Demons make a statement
For just the second time in the seven years Stephen Magenbauer has been head football coach at Salem High, the Spartans won’t be winning the district championship. That was assured last Friday when a fast and talented Christiansburg team took a 28-14 win over the Spartans at Salem Stadium.
Salem's Ryan Dodd(#71) and Jake Semones(#77) are among the plie as the Spartans stop the Demons for no gain.
Salem is now 1-2 in the district while Christiansburg and Cave Spring are both 3-0. Christiansburg and Cave Spring play each other in C’burg this Friday, assuring one of the teams of being unbeaten with a week to go, thus eliminating the Spartans.
The good news is, Salem still has a lot of football to be played. The Spartans are currently ranked second in Region IV, Division 4, behind only Christiansburg, in the Virginia High School League point system ratings. The top six teams make the playoffs, with the first two getting a first round bye. With the two weakest teams in the River Ridge District remaining on Salem’s schedule, the Spartans seem to be a lock to get in, and probably get a bye.
“We have a good chance of getting in, but I’m not worried about that right now,” said Magenbauer. “We still have two games to play before we start thinking about that.”
At 6-2 Salem has such a good point standing because the Spartans beat Franklin County, a Group AAA team with just one loss, and Northside, a Group AA team with just one loss. Both of those teams have won all their games except against Salem, so the Spartans are picking up a lot of “rider” points from those two wins.
Salem won’t get as many points with a win over Hidden Valley at Bogle Field this week, since the Titaqns are winless, but it’s still a game the Spartans need. The Titans gave Pulaski County a good battle before falling in overtime last week, 22-21. Salem ends the regular season next week at 3-5 Pulaski.
“Hidden Valley hasn’t won a game, but Fleming hasn’t either and they almost beat us,” said Magenbauer. “They’ve(Hidden Valley) cut down on their mistakes and have gotten better every week. They run the option and we’re going to have to be real disciplined on defense.”
The Spartans won’t have to deal with the speed they saw in last week’s loss to Christiansburg. Led by quarterback Brenden Motley and tailback Zach Snell, the Spartans had their hands full with the Blue Demons. Christiansburg rushed for 200 yards against Salem and threw for another 100.
“Obviously they’re a good football team,” said Magenbauer. “They have a lot of speed and a lot of returning starters, and their quarterback is a smooth athlete who makes good decisions.”
Still, the Spartans aren’t chopped liver. Salem came out and hit the Demons right in the mouth with an opening drive that resulted in a Marty Bishop touchdown plunge with 6:48 left in the first quarter. Drew Lyle’s kick made it 7-0.
That lead lasted about a minute and a half as Motley hit Stephen Wills with a 68 yard touchdown pass to even the score, and the game was on.
A 44 yard run by Snell gave C’burg a 14-0 lead, and the Demons converted on fourth down twice on a long drive that resulted in a 10 yard TD pass from Motley to Josh Winkle, who went high above the defense for the score. That made it 21-7.
Salem found the end zone one more time before the half. With fourth and inches on the Demon 43 Magenbauer decided to go for it with 2:09 until intermission. Bishop picked up the first down, penetrating the pile past the marker. However, before the whistle blew he broke free and raced the distance to the end zone to make it 21-14 at the half.
Salem kicked to the Demons to start the second half, and Christiansburg fumbled it away. Quarterback Adam McGarrell’s deep pass to Clint Peregoy appeared to connect for a second at the goal line, but Peregoy couldn’t hang on. It wouldn’t have mattered, however, as Salem was flagged for a penalty on the play.
A pass interception set up the only score of the second half, as the Demons made it 28-14 with 2:33 left in the third quarter. Turnovers hurt the Spartans, as McGarrell was picked off three times and Salem fumbled it away three more times out of five total fumbles.
“When you play a team like Christiansburg you have to minimize your mistakes, and we certainly didn’t do that,” said Magenbauer. “We had two many turnovers, missed assignments, and blown coverages, and we know that.”
All hope appeared to be lost as the Demons controlled the ball with under four minutes to go, holding a 14 point lead. However, all of a sudden Peregoy was running down the field toward the end zone, and he had the ball. Peregoy ripped the ball out of the grasp of C’burg runningback Preston Graves and was heading for the goal line.
Demon quarterback Motley caught Peregoy at about the 10 and the two went down in a pile with others landing on top.
Peregoy got up thinking the Spartans had the ball, but the official ruled he had fumbled on his way to the ground and Christiansburg recovered. It appeared to be a questionable call, but Magenbauer didn’t question it.
“The official said it was a fumble, so it was a fumble,” he said. “They’re not going to change it, so we just deal with it.”
It was a big call, as Salem still had time for two scores with the ball in the red zone and three and a half minutes left. However, the play gave the Demons a first down, albeit lesser field position, and they were able to kill off most of the clock. Salem did manage to get inside the five in the waning moments of the game, but team,” said Clifford. “They’re as hot as anyone around except maybe Christiansburg.”
East Mont is undefeated after eight games and hoping to win their first Three Rivers District football championship. If they can get by Glenvar it will be in the bag, as they end the regular season with hapless Auburn, who has yet to win a game.
“We’re going to work hard in practice,” said Clifford. “I don’t need to brow beat them, they feel as bad as anyone about last week. A coach told me a long time ago that coaches coach and players play, and you can do everything right and still lay an egg. I have confidence our kids will bounce back.”
