Scott Abell was awesome, he turned the Amherst program around and kept it that way and won two state titles.
Dominion favorite according to vhsl prognostication program
- Thread starter southbottomU
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Yea, those two Amherst State teams probably stopped Salem from having two more State Championships. They beat two very good Salem teams in great games.
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Yes ma'am he was! Man those teams were awesome to watch! I can remember the years leading up to the state championships. Amherst has been a good program for as long as I can remember.
I recall our Ken Brown led Courtland teams having several tough playoff games against Salem back in the mid/late 80's. If I recall, Salem got us in around 86, and we returned the favor a year later. Those were some tough, physical games, and i recall Salem being able to do something not many teams were able to with the Cougars back then, and that was match us physically. That was high school football at it's finest, where two teams just punched each other in the mouth, and kept coming back for more. I recall a year or so later there was 'supposed' to be another match-up between these two teams coming in the playoffs...the so called battle of the titans...as we were the two top teams in AA...but it never happened. If my memory serves me, Salem was upset one week, and we figured our road to the title just got a tad easier...but we were taken down the very next week. My memory may be wrong, but i believe that was the year Blacksburg took both of us out. Maybe some of the older Salem fans may remember the specifics of those days, although it was almost 30 years ago.
You're correct on the years of the two battles between the Spartans and Cougars - 1986 and 1987. I came up to both of them. '86 was Salem's first-ever playoff berth. The Spartans had beaten Pulaski County in week nine in a game that still rankles most PC Cougar fans to this day. I won't go into specifics, but that win down in Dublin, where in those days visiting teams never won, put Salem football on the map, IMHO. A rematch in the regional final was highly anticipated (mostly by the afore-mentioned PC fans), but Courtland crashed the party by beating Pulaski Co. 8-7 in the first round, by getting the winning safety when PC had a punt snap go out of the end zone with about thirty seconds to play. IIRC correctly, Salem won 21-7 in the '86 meeting with Courtland, and your Cougars prevailed 21-0 the following year. I recall that game being cold as blue blazes, and we Spartan faithful had absolutely nothing to cheer about all night. Then, we got in our vehicles and drove over three hours back home. Fun times.
The other year you're thinking of is 1989. That was the first time Salem went 10-0 in the regular season. The quarterback was sophomore Stephen Magenbauer, now the Spartans' head coach. He also played safety (or maybe linebacker?) on defense, and was a bonafide Division I prospect at both positions. Magenbauer was injured while playing defense in the first-round win over Dan River, when he lowered his head to put a hit on a Wildcat ball carrier. He was motionless on the field for quite some time, and to this day I have never heard a more deafening silence in Salem Stadium. Magenbauer was actually paralyzed for some length of time (hours, not days, but not sure of details), but eventually regained full feeling and use of all limbs. The injury had revealed a congenital spinal defect that had gone previously undetected. Of course, his days of playing contact sports were over. Without him, Salem managed to get past Brookville in the Region III final, but lost to Blacksburg in the state semis at the Stadium. Pouring salt in the wound was the fact that Salem had beaten Blacksburg in the regular season, though it had been close (9-7, perhaps?). The then-Indians won the rematch 26-14, and beat Courtland the next week for what to date is Blacksburg's last state title in football. Some of us Salem fans remember '89 as the first of "the snakebit years" from '89 to '92, when each season Salem was probably good enough to win state, but for various reasons, didn't.
That is a place where losing Ramsey definitely hurts.
Thanks Spartan for the history lesson. I recall that Courtland/Pulaski game...a game i felt Pulaski should have won. I remember our fans going crazy after the punt debacle at the end of the game. That was a disappointing post season for us as we were undefeated and the top ranked team in the state. We won state in 85 and 87, so we felt that season was the one that got away. Just a reference on that Pulaski/Courtland game...Courtland only had 9 first downs and 170 total yards, while Pulaski only had 5 first downs and 123 total yards. Pulaski's TD came on a blocked punt, and it was under a minute left in the game when they gave us the safety to escape with a, 8-7 win. A defensive struggle if there ever was one. And we just had nothing against Salem after that. That was very disappointing as we felt we were good enough for a possible run of 5 titles in a row(from 85-89). But Salem, Park-View and Blacksburg humbled us. That's one reason I never take for granted that one team is going to get the W during any given game. One team may be a favorite, but they still need to actually get it done on the field...and I've seen too many games where the favorite made some mistakes, and the underdog played their butts off and got it done.
Had no idea that Mags was you QB for Salem back in that 89 season. Our current coach, JC Hall was the starting QB/safety for the Cougars back in 87/88. Just curious, but what years were Salem AAA, as they were AAA when we faced them in 86/87, but were back down to AA after that. We won the state titles in AA in 82, 83 and 85...then jumped up to AAA in 86/87. I recall many thinking we may be done after having to move up, but we won the AAA title in 87(and were the top ranked team in 86), We then steamrolled through the 88 season after coming back down to AA, but Tony Conway and the Park-View Patriots took us behind the wood shed at the Cougars Den in the playoffs(that dude was special)...then we rolled through the 89 season with JC's little brother Brek Hall taking over for JC at QB(he wasn't quite as good as JC), and Blacksburg got us after knocking off your Spartans...also at the Cougars Den. Pretty interesting that both their current coaches were former players back at around the same time.
