The Salem High football team kept their hopes alive for a berth in the VHSL Region 4D playoffs with a 45-37 win over Pulaski County on “Senior Night” at Salem Stadium last Friday.
The win was the third in the last four games for Salem, lifthing them to 3-5. The Spartans are currently ninth in the Region 4D rankings at 21.25 and the top eight make the playoffs. Blacksburg is one spot ahead of Salem in eighth place and the Bruins have their bye this week with a 5-4 record and a rating of 21.78.
Salem has two games left, at Hidden Valley and at Christiansburg against two very beatable teams. Blacksburg still has to play undefeated River Ridge District powerhouse Patrick Henry, at PH, on the last week of season and there’s an excellent chance the Bruins will lose that game. If that’s the case, Salem should pass them with two wins and make the playoffs provided E.C. Glass, who is 10th and 3-5 like Salem, doesn’t jump them both.
The Spartans pulled out a high scoring affair against Pulaski, highlighted by a strong rushing attack. Junior Jordan McCadden was the workhorse with 276 yards rushing on 24 carries and four touchdowns.
“We did some good things on offense,” said Salem coach Don Holter. “Jordan is having a strong year, he’s becoming a complete back. You know he can run the ball but he’s becoming more consistent with blocking, pass protection and carrying out fakes.”
Tolin Saul had 52 yards rushing on 16 carries and sophomore Jayden Wood had 44 yards on just four attempts, and both had touchdowns.
On defense McCadden had 10 tackles to lead the team, followed by Saul and Tristen Noel with nine each.
This Friday the Spartans are at Bogle Stadium behind Cave Spring Middle School to play Hidden Valley in a River Ridge District game. The Titans are struggling, to say the least. They’re 0-8 and have scored just 10 points on the season while yielding 393. They haven’t scored since kicking a field goal against William Byrd on September 9 and they’ve only scored one touchdown all season, against Staunton River in August.
“This week is about us, just like every week,” said Holter, refusing to take the bait when questioned about how bad Hidden Valley is.
Salem is hoping to get quarterback Tanner Overstreet back this week. Tanner broke his non-throwing collarbone against William Fleming on the third week of the season and is hoping to pass protocol and return this week. That would be a huge boost to Salem’s passing game.
Salem’s jayvees also beat Pulaski to improve to 7-1 on the season. The jayvees won’t play this week as Hidden Valley informed Salem that they don’t have enough players to field both a varsity and jayvee team.
