What can the Salem Spartans do to turn it around on a football team that beat them badly during the regular season? For one, play like they did last week in Danville.

Salem dominated the Eagles of George Washington High School, 42-13, last Friday in Danville in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. Salem led 35-0 at the half and the clock ran continuously through the third and most of the fourth quarters.

The reward for the Spartans is a rematch against Blacksburg, one of just two teams to beat the Spartans this year. That win was a decisive win for the Bruins, who beat Salem 49-12 in Blacksburg on September 22^nd.

That’s the game the Spartans remember but would like to forget. It’s the only time since the rule was initiated that the clock was running continuously because the Salemites were behind by 35 points or more in the second half. The Bruins rolled up an unheard of 355 rushing yards against Salem, including 305 by Virginia Tech signee Cole Beck, a state champion sprinter.

At that time Salem was 3-2 and ranked seventh in the Class 4, Region D rankings. Since then the Spartans have won seven games in a row. After finishing the regular season in third place in the regional rankings, they knocked off the second seed with relative ease last week.

Meanwhile, Blacksburg comes in at 11-1 with the only loss coming to Lord Botetourt, who is playing for the Class 3, Region C championship this week at Staunton River. The Bruins have beaten Jefferson Forest, 54-6, and E.C. Glass, 21-6, in their two playoff games. Glass was the fourth seeded team in the region.

Friday’s game will be played in Blacksburg at 7 pm Friday despite the local ACC team, Virginia Tech, having a game in Charlottesville against the University of Virginia about the same time. You might see a lot of fans checking their phones for scores this week.

“Our kids are excited for the game,” said Salem coach Stephen Magenbauer, and of course he was talking about the Salem game and not the Tech-UVA game. “We have a lot of confidence in what we can do.”

And why not, after last week. GW-Danville came into last week’s game averaging 56 points per game and the Salem defense shut them out for three quarters, allowing two late scores when the game was long decided.

Salem’s offense couldn’t be stopped from the outset. The Spartans scored on their first possession on a TD pass from Jack Gladden to Viante Tucker, who raced 87 yards to paydirt right in front of the GW sideline. Gladden then hit Nathan Delby with a five yard TD pass and Salem led 14-0 after one quarter.

The Spartans made it 21-0 when Tae Hale bulled his way in from the four, moving the pile for the final couple yards. Then, Avery Close got loose all alone behind the defense and hauled in a 42 yard TD pass from Gladden, fighting his way over the goal line when a Danville defender caught him at the two.

The Eagles put on their best drive of the night on their last possession of the half, hitting a deep ball to set them up inside the red zone. Hoping to cut the lead to 21 by the half, disaster ensued for the Eagles as quarterback Carlos Poole looked left for his receiver and cut it loose. Salem cornerback Tucker jumped the route and raced 100 yards, this time in front of the Salem sideline, to give the Spartans a 35-0 lead at the half.

“That was a potential 14 point swing,” said Magenbauer. “When Viante took it all the way it totally changed the complex of the game. Now we were up 35 at the half and the clock would run in the second half.”

Salem got the ball first in the second half and went right down the field again, eating up yards and clock. De’Angelo Ramsey scored the touchdown on a six yard run and Nate Craft was perfect on his sixth straight extra point attempt. From there, it was just a matter of watching the clock run.

Salem finished with a nice split of 177 yards rushing and 165 passing for 342 total yards. Danville, who had a reputation as a powerful offensive team, had 138 both passing and rushing for 276 total yards.

Individually, Ramsey led Salem with 97 yards rushing on 14 carries. Hale had 25 yards on seven attempts and Tucker had 27 yards on one carry.

Gladden had a great night passing, completing all seven of his attempts for 165 yards and three scores. He spread it around as Tucker and Delby had two catches each and Close, Joseph Quinn and Nick Wade had one each.

Defensively, Chandler Sutphin had eight tackles, Close had seven and Delby, Wade and Quinn had five each. Hale had a sack and Tucker had the interception and ensuing 100 yard return for a TD.

With the win Salem is now 10-2, and this is the sixth straight season the Spartans have won 10 or more games. They’ve won at least 11 in each of the past five seasons and they can hit that mark again with a win in Blacksburg Friday night. It won’t be easy, but the Spartans seem to be hitting their stride at the most opportune time. And, the winner of Friday’s game gets a home game for the state semifinal the following week against either Sherando or Liberty-Bealton, as both Blacksburg and Salem have a better VHSL point rating than either of the two playing for the Region C championship.

“We want it,” said Magenbauer. “We’re happy for the chance to play Blacksburg again and the kids know they can beat them if they play Salem playoff football.”