THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010610
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAMDEN LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
When Nansemond River and Spotsylvania line up Saturday in a state Group AA, Division 4 semifinal, one fact is going to be hard for the Warriors to ignore.
The Knights are big, very big.
Spotsylvania's line averages 250 pounds, and that was before Thanksgiving.
The line includes All-Battlefield District tackle and top Division I prospect Evan Hunt, who tops out at 6-7, 300 pounds and reportedly has Penn State and Florida knocking on his door.
The secondary isn't too shabby either, with co-defensive player of the year Anthony Bowie at safety.
But Knights head coach Tim Coleman would only call his defense ``decent.''
Decent enough to score a pair of shutouts during the regular season and hold then-undefeated Orange to 14 points in a 14-10 loss that actually turned the Knights around.
``In the last play of the game we got stopped on the 1,'' Coleman said. ``But we had gotten that far and I think that is when they realized that if they play four quarters of football, things will happen.''
Since then the Knights ousted Fauquier in overtime and pounded Charlottesville, 39-25.
Shutting down a big-play offense, such as Charlottesville and this week's challenge, Nansemond River, is always the Knights' goal, but Spotsylvania used some big plays of its own last week.
The Knights (9-3) caught Charlottesville by surprise by stepping out of their usual wing-T offense for a few plays. The Knights ran a couple of play-action passes and quarterback Conway Reid, who only threw three passes all day, completed two for touchdowns.
If Coleman had his way his defense would never take the field and fullback Rocky Woolfolk, who has rushed for 1,296 yards and 20 touchdowns, would run all over the place and wear down the opposition.
Coleman, in his sixth year at Spotsylvania, has four state titles to his credit as coach at Courtland and he took Spotsylvania to a title four years ago with the same game plan.
``They are going to try to power the ball at us,'' Warriors coach Jerry Varacallo said. ``They are going to run it until we stop them.
``We are going to do the same thing to them.'' by CNB