Roanoke College sophomore Charlie Davis, a Radford High graduate, was named the ODAC Defensive Player of the Week and also was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week. PHOTO BY BRIAN HOFFMAN
The Roanoke College football team is not playing like a first year varsity team. A week after giving Old Dominion Athletic Conference power Randolph Macon all they could handle the Maroons went up to Bridgewater and upset the homestanding Eagles in their Homecoming game. With the win the Maroons are now 2-1 in the ODAC and 4-1 overall.
Randolph Macon is still unbeaten in four ODAC games but the Maroons are now in a log-jam with three other teams with one loss. Washington & Lee is 3-1 in conference games and the Maroons, Shenandoah and Hampden-Sydney are all 2-1. Roanoke will host Shenandoah this Saturday at Salem Stadium at 2 pm and the following Saturday, on October 25, they’ll go to Hampden-Sydney.
Although Bridgewater is not having a great season at 1-5 the Eagles are an established team with lots of juniors and seniors. When they took on the Maroons, with mostly freshmen and sophomores, most outside observers figured the home team would prevail. Well, think again.
The Roanoke defense came up big on the first drive of the game, stopping the Eagles on fourth and two from the Roanoke five-yard line. After a scoreless first quarter Bridgewater got on the board at 8:33 of the second on a four-year touchdown run from Wyatt Jervis for a 7-0 lead.
The Maroons quickly answered with a touchdown drive of their own, with Kam Hill running the ball in from two yards out to tie the game. The Eagles threatened late in the half, but a Javier Waldron interception in the closing seconds assured a 7-7 tie game at halftime.
Ethan Cyr drilled a 26-yard field goal in the third period to give the Maroons a 10-7 lead but the Eagles answered with an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the third to regain the advantage at 14-10.
In the fourth quarter the Maroons took advantage of another turnover, scoring with 14 minutes left in the game on a KJ Bratton 17-yard run to go ahead 17-14. Then Linwood Johnson ran it in from two yards out with 6:46 left and the RC defense made the 10-point lead stand up.
The Maroon defense came up big in the win. Charlie Davis made 17 tackles on the day, including 15 solo stops, 2.5 tackles for loss for 18 yards, one sack for six yards, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. For that effort Davis, a Radford High graduate, was named the ODAC Defensive Player of the Week and also earned a spot on the D3football. com Team of the Week. For the season, Davis leads the Maroons with 50 tackles, including 34 solo stops and 4.5 tackles for loss and one sack. He has forced two fumbles, recovered one and is credited with one quarterback hurry.
Waldron made three tackles and forced a fumble to go along with his interception. DeAngelo Walker made eight stops and broke up a pass.
On offense Hill was 9-for-18 passing for 135 yards and Salem High grad Eli Taylor connected on 4-of-6 passes for 59 yards after Hill was sacked in the third quarter. Tyson Miller and Polo Hill combined for 71 yards on the ground and Cole Chizuk caught three passes for 52 yards.
Shenendoah comes to Salem with a 4-1 overall record. The Hornets have wins over Methodist, Geneva College, Bridgewater(24-21) and Guilford(45-7) around a 42-7 loss to Hampden-Sydney.
