The Salem football team will play Dinwiddie High for the third time in three years this Friday, and in the third different place.
This time the game will be played in the Generals home stadium in Dinwiddie. The two Class 4 rivals split the first two meetings, but Salem’s win was by far the more important.
In 2016 the Spartans took a 31-27 win over the Generals at the College of William & Mary in the state championship game. Last year the Generals returned the favor with a 25-20 win in a regular season game at Salem Stadium that went down to the wire. This one has all the makings of another good one.
The Generals have started off the season 2-0 and have scored 127 points in those two wins. They opened with a 70-7 win over Denbigh in Newport News and followed that up with a 57-24 win at Smithfield last week. Friday’s game will be the 2018 home opener for the Generals. “They haven’t lost a regular season game in over two years,” said Salem coach Stephen Magenbauer. “They have their quarterback(K’ymon Pope) back and he was first team all-state last year. He’s the brother of the kid that went to Ohio State.” Last year Pope threw a touchdown pass with 1:10 left in the game for the winning TD. Salem had a chance in the final minute but couldn’t pull it out, staying close despite fumbling six times in the game, losing three. This Friday will be Salem’s first trip ever to Dinwiddie, unless you count last year’s jayvee game. Magenbauer is anxious to make the approximately three hour trip. “It will be fun to go play there,” he said.
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“They have great crowds and their fans love their football team. It will be fun to go into a hostile environment and see what we can do.” Last week the Spartans went into the somewhat hostile environment of Franklin County, where the Eagles are sick and tired of losing to Salem teams. They weren’t able to turn that around this year despite some sloppy play by the Salemites, who took a 17-3 win in Rocky Mount. “They’re very physical,” said Magenbauer. “They play hard, they matched up well with us and they did a good job of preparing. It’s good to play those kind of games and learn how to win them.”
Salem’s usually potent offense was held to just two touchdowns. Salem scored on a 53 yard run by Isaiah Persinger in the first quarter and a one yard run by Chandler Sutphin in the second quarter.
The Eagles managed a field goal and threatened at the half, but the Spartans kept them out of the end zone and shut them out in the second half. Hunter Grepiotis tacked on a late 23 yard field goal for the final score. Persinger led the Salem rushing attack with 136 yards on 20 carries. Zavione Wood had 82 yards on 12 carries and Sutphin had 25 yards on 12 attempts. Quarterback Jack Gladden completed just four of 14 pass attempts for 31 yards, with Chase Ferris catching two for 25 yards and Torren Pellant and Sutphin hauling in one each.
On defense, Chauncy Logan had four solo tackles to lead the team. Anthony Haupt had two solos and five assists and Avery Close had a solo and four assists. Shawn Collins had an interception, while Sutphin recovered two fumbles and Wood and Bobby Pinello one each. Salem’s jayvee game was rained out by an electrical storm and will be made up next Monday, September 10, at Salem Stadium. Tonight the jayvees will host Dinwiddie.
