The Craig County Rockets are back in the Region 1C football playoff for the first time since 2012. The Rockets are the sixth seed in the eight team tournament and will travel to Independence Friday to take on third seeded Grayson County at Bill Strong Field.
“”They’re quick everywhere,” said Craig County Jim Fisher of the Blue Devils. “We need to execute offensively better than we have in recent weeks. We need the defense to be able to count on the offense to put some drives together and score some points. Our best shot is to run the ball and keep their offense off the field. Score and get a few stops defensively and we give ourselves an opportunity to win.”
Grayson comes in at 6-3 and has no common opponents with the Rockets. They’ve beaten Rural Retreat, Floyd County, Giles, Fort Chiswell, George Wythe and Galax with losses to Alleghany of North Carolina, Carroll County and Bluefield, West Virginia.
The Blue Devils are coached by Stephen James, who is in his fourth year at the helm after replacing New Castle native Brett McPherson, who was head coach at Grayson for 15 years. The Devils are 31-14 since James took over. Grayson was an even 80-80 under McPherson and made the playoffs 10 times.
Craig is now 6-4 after defeating Meadow Bridge last Friday at Mitchell Field, 36-14. It’s the first winning season for the Rockets since 2010 and it was accomplished against a solid Meadow Bridge team. The Wildcats came in as the ninth ranked Class A team in West Virginia and featured Kaiden Sims, who had 2,166 yards rushing in nine games.
“It was a great night to be a Rocket,” said Fisher.
The home team came out hot, scoring on their opening possession with a Carter Calfee 56 yard TD run. Craig missed the extra point but the defense got a three-and-out and the Rockets got the ball back in good field position before turning the ball over on downs inside the 20.
The defense again got a stop and foiled a fake punt attempt to get the ball back deep in Meadow Bridge territory at the nine yard line. The Rockets quickly capitalized with a Jaycob Wolfe three yard TD run, and Wolfe hit tight end Isaac Lucas with a pass for the two-point conversion and a 14-0 lead.
The Wildcats answered with a methodical drive of 77 yards on 12 plays, capped off by a Bow Wykle seven yard run. Meadow Bridge was successful on the two point conversion with a run by Trip Roles and it was 14-8 in Craig’s favor.
The Wildcats attempted an onsides kick that Craig recovered, but a bad snap on first down set the Wildcats up at the Rocket 35 yard line. At that point the Craig defense stiffened and Meadow Bridge turned the ball over on downs at the Craig 19.
The Rockets then went on a nine play, 81 yard touchdown drive capped off by an amazing Wolfe 24 yard TD run in which it seemed like every Wildcat defender had their hands on him twice. Wolfe ran in the two point conversion himself and the Rockets were up 22-8 with 42 seconds left in the first half.
Meadow Bridge received the second half kickoff and the Rockets got the ball back after another three-and-out at the Craig 30 after receiving a punt. Wolfe and senior running back Josh Craft alternated inside runs down the field until the Wildcat safeties jumped into the box to stop the run, then Jaycob then hit Isaac Lucas on a 26 yard pop pass for another score and a 29-8 lead.
Craig’s defense held after a six play drive and the Rockets got the ball back at their own 41 after a fourth-and-four pass from Braydon Thomas to Trent Roles didn’t connect. It only took four plays and an encroachment call for the Rockets to score again on a Calfee 31 yard run, and another Lucas kick put the Rockets up 36-8.
The Wildcats then put together a long drive, highlighted by a Sims 31 yard run, his longest of the night. The ‘cats got to the Rockets’ eight before turning the ball over on downs at the 12. However, a second down Craig fumble gave the Wildcats possession at the Craig 22 and after two straight negative plays Thomas hit Trent Roles on a 26 yard pass to the Rocket two. The Wildcats punched it in two plays later but missed the two point conversion pass attempt for the 36-14 score, and that would be the final points of the night.
“I am extremely proud of our defense,” said Fisher. “They held the leading rusher in West Virginia to 111 yards and no touchdowns on 25 attempts. I never like giving any kid 100 yards against us, but I was ecstatic this time. Sims had been averaging over 240 yards a game and we held him to less than half of that. Super proud!
“Also very happy that we found some offense again,” Jimmy continued. “We had been struggling to chain plays and drives together and punch the ball into the end zone. A lot of it was that we were playing better defenses than we had earlier in the season, but a lot of it was also our execution and mistakes.”
It’s been a great year for the Rockets. In addition to their first winning season in 14 years the Rockets won their Homecoming game and Senior Night game. They had a “Team of the Week” award, had a Crunch “Player of the Week” honoree with Josh Craft and a Friday Football Extra “Player of the Week” in Carter Calfee.
“We won the first Backwoods Brawl against Bland and had our first 1,000 yard rusher in a long time(Carter Calfee),” said Fisher. “It’s been a lot of fun. These Seniors have been with me for the past four years, it’s nice to see their effort pay off with a winning season.”
This was just the fifth winning season in 54 years of football in the county, along with 1973, 1984, 2005 and 2010. Three other teams went 5-5 (1983, 2002, 2004).
“Next season has the potential to be even better,” said Fisher. “The proverbial cupboard is loaded. In 54 years, there have never been two winning seasons in a row but I believe for the next three seasons, at least, that may change.”
