Gallery by Steph Redden
Charmco – Friday night the moon was full and the plays on the new turf at Greenbrier West High School were wild and woolly on Homecoming.
When the final horn sounded, the Cavaliers had taken advantage of numerous Shady Spring errors to pitch their third straight shutout in a 55-0 thrashing of the Tigers.
“We knew they put the ball in the air and they have a good mix going right now with their run and their throw. They are a good team,” Shady Spring head coach Vince Culicerto said. “We made a lot of mistakes and (starting quarterback) Brady (Green) getting hurt didn’t help things. We had some chances there early and didn’t capitalize. They got after us and we didn’t respond.”
After forcing a three-and-out, the home team went 55 yards in seven plays to take the early lead.
The drive was capped by a Cole Vandall’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Jake Pate. However, the key play in the drive came on fourth-and-5 from the West 40-yard line. Vandall hit Ethan Holliday down the seam for a 29 yard strike to keep the drive alive.
The opening score was the first of three scoring tosses for Vandall, using three different receivers in the process.
“Cole has improved tremendously and his confidence has gotten better. Hats off to him,” Greenbrier West head coach Kelly Vaughan said. “He is up to 11 (touchdowns this year). He did throw a pick tonight. He made the wrong read. If he had thrown it where he was supposed too it would have been a nice touchdown. Regardless, he has improved major. I have nothing but praise for the boy.”
The ability of Vandall to hurt defenses with his arm was no secret to Shady who had seen his exploits on film.
“They threw the ball on us and exposed us there,” Culicerto said. “We weren’t able to get to the quarterback and he had some good time there. They had some good stuff schemed up and made the passes.”
Following a Tiger punt on their next possession that had West backed up in its own end, Pate broke off an 87-yard run to give the Cavaliers a 14-0 lead.
“It was one of those things from the beginning, a lot of mistakes and they capitalized,” Culicerto said. “I thought our defense inside was doing a pretty decent job on the run. The hole was closed, he cuts back and we miss him a couple of times.”
Midway through the second quarter things went from bad to worse for Shady Spring.
Following a punt that was snapped over the punter’s head and recovered by Holliday for a score, Shady’s gunslinger went down with an injury and had to be carted off the field.
A play later, Vandall and Holliday connected on a 13-yard score for a 28-0 lead that the Cavaliers took to the halftime locker room.
The snapping woes continued to haunt the Tigers in the third quarter when two more bad snaps lead directly to short scores for Greenbrier West.
“When you do that it hurts you as an offensive team (giving up) those easy scores. They multiply and when it starts to pour, it continues,” Vaughan said. “I have dealt with kids for over 30 years and when they get their heads down, it’s hard to get them back up.”
Along with Vandall’s three tosses, West had scoring runs from Isaac Agee and Holliday along with Pate’s explosion.
“They run hard. It is an asset that I can’t describe how much it helps with our depth. We are able to get a little break here and there. It is nice to sub them in and out,” Vaughan said about his stable of backs. “The reality is their numbers are not going to be impressive statistically. The kids are good with it. They cheer for each other and we rotate them in and rotate them out and they never say a word.”
The win by West now sets up an undefeated showdown with Class A No. 1 James Monroe in Charmco Friday.
“They whooped us last year. They do a great job. (James Monroe head) coach Mustain, I have nothing but positive things to say about him,” Vaughn said. “The people of Monroe County treat us like their own. Hopefully we can get them (this year).”
SS: 0 0 0 0 – 0
GW: 14 14 20 7 – 55
First quarter
GW: Jake Pate 11 pass from Cole Vandall (Hayden Ridgeway kick)
GW: Pate 87 run (Ridgeway kick)
Second quarter
GW: Ethan Holliday recovers fumbled punt in end zone (Ridgeway kick)
GW: Holliday 13 pass from Vandall (Ridgeway kick)
Third quarter
GW: Pate 14 run (Ridgeway kick)
GW: Isaac Agee 22 pass from Vandall (pass failed)
GW: Holliday 1 run (Ridgeway)
Fourth quarter
GW: Agee 9 run (Ridgeway kick)
Stats
Rushing: (SS) Gavin Davis 13-34, Brady Green 7-4, Evan Rommage 8-(-6), Cal Culicerto 2-(-14), Kaiden Helmer 3-(-8); (GW) Jake Pate 6-114-2, Isaac Agee 8-64-1, Cole Vandall 3-2, Ethan Holliday 2-12-1, Moses Gray 7-28, Marcus Adkins 5-14, Joevan Robinson 1-1.
Passing: (SS) Green 8-14-0-0-44, Jalon Bailey 0-1, Culicerto 2-6-0-0-15; (GW) Vandall 8-15-1-3-153
Receiving: (SS) Bailey 6-45, Davis 2-4, Nate Easley 1-2, Aiden Lester 1-8; (GW) Tucker Lilly 2-20, Colten Dunbar 1-22, Holliday 3-78-1, Pate 1-11-1, Agee 1-
