CCHS looks to build in the off season

Jason Simcoe / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: November 14, 2007

As the Culpeper players left the field after the final game, a 20-13 loss to Stonewall Jackson Friday, they held their heads high.

The end result of their season — a 2-8 record — looked a lot like the past few years. But this one felt different.

The record didn't show it, but this year was better.
"We just worked as a team," senior K.K. Pollard said. "We kept our heads up and kept fighting and fighting."

In a lot of ways, the Blue Devils continued their recent struggles this season. Greg Martz has coached the team for three years now and won six games. But 2-8 this year was different than the past.

"The biggest positive is the competitiveness," Martz said. "We're always in the game — always fighting, always striving."

The Blue Devils battled inexperience — there were only 10 seniors on the roster this year — to field the most dangerous team in Martz's tenure.

Despite winning just two games, the Blue Devils led at some point every single week, most into the second half.

They were a few bad breaks from picking up two or three more wins. Osbourn Park, Liberty and Stonewall Jackson all scored in the final two and half minutes of the fourth quarter to sneak past Culpeper.

The offense, anemic early in the year, came to life as the season went on. The Blue Devils averaged 26.25 points per game the final four weeks of the season.

Senior quarterback Kyle Majors kept defenses off balance with his ability to run and throw the ball. Junior Cody Whitlock emerged as a legitimate passing threat, giving the Blue Devils dual threats under center.

Steven Strother and Joey Powell showed a knack for making big plays. Strother finished with 844 yards rushing and 16 total touchdowns. Powell made 35 catches for 572 yards and six touchdowns.

The offensive line, considered a question mark before the season, developed into a steady unit as the year went on.

Senior Joe Reser was the only returning starter, but jelled with newcomers Tony Caruso, John Ross Hawkins, Charles Nicholson and Patrick Wilson to clear the way for the Blue Devils' playmakers.

"We started to learn more about each other," Hawkins said. "We started to learn to use our abilities with everybody else."

A young defense kept the Blue Devils in every game this season.

Teams learned quickly not to pass on Culpeper. Strother, Majors and Pollard led a pass defense that forced teams to run the ball.

The front seven, led by Roger Davis and Matt Bennett, put pressure on quarterbacks all season, but struggled to defend the run.

With only three seniors — Majors, Pollard and David Butler — in the regular defensive rotation, the team struggled with inexperience at times.

But the team that was routinely getting blown out in games the last few years pushed opponents to the limit in 2007. No longer was Culpeper the easy win other teams had come to expect.

"We've evolved the past couple of years," junior Heath Brown said. "We've gotten better."

CCHS returns seven offensive and eight defensive starters next year, but the future is uncertain. The county's second high school, Eastern View, opens next season and could split some of the team's young nucleus.

"I don't really know, as far as who's going to go where and how that's going to work out," Martz said. "I hope we keep as much of our team intact as possible."

But, school split aside, the players ended the season wanting more. They're no longer content with improvement. They want results.

"It makes me very hungry for next season," Hawkins said. "It's a game of inches and it makes me mad that we missed those inches."

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