ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611120032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
In a game featuring two players who are usually everywhere and anywhere on a football field, the outcome came down to which one would do more.
In this case, Northside's John Doss made the big plays, including a tackle on Lord Botetourt's Wesley Cox that preserved the Vikings' 20-14 victory Saturday.
Northside tied Salem for the Blue Ridge District title and earned the final spot in the Region III Division 4 playoffs.
The victory also knocked William Byrd out of postseason play, once again on the last day of the season. The Terriers and Northside tied on the Virginia High School point scale, but the Vikings got the playoff berth for winning the head-to-head duel between the schools.
So Northside (7-3 overall, 6-1 Blue Ridge) visits Salem and Lord Botetourt (8-2, 5-2) goes to Staunton River in the first round of the playoffs.
Doss danced down the sideline for the game-winning touchdown with 8:13 left, and his hit on Cox a few minutes later halted the momentum of a Cavaliers drive close to the Northside goal.
The Cavaliers had a second-and-eight on the Northside 15 when Doss tackled Cox for a loss of 4 yards. Two more running plays by Cox netted nothing and the Vikings picked up three first downs to run out the final four minutes of the game.
``I kind of suspected where he was going, so I just held him up until someone else could finish him off,'' said Doss, who rushed for 123 yards on 18 carries to lead a ground attack that crunched out 303 yards rushing.
Doss' second touchdown covered 53 yards as he ran through several Cavaliers.
``I don't know how many tackles I broke,'' Doss said. ``I was just running for the end zone, but it must have been three or four.''
Cox came into the game needing 84 yards rushing to reach 2,000. Unofficially, he got only 60 yards and injured his shoulder the first half. That kept him from playing defense.
``We were a little beat up,'' said Botetourt coach Andy Ward. ``Jeremy Conner [one of Timesland's leading receivers] hadn't practiced this week. Then when Wesley gets hurt, we had to go to a different game plan. But Northside did a great job defensing us.''
The Cavaliers led 7-0 after Paul Craft picked off Xavier Lee's pass and went 50 yards for the score.
Northside tied the score with 2:33 left in the half as 225-pound Xavier Cargile rumbled 32 yards for a touchdown.
``When I saw the hole, I didn't see anyone to the left side. There was one back coming from the other side. So I just headed to the end zone,'' said Cargile.
Doss scored on a 6-yard run to end a 58-yard march in the third quarter, giving the Vikings a 14-7 lead.
``I think probably one of the best things offensively was that every back contributed,'' said Northside coach Jim Hickam, whose wishbone attack was in high throttle.
But Botetourt's Derek Springer returned the kickoff to the Viking 13 and Cox scored from the 5 after a pass interference penalty moved up the ball.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB