Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9411150007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WADE KENDRICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Salem fullbacks Rusty Howell and Chris Huff don't usually get a heavy share of the Spartan rushing load.
That changed Friday night at William Byrd, as Howell and Huff combined for 120 yards rushing and one touchdown to lead the Spartans past Byrd 31-7 in a Blue Ridge District tilt.
``We haven't been carring the ball much before because we've been going to [Mike] Murphy so much,'' Howell said. ``But tonight the 34 play was open up the middle so we just kept hitting it. They couldn't stop it.''
Salem (3-4 overall, 3-0 in the district) rushed for 223 yards while limiting Byrd to 99 yards on the ground.
``Blocking versus carring the ball - it's all the same to me,'' Huff said. ``If the line does its job up front we're going to score. Running the football is what we're all about. We're going to make them stop us.''
Byrd (3-4, 0-3) turned the ball over five times on three fumbles, one pass interception and one muffed punt.
The mishandled punt set up Salem's first touchdown. After stopping Salem on its opening possession of the game, Byrd's Matt Bryant couldn't field Lee Updike's punt. Lee Akers recovered for the Spartans at Byrd's 37 and Murphy scored five plays later from the 8.
Byrd got a break early in the second quarter and capitalized when Frank English, who had fumbled earlier, recovered a fumble by Salem's Doug Perdue at the Terriers' 41. The Terriers drove to Salem's 22 where Bryant was able to redeem himself for his muffed punt return.
Facing fourth and 12, Bryant scrambled out of the pocket and found Jamie Fuqua, who outjumped Ricky Eubanks for the touchdown catch to give Byrd a 7-7 tie.
Byrd's hopes of a second straight upset vanished when Murphy returned the ensuing kickoff to Byrd's 45. Salem, keeping the ball on ground, made it 14-7 on Murphy's 6-yard run.
``We were very generous. Every time we would give it back to them they would take advantage,'' Byrd coach Jeff Highfill said. ``We stopped them and forced a punt but then we fumble it right back to them. Protecting the ball had been one of our pluses this year but that wasn't the case tonight.''
Salem led 24-7 late in the third quarter on Howell's 2-yard run that was set up on a spectacular pass from Seth Moore to Matt Hyatt. Facing third-and-20 from the Spartan 33, Moore heaved a bomb down the right sideline that Hyatt hauled in while keeping his feet inbounds. Salem almost lost possession several plays later when Murphy fumbled near the sideline. Bryant pounced on the loose ball for the Terriers, but the ball already had touched the sideline.
Salem, coming off a tough 21-18 loss to Pulaski last week, weren't sharp.
``We were a little flat tonight,'' White said. ``Emotionally we weren't real sharp in the first half. We made some errors in execution that hurt us tonight. Last week we played at a high level but it's hard to do it every week.''
Reserve tailback Gussie Vaughan added Salem's final score on a 7-yard run late in the fourth quarter that was set up by Kevin Feasell's pass interception at Byrd's 38.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB