The Salem Spartans are hoping to bounce back from their first loss of the season with a Homecoming football game against Cave Spring Friday night. Salem comes in at 5-1 after dropping a 41-22 decision to Patrick Henry at Merrill Gainer Field in Roanoke last Friday.
Big plays hurt the Spartans against PH. The Patriots had scoring plays of 54, 80 and 68 yards and plays of 50 and 75 yards to set up additional touchdowns.
“Their speed hurt us but we run pretty well, too,” said Salem coach Don Holter. “We took some poor angles and got exposed on defense. There’s a lot to be learned from adversity. We have a lot of quality teams in our region and we’re going to see that kind of speed again.”
Kyshead Arrington, who played for Salem as a sophomore and three games as a junior, had the biggest night of his high school career against his old teammates. He ran for 216 yards and scored four touchdowns.
“All the best to him,” said Holter. “He had a hell of a night.”
Salem was right in the game for most of the night. After a 32-yard field goal attempt hit the right post the Spartans got the ball back when PH fumbled and Parker Woolwine recovered. Salem drove to the three where they faced a fourth down and one and Gabe Johnson powered over for the score and a 7-0 lead with 8:20 to go until the half.
The Patriots tied the game at 7-7 on a 54-yard screen pass. Then PH had the ball late in the half when DaVon Jones intercepted a pass. However, after much discussion it was ruled an inadvertent whistle blew the play dead too early and the down was replayed. The Pats used the new life to score with just over two minutes in the half and led 14-7 at intermission.
Salem drew first blood in the second half, cutting the lead to 14-10 on a 43-yard field goal by Liam Munoz. However, on the first play of the ensuing series Arrington broke free off the right side and raced 80 yards to make it 21-10.
The Spartans were able to cut the lead again, this time to 21-16 on a 12-yard run by Jordan McCadden. However, that’s as close as they would get. Big plays propelled the Pats to a 35-16 lead after three quarters and a late 60-yard TD screen pass to Ji’Ziaha Johnson looked nice but had little effect on the outcome.
McCadden was held under 100 yards rushing for the first time this season with 96 yards on 27 carries. Pearce Oliver was five for 11 passing for 180 yards but was sacked four times. Jaidyn Rudisell had a 45-yard reception, Ji’Ziaha Johnson had two catches for 76 yards and Jones and Grayson MacBrien had one catch each.
On defense Jamalachi Law and Nick Baxley had six tackles each while Woolwine and Braylan Smith had five each. Woolwine and Smith had sacks.
Now 5-1, the Spartans will regroup with Cave Spring coming to Salem for Homecoming Friday night. The Knights are 3-3 after losing a close game at Blacksburg last Friday, 34-27. That snapped a three game winning streak.
Salem has won the last 15 meetings with Cave Spring, going back to 2010, and the Spartans have won 37 of the last 39 games between the two. With that said, Holter won’t be taking anyone lightly after last week’s loss to PH.
“We didn’t play well last week and I feel like we have a renewed sense of vigor, both the coaches and the players,” he said. “Cave Spring is a well-coached team and they’re getting better.”
Salem’s jayvees lost to PH as well, 20-12. The jayvees will be at Bogle Field tonight to play the Cave Spring junior varsity.