Thanks for the history lesson Spartan...I never get tired of reliving those glory days.
Had no idea that Mags was you QB for Salem back in that 89 season. Our current coach, JC Hall was the starting QB/safety for the Cougars back in 87/88. Just curious, but what years were Salem AAA, as they were AAA when we faced them in 86/87, but were back down to AA after that. We won the state titles in AA in 82, 83 and 85...then jumped up to AAA in 86/87. I recall many thinking we may be done after having to move up, but we won the AAA title in 87(and were the top ranked team in 86), We then steamrolled through the 88 season after coming back down to AA, but Tony Conway and the Park-View Patriots took us behind the wood shed at the Cougars Den in the playoffs(that dude was special)...then we rolled through the 89 season with JC's little brother Brek Hall taking over for JC at QB(he wasn't quite as good as JC), and Blacksburg got us after knocking off your Spartans...also at the Cougars Den. Pretty interesting that both their current coaches were former players back at around the same time.
Thanks for the history lesson Spartan...I never get tired of reliving those glory days.
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Awesome historical post by you and raw meat. I know the history but I often miss a few details. You guys know it like back of your hand. As to Salems "snake bit years" I remember losing the state finals to Spotsylvania at Salem Stadium and losing to Richland in the infamous cleatgate game. That's why when the Spartans finally won it defeating Sherando in 96 it was like a great weight had been lifted. Then of course the Spartans would go on a run winning it in 98, 99, and 2000. It was like we had finally knocked the door down.
Why do you say that? Have you seen Dominion play this year? I'm just asking because I have not so, I was wondering if you thought they were not a very good team or something.
Thanks to Abell for making them great also. The players loved him.
I was at the Spotsylvania game. best I remember, spotty had a big, bruising fullback, who had over 200 yards rushing.
Salem was AAA from its opening in 1977 through 1987 and dropped to AA in 1988.
Salem definitely had some heart breakers to end their seasons in 1989, 1991, and 1992. (I'm excluding 1990 because I'd say that team overachieved with all of their challenges.) I couldn't attend the 1991 title game and was stunned when I heard that Salem had lost.
It's interesting to ponder what would've happened had Mags not been injured in 1989. I'm not sure that Salem would've beaten Blacksburg, which was on a roll. A senior Mags would seem to have made Salem unbeatable in 1991, though the Spartans still had all-state caliber QB Tra Wilson.
In the final analysis, things worked out for the best in the long run, except for the players in that era and those fans who didn't make it to the later glory years. Mags' injury was almost certain to happen sometime and could've been much worse. In any other scenario, it's not likely he would've replaced Coach White.
It's interesting to ponder what would've happened had Mags not been injured in 1989. I'm not sure that Salem would've beaten Blacksburg, which was on a roll. A senior Mags would seem to have made Salem unbeatable in 1991, though the Spartans still had all-state caliber QB Tra Wilson.
In the final analysis, things worked out for the best in the long run, except for the players in that era and those fans who didn't make it to the later glory years. Mags' injury was almost certain to happen sometime and could've been much worse. In any other scenario, it's not likely he would've replaced Coach White.
Vol, I saw Dominion against Woodgrove last week. IMO, Dominion is a very good team with an outstanding player in McCants. He is good enough to carry them but if he has an off night or Salem finds a way to contain him Dominion's chances are not that good. If Dominion had only an average QB I don't think they get nearly as far as they have. McCants is that dynamic (of course, this is only a single observation, but that is all I have to go on).
I would have to slightly disagree. I say that a players lack of focus can't be blamed on coaching because no one person gets focused the same. However, I do think coaching is somewhat responsible for discipline or the lack thereof.
Cool, thanks for the insight. It sounds like McCants is the real deal. I might have to make the trip to Salem just to watch him play.
Back on the original topic, Dominion will likely be a bigger favorite when VHSL Reference is updated for last week's results since Woodgrove was 7 points higher than the Titans in last week's rankings while Salem and Byrd were nearly equal.
Calpreps, which is updated, has Salem as #317 in the US and #7 in Virginia had Dominion #812 in the US and #22 in Virginia. In 4A, Salem is #2 and Dominion is #6.
Calpreps, which is updated, has Salem as #317 in the US and #7 in Virginia had Dominion #812 in the US and #22 in Virginia. In 4A, Salem is #2 and Dominion is #6.
Just imagine if he and his son Porter would've stayed. Amherst possibly would've won 4-5 state championships straight. I'd put my money on it.
I like Salem at home by 14-17 points. However McCants is a difference maker and his big play, big wide receivers can cause problems on jump balls, not so accurate passes etc. I remember a Heritage Pioneers' team in 2013, that showed up to Salem Stadium and won in a shootout with a similar make up of this Dominion team. I don't see either team scoring less than 24-28 points.
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