ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COVINGTON
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Proving that its collective blood was nearly as cold as the weather conditions, Bath County High thrice came from behind to beat Strasburg 30-20 in the Group A, Division 1 football championship Sunday.
The Chargers remained as calm and intent on their purpose as executioners while rallying from deficits of 6-0, 12-8 and 20-16 on Alleghany High's icebox of a field to claim their first football title.
``That's what you have when you have 17 seniors,'' Bath County coach Steve Isaacs said. ``They've been through the wars. They don't intimidate easily. In fact, when they get down, it makes them mad.''
Which was as accurate a description as any of a group that entered its dressing quarters at intermission shortly after seeing Strasburg running back Frankie Shoemaker's 74-yard scoring run with no time left on the clock.
``We played pathetic in the first half, and Jamie Carroll and I were going to come in and tell the team that as bad as we played, we were still up by two points,'' senior single-wing running back Ivan Franklin said. ``Then that happened.''
Actually, Bath County (12-2) wasn't playing that badly in the bitterly cold and windswept conditions. Shoemaker just made it look that way on a couple of first-half plays. The first time the sensational all-purpose threat, who was playing his last high school game, touched the ball, he ran 68 yards for a score. That was the Rams' second play from scrimmage.
Shoemaker added a 13-yard scoring run that, coupled with a conversion pass from quarterback Caleb Hart to tight end Chad Pangle, enabled the Rams to regain the lead and go up 20-16 with 1:07 left in the third quarter. That was the last scoring for Shoemaker, who finished with 239 yards rushing on 17 carries, and for Strasburg (11-3).
The Chargers scored the last 14 points on a pair of touchdowns by sophomore Brandon Woodard. The first, a 15-yarder, gave Bath County the lead for good. A subsequent 50-yarder with 2:07 left added insurance.
After a sack of Hart and a recovery of the fumble that followed at the Rams 26, Bath County ran one play before Franklin turned and kneeled at the 24 to end it.
``They have a class team, and if you have to lose to anybody, you'd want to lose to them,'' Rams coach Glenn Proctor said. ``They did a great job.''
As did Strasburg, which has been to the playoffs for 10 straight years but has yet to win a title. The Rams lost in the championship game to Parry McCluer in 1987, Jonesville in 1988 and Appalachia in 1992.
Shoemaker and Hart played on the 1992 team as freshmen.
``It's tough to swallow getting this far and losing,'' Shoemaker said.
Bath County had never before made it to the championship game. The closest it came previously was a loss to Appalachia in the 1989 semifinals.
The Chargers returned to the playoffs the next year, the first in Isaacs' tenure, but then went 2-8 in 1991.
``That's when they wanted to fire us all,'' said Isaacs, nodding at veteran assistant Harvey Eye and the rest of his staff. ``No, worse than that. They wanted to hang us.''
There was help on the way, however, in a class than included this year's seniors, a group that includes backs Franklin and Carroll, linebacker Matt Williams, and linemen Jamie Gwin and Dennis Loan, among others.
``We've been talking about winning this state championship since we were in the eighth grade,'' Carroll said. ``Right then, we knew we were going to have the team for it.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB