Be it a player, coach or fan, there is always that loss that you never forget. That loss that you close your eyes and remember more than any other. In most cases that loss comes in the playoffs but lets take the playoffs out of the equation... what regular season loss do you find it painful to remember?
Maybe it is a game that ended a perfect regular season or knocked you completely out of the playoffs. Maybe it is a loss where your coach was leaving and went out with the L instead of the W. Maybe it was a rivalry loss. Maybe it was a loss due to losing a star on the team.
Whatever the reason we as fans, coaches and players all have that loss that we never forget, what is yours and why?
My compliments, sir, on your continued posting of interesting topics and good questions.
In the annals of Salem’s regular season losses, the one that lingers most in my memory came at Blacksburg in 2003. Fourseasonsfootball.com says the game was played on Halloween. Both teams entered the game with 7-1 records. The winner would be champion of the River Ridge District (in its inaugural season), and claim a berth in the Division 4, Region III playoffs; the loser would get to play one last regular season game the following week, then most likely pack up the gear til next year. It was a good, closely contested game, with Salem holding a slim lead most of the way. The Spartans missed an extra point somewhere along the way, if I recall correctly. Blacksburg got the ball with a few minutes left, and wisely took advantage of the fact that Salem was having great difficulty covering their excellent tight end, Sam Wheeler. The Bruins (they might have actually still been Indians in ‘03) used short passes to travel most of the length of the field, and converted a field goal of about thirty yards with about fifteen seconds left to claim the win, 17-16. Glory for Blacksburg, heartbreak for Salem.
What made the loss so devastating for me was that I felt Salem had an excellent chance to make a run at a state title that season. The Spartans had crushed William Fleming, which ended up narrowly losing to Powhatan in the Division 4 championship game. But the Blacksburg loss, combined with an upset loss by four points to William Byrd, kept the Spartans out of the postseason in head coach Willis White’s last campaign. Of the several unexpected losses to Byrd in the ‘90s and ‘00s, that was the only one that really came home to roost. So, it also would have been nice to see Coach White go out on a much better note, especially since Salem had also missed the playoffs in 2002.
As a side story to that Blacksburg-Salem game, 2003 was the first year that I was dating the lovely woman who would become my wife. Her interest in sports was less than zero, but like a trouper she went to all the games with me, anyway. That ship has now sailed long ago, but that’s beside the point. Back then, Blacksburg played their home games at the old middle school off Main Street. When we walked in, I kind of got mixed up, even though I’d attended games there before. We followed a small group of people through a narrow alley between a couple of sections of the building, and, lo and behold, emerged on the track around the football field. We had somehow bypassed the little ticket booth, and gotten in for free. Completely unintentionally. Well, we went over to the Salem stands and sat down, but I didn’t feel right about it. I got up, went back to the ticket booth, and paid for both of our tickets. For two reasons: it was the right thing to do; and, I didn’t want karma punishing the Spartans because we had “snuck in” to the game. So, I went out of my way to make things right, and then Salem suffered a crushing defeat, anyway. Thanks, karma.
Moral of the story: if you ever somehow unintentionally get into a sporting event for free, enjoy it. You’ll eventually get what’s coming to you, one way or another.
As I said above, that was the first year I was dating my future wife, so that was the very first time she ever saw me experience a really disappointing loss by one of the sports teams I follow. I actually recovered fairly quickly, considering what was at stake; I was pretty much over it by noon the next day. But I was rather glum until then, barely saying a word. She was absolutely mystified that a grown-ass man would be that upset over a high school football game. Especially when I didn’t have a kid playing for the team. Since then, she’s come to appreciate the enormous role sports play in all our lives. Actually, she’s just learned to ignore me until I’m over it.
Runners-up for disappointing, painful regular season Spartan losses:
~1977: Northside, at Municipal Field in Salem. This was the year Salem High opened, and the first edition of the Spartans found themselves concluding the regular season by playing the hated Vikings for the championship of the old Roanoke Valley District. Salem’s record entering the game was 6-2-1, while Northside stood 7-2. Salem had to win to win the district, while Northside could afford a tie (no overtime back in those days, remember). Salem scored a TD with a few minutes left to pull within 14-13, but a bad snap on the two-point attempt doomed the boys in maroon. Northside hung in to win by that score of 14-13. Salem probably wouldn’t have gone too far in the playoffs (Northside lost in the first round), but knocking off one of our most bitter rivals
and winning the district in our first year would have been quite sweet. The Spartans wouldn’t come close to winning another district title in football until.....
~1984: Which leads us to the next game on my list. In week 9, Salem was 8-0, and had to travel to Dublin to face Pulaski County, with a record of 6-2, but undefeated in the RVD. From the early ‘80s through most of the ‘90s, victories by teams visiting Kenneth Dobson Stadium were rare as hens’ teeth. This contest would sadly prove to be no exception, as the Cougars won 27-14 in a game that didn’t have a ton of drama. The Spartans beat Northside the following week, but the one loss was enough to keep Salem out of the playoffs. So, that was pretty disappointing. In those days, it was not all that uncommon for a team with a 9–1 or 8–2 record to end up sitting at home. Pulaski County went on to beat Potomac and Halifax County to reach the old class AAA semifinals.
~2004: Salem at Christiansburg. Salem led 35-14 at the half, but the Blue Demons prevailed in the end, 36-35. This was actually Steve Magenbauer’s first River Ridge District game as a head coach. I don’t know if he’d agree or not, but it seemed to me as if the young head coach got a lesson in “playing not to lose” that night. After halftime, Salem packed up the offense, and just ran Andre Hairston between the tackles literally every play in an effort to shorten the game. Obviously, it didn’t work, as the Blue Demons did a good job of chipping away at Salem’s lead, and of stuffing Hairston at the line. By the time Salem fell behind and tried to open things up again, it was too late. The loss ended up not hurting the Spartans at all, and indeed was the only blemish on the record of a team that would finish 13–1, and claim a state championship. I include it because it was such a bizarre loss, and such an atypical result in two regards: Salem letting such a big lead slip away; and, Christiansburg winning for the first time ever in the series.
