The Locker Room
November 4, 2000
14-49. Who Let
The Knights Out? It was a stunning reversal of fortunes for a team used to dealing out such punishment to its opposition. Early in the 3rd quarter, it was 49-0. Not only was this game lost, but Frank Cobbs as well. His dislocated shoulder will keep him out of the playoffs. His Cougar career is thus cruelly over.
The Cougars won the toss, and deferred. John Hedge’s kick was taken at the 4 by Corey Cain, and returned up to the CS 30. On first down, QB Jacob Lewis hit Daniel Payne with an 11-yard pass. This play would be the first in a long string of pass defense woes for PC. Brad Miller took the sweep right for 3 yards. Lewis hit Payne over the middle for 18 yards, into Cougar territory at the 38. After an incomplete pass, Lewis hit Michael Brammer for 15 yards. A quick pass right to Brammer went for 18 yards, making it 1st-and-goal at the 5. Gould was stopped for no gain up the middle. Lewis then hit Tom Hagan on an ‘alley oop’ pass in the endzone for the score. Lewis’ PAT was good. 7-0 Knights with 9:26 left in the quarter. Adam Roop threw his helmet down as he headed for a seat on the bench. This symbolized Cougar frustrations on this night. As would be repeated often on this night, Hagan’s kick went into the endzone for a touchback. Josh Calfee was stopped for no gain on first down. Frank Cobbs went up the middle for 7 yards. Calfee was held to a yard gain on 3rd-and-3. Brandon Hamblin’s punt was shanked horribly, traveling only 18 yards. The Knights took over at the PC 46. Lewis rolled right, and hit Brammer over the middle for 19 yards. Lewis kept right, getting 17 yards down to the 10. The Knights fumbled on the next play, but recovered for a 4-yard loss. After a 9-yard pass gain, Lewis hit Hagan on a quick slant for the score. 14-0 Knights, with 5:59 showing on the clock. Calfee took the kick on the bounce at the 10, and got up to the 19. Cobbs gained 7 yards on the dive play. Calfee got 2 on a sweep, making it 3rd-and-1. QB Alan Wheeling ran the sneak, apparently moving the chains. However, a motion penalty set PC back for 3rd-and-6. Wheeling kept right, broke a backfield tackle, broke another one, and made it to the marker on a tough run for the first down at the 29. Cobbs went up the middle for 9 yards. Calfee carried off tackle right for 4 yards and a first down. Cobbs went up the middle for 4. Calfee swept right for 7, getting another first down. Cave Spring took a timeout. After an illegal procedure penalty, Cobbs was stuffed for no gain on the FB dive. He was also held gainless on an option pitch left. It was 3rd-and-15. Wheeling’s attempted screen pass for Calfee was incomplete, being nearly intercepted. If there were doubts about how this game would go, the next play erased many of those. Hamblin’s punt was blocked, and the Knights recovered at the CS 46. After throwing a deep incomplete pass for Brammer, Lewis completed a pass down to the Cougar 32. Lewis found Payne open at the PC 15, and he found open spaces to paydirt. 21-0 Knights, with still 24.4 seconds left in the quarter. The stands on the visiting side were full of stunned fans, while the home side was roaring. Hagan’s kick went into the endzone for a touchback. Calfee lost 2 yards on a sweep, then the quarter ended. After Calfee gained 4 yards, Wheeling fumbled on the next play, recovering for a 3-yard loss. On 4th-and-11, Hamblin’s punt was downed at the CS 36. Lightning struck again on the next play. Lewis hit Payne at the Cougar 45. Payne went left, and did not stop until he had reached the endzone. He then added the PAT, making the score a shocking 28-0. Once again, Hagan’s kick went into the endzone for a touchback. After an illegal procedure penalty, Wheeling rolled left and passed to Jeff King, who caught the ball at the PC 25, and made it all the way up to the Cougar 49. Antione Meadows took the FB dive for 3 yards. Wheeling rolled right and threw for Josh Bowling, but Hagan knocked the ball away. On 3rd-and-6 from the CS 48, Calfee’s 13-yard run with the pitch right moved the chains. Cobbs gained 2 yards. Wheeling faked and kept, but was thrown for a 7-yard loss. His pass over the middle for Greg Cobbs was incomplete. Hamblin’s punt bounced into the endzone. Lewis rolled right and had a man open at the Knight 40, but it was dropped. A sweep left gained nothing. On 3rd-and-10, Lewis’ pass right was incomplete. He was being pressured by Jeff King, who almost got the sack. Wheeling took Hagan’s