Friday night’s traditional regular season finale between Southwest County rivals Cave Spring and Hidden Valley didn’t play out in typical form.
In the battle for The Paint Can Trophy, the symbolic prize for the winner to keep during the upcoming year, Hidden Valley totally dominated the Knights to seize the bucket with the 48-0 win at Dwight Bogle Stadium. It was by far the biggest point differential in the history of the rivalry.
Cave Spring kept things reasonably close in the first half, trailing only 14-0 at the break. But, once the Titans got things rolling after a Mason Dermott interception was returned for a 37-yard touchdown early in the third quarter, Hidden Valley never looked back the rest of the way.
Dermott made it a career night against the Knights, scoring four touchdowns. Hidden Valley running back Walker Brand likewise had his way against the Cave Spring defense, picking up 169 yards on 16 carries including a 73-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that provided the Titans’ opening score. Massi Flici and Nate Adkins both scored for Hidden Valley in the second half to round out the Titan seven-touchdown output.
“There aren’t many teams that can rotate running backs (Brand and Dermott) every other series and not miss a beat, ” Hidden Valley head coach Scott Weaver noted at midfield after the win. “I feel pretty good about our team tight now.”
The win marked a big turnaround for a Titan team that had only one win in the first half of the season.
“Just a few weeks ago we were 1-4 and left for dead, ” Weaver added. “Now, we’re 5-5 and in the playoffs.” Hidden Valley, seeded #12 in the Group 3-A West brackets released over the weekend, travels to #5 seed Spotswood ( 9-1 ) for a first-round game.
Cave Spring could never get any offense going all night. The closest the Knights came to scoring was on a Daniel Seymour 40-yard field goal attempt late in the first half that sailed wide-left. Hidden Valley topped the Knights 20-5 in first downs and 313-40 in rushing yards.
“I told the guys before we left the field that we won’t talk about this game ever again,” Cave Spring head coach Tim Fulton said. ” In the old days you would have burned the game film.”
The Knights were coming off an emotional overtime win the prior Friday, but Fulton wasn’t using that for an excuse. You can’t hide behind that,” Fulton pointed out. “Hidden Valley just pushed us around tonight.”
Cave Spring has the opportunity to regroup after making the 3-A West playoffs. The 5-5 Knights, seeded 15th, travel to 2-seed and 9-1 Western Albemarle in the first round action.
– Bill Turner