Winless Blue Devils haunted by big plays

Ron Counts, Staff Writer
Published: October 12, 2008

It’s hard to pinpoint one Achilles heel on a 0-5 team, because there’s usually more than one.

That’s the case for this year’s Culpeper football squad. The Blue Devils’ biggest weaknesses are their youth and inexperience.

Another is the level of competition they have faced. The Blue Devils’ have dueled with perennial powerhouse C.D. Hylton and tough Orange County, not to mention undefeated Fauquier and the rest of the Cedar Run District.

And still another is the injuries that have taken their toll on seniors Charles Nicholson, Maurice Strother and John Ross Hawkins.

But if there is one foible that has hurt Culpeper the most, it has to be the big play. The Blue Devils give up big plays with alarming regularity, and they haven’t been able to find a home-run hitter on offense that’s capable of producing big plays.

“On defense, it’s not so much that we’re out of position,” CCHS coach Greg Martz said. “It’s more a matter of one thing going wrong and us getting caught in it and not being able to adjust. It hurts.”

The Blue Devils gave up six plays of 20 or more yards during Friday’s 55-14 loss to Osbourn Park.

The most exciting of Friday night’s big plays was Osbourn Park sophomore quarterback Dominique Terrell’s 95-yard kickoff return. He blew past at least four Blue Devils tacklers before outrunning kicker Adam Mitchell to the endzone.

“That was tough,” Martz said. “Adam (Mitchell) came to me was like ‘sorry coach’ and I told him ‘hey, you kicked it the rest of the guys have to make a tackle.’”

Terrell also burned the Blue Devils on two runs of 30 yards, a 51-yard touchdown pass and a 15-yard touchdown run.

Friday wasn’t the first time Culpeper was bitten by the big-play bug. The Blue Devils’ defense watched the C.D. Hylton Bulldogs rack up four plays of 20 or more yards Oct. 3, not including interception returns of 25 and 43 yards.

Hylton quarterbacks Joel Himan and Jabari Dukes both burned the Blue Devils deep. Himan hooked up with Kevin Wheeler on a 34-yard touchdown strike. Dukes found Jasper Willis on a 26-yard scoring toss later in the game.

Quarterback Blake Froanapfel and the Colonial Forge Eagles traveled into Culpeper on Sept. 19 and cruised to a 38-0 win thanks in large part to five plays of 20 yards or more.

Froanapfel threw touchdown passes of 52, 35 and 36 yards.

“This is something we can fix in practice,” Martz said. “Our coverage communication is not where it should be. We have to make sure that everyone knows where they’re supposed to be whether we’re running zone or man.”

In stark contrast to the 11 big plays the Blue Devils gave up in the three previously mentioned games, they were only able to execute a total of three plays of 20 yards or more.

The Blue Devils put together two long plays against Osbourn Park, both of which came in the second half thanks to the arm of Steven Dodson.

He hooked up with Strother on a 22-yard pass and with Joseph Hoffman on a 47-yard bomb. Both passes were part of scoring drives.

“We make great adjustments,” Martz said. “There are signs of life, but the pulse just isn’t hitting as fast as I would like it to.”

Most great teams have guys that are a threat to take the ball to the house every time they touch it. If the Blue Devils are going to stave off their first winless season under Martz, they’re going to have to find a home-run hitter of their own.

Ron Counts can be reached at 825-0771 ext 166 or