For the first time since 2002 Salem High will not be playing in the Virginia High School League football playoffs this season. The Spartans finished tied for ninth in the power ratings with the first eight teams advancing to the playoffs.
The 2002 season was Willis White’s last year as head coach, and it was a lot harder to make the playoffs back then. Salem was 8-2 with a one point loss to Blacksburg and a four point upset loss to William Byrd. The follow- ing year Salem won the state championship.
This year’s Spartan team finished 5-5 and won five of their last six games after a brutal non-district schedule that included two Class 4 teams, E.C. Glass and Dinwiddie, and two Class 5 schools, Franklin County and William Fleming. Dinwiddie is now 10-0 and has the highest power rating in the entire state in Class 4. Fleming is 7-3 and eighth in the state in Class 5. All four of those teams are in the playoffs.
With a week to go Salem was ninth in Region 4D, one spot behind Blacksburg and one spot ahead of Glass. Despite a 59-36 win over Christiansburg and a Blacksburg loss to Patrick Henry the Spartans did not pass the Bruins. What’s more, Glass jumped over both, into the seventh spot, by virtue of a win over Brookville.
When all the math was cyphered, Salem was the odd man out. The main reason for this was wins by Blacksburg over 8-2 Class 1 Giles and 5-5 Class 2 James River. By VHSL rules those wins count just the same as wins over higher classification teams.
“That’s a question for the VHSL,” said Salem coach Don Holter when asked how Blackburg could be ahead of the Spartans. They both were 5-5, Salem beat the Bruins head-to-head and played a much stronger schedule.
“To be honest with you, I don’t think any- one should go to the playoffs with a 5-5 or 4-6 record,” said Holter.”What it came down to is that Division 4 teams aren’t penal- ized for playing smaller schools. It encourages you to play down, and they just changed that rule this year. No one ever said life would be fair.”
Holter is in charge of the Salem schedule and he’s not about to start scheduling Giles or James River in future seasons regardless of the recent rule changes.
“When I took this job I wanted the same deal as my predecessor (Stephen Magenbauer),” said Holter. “I decide who we play and we’re absolutely not going to play down. That’s noth- ing against the smaller schools, but we’re going to continue to play a challenging schedule.”
After that 0-4 start the Spartans put up play- off worthy numbers. They finished second to Patrick Henry in the sev- en-school River Ridge District and averaged 36 points per game in their six BRD contests, and that’s including a seven point game against undefeated PH.
The Spartans mis- takenly thought they would be in after win- ning in Christiansburg last Friday. They led just 31-28 at the half but out- scored the Blue Demons 25-8 after intermission to pull away.
“Christiansburg is one of the best 2-8 football teams you’ll ever see,” said Holter. “They have a good quarterback and some good linemen.”
Jordan McCadden had a big game for Salem with 266 yards rushing on 17 carries and four touchdowns, including a 96 yard run. After a slow start to the season due to a nagging injury Jordan finished the season with 1,545 yards rushing on 157 attempts for an aver- age of 9.8 yards per carry. He scored 15 touchdowns rushing and another on a kickoff return. He’s just a junior.
In fact, Salem will graduate just six seniors from this year’s team after graduating 15 from the 2024 team. Holter is already excited about next year and will be sure to remind the boys about how it feels to miss the playoffs this season.
“I will but I won’t have to,” he said. “They were disappointed and they take pride in our program.”
Salem had some ill- timed injuries this season and some off-the-field problems that hurt the team. Still, they finished strong and things are looking up. The jayvees were 8-1 and Salem had 32 eighth graders and 35 seventh graders in a suc- cessful Andrew Lewis Middle School season.
“We had a lot of adver- sity to overcome but they stuck together and believed in one another,” said Holter. “I’m proud of them. They showed a lot of growth this year, and the experience the young ones had will pay off down the road.”