punt, which was nearly blocked, from the Cougar 38 up to the 50. Calfee could gain only a yard on a first down sweep, being tackled by Mike Bowers and Bryan Hamilton. Cobbs gained 3 on the FB dive. Calfee lost 2 on 3rd-and-6, and it was once again time to punt. Hamblin’s punt bounced into the endzone. Hagan carried up the middle, but lost 2 yards. Lewis faked, then completed a pass left. The gain went for a first down to the 32, but a frustrated Cougar defender hit the receiver out of bounds, tacking on another 15 yards. David Hale defended well on a pass at the PC 25 for Hagan. Lewis found Brammer, who got to the Cougar 41 for a first down. Hale knocked away the first down pass. Lewis threw a flanker screen left to Hagan, who gained 5 yards. On 3rd-and-5, Lewis passed over the middle for Justin Kern, who got to the PC 20 for another first down. The next play was another symbolic one, showing that nothing went right for the Cougars on this night. Lewis ran the QB draw, cutting to the left, and scoring. 35-0 Cave with 2:57 still left before halftime. After Hagan booted the ball into the endzone for another touchback, Cobbs gained 10 yards on first down. Disaster struck again, however, when Wheeling attempted to go deep for Bowling. Hagan intercepted at the Knight 40, and returned it 12 yards into Cougar territory at the 48. Hale had a chance to intercept the first down pass, but was unable to hold on. Instead, PC accepted an illegal procedure penalty, making it 1st-and-15. Chris Gould went up the middle for 23 yards. Everything was working for the Knights. Lewis attempted a pass in the right corner of the endzone for Brammer, but it was overthrown. It seemed like Brammer had pushed off on the play, but there was no call made. On 2nd-and-10 from the 30, Lewis scrambled left, getting 13 yards. Lewis faked twice, then threw into the endzone for Gould for an apparent score. However, an illegal motion penalty brought the ball back to the 22. Brammer caught the flanker screen right for 9 yards. Lewis threw over the middle for Brammer in the endzone, and this time there were no flags. 42-0. A couple of plays after the touchback on the kickoff, the game was half over on the clock, and fully over on the field. One can only imagine what the Cougar lockerroom was like during the break. This is a position the opponents had been in most of the year. Now, the team had to get a taste of its own medicine. Calfee caught the second half kickoff on a bounce at the 8, and got a good return, up to the 34. Cobbs gained a yard. Cobbs lost a yard. Calfee gained 6 yards. Time to punt. After the punt, the Knights started at their own 27. Lewis threw incomplete for Brammer. After a Cougar offsides penalty, it was 2nd-and-5 at the 32. Time for the bomb. Lewis (who was hit hard just after he threw) aired it out for Brammer, who had gotten behind the secondary. He caught it at the Cougar 20, and sailed in. 49-0. In a situation he has probably never faced before as the Cougars’ Head Coach, Joel Hicks agreed with the officials to let the clock keep running from here on in. After the kickoff-touchback, it was 3-and-out. Hamblin’s punt hit at the CS 49, and rolled to the 23. The Knights got 3 first downs before facing 4th-and-4 at the Cougar 8. During this drive, Cobbs was injured on a tackle, and came out of the game. It was his last play as a Cougar. Payne attempted a field goal, but Hale came in strong from the right side of defense, and blocked the kick. The Cougars recovered at the 17. It was way too little, too late, but this play gave a spark to the team. Wheeling threw incomplete for Matt Roan, but pass interference was called on the play. On 1st-and-10 at the 32, Meadows went up the middle for 9 yards. Wheeling ran the QB sneak for 18 yards, moving the chains. Meadows went up the middle for 5 yards. Calfee ran off tackle right for 4 yards, making it 3rd-and-1. Meadows got the first down with a 7-yard gain. He then ran for 6 yards. Wheeling ran another sneak, and got 3 yards. On 3rd-and-1, Meadows was stopped for no gain on the off tackle left. On 4th-and-1, Meadows went off tackle right for 4 yards, keeping the drive alive. The 3rd quarter ended. On 1st-and-10 at the 12, Calfee gained 6 yards on the off tackle left. With the ball resting on the 6, Meadows got the Cougars on the board with a FB dive. John Hedge added the PAT, and it was 49-7. The Knights began the next drive at their own 32. After a 12-yard pass to Payne for a first down at the 44, 3 