After losing to Patrick Henry, 49-7, at Salem Stadium last Friday the Salem High football team is in the unusual position of possibly not making the post-season playoffs. Salem is now 1-5 and ranked 13th among the 15 teams in Region 4D with the top eight making the playoffs.
Salem has been a regular in the playoffs, having had post-season games every November since 1986 with the exception of 2002 and 2003, Willis White’s last two years. And remember, the playoffs were a lot tougher to make back then as the Spartans sat home with an 8-2 record in 2003.
The Spartans play a tough schedule, and with Class 5 teams like Dinwiddie, Franklin County and PH they pick up some extra points for playing higher classification teams, but not nearly as many as they would have had they won the games.
Salem has not had a losing season since they went 4-5-1 in White’s first year, 1983, and they may not have one this year. They’re 1-5 but they finish with four teams that have also struggled, 2-4 Cave Spring, 2-3 Pulaski County, 0-5 Hidden Valley and 1-4 Christiansburg. Salem could easily win out, but the problem is they’re all Class 3 teams and the Spartans will get precious few “rider” points that come from beating teams that have won a lot of games.
“Right now I just want to see us grow and get better in all phases of the game,” said Salem coach Don Holter, who averaged over 11 wins a season in the previous six years he’s been head coach. “These young players are getting valuable experience and they’ll get better.”
Salem was no match for a big, fast PH team last Friday. The Spartans got the ball first and couldn’t move it, only to have a punt returned 64 yards for a touchdown a little over two minutes into the game.
The Patriots intercepted a long pass on Salem’s next possession but the Spartans created a turnover and Jaidyn Wood recovered a fumble deep in PH territory. Facing a fourth and three on the PH nine the Pats jumped offsides to give Salem a first down and Tolin Saul bulled his way into the end zone from the one to tie the game at 7-7.
From there it was all PH. The Patriots returned the kickoff to midfield and drove in to regain the lead at 14-7 after one quarter. Then they put 20 more points on the board in the second period to lead 34-7 at the half.
Salem’s defense stiffened in the third period but the offense couldn’t move the ball with regularity. Patrick Henry scored with 33 seconds left in the third quarter, then converted a two-point extra to make it 42-7, and with a 35 point lead the clock ran continuously in the fourth quarter.
Jordan McCadden led the rushing for Salem with 62 yards on 20 carries as Salem gained 106 yards on the ground for the game. Jaidyn Rudisell completed three of five passes for 13 yards, one each to McCadden, Saul and Nazir Ward. Rudisell also led the defense with 10 tackles. Jamari Hairston had six, including two for losses.
This week the Spartans are at Bogle Field to take on Cave Spring. The Knights are 2-4 after beating Blacksburg last week, 15-12, a week after Salem beat the Bruins 18-16.
“Cave Spring is better than their record,” said Holter.
The Salem jayvees beat Patrick Henry last week to improve to 5-1.
