Cave Spring Late Stop Secures 30-28 Win Over Alleghany

Cave Spring quarterback Alex Emery runs to the outside to pick up yardage Friday night. Emery led the Knights with a game-high 129 rushing yards.
Cave Spring quarterback Alex Emery runs to the outside to pick up yardage Friday night. Emery led the Knights with a game-high 129 rushing yards.

Friday night’s shootout between Cave Spring and Alleghany at Dwight Bogle Stadium had all the makings of whichever team had the ball last would pull out the win.

When Knights senior defensive back Austin Beeker picked off Alleghany quarterback Nick Ferrell’s pass at the Cave Spring 28 with less than a minute left in the game, Alleghany’s drive for the potential game winning points was sidetracked and Cave Spring ran out the clock to preserve the thrilling 30-28 win on homecoming night for the Knights.
“I’ll take this win and get out of here,” Cave Spring head coach Tim Fulton said at midfield afterward. “After the start we had (losses to Wm. Byrd and Northside in the first two weeks) standing here 2-2 is great. This was a hard-fought football game. I was disappointed we didn’t get a first down late in the fourth and had to give the ball back to them. The interception was a big play.”
Cave Spring got a measure of help from the Mountaineers, who scored three second-half touchdowns yet failed to tack on a single conversion point in the three tries. One attempt on a fake point-after kick was sniffed out by the Knights, one kick sailed wide-left and the final two-point pass that would have tied things up with 3:20 left was batted down by the Cave Spring defense.
“We hurt ourselves on the extra points, ” Alleghany first-year head coach Gary Burdette noted. “We played hard and we’re close to being a good football team. Our kids gave all they had in the second half.”
Cave Spring sophomore tailback Tyler Rice breaks several Alleghany tackles for the winning touchdown from 12-yards out Friday night as the Knights won 30-28.
Cave Spring sophomore tailback Tyler Rice breaks several Alleghany tackles for the winning touchdown from 12-yards out Friday night as the Knights won 30-28.

After Alleghany opened the game’s scoring with a Trent Rust TD reception in the first quarter, Cave Spring stormed back with a pair of 12-yard touchdown runs by tailback Jon Roach and quarterback Alex Emery for a 14-7 Knight lead. The teams traded field goals late in the second quarter, sending the teams to the locker room with Cave Spring up 17-10.

Pinned at their own 3-yard line on their first possession of the third quarter, Alleghany drove 97 yards to close to 17-16 on a Ferrell 1-yard plunge before the fake conversion  attempt went awry.
The teams traded touchdowns to start the fourth quarter, with both extra-point kicks missed., leaving the Knights ahead 23-22.
Cave Spring was seemingly in control when sophomore tailback Tyler Rice broke several tackles and scored from 12 yards out with 3:33 left in the game. Daniel Seymour’s PAT put the Knights up 30-22. The cushion, however,  was short-lived when Rust took the ensuing kickoff and raced 95 yards for the Mountaineer’s final points after the subsequent 2-point pass came up short.
Roach and Emery were the workhorses of the Cave Spring running game, picking up 125 and 129 yards, respectfully.
“Alex played a great game, ” Fulton pointed out. “He’s really growing at quarterback.”
“Our line did an awesome job tonight, ” Emery added. “We’re progressing. We need to build on this win.”
By Bill Turner

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