Saturday, October 18, 2008
Salem able to hold off B'burg
varsity.roanoke.com
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For a Blacksburg team trying to cope with the mid-afternoon loss of quarterback Trey Gresh, nothing could have been as uplifting as an early defensive touchdown Friday night.
Salem High School quarterback Derek Hickman made sure that the Bruins' momentum was short-lived. Hickman, whose first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, had a little better success with his first rushing attempt.
Hickman raced 80 yards on the first play of Salem's second series and finished with 204 yards of total offense in a 28-14 victory at Salem Stadium.
Salem improved its record to 6-1 and kept pace with Pulaski County atop the River Ridge District standings at 2-0.
Blacksburg entered play Friday in a three-way tie with the Spartans and Cougars but learned at 4 p.m. that Gresh would be unable to play because of a sprained groin.
"It happened about two weeks ago, and while I was able to play on it, that only made it worse," Gresh said. "I'll be back next week for Pulaski County."
Gresh was replaced by longtime backup Spencer Link, also a starting defensive back for the Bruins. Link ran 21 yards on his first rushing attempt and tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Casper Violette to give Blacksburg a 14-7 lead with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter.
"Certainly, Gresh is a team leader for them and a four-year starter," Salem coach Steve Magenbauer said. "At the same time, a lot of high schools would like to have a quarterback like No. 4 [Link]."
Magenbauer had no complaints with Hickman, who was a victim of a tipped ball on the interception that Evan Sunshine returned 27 yards for a touchdown. Blacksburg scored with 10:42 remaining in the first quarter and Salem needed only 19 seconds to make it 7-7.
"It was hectic there for a while," Hickman said. "That run helped me get my confidence back. It was a real momentum builder for the team."
After Blacksburg had taken the lead for the second time, Salem put together its best drive of the night, going 92 yards before Daniel Dyer notched the first of three short touchdown runs.
The key play was a 40-yard completion from Hickman to Donte Harvey, whose 53-yard punt return later set up a Dyer touchdown run that made it 21-14 with 1:10 remaining in the half. It was deja vu for the Bruins, whose only previous loss had come at Lord Botetourt, which seized some late momentum with a late punt return for a touchdown. In both cases, it appeared that the ball was coming to a stop before the return man swooped in and took off running.
Indeed, that happened twice Friday night, but a penalty nullified an apparent 84-yard touchdown return by Harvey.
"We had a breakdown there," Blacksburg coach Dave Crist said.
Crist said he knew the Bruins would be at a disadvantage in the absence of Gresh and running back Jonathan Jennings, who has a rib injury and might not return for three weeks, but Blacksburg (5-2, 1-1) held Salem without a first down in the third quarter and was victimized by a short punt that led to Salem's final TD.
Magenbauer said he would have liked to see his offense move the ball more consistently.
"I had no idea he wasn't playing," Magenbauer said. "Literally, it was maybe 10 minutes before the game that we could see he wasn't warming up. If they were trying to keep it quiet, they did a good job."
Blacksburg 14 0 0 0--14
Salem 7 14 0 7--28
B -- Sunshine 27 int. return (Violette kick)
S -- Hickman 80 run (Powell kick)
B -- Violette 32 pass from Link (Violette kick)
S -- Dyer 1 run (Powell kick)
S -- Dyer 2 run (Powell kick)
S -- Dyer 1 run (Powell kick)
BL SA
First downs 5 11
Yards rushing 65 231
Passes C-A-I 7-15-1 5-11-1
Yards passing 61 73
Penalties-yards 4-30 3-18
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Punts-average 29.2 28.0
Individual statistics
RUSHING -- Blacksburg, Bales 12-40, Link 9-15, Forney 3-9, Violette 1-6, Travis 1-2, Team 1-(minus 7). Salem, Hickman 10-127, Medley 17-48, Coles 8-30, Dyer 10-28. Team 1-(minus 2).
PASSING -- Blacksburg, Link 7-1-4-1-61, Travis 0-1-1-0. Salem, Hickman 5-11-1-73.
RECEIVING -- Blacksburg, Violette 4-52, Sowers 2-14, Bales 1-(minus 5). Salem, Harvey 40, Schwizer 1-13, R. Barnette 1-8, Tolliver 1-6, Dyer 1-6.
