Christiansburg wins the battle of one loss teams 61-20
Bogle Stadium, Roanoke VA – The Christiansburg Blue Demons and the Hidden Valley Titans squared off at Bogle Stadium Friday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the VHSL Group 3D weekly ratings. The game pitted the run first Blue Demons against the pass first Titans. Whichever team’s defense could impose their will and contain their high-octane opponent was going to come away with the win. 
Each team’s opening drive gave some insight as to how the game would play out as Christiansburg marched 49 yards on 1 pass and 5 rushing plays to get on the board first. Meanwhile, the Titans threw an interception on their first drive which Christiansburg converted into a touchdown one play later to jump out to a 14-0 lead early in the game. Even though the Titans responded with an impressive 17-play, 80-yard drive on their next possession to cut into the lead, they would not score again until late in the 3rd quarter. During the HV scoring draught, the Blue Demons put up 40 unanswered points and went on to claim a 61-20 River Ridge district victory. After the game, Christiansburg’s Coach Alex Wilkens said
“the kids were ready to play on Monday, they were fired up and ready to go. They had their best practice all year, so we are really proud of them. We played really hard on defense, and we knew that was going to be the key tonight”.
First Quarter – Cburg’s WR/DB 3 Jayron Thompson returned the opening kickoff 28 yards and the Blue Demons started their first drive on their own 41. Super sophomore RB/DB 4 Tanner Evans (8-128, TD rush, 1-10 rec, def. INT, FUM ret for TD) got the call on the first two plays, catching a 10 yard pass from QB 8 Casey Graham and then busting a 27-yard run to the Titan 22. RB/LB 31 Stephan Myrthil (13-95, 2 TD) took it
C-burg RB/LB 31 Stephan Myrthil heads to the end zone for Blue Demons’ first score
in from 8 yards out and the Blue Demons had a 7-0 lead after 16 Spencer Conner made the PAT. Hidden Valley took over on their 24 yard line and on a 3rd and 5, QB 16 Sam Dragovich (25/38 – 276, 2 TD, 3 INT) had his pass picked off by TE/LB 10 Curtis Altizer who returned it for 10 yards and the Blue Demons offense had it on the HV 23. Christiansburg’s 31 Myrthil bull dozed his way to the end zone on the next play and 16 Conner added his second PAT to put the Blue Demons up 14-0. Hidden Valley settled in and went to work on their next possession – and it was a thing of beauty. The Titans fast-paced spread offense looked like a well-oiled machine as QB 16 Dragovich completed 12/14 passes on the drive for 78 yards. Christiansburg called a timeout at one point, just to try to slow things down, but coming out of
Titan WR/DB 20 Joey Strong caps off Titan’s 80-yard drive with a TD catch
the timeout, HV continued their torrid pace and QB 16 Dragovich finished it off with a 3-yard TD toss to WR/DB 20 Joey Strong. The PAT was good and after a quarter the score was 14-7.
Second Quarter – The Blue Demons continued to move the ball on offense in the 
second quarter on the rushing of 4 Evans and 31 Myrthil, but QB 8 Casey Graham (8/11-161, 3 TD pass, 2/47 rush) also showed off his big play capability with his arm and legs. Graham hit TE/DL 20 Tyrique Taylor for a 20-yard touchdown to
push the Blue Demon lead to 21-7, and later when it appeared Graham had committed to scrambling out of the pocket, he pulled up and threw a touch pass to WR/DB 2 Travis Altizer, who finished the play by sprinting 59 yards to the end zone and Christiansburg led 28-7 with 1:40 left in the period.
QB 8 Casey Graham finds teammate WR 2 Travis Altizer for the 59 yard score
After Blue Demon RB/DB 4 Evans intercepted a long HV pass in Christiansburg territory, QB 8 Graham had the Blue Demons knocking on the door again after he took off down the CB sidelines for a 48 yard pickup to the HV 14.
QB 8 Casey Graham streaks down the sideline for 48 yard gain
K/WR/DB Spencer Connor came on to try the FG but Titan DE 3 James Fitzgerald broke through the line for the block and the Blue Demons took their 28-7 lead into intermission.
HV DE 3 James Fitzgerald lays out to block Blue Demon FG at the end of the 2nd quarter
Third Quarter – Hidden Valley received the 2nd half kickoff but their drive stalled and they had to punt from their 25 yard line and Christiansburg’s offense took over on the Titan 48. On the second play of the drive, RB/DB 4 Evans broke free and was able to outrun the HV defenders for the 46-yard TD score.
