Smith Mountain Lake grinds out a 27-18 win over Roanoke Catholic
Vineyard Field, Vinton VA -The Roanoke Catholic Celtics played host to the Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy Ospreys in a non-conference affair on the Celtics’ homecoming night at Vineyard Field. If you have not taken in a Roanoke Catholic home football game, you could describe it as a community event. Picnic tables in use, lawn chairs on the sidelines, and tackle football games on the outskirts of the field by the future players waiting their turn. Only in their second year of fielding a football team, the Ospreys came into the game with one loss and a lot of momentum. Looking at both rosters, you quickly notice that the teams are young, with each of them having 3 or more 8th graders, including the Celtics’ starting QB 7 Demarcus Brown. The first play from scrimmage resulted in a Celtics fumble which the Ospreys recovered and converted into a TD three plays later. Roanoke Catholic’s fake punt attempt on their next drive was snuffed out by SMLCA who quickly drove the field for the score and had an early 14-0 lead. The Celtics showed they were capable of putting points on the board, but two more turnovers slowed them down and they fell to the hard-nosed Ospreys 27-18. Celtics’ Coach Bob Price commented after the game that “we made too many mistakes early on. They are a much improved football team [Ospreys], they played hard … and it was a good high school football game…We’re young, we’re still learning, but getting better every week … [I’m] still proud of them!”
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