Gallery by Heather Belcher
Charmco – This is not your father’s or your grandfather’s Greenbrier West football team.
Sure, the Cavaliers can still pound you on the ground, but nowadays the air is full of footballs and the boys from Charmco can sting you with a little trickery.
Friday night the modern day Cavaliers used all of their weapons to win their biggest game of the season to date.
Riding a three-touchdown performance from quarterback Cole Vandall and hitting the “Philly Special” for a crucial two-point conversion, Greenbrier West knocked off Wahama 22-20 in the quarterfinal round of the Class A playoffs.
With the win the Cavs will face the winner of Saturday’s James Monroe-Cameron game in the semifinals.
“This is so surreal. It is an ecstatic feeling to get the win with all of my brothers out here,” Vandall said. “We just want to keep that momentum going.”
Heading to the fourth quarter, the game was tied 14-14 and the Cavaliers faced a fourth-and-two situation at their own 48-yard line.
Greenbrier West turned to its senior signal-caller in crunch time.
“Absolutely, Cole is 200 pounds. If we can’t get that first down with him, we don’t deserve to win,” Greenbrier West head coach Kelly Vaughan said. “We just flipped the script on them a little bit. Cole is a horse and you have to ride him. Football is not complicated. If you have the heart, the desire, the will and you execute, you will win a lot of football games.”
Four more totes from Vandall and a three-yard run from Jake Pate moved the ball to the Wahama 22-yard line where the Cavaliers faced another fourth down situation.
Vandall once again got the call, but had to dodge near disaster when the ball popped loose on the jarring hit. Vandall snagged the ball out of the air, giving West a first down at the 17-yard line.
After a holding penalty set the Cavaliers back 10-yards, Vandall went to the air with a perfect strike to Tucker Lilly at the goal line for the go-ahead score.
“Me and (assistant) coach (Isac Osborne) work every day and every practice on throwing the ball. It has paid off,” Vandall said. “I have to give it up to Tucker too. He is an amazing receiver. I will always throw it up to him because I know he will go get it.”
Knowing the White Falcons went for the two-point conversion after each score, West stepped out of the norm and looked to make it an eight-point advantage.
Moving over to the end of the line, the ball was snapped to Pate instead of Vandall. Pate faked the run and pitched the ball back to Ethan Holliday who threw a perfect strike to Vandall for the two-point conversion.
The play made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII and known as the “Philly Special” became the decisive play of the night for the Cavaliers.
“We put that in at practice in case we needed it because we knew (Wahama) went for (the) two (point conversion) a lot,” Vandall said. “We knew if we had to run it, it would work if we went out there and executed. I knew I was catching that ball.”
The big play even brought a big smile to the face of an “old school” coach.
“We call it the “Cavalier Special.” We have a kicker, but we knew they would go for two against us,” Vaughan said. “Once we scored the go-ahead touchdown, there was no doubt we were going for two. I have to praise the kids, they executed it perfectly. It was a beautiful play.”
The White Falcons did not go away without a massive fight.
Twelve plays later, Wahama was in the end zone with just 2:12 left on the game clock.
Needing the two-point conversion to tie, Greenbrier West made another big play on defense when it intercepted the conversion pass to maintain the 22-20 lead.
“Nothing but praise for the kids,” Vaughan said. “They executed, showed heart and they were determined. They wanted it tonight. Thank goodness we were in position to make plays and pull it out at the end of the game.”
Greenbrier West did recover the onside kick attempt, but was forced to punt the ball back to the White Falcons with just under two minutes to play.
A big sack and two forced incomplete passes stopped the last gasp for the visitors.
“That was a very hard fought game. It is really tough to come up on the short end of (a game) like that,” Wahama head coach James Toth said. “I am proud of our guys. (Greenbrier West) is a good team. I tip my hat to them. The difference in this game was a couple of plays.”
White Falcons senior quarterback Sawyer VanMatre and junior tailback Connor Lambert gave the vaunted Cavalier defense all it could handle Friday night.
“Their quarterback is the best we faced all year, bar none. I told him after the game he was a nice athlete,” Vaughan said. “That (Lambert), we knew he had some speed, but he really has speed. Those guys were first class and they only have four seniors. Their future looks bright.”
While West bent at times, the defense made several key plays along the way to preserve the win.
Two forced fumbles and a pair turnovers on downs kept Wahama at bay.
“They didn’t break tonight,” Vaughan said. “(Isaac) Agee made a nice break on the ball and caused a fumble. Then we held them on downs and got the fumble late in the second half.”
Greenbrier West entered the game as the No. 4 seed and Wahama was the No. 5 seed. The game on the field looked as even as the seeding coming into the contest.
“Anytime you turn the ball over it is going to hurt you. Those things hurt, but with what we do offensively, we have to live with that. I am proud of my guys,” Toth said. “There is really no difference when it is 22-20. What happened was they converted and we didn’t. Neither team deserved to lose the game tonight, but they got it done when it needed to be done.”
W: 8 0 6 6 – 20
GW: 7 7 0 8 – 22
First quarter
GW: Jake Pate 43 pass from Cole Vandall (Hayden
W: Connor Lambert 11 pass from Sawyer VanMatre (VanMatre rush)
Second quarter
GW: Vandall 5 run (Ridgeway kick)
Third quarter
W: VanMatre 11 run (pass incomplete)
Fourth quarter
GW: Tucker Lilly 27 pass from Vandall (Vandall pass from Ethan Holliday)
W: VanMatre 11 run (pass intercepted)
Stats
Rushing: (W) Dillian Fields 4-34, Connor Lambert 17-90, Sawyer VanMatre 33-162-2; (GW) Cole Vandall 16-70-1, Ethan Holliday 1-6, Isaac Agee 1-1, Jake Pate 20-51.
Passing: (W) VanMatre 10-17-0-119-1; (GW) Vandall 8-14-1-121-2, Holliday 0-1.
Receiving: (W) Hayden Lloyd 4-38, Wyatt Harris 2-39, Lambert 4-42-1; (GW) Holliday 1-(-3), Tucker Lilly 2-47-1, Pate 4-82-1, Agee 1-(-5).
