DAMASCUS, Va. – A playoff football team has one goal this time of year – win and advance.
Luckily for error-plagued Holston, it had way too much for Rural Retreat on Friday night.
Surviving a smorgasbord of penalties, the Cavaliers eased to a 27-0 victory over outmanned Rural Retreat, thus advancing to their second straight Region C, Division 1 championship game next Saturday against Bath County.
Bath County defeated Eastern Montgomery 31-30 in overtime last night to earn its trip to Holston. Jason Matlock, third-year coach of the 10-1 Cavaliers, was just glad to move
forward after watching his team get flagged 18 times – 15 officially, as three penalties were declined – for 128 yards.
“We did not play our sharpest game tonight, for sure,” said Matlock, who has won 26 of 35 games at a school which posted 11 straight losing seasons before his arrival. “We’ve got a lot of things to correct to put us in a position to be able to win next week.
“But at the end of the day it’s a playoff win for us, and that’s the bottom line.”
Despite its inability to follow rules, Holston was never threatened by Rural Retreat (4-8), as
the defending Region C champion compiled 388 total offensive yards while limiting the Indians to just 88.
“I think that overall we lost this game, even though we were ahead on the scoreboard,” said Cavalier quarterback John Pratt. “We cannot have penalties like this or it’s going to hurt us later on.”
A speedy 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior, Pratt ran 12 times for 93 yards and a touchdown and hit on 10 of 15 passes for 182 yards and two scores.
His 68-yard option keeper for a touchdown gave Holston a 20-0 lead with 5:43 left in the third quarter.
“He’s a leader,” said powerful 205-pound running back Jeffrey Bramlett, who also shined with 114 rushing yards and an 18-yard scoring reception from Pratt. “You can’t replace him and if you have to it’s hard to fill his shoes – I know, I’ve tried.”
Pratt and Bramlett are the big names at Holston, but Dillon DeArmond had himself a fine game as well, catching four passes for 75 yards and scoring twice.
It was DeArmond who got the Cavs on the board first, scooping up a punt that was blocked by Richie Casey and racing 40 yards to the end zone midway through the first quarter.
DeArmond later capped the scoring by hauling in a 44-yard strike from Pratt with 10:06 left in
the game. It was the kind of pass that Pratt, a third-year starter who has led Holston to three straight playoff appearances under Matlock, makes look easy.
“He’s a student of the game and quite a good athlete,” said Matlock. Matlock knows he’ll need a similar effort out of Pratt and company next week – minus the penalties, of course.
“We did some good things out there tonight,” said Matlock. “But we were never really able to get into a flow offensively because of the penalties.
“We’ll work on that and see what happens next week.”
The youthful Indians of Coach Quinton Hensley completed just one of 14 passes for the evening and were held to minus-11 yards rushing in the second half, the product of four errant snaps out of shotgun formation.
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