On a week when the Salem Spartans could use a little extra time, they’re getting a little less.

Salem will play host to Northside tonight at 7 pm, one day earlier than the originally scheduled date. The reason, of course, is Hurricane Florence. The storm is expected to pound the coast sometime the end of the week and the game was moved up to get it in. If it rains, Salem’s field turf will help the caliber of play, unless you enjoy a good old fashioned mud bowl.

Those are now few and far in between. This is a week the Spartans could use a little extra time, as quarterback Jack Gladden went down with an ankle injury in last week’s 27-20 loss at Dinwiddie. Gladden was injured in the third quarter and spent the rest of the game on the bench with ice on his ankle.

“Right now he’s day to day,” said Salem coach Stephen Magenbauer from his office on Monday. “I don’t know if he’ll be able to go this week or not, and both our tackles are banged up.” Hunter Chaney, a sophomore, is the backup quarterback and he’ll be getting plenty of practice reps in the shortened week of preparation.

He came on to spell Gladden last Friday and struggled, completing just two of 11 passes with two interceptions and fumbling twice. Of course, going into a game cold against a powerful team like Dinwiddie is not an ideal way to make your debut in a meaningful game. “We don’t make any excuses,” said Magenbauer.

“He can do everything Jack can do.” Gladden wasn’t having his best game when he left. He was just three for 13 with two interceptions, and Salem’s normally stout passing attack accounted for just 46 yards against a quick Dinwiddie secondary. The difference in this game, however, was turnovers.

Salem turned the ball over seven times to three for Dinwiddie. The Spartans are normally very careful with the ball, but in the last two games against Dinwiddie they’ve turned it over 13 times. “We played like that last year,” said Magenbauer. “We didn’t take care of the ball, and they turned it over, too. For us to be successful we need to play a clean game, and I’m not just talking about turnovers. We had some missed plays because of mistakes and they turn out to be drive killers against good teams.”

With all that, Salem was still right in the game until the end. The Spartans scored first on a 23 yard pass play from Gladden to Chandler Sutphin. Dinwiddie returned the kickoff 78 yards for a score to even things up in a hurry, and led 14-7 by the end of the quarter. The Generals opened a 21-7 lead before Isaiah Persinger’s 46 yard TD run got the Spartans back to 21-13 at intermission, but a missed extra point haunted the Spartans throughout the second half.

Dinwiddie opened a 27-13 lead in the fourth quarter but Salem blocked the extra point to leave the door open. The Spartans scored on a one yard run by Bobby Pinello, who bulled his way over to cut the lead to seven points with five minutes still remaining, but the Spartans never could put together the drive that would draw them even. A penalty negated a punt return by Shawn Collins that would have been a touchdown, and it was just one of those nights. Statistically, Persinger ended up with 164 yards rushing on 28 carries.

Zavione Wood had 27 yards on four attempts and Sutphin rushed for 12 yards and had a 24 yard reception. Avery Close had one catch for 12 yards and Chase Ferris and E’zchan Kasey had two catches each for minimal yardage. On defense Pinello and Anthony Haupt were in on nine tackles each. Sutphin had nine assists and Collins had an interception. Now 2-1, the Spartans have lost just four games in the past four seasons and two have been to Dinwiddie. Of course, the other time they played the Generals was in the 2016 state championship and Salem won that game.

“We played two poor games and another where we played about as good as you can play,” said Magenbauer. This week the Spartans will host Northside on the short week. The Vikings are off to their best start in a few years. They’re 3-0 with wins over Pulaski County, Heritage and Hidden Valley. “They have three big wins and they’re very confident,” said Magenbauer. “They have a senior quarterback and some good runningbacks. They’re a good team.”