Saturday, August 28, 2010
Cave Spring's offense in high gear during win
The Knights build a big lead early and get notable performances from Sam Wright and Josh Woodrum.
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No discussion of Cave Spring football is complete without the mention of Division I recruits Michael Cole and Josh Woodrum, but nobody should sleep on Sam Wright.
"Believe me, we were very aware of [Wright]," said first-year Staunton River coach Chuck Poston after a 41-21 loss to the Knights in the season opener for both teams.
Wright, a 6-foot, 181-pound junior, had touchdown runs of 72 and 13 yards, and finished with 24 carries for 166 yards.
"We'd send out film of Michael and Josh, and the same college coaches have started to take notice of Sam," Knights' coach Tim Fulton said. "His ability to run the ball gave us the opportunity to move Michael [Cole] outside."
Cole, who shared ball-carrying duties with Wright for parts of last season, has moved to wide receiver this season and had two receptions for 31 yards Friday, including a twisting 20-yard touchdown grab.
Cole, who has made an oral commitment to Virginia Tech, also served as the Knights' primary kickoff and punt returner when he wasn't taking his regular turn at safety.
Woodrum accounted for four first-half touchdowns, two on passes to Cole and Austin Micklem. Woodrum, who also rushed for two scores and completed 11 of 23 passes for 168 yards.
The good news for Fulton was that Cave Spring was able to build a 35-7 lead and win by 20 on a night when the Knights didn't play their best.
Staunton River quarterback Cody Jones opened the scoring with a 57-yard touchdown run with 7:44 remaining in the first quarter, then scored on an almost identical veer option play that went for 72 yards in the third quarter.
Jones had 160 yards on 11 rushing attempts and the Eagles rushed for 285 yards as a team. However, Jones completed only three of 10 passes for six yards.
"We need to throw the ball better and we will," Poston said.
After losing top receivers Erik Jacobsen and Quentin Dill from last year's team, Cave Spring spread the ball around to eight different receivers Friday. Wright had two receptions and could have more of a role in the passing game as the season goes on. He had a 230-yard rushing game last year and hardly qualifies as a secret weapon.
"I believe that we have a lot of weapons," Wright said, "and it's hard to pay attention to all of them."
If the Knights had a secret weapon Friday, it was the kickoffs by Woodrum. Kickoffs were an Achilles heel for Cave Spring last year, but Woodrum had a touchback on one of his first three kickoffs and the other two were fielded inside the 5-yard line.
"I kicked one out of the end zone in practice the other day," said Woodrum, whose older brother, Taylor, plays soccer for Johns Hopkins.
"I think that's when they thought about taking a look at me."
Staunton River 7 0 7 7 -- 21
Cave Spring 14 21 0 6 -- 41
SR -- Jones 57 run (Hardy kick)
CS -- Micklem 16 pass from Woodrum (P. Anderson kick)
CS -- Wright 72 run (P. Anderson kick)
CS -- Cole 20 pass from Woodrum (Bryant kick)
CS -- Woodrum 1 run (Bryant kick)
CS -- Woodrum 9 run (Bryant kick)
SR -- Jones 72 run (Hardy kick)
CS -- Wright 13 run (kick blocked)
SR -- Moon 25 run (Hardy kick)
SR CS
First downs 14 16
Yards rushing 285 209
Passes C-A-I 3-10-0 13-25-0
Yards passing 6 183
Penalties-yards 2-20 6-50
Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-1
Punts-average 4-32.8 3-27.7
Individual statistics
RUSHING -- SR-Jones 11-160, Coles 18-90, Moon 6-42, Tyree 2-6, White 3-2, Team 1-(minus 15). CS-Wright 24-166, Woodrum 7-27, Mannon 1-8, Page 3-8.
PASSING -- SR-Jones 3-10-0-6. CS-Woodrum 11-23-0-168, Mannon 2-2-0-15
RECEIVING -- SR-Nichols 3-6. CS -Cole 2-31, Micklem 2-25, Schroh 2-15, Wright 2-11. T. Kemp 1-49, Evans 1-23, Bryant 1-23, T. Kemp 1-5, Anderson 1-1.
