Rockets Shock Glenvar
From the November 2, 1994 edition of The New Castle Record
There was a happy Homecoming in Craig County Friday night, as the Rockets stunned visiting Glenvar with a 6-0 win in football.
This was a major step for the Rockets. It evened their record at 4-4 and kept alive hopes of the first winning season since the new Craig County High School opened. It was also the first shutout by a Rockets defense in anyone’s memory.
“No question this was a big win,” said a soaked Rocket coach Greg Stick, who was doused by water from his happy players after the game. “We hadn’t beaten a quality team since I’ve been here, and this was a quality team. Glenvar’s a cut above.”
The Rockets did it with defense, holding Glenvar rushing star Eric East to just 57 yards in 20 carries. East gained over 1,000 yards in the first seven games this year, and the 57 yards gained was his lowest of the year.
“Give Craig the credit,” said Glenvar coach Brian hooker. “They played a good ballgame. We couldn’t run against them.”
The biggest play of the game came with about five minutes remaining Glenvar had a fourth down and two on its own 29, and elected to got for the first down.
East took the ball for the 20th time that night, and was stopped flat in his tracks by Craig lineman James Huffman. The officials measured, but it wasn’t close as Craig took over on downs.
Senior quarterback Robbie Huffman engineered the drive to paydirt, with Zachery Peters catching the winning score with 2:01 left on the board. Craig missed the extra point, but no one figured that would matter the way the Craig County defense was playing.
It almost did. Glenvar drew a penalty on the ensuing kickoff, but the Highlanders passed right down the field to the Rocket 18 with just under a minute remaining.
The Rocket defense came up big again to preserve the win. Three plays failed, setting up another big fourth down for the highlanders. Quarterback Corey Willis thew into the back of the endzone. For a split second it appeared a Highlander was open, but Chris Blankenship jumped high to bat the ball away and preserve the victory.
After Robbie Hufman kneeled down to kill the final seconds, pandemonium erupted on the Craig side. Stick was doused with water, but he was feeling too good to get sick on this chilly night.
“We made the big plays when we needed to,” he said. “They had more yardage than we did, but a lot of those yards came on that last drive, when we were giving them the short pass.”
Craig finished with just 109 yards of total offense to Glenvar’s 213, but that’s not the story of the game. The Rockets put clamps on East, who is one of the most dangerous backs in the area and the district rushing leader.
For the first three quarters and a half the fans were wondering if anyone would score at all. Then Glenvar gambled on the fourth down, and the Rocket defense made them pay.
“If we play like that, we can pick up a couple more wins,” said Stick. “We’re playing a team this week that’s a lot like Glenvar.”
The Rockets will be traveling to Lord Botetourt Friday, where the Cavaliers have a tailback very similar to East. Wesley Cox, a transfer from James River, has gained 1,011 yards thus far and he’s a workhorse. Last week against Wiliam Byrd he carried 19 times for 130 yards.
The Rockets finish up with Bland high School, and two wins would give Craig a 6-4 record. Some people thought Stick was nuts when talked about a winning season back in August, but it’s now staring the Rockets in the face.
“If we can play like we did against Glenvar, we can do it,” he said.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
