When Salem plays Pulaski County in football you always expect a good game. What you don’t expect is a 55-6 blowout by the Spartans on the Cougars’ home field.
Salem broke open a close game with 48 unanswered points to rout the Cougars at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium in Dublin last Friday. The 49 point margin of victory was the largest in the history of this great high school rivalry. Salem’s largest margin of victory prior to Friday was a 47-0 win in 1998 while Pulaski’s largest victory margin over the Spartans was a 40-0 win in 1982.
“That was a good win in a rivalry game,” said Salem coach Don Holter, who played on a Salem team that beat the Cougars 6-3 when he was in high school. “Pulaski will battle you and that’s a cool high school venue. That was a good win.”
Salem dominated the game. The Spartans had 324 yards to 117 for the Cougars and 65 of Pulaski’s yards came on one play. Take out a first quarter touchdown on a busted play and the Cougars had just 52 yards for the game.
“I thought we got better in all three phases of the game,” said Holter. “We need to be a little more physical on the offensive line, but it’s coming. We’ll get there.”
Salem scored first on a Jake Massey eight yard TD pass from DaRon Wilson and Wesley Cross kicked the extra point. The Cougars countered with the 65 yard run by John Lyman but the extra point attempt failed and Salem not only kept the lead at 7-6, but scored the next 48 points.
Cam Leftwich showed some speed with a 54 yard TD to end the first quarter, then bulled his way in from the two to open the second period. Cross hit a 28 yard field goal for a 24-6 lead and Salem scored twice more before the half, on a 30 yard pass from Wilson to Maxey and a five yard run by Leftwich.
The second half opened much like the first began, with Leftwich scoring his fourth TD of the night on a five yard run. That set the clock running continuously and sent some Cougar fans streaming for the exits. Cross’ second field goal, from 26 yards out, made it 48-6 and Isaish Barlow put some icing on the cake with a touchdown run to finish the scoring. Cross kicked his seventh successful conversion and his two field goals gave him 13 points for the night. Wesley is now 22 for 23 on extra points and five for seven on field goals for 37 points scored in Salem’s five games.
Wilson finished eight for 13 passing for 196 yards and two scores, both to Massey. The Spartan tight end caught four balls for 102 yards and has also been a solid blocker as one of the “Mules.” Chauncey Logan, Jr. didn’t get in the end zone Friday but he set things up with a couple catches for 82 yards as Salem had more passing than rushing yards, an unusual stat for the Spartans.
“Hey, if you put nine or 10 in the box we’re not afraid to throw it,” said Holter. “DaRon is really growing and Jake played his butt off Friday night. You don’t see a tight end get over 100 yards receiving very often.”
Leftwich battered the Pulaski defense for 106 yards on 19 carries with four touchdowns, giving him 492 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season. Jayveon Jones had 48 yards on 11 carries and Barlow had 51 yards on just six attempts late in the game.
On defense Nathaniel McClure and Chris Cole were high with nine tackles each. Cameron Martindale and Massey both had sacks and Massey had a fumble recovery while Martindale blocked a kick.
The win lifted Salem to 4-1 on the season and the Spartans were tied for second in Region 4D when the first Virginia High School League rankings were released on Monday. Western Albemarle is first at 6-0 with a 29.0 rating and GW-Danville is tied with Salem for second at 4-1 and 28.5. E.C. Glass is fourth at 25.5.
The Spartans are off this Friday, but they have a chance to pick up some points next Tuesday when they host Franklin County in a makeup game from September 3rd. That game was postponed at the time due to COVID concerns at Franklin County.
The Eagles, coached by former Salem assistant JR Edwards, have opened the season at 2-3 with wins over Magna Vista and Staunton River and losses to Bassett, Liberty Christian and Hidden Valley. Franklin County is a Class 6 team and the sixth ranked team in Region 6A.
“They’re playing William Byrd at home on Friday night and we’ll go watch them,” said Holter. “I know they have a pretty solid team.”
