ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
The golden rule of the new Blue Ridge District is not to play Salem after the Spartans lose.
Northside was the second team to violate the rule this year and felt the sting of the Spartans, who seem to rebound better than a rubber ball against the side of a garage.
Salem scored early and often behind a solid defensive line, the right arm of quarterback R.J. Beckwith and a freshman running back to down the Vikings 41-18.
The victory leaves Salem (5-2 overall, 4-1 Blue Ridge) tied with Northside (4-3, 4-1) and Lord Botetourt atop the district standings. The Spartans, though, have an easier remaining schedule as the Vikings and Cavaliers must play each other as well as Blacksburg, which upset Rockbridge County on Friday to keep the Wildcats from forging a four-way tie atop the district.
Salem was coming off a 10-7 loss to William Byrd in its last outing. The Spartans were ready this week, just as they were when they responded to an earlier loss to Brookville with a huge upset of Group AAA Pulaski County.
On the game's second play, Beckwith fired down the middle to John Hancock, who put an early signature on this game by waltzing 76 yards for a touchdown. Salem would never surrender the lead.
``When the line gives me that much time, it's easy to read their defense. John ran a great route and he was wide open,'' said Beckwith.
It was a little strange that Salem went for Northside's throat so early. Many times, the Spartans feel the opponent out on the first series.
``We're not going to play anything conservative on offense or defense,'' said Salem coach Willis White. ``Last week, we were conservative. We want an aggressive team that will do things to make them aggressive. We were going after them like they were 40-point favorites.''
The move didn't surprise Northside coach Jim Hickam. ``They were in a fairly decent field position and the yardage we've given up this year has been on passing,'' he said.
The Vikings had one quick response and then ran out of offense. On Northside's fourth offensive play, John Doss went 40 yards for a touchdown, but a bad snap on the extra point left the Vikings trailing 7-6.
Then came the Salem avalanche. The Spartans drove 75 yards, with Matt Anderson scoring the first of his two touchdowns on a plunge from the 1. It was obvious that Salem's offensive line would control the rest of the game.
``We had a good practice this week,'' said Pierce Weikle, one of the Spartans' offensive line leaders. ``We were aggravated by what happened last week. We decided this week we'd pull out all the stops. We were determined to make up for last week.''
The drive started with the appearance of freshman running back Dennis Haley, who picked up 16 yards on three carries to start the march. He eventually led Salem's balanced running attack with 61 yards in his first key role for the varsity.
``He's been playing junior varsity. But we had to suspend Gussie Vaughn [for disciplinary reasons],'' said White. ``He'll be a fine back and he's big [5 feet 11 1/2, 187 pounds] for a freshman.''
Salem added another touchdown from Anderson to end a 52-yard drive and scored just before the half when Anderson blocked a punt that was recovered by Jeff Akers.
All this offset a 79-yard interception return by Northside's Scott Mashburn - his third pickoff of the season - for a touchdown that left Salem ahead 28-12 at the half. Two sets of statistics told the story of the game. By the half, Salem had 299 yards of total offense. It finished with 424. Take out Doss' long run and the Vikings had 45 yards.
``Their defense swarmed us. We couldn't excecute. It was one of those nights when everything goes wrong. Even my headphone [to the press box] didn't work,'' said Hickam. see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER STAFF Salem's Matt Anderson motors away fromby CNBNorthside's Nathan Marshall (21) and Daniel Moore (behind) on Friday
night. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL