The Craig County football team is off to a great start with two lop-sided shutout wins to open the season. After beating Montcalm 48-0 on opening night the Rockets took their single-wing offense to Rocky Gap last Friday and laid a 56-0 hurtin’ on host Bland County.
With the win the Rockets retained the belt that goes to the winner of the “Backwoods Brawl.” That was initiated by the two schools last season and Craig has won both years.
“I think Bland has improved over last year, their offense was a little more deceptive and they were faster than the past couple of seasons,” said Craig County coach Jimmy Fisher. “We are better than we were last season, too. The kids worked extremely hard and we are seeing the fruits of that hard work on both sides of the ball.”
The Rockets were serious about defending the belt in the second annual Backwoods Brawl as they rolled to a 47-0 halftime lead over the host Bears.
“Our line has been doing a great job up front,” said Fisher. “We still block the wrong guy sometimes and we want to clean that up, but the effort up front has been great. Our talented backfield has feasted off of our line play.”
Senior Carter Calfee led the way with 150 yards on just eight carries, scoring touchdowns from 21 and 62 yards out. He also had his second and third punt returns for touchdowns from 58 and 63 yards away.
“He is a lethal weapon for us,” said Fisher. “He’s the one punch and senior Jerry Smith has been the two punch.”
Smith rushed just four times for 78 yards and two touchdowns, a 27 yard run and a 20 yard run. The combo of Calfee and Smith has been tough on opponents so far this season. Calfee is averaging 17 yards per carry and Jerry is right behind at 16.5 yards per carry.
Noah Paxton had a good day as well with 81 yards on six carries with a 20 yard TD run of his own. He also completed one of two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown. Junior tight end Caleb Cregger caught the lone pass, his third touchdown reception of the season.
The defense came ready to play too, holding Bland to just 25 yards of total offense and posting their second shutout in as many weeks.
“Jayke (Coach Dowdy) is doing a fantastic job with the defense,” said Fisher. “They play with a lot of attitude and energy. The kids want to make sure they are giving him a max effort.”
The defense was led by Paxton with eight tackles, including three tackles for loss. Calfee had seven tackles and two tackles for losses and junior defensive tackle Carter Price had a monster game with six tackles with four for losses and a sack.
Senior defensive lineman Doug Hutchison had a stellar game after moving from nose tackle to weakside end. Doug had 5.5 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss.
“Doug plays with a lot of energy and he’s one of our strongest kids,” said Fisher.
Junior Peyton Fields played well with 5.5 tackles and two tackles for loss. Senior Tristan Dooley had 5.5 tackles, a tackle for loss and a forced a fumble. Junior linebacker Marcus Donithan had five tackles and a tackle for loss and junior Caleb Cregger had five tackles.
“Our return game looked good but we really need to get better on kickoff coverage and punt coverage,” said Fisher. “We haven’t needed our punt coverage yet because we haven’t punted this season, but we have gotten gashed a few times on our kickoff team. If we want to be really good, we need to make our special teams…special. We have some work to do.”
The Craig defense is still unscored up and that will continue this week, as the Rockets have a bye. They’ll return to the gridiron on September 19 to host Mount View of West Virginia, the first of four straight home games. Fisher is looking for big crowds at Mitchell Field as the Rockets look to keep their win streak alive.
“I am blessed to have five coaches, including myself, in the building,” he said. “There aren’t many schools of any size that can say that. I am also blessed to have Jayke Dowdy as my assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. I have given him free rein and he has grown into a fantastic coach. He has a great rapport with me and the team. He’s just doing an unbelievable job with whatever he touches.
“Also, we want to thank everyone for praying for junior center Brad Arthurs. Brad had to have spleen surgery from a lacerated spleen from the Montcalm game and he’s probably out for the year. Sophomore Blake Kendall jumped in and did a solid job at center filling in for Brad, and we look for him to keep improving as the season progresses.”
