Battlefield runs past Culpeper

Jason Simcoe / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: November 3, 2007

• SLIDESHOW Culpeper football vs. Battlefield

HAYMARKET - It's been a problem all season for the Blue Devils. They haven't been able to stop the run. Osbourn Park's Shawn Khanamuenwai ran all over the place. So did Corey Lillard and Mark Simpson of Liberty.

This week, Adrian Ingram and Gerald Khosa of Battlefield were too fast for the visiting Culpeper defense and powered the Bobcats to a 47-33 win.

The first half belonged to Ingram. Play after play, Battlefield handed off to the 5-foot-10, 175-pound junior. Play after play, he was into the Blue Devils' secondary before anyone could track him down.

Ingram finished with 241 yards on 20 carries, but it was his first half that doomed Culpeper. He had 228 yards and three touchdowns by intermission. He had only one carry shorter than five yards all night.

"It's a little bit of size, a little bit of youth, and a little bit of strength," CCHS coach Greg Martz said of his team's struggles against the run. "You look at a lot of teams that are able to run the ball on us, they're a lot stronger up front. Physically stronger. Their 180 (pounds) is different than our 180."

The Blue Devils defense was hurt by the loss of defensive tackle Kris Stewardson, who stood on the sidelines in street clothes.

Without him anchoring the middle of the defensive line, the Battlefield blockers controlled the line of scrimmage.
Even when he wasn't running past the Culpeper defense, Ingram found ways to hurt the Blue Devils. He blocked a Carter Mills punt in the second quarter that Vincent Drzal returned two yards for a score.

But after Battlefield lost two fumbles on bad exchanges between Ingram and quarterback Cooper Bull early in the second half, Bobcats coach Mark Cox turned to Khosa.
It was a new face, same result for Battlefield. Khosa finished with 129 yards on the night, 101 of which came in the second half. He added two touchdowns of his own.

Culpeper's offense was effective. Steven Strother scored three first-half touchdowns — including two set up by Bobcat turnovers. He finished with 132 yards on 16 carries.

Quarterbacks Cody Whitlock and Kyle Majors continued to rotate in and out of the game. Majors athleticism and Whitlock's arm make it tough for opposing defenses to get in a rhythm.

Majors finished 5 of 9 for 47 yards and scored on an 6-yard quarterback keeper in the fourth. Whitlock passed for 126 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown to Joey Powell, but threw two interceptions.

For the third time in three weeks, the Blue Devils set a season-high point total. According to offensive lineman John Ross Hawkins, it has been a matter of the group learning each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"Our offense has come together as a brotherhood more," offensive lineman John Ross Hawkins said. "…We've become really good friends and we all know what we're going to do and we communicate a lot better."

Despite giving up 395 yards rushing, the Culpeper defense was opportunistic. Matt Bennett recovered a fumble and Shawn Ferris intercepted a pass to set up first-half scores.

And the defense recovered both of Ingram's fumbles right after halftime. But on both subsequent drives, the offense stalled and Carter Mills missed 32-yard field goal attempts.

"It's a little frustrating," Strother said. "We should have punched those in. …That right there would have changed the game."

The Blue Devils try to close out the season on a high note when they host Stonewall Jackson Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Jason Simcoe can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 166 or

Battlefield 47, Culpeper 33
Score by quarters 
Culpeper 7 14 0 12 33
Battlefield 6 27 0 14 47

Scoring summary
First Quarter
B - Adrian Ingram 18 run (Ben Burden kick failed), 4:37.
C - Steven Strother 80 run (Carter Mills kick), 1:43
Second quarter
C - Strother 5 run (Mills kick) ,11:54.
B - Ingram 11 run (2-pt. failed), 9:51
B - Ingram 5 run (Burden kick), 8:50.
B -  Vincent Drzal 2 return blocked punt (Burden kick), 7:06
C - Strother 18 run (Mills kick), 4:04.
B - Cooper Bull 11 run (Burden kick), 1:41.
Fourth quarter
B - Gerald Khosa 5 run (Burden kick), 11:20
C -Kyle Majors 6 run (2-pt. failed), 2:58
B - Khosa 37 run (Burden kick), 1:54
C - Joey Powell 46 pass from Cody Whitlock (2-pt. failed), 1:22
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Culpeper S. Strother 16-132, K.K. Pollard 6-28, Majors 8-10, Maurice Strother 1-(minus 8), Whitlock 1-(minus 7); Battlefield Ingram 20-241, Cooper Bull 5-20, Khosa 15-129, Erik Patterson 2-5.
PASSING — Culpeper Majors 5-9-0-47, Cody Whitlock 8-14-2-126; Battlefield — Bull 1-4-1-31
RECEIVING — Culpeper S. Strother 5-25, Heath Brown 1-11, Joey Powell 4-101, Stephanos Wenner 2-13, Pollard 1-33; Battlefield Matthew Plum 1-31.