By BRIAN WOODSON
BLUEFIELD, Va. — When Graham last met Cave Spring way back on Sept. 4, the Knights thrashed the G-Men 55-12.
That was then, Nov. 20 is 77 days later.
Much has changed, especially for the G-Men.
“We feel like we’re a much better football team than we were 10 weeks ago,” Graham head coach Doug Marrs said. “What we have to do is go down there and prove it.
“That’s what we believe and that is actually where we are.”
That game was in Bluefield, this one is at Cave Spring Middle School in Roanoke. The G-Men (5-6), winners of five of their last six games, will meet the Knights (8-2) in the Group AA, Region IV, Division 3 semifinals tonight.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
The winner will meet either Richlands or Marion for the regional title next weekend.
While Graham is making its 19th postseason appearance in the last 20 years — and the G-Men were 7-3 in 1996 — the Knights haven’t been playoff bound often, last playing past week 10 in 2005.
Cave Spring, which reached the Region III finals that season before losing to Liberty-Bedford, finished 2-8 in the previous two campaigns before this one. The Knights lost this year to Salem 42-0, and fell in the season finale to Hidden Valley 28-21 after leading 21-0.
Graham was victimized in the last meeting by Cave Spring quarterback Josh Woodrum, who ran for four touchdowns and threw for another against the G-Men. He accounted for 79 yards on the ground and 198 yards passing.
For the season, Woodrum has thrown for 1,575 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s also run for seven scores.
“He just throws the ball, he’s got quick feet, he’s got a good arm, and he sets his feet quick and throws the ball quick and he’s surrounded by good receivers,” Marrs said.
Woodrum has several targets, including big-play receiver Quentin Dill (21 catches, 411 yards) and tight end Erik Jacobsen (35-452, 1 td). Sam Wright (117-671, 6 td) and Michael Cole (91-524, 12 td) will lug the pigskin for the Knights.
“We’re going to have to play really good defense, we’re going to have to play fly-to-the-ball, 11-to-the-ball defense,” Marrs said. “We’re going to have to play like our hair is on fire.
“We’re going to have to get to the ball and not let them make the big play, but we’re a different defensive team than we were 10 weeks ago. There a lot of new faces on that defense now.”
Marrs doesn’t expect Cave Spring to change much from their last meeting, operating out of the spread formation with plenty of speed to burn. Graham has faced similar teams this season.
“They throw the ball around, they haven’t changed from what we have seen. They have run a little wildcat formation, but other than that, they haven’t changed,” Marrs said. “We’ve seen Bluefield, they have great speed, Virginia High, they’re about as sophisticated at running the spread than anybody, and Richlands, their accomplishments speak for themselves.
“We’ve seen some awfully good spread teams.”
Graham, which was out-gained in the first meeting 360-161 and trailed 34-6 at the break, has averaged 26.6 points a game this season, but improved to 32.5 during their current 5-1 run.
Marrs credits part of that scoring increase to an option attack that’s opened up the field for both the run (233.5 ypg) and pass (97.9 ypg).
“We went back and looked at the film and we weren’t running the option near as much then as we run it now,” Marrs said. “We’re going to run the option and let them figure out who’s got the ball.”
That success has allowed running room for quarterback David Marrs (847, 11 td) and the three-heading backfield of Tanner Howell (795, 7 td), Zack Mickel (570, 7 td) and Aderrius Jackson (311, 3 td).
David Marrs has also thrown for 1,077 yards and 12 touchdowns, with Torren Byrd having snagged 36 of Marrs’ 75 completions for 515 yards and six scores.
“They’ve gotten better and that’s what you want, you want to see your kids improve from game one to game 11 or 12 or whatever it is, and our kids have improved,” Marrs said. “Our assistant coaches have done a tremendous job of getting these kids in the position they’re in right now.”
The mistakes that hampered Graham through the 0-5 start to the season were apparent in the last meeting against the Knights, including turnovers, dropped passes and special teams snafus.
“We’ve gone back and looked at the film, and we dropped a couple of passes, one was a sure touchdown, the other one was going to be a first down,” Marrs said. “We missed a block early in the game that would have been a monstrous gain for us.
“Those are things that hopefully we have corrected over the last 10 weeks.”
Cave Spring, which has allowed 17.9 points per game, and just 10.9 in their eight wins, have been led on defense by Cray Webb, a lineman with 19 tackles for loss, while Jacobsen has four interceptions.
Marrs hopes to keep that defensive unit on the field for a majority of the game.
“We want to keep the ball, we’d like to have 12 or 14 play drives, just to keep their offense off the field and keep our offense on the field,” Marrs said. “That is what we would really like to do.”
Graham will have to play without two-way starter Cole Davis, who was injured in the second series of last week’s 19-15 playoff win over Tazewell.
“Tazewell is tough to beat at Tazewell,” Marrs said. “...When you lose a guy like Cole, you not only lose an offensive position, but you lose a defensive position as well.
“It kind of changed the way we did things, but with our backups, we expect you to go in and perform just like the other guys if you can. It still gets you out of sync a little bit, but the two guys that went in did a nice job and we gathered ourselves there at the end and way before that.”
The G-Men have made some adjustments with personnel, moving Nathan Sturniolo to offensive tackle, while asking for more from Shawn Hatfield, Mike Atwell and even Alex Marrs on the defensive line.
Alex Marrs, who normally sticks to playing center for the G-Men, will see action on defense.
“No, not much,” said Marrs, who asked if his son had played much on that side of the ball. “He’s going to have to now.”
Graham, which allowed 43.2 points a contest in their season-opening five game losing streak, has improved since, holding opponents to 23.2 over the past six contests.
Among the midseason changes was inserting David Marrs (70 tackles, 4 interceptions) at safety, switching Howell (87 tackles) to cornerback, and moving players like Lamont Edwards, Jacob Bowling (51 tackles, 3 fumble recoveries) and Sturniolo (55 tackles) around as needed.
Marrs added that Tony Barreras (81 tackles) and Mickel (66 tackles) have been crucial to Graham’s late-season success.
“Our key linebackers have kind of come to the forefront over the last six weeks and have done a nice job of helping us shut down the run,” Marrs said.
That last meeting between Graham and Cave Spring was a bad Knight for the G-Men. Marrs hasn’t allowed his squad to think back to that game, only thinking ahead to this one. After all, it’s the only one that matters now.
“They realize we’re a different team, that is not something they have dwelled on,” Marrs said. “They realize we are not the same team that played 10 weeks ago.
“We know that, Cave Spring knows that, but what we have to do is go down there and prove it. Knowing it is one thing, but proving it is something else.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com
The roads to Cave Spring
Cave Spring is located in Roanoke, about eight miles of Interstate 81 near Salem.
1. Get on Interstate 81 going north toward Roanoke.
2. Take the third Salem exit (141).
3. Turn left at end of exit onto Rt. 419.
4. Travel 6-8 miles to Brambleton Avenue intersection (landmarks includes Walgreens, Sun Trust Bank, Goodwill).
5. Turn right at light.
6. Cave Spring Middle School is located on the left at the third light.