Christiansburg RB/QB 4 Tanner Evans on his way to the end zone for 3rd quarter score
The PAT was good and Cburg had a 35-7 lead. The Blue Demon defense held again and forced the Titans to punt on their next possession and Cburg took over on the HV 48 yard line. RB/LB 31 Mrythil picked up two long gains and then the Titans had a breakdown in the secondary and QB 8 Graham found a wide open WR/DB 3 Thompson for a 37 yard TD reception.
Cburg WR 3 Jayron Thompson catches 37 yard TD from QB Casey Graham
The PAT was good and the score was 42-7. Things went from bad to worse at this point for HV in that on each of their next two possessions, Christiansburg came up with takeaways and converted them into touchdowns. WR/DB 3 Thompson was still catching his breath from his TD reception two plays earlier when he jumped the route on a HV pass and returned it 37 yards for the pick 6. Two plays later, RB/DB 4 Evans had a scoop and score on a HV fumble from the 22 yard line.
Christiansburg scores two defensive touchdowns (DB 3 Jayron Thompson’s pick 6, and DB 4 Tanner Evan’s scoop and score, late in the 3rd quarter.
In approximately 1 minute, Christiansburg added two defensive touchdowns to lead 54-7. The Titans were able to score before the quarter ended when QB 16 Dragovich found his familiar target, WR/DB 1 Braxton Dunnings for a 49 yard gain down to the Blue Demon 1 yard line. Dunnings had 10 catches on the night for a whopping 184 yards and a TD.
QB 8 Dragovich punched it in from the 1 and he also added the PAT to make the score 54-14 heading into the 4th quarter with a running clock.
Fourth Quarter – After a Christiansburg punt, the Titan dynamic duo was at it again when WR/DB 1 Dunnings hauled in a 57 yard TD catch from QB 16 Dragovich at the 6:53 mark.
Braxton Dunnings scores from 57 yards out
Christiansburg closed out the scoring with a 26-yard TD run by RB/DB 21 Max Fernandez. The PAT was good and the Blue Demons picked up the 61-20 win to improve to 6-1 on the season. – Mike ‘The Machine’ Dermott
Christiansburg RB 21 Max Fernandez takes handoff from QB 11 Jeremiah Thompson
Offense: Rushing– Hidden Valley – DJ Banks 7-41, Sam Dragovich 13-(-11), TD, Ashton Carroll 1-(-3), Israel Guerrero 1-6, Christiansburg – Stephan Myrthil 13-95, 2 TD, Tanner Evans 8-128, TD, Curtis Altizer 1-9, Drew Lloyd 1-6, Casey Graham 2-47, Max Fernandez 9-58, TD, Brody Blount 2-2 Passing– Hidden Valley– Sam Dragovich 25/38 – 276, 2 TD, 3 INT Christiansburg– Casey Graham 8/11-161, 3 TD Receiving– Hidden Valley– Ashton Carroll 5-31, Max Pardon 2-14, Joey Strong 4-40, TD, Braxton Dunnings 10-184, TD, DJ Banks 4-7, Fum Christiansburg– Jayron Thompson 2-49, TD, Drew Lloyd 1-11, Tanner Evans 1-10, Travis Altizer 2-69, TD, Tyrique Taylor 2-22, TD Punting– Hidden Valley– Sam Dragovich 4-33.5 avg. Christiansburg– Drew Lloyd 2-36.5 avg
Scoring:
1st Qtr
Christiansburg: Myrthil 8-yard run; Conner PAT (9:25)
Christiansburg: Myrthil 23-yard run; Conner PAT (8:09)
Hidden Valley: Strong 3-yd pass from S.Dragovich; S.Dragovich PAT (1:12)
2nd Qtr
Christiansburg: T.Taylor 14-yard pass from Graham; Conner PAT (8:26)
Christiansburg: T.Altizer 59-yard pass from Graham; Conner PAT (1:40)
3rd Qtr
Christiansburg: Evans 46-yard run; Conner PAT (9:11)
Christiansburg: Jayron Thompson 37-yard pass from Graham; Conner PAT (4:21)
Christiansburg: Jayron Thompson 37-yard pass INT return; PAT blocked (3:13)
Christiansburg: Evans 22-yard FUM return; PAT no good (9:11)
Hidden Valley: S.Dragovich 1-yard run; S.Dragovich PAT (0:10)
4th Qtr
Hidden Valley: Dunnings 57-yard pass from S.Dragovich; PAT no good (6:53)
Christiansburg: Fernandez 26-yard run; Conner PAT (1:08)