Titans Control Blue Demons
Christiansburg's Ryan Fisher looks to pick up some positive yardage against Hidden Valley Friday night. The Blue Demons lost to the Titans 38-21.
Photo by David Grimes
CHRISTIANSBURG, VA - Christiansburg head coach Tim Cromer probably woke up Saturday morning with visions of yellow still flying around in his mind, as he saw his Blue Demon team get flagged 11 times in Friday night's 38-21 loss to Hidden Valley in a soggy River Ridge District match-up.
The Blue Demons (4-3, 0-2 RRD) were penalized 11 times for 81 yards, while their counterparts from Roanoke, the Titans (2-5, 1-1 RRD), were flagged four times for just 35 yards. Two of Hidden Valley's four penalties, wiped out apparent touchdowns.
While the officials took aim of keeping their throwing arm in shape, Hidden Valley, behind the play of senior Chad Earhart, set its sites on Christiansburg's defense, which gave up 402 yards.
Earhart was the workhorse for the Titans, as the senior was a recipient of a 52-yard pass, returned a 94-yard kickoff, intercepted a 35-yard pass and returned it for a score, as well as connecting on a 34-yard field goal and three extra point attempts for the evening. When it was all said and done, the senior accounted for 24 of Hidden Valley's 38 points.
The Blue Demons appeared they would get on the board first, as they took the opening kickoff and methodically marched downfield. However, the drive ended when a Steven Wills pass was picked off in the end zone by Hidden Valley's David Turner with 3:43 left in the opening quarter.
The Titans would take advantage of the Christiansburg miscue, as they worked their way downfield with ease. Turner would give the Titans what appeared to be an early 6-0 lead when he bullied his way in from a yard out. However, the touchdown was nullified when Hidden Valley was called for an illegal block on the line. On the very next play, Matt Aiken would haul in a 10-yard pass from Alan Castro to put the Titans up 6-0 with 52 ticks remaining in the first quarter.
Hidden Valley would up its advantage early in the second quarter when Castro connected with Earhart on a 52-yard scoring strike and Williams scored on the two-point conversion to make it 14-0 with 10:27 left in the second quarter.
Christiansburg would cut its deficit in half when Zack Weller scored from 3-yards out and Brad Cox's PAT would make it 14-7 with 8:22 still remaining in the second quarter.
Hidden Valley would then score what appeared to be another touchdown late in the second quarter when Castro connected with Aiken for the scoring strike. However, the Titans were called for holding, which nullified the touchdown. Hidden Valley then went for a 34-yard field goal, which saw Earhart's kick sail wide-left with 2.6 seconds left before halftime.
Earhart would take the opening kickoff of the third quarter and gallop 94-yards for the score. He would then connect on the PAT to give Hidden Valley a 21-7 lead just 15 seconds into the third quarter.
The Blue Demons would answer back with a big play of their own, as Keith Johnson raced 81-yards to the house and Cox's PAT would make it 21-14 with 10:45 remaining in the third quarter.
Christiansburg would then go for the onsides kick and would recover it. However, they were unable to take advantage of the play, as they were forced to punt.
Earhart would score his third touchdown of the night when he picked off a Wills' pass and rambled 35 yards for the score. He then converted the PAT to make it 28-14, still in the third quarter.
The Titans increased their lead to 31-14 when Earhart connected on a 34-yard field goal with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Demons would answer with of score of their own. This time Greg Lee galloped 37-yards to paydirt and Cox's PAT would make it 31-21 with 8:40 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Hidden Valley would seal the victory when David Turner scored from 10-yards out and Earhart's PAT would make it 38-21 with 2:26 left in the game.
The Titans piled up 402 yards of offense, in which 267 yards came via airmail. QB Alan Castro was 11-for-24 for 267 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Williams led the ground game with 90 yards on 13 carries and David Turner had 31 yards on 16 carries.
Christiansburg finished the night with 360 yards of offense. QB Steven Wells threw for 117 yards on 6-of-21 passes and was intercepted three times. The Blue Demons picked up 205 yards rushing with Keith Johnson leading the pack with 135 yards on 14 carries and Ryan Fisher added 68 yards on five carries.
Hidden Valley - 6 8 14 10 - 38
Christiansburg - 0 7 7 7 - 21
