Anyone tempted to head home early from Dwight Bogle Stadium Friday night to go through the prior night’s Halloween candy missed the biggest giveaway during the holiday.
Blacksburg gave away treats by the bushelful.
In a stunning turnaround that even had both head coaches at a loss for words, Cave Spring pulled off the 27-24 overtime win in a finish that Hollywood would be hard-pressed to script.
Faced with a first down with under two minutes left in the game, leading 21-14, and only needing to run out the clock, Blacksburg fumbled the ball away not once, but twice, to keep the Knights slim hopes alive. The Bruins dodged the bullet after the first miscue, but took the second shot straight to the bull’s eye.
The strange sequence of events began when a seemingly safe Bruin run up the middle resulted in the ball on the turf and Cave Spring making the recovery. The Knights had little success on two plays and went for a long desperation throw down the left sideline that had Bruin defensive back Morgan McCoy sliding out of bounds at the one-yard line after a diving interception.
The Bruins lost two feet on their first keeper and Cave Spring called their final timeout with 33 seconds left. Confusion ensued on the next push forward and Cave Spring senior Austin Amos emerged from the pile with the football. After a brief discussion among the officials, the touchdown signal sent the Cave Spring faithful into a frenzy. Knight placekicker Daniel Seymour had to fight off a procedure penalty on the Cave Spring line and a Blacksburg timeout before splitting the uprights with the tying point-after.
“I knew our only chance was to strip-off the ball,” Amos noted with a big smile at midfield afterward. “”Their quarterback had the ball tilted up, I stripped it and just fell on it in the end zone. I just saw the opportunity. It’s the greatest play I’ve ever made.”
Blacksburg got the ball first in overtime. Two runs and an incomplete pass resulted in a 20-yard field goal by Bruin standout placekicker Carson Wise. Blacksburg led 24-21 with Cave Spring getting its turn from the 10-yard line.
The Knights picked up five yards on two runs, then went deep into their bag of treats for the winner. In a play drawn up in the moment, Emery rolled right and lofted a perfect strike to senior Anthony Ball in the back corner of the end zone. The Knights stormed the field in celebration as the Bruins fell to the turf in disbelief of what had unfolded.
“I’m speechless,” Cave Spring head coach Tim Fulton managed to get out. “I couldn’t even say a lot to the TV crew. I’m so proud of these guys. This is a big win that gets us into the playoffs. These guys just don’t give up. Somehow, Austin got the ball out. It was a great play.”
Blacksburg looked to be in good shape after going up 14-0 in the first quarter. Cave Spring stormed back after being ignited on a long punt return by senior Austin Beeker. Emery connected with Zac Foutz on a pass to the one-yard line and Jon Roach took it in from there to cut the Bruin lead to 14-7. Late in the half, Emery again connected with Foutz on a 53-yard strike that sent the teams to the break tied at 14. Foutz finished with six catches for 142 yards.
The Bruins took the second half kickoff and drove for the go-ahead score early in the third quarter. That score looked to be the game winner until the final-minute series of events turned the tables.
Blacksburg head coach Dave Crist, the dean of River Ridge coaches with one of the most respected programs in the state, was graceful in the Blacksburg locker room after the game.
“I made two decisions that probably cost us the game,” Crist noted softly. ” We could have kicked a field goal in the third quarter that would have put us up by ten points. Then, on the last series, we could have taken a safety. I figured we could move the ball forward and the game would be over.”
– Bill Turner
