Saturday, October 31, 2009
Host Knights hold on
varsity.roanoke.com
Timesland on Twitter
Cave Spring didn't call a play Friday night that was designed for quarterback Josh Woodrum to carry the ball.
Fortunately for the Knights, Woodrum hasn't lost any of his ball-carrying instincts.
When he couldn't find an open receiver on fourth-and-5, Woodrum darted 8 yards for the tie-breaking touchdown with 3:29 remaining and the Knights held off Christiansburg 21-14 at Dwight Bogle Stadium.
"I haven't been running as much lately," said Woodrum, who had double-digit rushing attempts in several earlier games. "We've trying to get our running backs more involved and not have me so tired from running."
Woodrum didn't lack for activity, completing 24 of 38 passes for a career-high 265 yards and two touchdowns.
The Knights (8-1 , 3-1 River Ridge District) took a 14-0 lead with 6:06 remaining in the second quarter and got as far as the Christiansburg 25 on a drive later in the period that was killed by an interception.
Cave Spring outgained Christiansburg 225-32 in the first half, but the Blue Demons (6-3, 1-3) were just waking up.
Christiansburg rushed for 143 yards in the third quarter alone and that didn't count an apparent 71-yard touchdown run by sophomore Zach Snell that was wiped out by a holding penalty.
The Blue Demons shrugged off that setback and scored on the same drive, with Snell doing the touchdown honors on a 3-yard run. Then, on first down after a Cave Spring punt to start the fourth quarter, Snell raced 75 yards for another TD.
Christiansburg was coming off a 45-43 loss to Salem in three overtimes and a case could be made that the Blue Demons still had their minds on the Spartans.
"I really didn't want to think that that was what was going on," Christiansburg coach Tim Cromer. "Give a lot of credit to Cave Spring. They were doing a little something different that we hadn't seen against our winged-T."
Cromer felt that a 77-yard punt return by Cave Spring's Adam Anderson put his team in bad field position for most of the first half.
In the second half, penalties were crucial in thwarting Christiansburg's comeback bid. In addition to the long run by Snell that was nullified, penalties nullified a 75-yard fumble return by the Blue Demons' Zach Weller and an interception by Christiansburg's Brenden Motley.
Motley, whose return would have taken the Blue Demons inside Cave Spring's 10-yard line, was called for interfering with Cave Spring's Quentin Dill. Instead, the Knights got a first down on what turned out to be their winning drive.
"Make no mistake about it, the penalties made a difference," Cave Spring coach Tim Fulton said.
Motley was intercepted twice, the second time by the Knights' Eric Jacobsen as Christiansburg faced a fourth-and-13 from the Knights' 30 as time wound down.
It was the second interception of the game and the second two-interception game in three weeks for Jacobsen, who also had 10 receptions for 124 yards and his first touchdown of the season.
The Knights aren't too far removed from a 42-0 loss to Salem and their ability to get over that game has been critical in back-to-back victories, including a road win Oct. 23 at Blacksburg.
"I think our team has grown up a lot in the last two weeks," Fulton said.
Christiansburg 0 0 6 8--14
Cave Spring 7 7 0 7--21
CS -- Micklem 9 pass from Woodrum (Hafey kick)
CS -- Jacobsen 24 pass from Woodson (Hafey kick)
C -- Snell 3 run (kick blocked)
C -- Snell 75 run (Fisher pass from Motley)
CS -- Woodrum 5 run (Hafey kick)
C CS
First downs 12 21
Yards rushing 259 78
Passes C-A-I 3-11-2 24-38-2
Yards passing 34 265
Penalties-yards 4-29 5-48
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1
Punts-average 4-34.0 1-23
Individual statistics
RUSHING -- Christiansburg, Snell 8-96, Fisher 9-90, Lee 15-46, Motley 7-26, Graves 1-1. Cave Spring, Wright 13-46, Cole 6-37, Woodrum 3-0, Team 1-(minus 5).
PASSING -- Christiansburg, Motley 3-10-2,34, Wills 0-1-0-0, Team 0-1-0-0. Cave Spring, Woodrum 24-38-2-265.
RECEIVING -- Christiansburg, Snell 2-30, Winkle 1-4. Cave Spring, Jacobsen 10-124, Micklen 4-33, Cole 3-46, Dill 3-39, O'Keefe 3-26, Anderson 2-7.