plays left Cave facing 4th-and-2 at the Cougar 48. Mike Alderman almost blocked Hagan’s punt, but instead it bounced and rolled into the endzone for a touchback. Calfee lost 2 yards on first down. Greg Cobbs ran the criss corss, making it 3rd-and-10. Wheeling faked, then kept right, getting 13 yards to move the sticks. Meadows was smothered for no gain on first down. On 3rd-and-10, Calfee took the pitch left, but got only 2 yards. Hamblin punted on 4th-and-8, the ball rolling out of bounds at the CS 15. The Knights ran 3 plays before punting, Hagan’s punt rolling out of bounds at the PC 40. On first down, Wheeling faked, then passed over the middle to King for 11 yards. Meadows went up the middle for 6 yards. After a Wheeling keeper for 3 yards, it was 3rd-and-1. Meadows went off tackle right, getting the first down with a 13-yard gainer down to the Knight 27. After Meadows gained a yard, Calfee ran the off tackle left, cutting back to the middle, then right. He made it to the endzone. Hedge added the PAT, and the score was a somewhat more respectable looking 49-14. Cave gained a first down on the ensuing drive, then fumbled the ball away at the Knight 36, King recovering for the Cougars. Greg Cobbs lost two yards on the criss corss. Meadows took a screen pass left for 8 yards. Time then mercifully ran out on this massacre. Final score: Cave Spring 49, Pulaski County 14. The Knights and some of their exuberant fans took the field. At midfield, Coach Hicks, as he always does, gathered his squad together before heading off to the visiting lockerroom. Coach Hicks set things straight with his Cougars in the locker room. "Don't think that when we have beat teams like this that they don't still come out to play the next week. What they did tonight just goes to show what you can do with a group of sixteen and seventeen year-olds when they get motivated. Things work out for the best. Maybe we need to take some of this and turn it around and motivate ourselves next week against PH." Hicks could be seen on Friday Football Extra to say that he wished that we had another shot at Cave Spring this year, then he winked at the camera. This interviewer thought that he meant that the Cougars would like to show that they can play better than this against the Knights if' they were to be playing again in the next weeks. It seemed to be implied that Hicks would have rather played this team again next week, on the chance for redemption, rather than be thankful that circumstances have unfortunately excluded the Knights from their shot at a state title in the playoffs. His wink seemed to be a sympathetic gesture to Cave coaches, players, and fans. Brandon Semones, Cave assistant coach, had some thoughts to share after the game. (He is a former Glenvar star, VT Hokie defensive standout, and the nephew of Frank Beamer.) "Our kids really wanted to go out and prove something to the community and to the Roanoke Valley, and I think it showed on the field. We executed real well, on defense especially. Pulaski County has great backs and you need to get early penetration and get them in the backfield before they get going. We were able to do that tonight." After the game the Cave Spring faithful could hear their teams chanting from the Knights locker room. In call-and-response style the leader barked a cheer something like, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, All good Knights go to Heaven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. When we all get to heaven, we will state, We are the best team in State!" It is a shame that they won't have the chance to prove their claim on the field. In strange irony, they could pull for Pulaski County in the playoffs to help along their assertion. The more games the Cougars win, the more phenomenal this blowout appears. The days of the two man team 'Barber Twins' Knights are long gone under the direction of coach Ben Foutz. This was truly a TEAM the Cougars faced tonight. It is sometime incredible how fortunes can turn. A week ago, this Cougar team looked forward to an unbeaten season, sole ownership of the last RVD Championship, and with a little luck, home field advantage up until the title game. Now, having suffered not only a devastating defeat, but the loss of the best player on the team (valuable on both sides of the ball), Coach Hicks and his staff must quickly get the team back on track heading into the playoffs.
Possession-by-Possession Summary
Full
Story Photos by Steven Marcus |
HOME
