The Salem High football team lost their season opener for just the second time since 2003 last Friday when they fell to Martinsburg of West Virginia. The visiting Bulldogs took a 35-21 win in front of a big crowd at Salem Stadium.
While the defending Class 4 state champion Spartans don’t usually open with a loss, neither does Martinsburg. The win was the Bulldogs 62nd in their last 63 games, and now two of those wins are over Salem.
“We could have played better,” said Salem coach Don Holter. “They hurt us passing, but we didn’t get much of a pass rush. We had trouble getting our defense off the field.”
Still, it was an entertaining game between two quality programs. The Spartans got the first break when Chauncey Logan, Jr. intercepted a pass. However, Salem turned it over on a fumble and Martinsburg took advantage, scoring on a five yard run for a 7-0 lead that held up through the first quarter.
Salem tied the game when Cameron Leftwich finished off a drive with a one yard run, but the Bulldogs answered with a score and regained the lead at 14-7.
After the score the Spartans had their best drive of the game, taking the ball at their own 37 and marching to the Martinsburg two with time running out in the half. From there the Bulldogs stuffed them on fourth and two as the clock ran out on the half. That turned out to be the turning point of the game.
“That was huge,” said Holter. “If we can’t score on fourth and goal at the two we don’t deserve to win. That put us in chase mode. If we score, we have all the momentum at the half and we get the ball to start the second half. Momentum is huge in high school football.”
Salem got the ball to start the second half but a three-and-out turned it back over to the Bulldogs. Martinsburg hit a 50 yard TD pass to go up two scores, and early in the fourth period they scored again on a one yard run for a 28-7 lead.
Still, the Spartans never quit. After that Bulldog touchdown Jeffrey Phillips ran the kickoff back 80 yards to the Martinsville five yard line where DaRon Wilson hit a leaping Jaelyn Allen for a TD. Martinsburg answered with a score but Salem ended the night with a final TD on a short run by Leftwich.
“I was proud of our effort,” said Holter. “That was a heck of a first ballgame.”
Statistically, the Spartans had success running the ball. Leftwich had 95 yards on 23 carries and Jayveon Jones had 94 on 13 carries, including a couple of long runs off the right side of the line.
DaRon Wilson was three for 11 passing for 65 yards. Logan caught two for 60 and Allen had the TD catch.
Defensively, Salem’s top two tacklers were in the secondary and that’s never a good thing, as Jamien Lingenfelter had nine tackles and Chase Greer had seven. Salem had just two tackles for losses, one each by Nathaniel McClure and Stacy Williams, and no sacks. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs passed for 170 yards against a rebuilt Spartan defensive backfield.
“We have some new guys back there and they struggled, but the effort was there,” said Holter. “We’ll get better.”
This Friday the Spartans are back home to host Franklin County. The Eagles, coached by former Salem assistant JR Edwards, opened with a 42-25 loss to Bassett in Rocky Mount last Friday.
“They have good size and JR will have them coached up,” said Holter. “They’ll give us a few different looks on offense and they’re similar to us on defense.”
The Salem jayvee team is scheduled to play at Franklin County tonight.
