Hidden Valley breaks open a close 2-0 halftime lead
Blacksburg High School, Blacksburg Va.– The Blacksburg Bruins hosted the Hidden Valley Titans at David Crist Field on Friday night with both teams looking for their first win on the season. The Bruins and the Titans have struggled early in this pandemic spring football season, but Hidden Valley Coach Scott Weaver put some perspective on it saying that tonight’s game “should have been game 2. We had no scrimmages, so your first two are like scrimmages, last week was like your first game. You know by the time a lot of these teams start hitting a normal type grove of a season, the season is going to be over”. 
Turnovers, a couple of missed field goals and a safety lead to a low scoring 2-0 Hidden Valley halftime lead, but the Titan defense only allowed Blacksburg 71 yards of total offense while their own offense put together a pair of 70+ yard drives in the second half to give Hidden Valley a 22-0 win and a victorious bus ride back up I-81 North. Weaver commented after the game that “It’s a different, crazy year, we did a lot of things good tonight, we did a lot of things that weren’t good tonight, but I am just happy for these kids that they’re playing, and then that we got a win and we are going to enjoy the heck out of it.”
The Blacksburg defense corrals Titan FB 32 Steven Robertson
1st Quarter – Blacksburg’s WR/LB 6 Traye Roberts took the opening kickoff 16 yards, and the Bruins quickly moved into Hidden Valley territory when QB 8 David Oliver hit WR/DB 5 Addison Bass on a 13 yard pass play. However, 2 plays later Titan DB/WR 4 Jacob Pardon stopped Blacksburg’s momentum with an interception and HV took over on their own 35 yard line. The Titans drove to the Bruins’ 20 yard line but K 8 Brody Layman’s FG attempt was no good. The Bruins picked up 3 first downs on their next possession, but the drive stalled out on a 4th and 2 when HV WR/DB 7 Joey Strong’s tackle in the back field forced the turnover on downs.
RB/LB 42 Bryce Ferguson powers through the middle
2nd Quarter – The Titans took the ball and moved to the BB 14 yard line on the running of RB/DB 22 DJ Banks (13-47, TD) and the throwing of QB 16 Sam Dragovich (15/25 – 161, 2 INT). However Bruin RB/DB 4 Stephen Ritenour’s interception prevented HV from scoring in the red zone and Blacksburg had a 1st and 10 on their 9 yard line. After a 3 and out series, the Bruin punt snap sailed high out of the end zone and Hidden Valley had 2 points on the board as a result of the safety. Blacksburg got their second interception on the next HV drive when RB/LB 42 Bryce Ferguson picked off the Titan pass on the Bruin 38 yard line, but they punted 4 plays later. The Titans drove to the Bruin’s 4 yard line and tried a FG with 2 seconds left in the half. The kick was blocked and Blacksburg’s WR/DB 7 Reed Kirk caught the ball in the air and streaked down the Blacksburg sideline. For a moment it looked like he might score, but was tackled at the HV 33 yard line ending the first half.
Blacksburg DB/QB 8 David Oliver cuts back for additional yardage
3rd Quarter – After the two teams traded punts, the Titan defense came up with another takeaway when WR/DB 6 Landon Blackshear picked off a Bruin pass at the HV 25 yard line. Hidden Valley then put together a 75 yard touchdown drive on their next series. The possession had an interesting twist on a 4th and 4 play at the Bruin 13 yard line.
Hidden Valley QB 12 Sam Dragovich avoids Bruin DB 19 Jack Thompson
QB 16 Dragovich caught his own batted pass and scampered 12 yards to the one yard line. Two plays later HV RB/LB 10 Jadon LaTempa (18-80, TD) scored from the 1 and K 8 Layman’s PAT made it 9-0 Titians.
Titan RB 10 Jadon LaTempa finds room to run
4th Quarter – Blacksburg’s next possession proved costly as they had to punt from their end zone and HV WR/DE 3 James Fitzgerald recovered a fumbled Blacksburg snap for the TD and the Titans went up 15-0.
Titan RB 22 D.J. Banks is tackled by DL 65 Alex Lafon
Hidden Valley later finished the scoring when RB 22 Banks capped a 6-minute, 70 yard drive on a 1 yard plunge and the PAT was good for a 22-0 Hidden Valley victory. – The Machine
Offense: Rushing– Hidden Valley – Banks 13-47, TD, LaTempa 18-80, TD, Dragovich 9-40
Blacksburg – Ferguson 10-12, Oliver 8-10, Ritenour 4-13, Ackerman 4-5, Campbell 3-12, J.Thompson 1-(-)1
Passing– Hidden Valley– Dragovich 15/25, 161, 2 INT Blacksburg– Oliver 1/4, 13, INT, Campbell 0/4, 2 INT
Receiving– Hidden Valley– Banks 2-12, McDaniel 3-42, J.Pardon 2-11, Carroll 4-48, Robertson 1-12, J.Strong 1-11, Harding 1-13, Dragovich 1-12. Blacksburg– Bass 1-13
Punting– Hidden Valley– Dragovich 1-33, Layman 1-34 Blacksburg Bass 1-36, Roberts 2-37
Scoring:
- HV: Safety – punt snapped out of the end zone
- HV: LaTempa 1-yd TD run; Layman PAT
- HV: Fitzgerald recovered fumble in the end zone; PAT no good
- HV: Banks 1-yard TD run; Layman PAT
