middle linebacker and blocking back Billy Cook played every down.

"I just want to go home and chill," Cook said afterwards.

No wonder.

"It was my plan tonight to rest [Cook] on offense," Ragsdale said. "To tell you the truth, it kind of slipped my darned mind. As the game went on, I just said, 'The heck with it; let him play.' "

Asked how his team coughed up a 23-point lead, Blacksburg coach David Crist said: "They played harder than we did."

Later, the latent businessman emerged in Giles assistant coach Jeff Williams.

"We could charge $10 for copies of the DVD and sell 500 of them," he suggested.

Blacksburg 10 13 0 0 0 0 7 3 7 3 -- 43

Giles 0 0 13 10 0 0 7 3 7 6 -- 46

B L. Keys 72 run (Violette kick)

B Violette 22 FG

B--Violette 38 FG

B--G. Keys 74 from Gresh (Violette kick)

B--Violette 43 FG

G--Douthat 18 run (pass failed)

G--Jones 64 run (Journell kick)

G--Lee 14 run (Journell kick)

G--Journell 54 FG

G--Lee 1 run (Journell kick)

B--Gresh 1 run (Violette kick)

B--Violette 22 FG

G--Journell 42 FG

G--Lee 2 run (Journell kick)

B--Holmes 12 from Gresh (Violette kick)

B--Violette 22 FG

G--Lee 2 run (no conversion)

B G

First downs 11 17

Yards rushing 168 321

Passes C-A-1 14-29-1 1-9-0

Passing 192 16

Penalties 7-50 3-15

Fumbles-lost 0-0 5-2

Punts 2-40.5 3-38.3

Individual statistics

RUSHING--Blacksburg, L Keys 16-103, Gresh 11-54, Holmes 2-2, Siegel 19. Giles, Jones 11-111, Douthat 23-109, Lee 15-46, Williams 4-33, Journell 8-33.

PASSING--Blacksburg, Gresh 14-29-1 196. Giles, Douthat 1-9-0 16.

RECEIVING--Blacksburg, G. Keys 4-120, Holmes 5-52, Wade 4-24, L. Keys 1 (-4). Giles--Lidgard 1-16.

R -- Claytor 7 run (Goodman kick)

R -- Shorter 15 run (pass failed)

G -- Sexton 20 pass to Sams (run failed)

GA RA

First downs 6 11

Yards rushing 7 275

Passes C-A-I 11-23-1 2-4-0

Yards passing 126 37

Penalties-yards 0-0 5-25

Fumbles-lost 5-3 4-0

Punts-average 4-29 2-33.5

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Radford, Price 6-84, Claytor 8-71, Thompson 5-54, Baylor 4-22, Shorter 1-15, Billings 2-18, Webb 3-18, Goodman 2-(minus-2), Saunders 1-(minus-5); Galax, Davis 2-15, Houk 4-1, Sexton 4-0, Diaz 1-(minus-2), Slater 1-(minus-3), Sams 3-(minus-4).

PASSING -- Radford, Claytor 2-4-37; Galax, Sexton 6-17-1-70, Houk 5-6-56

RECEIVING -- Radford, Thompson 2-37; Galax, Sams 7-63, Slater 2-37, Burnett 2-26.