ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 7, 1996 TAG: 9611070018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
TYPE: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The football season has gotten away from Blacksburg High School in much in the same way a runaway mount escapes the control of its rider.
Nine games into what has become a lost season, few in the program seem to be able to believe it, much less offer an explanation. Six defeats and three victories are not very Blacksburg-like numbers.
The figures that may be the most unnerving of all are: 264. That's the number of points Blacksburg has surrendered in nine games. Veteran Indians coaches such as Vaughn Phipps and Paul Bowyer recalled recently how the 1976 teams gave up 35 points in 12 games.
``This is the most points we've given up in 23 years,'' Phipps, Blacksburg's defensive coach, said with a grimace. ``Makes me feel good.''
One who has a similarly queasy feeling about the situation is Michael Davis, the Indians' stellar 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior linebacker. Those who would assign Davis culpability for Blacksburg's defenselessness don't have much of a case. One hundred forty-eight tackles, the second-highest total in Timesland, indicate Davis has done his part.
Perhaps because he has been so busy, Davis just draws a blank when asked to explain the Indians' defensive miseries.
``All of us who talked about it before the season thought, certainly, that we'd go 7-3 at worst or even 8-2,'' Davis said. ``We had some young players who we really thought could play. But what ended up happening, we never could get everybody to step up at the same time.
``We've had some great individual efforts. We just haven't played together very well.''
Not even Blacksburg's head coach can explain it.
``I don't know,'' David Crist said. ``It is not because of a lack of effort by the players.''
There certainly has been no lack of effort from Davis, who as a first-year starter at tailback has rushed for 751 yards and scored 11 touchdowns, punted for a Timesland-leading 41.5-yard average and served with aplomb at a position around which the defense is designed to revolve.
``The defense is designed for him to make a lot of tackles,'' Phipps said. ``But that isn't to say that he should have that many. They're legitimate, though. We don't give credit to pile-jumpers.''
Even with all the tackles on his resume, Davis still can't reflect on the season with much fondness.
``It's embarrassing,'' he said. ``People are coming up to you and saying, `Hey, you're giving up 30 points per game. What's up?' Everybody has made mistakes, myself included.''
Davis would like to play some college football, but the offers aren't exactly running at flood tide.
``I just want a chance,'' he said. ``If I can play somewhere, I'll be happy.''
Phipps is baffled.
``He's as good a linebacker as we've had here,'' he said. ``I'm talking about Darwin Herdman, who played at Tech, and Kelly Holbert and Wayne Purcell, who played at VMI. If somebody doesn't come in here and recruit this kid, then they're out of their minds.''
It isn't as though nobody's noticed. When Blacksburg lost to Salem, Davis was all over the field, making big runs on offense and stop after stop on defense. That despite playing hurt.
``Jerry Scharnus, Salem's assistant coach, told me that when Michael came off the field the last time, Jerry stood up and applauded,'' Phipps said. ``That's one heck of a compliment.''
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. With 148 tackles, the second-highestby CNBtotal in Timesland, Michael Davis has done his part for the
Blacksburg defense. color.