Beaten by Bulldogs

Eastern View came into Friday night’s game against Martinsburg battered and bruised. By the time the Bulldogs finished laying a 56-14 beating on the Cyclones, they weren’t feeling any better.

EVHS quarterback Cody Whitlock played with a torn meniscus and a torn ligament in his ankle, but still completed 9 of 16 passes for 95 yards in his final high school game. Yet it was Martinsburg’s signal caller who stole the show.

Sophomore quarterback Kameron Puller, racked up 286 yards of total offense, threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead Martinsburg (8-2) to the win. Puller, already a 1,000-yard rusher coming into the game, picked up 150 more yards on the ground and said his team was ready to move on to the postseason.

“Cody gutted it out tonight,” EVHS coach Greg Hatfield said. “He played on one leg tonight and played well. That’s what makes me so proud is that these guys tough enough and care enough to go in and play hurt the way that they did.”

With starting center Cody Lacy out with an injury the Cyclones had to move left tackle Heath Brown, who was battling a knee injury of his own, to center and also played without kicker Kyle Schubert.

Despite it all, Eastern View (7-3) looked like it might compete with Martinsburg early on, answering the Bulldogs’ first two scores with Stevie Strother touchdown runs of four and 78 yards. But Puller led Martinsburg to a 28-point second quarter, in which the Bulldogs took full advantage of mistakes and the Cyclones couldn’t.

Strother finished the game with 151 yards rushing, coming up 32 yards shy of 2,000 for the season. He also finished the year with 26 touchdowns.
EVHS looked poised to seize the momentum with just less than nine minutes remaining in the first half. With the score tied at 14, the Cyclones recovered a fumbled kickoff return at their own 47-yard line and Whitlock completed an eight-yard pass to Connor Settle on first down.

But the Cyclones couldn’t pick up two more yards to move the chains and gave the ball back to Martinsburg, which responded with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Puller to David Hammond, who finished with three touchdown catches.

The Bulldogs then recovered a short kickoff of their own and the rout was on. Martinsburg added two more scores before half to go into the locker room with a 35-14 lead. In all, the Bulldogs scored 42 unanswered points to hand Eastern View its first blowout loss and end any hope the Cyclones had of a playoff berth.
“That was a big momentum shift there,” Eastern View coach Greg Hatfield said. “If we could have gotten one there we would have been alright. We were thinking about going up 21-14. That was our chance.”

Ryan Rowland, the Bulldogs other 1,000-yard rusher, finished the game with 88 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns. Hammond finished with five catches for 88 yards and Puller completed 10 of 12 passes for 136 yards, but the Martinsburg quarterback was quick to pass the praise on to his teammates.
“I just try to set the tone for my offense,” Puller said. “My line gets my hyped to do my best and they were busting their butts for me. If I work hard good things will happen for me.”

Mo Safren led the Eastern View receiving corps with five catches for 59 yards and Settle added a pair of catches for 17 yards. Afterward an emotional Strother reflected on the Cyclones debut season.

“I’m just so proud of what we did this year,” Strother said. “Nobody expected us to come out here and be a 7-3 team. We came out here and played hard every game. It wasn’t just for us or the coaches, it was for the whole town of Culpeper.”

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or

Martinsburg 56, Eastern View 14
MHS   7   28   14   7 — 56
EVHS   7   7     0   0 —  14

Scoring Summary
First quarter
M – Ryan Rowland 2 run, Drew Dopson kick, 6:40.
EV – Stevie Strother 4 run, Will Estes kick, 1:25
Second quarter
M – Rowland 1 run, Dopson kick, 9:56
EV – Strother 78 run, Estes kick, 9:02
M – David Hammond 20 pass from Kameron Puller, Dopson kick, 5:00
M – Rowland 1 run, Dopson kick, 4:34
M – Derick Walker 9 pass from Puller, Dopson kick, 0:04
Third quarter
M – Puller 6 run, Dopson kick, 8:51
M – Hammond 9 pass from Puller, Dopson kick, 2:39
Fourth quarter
M – Hammond 35 pass from Puller, Seth Campbell kick, 3:58

Individual Statistics
Rushing: Martinsburg – Puller 15-150, Rowland 18-88, Jordan 6-39, Fields 1-20, Rogers 1-(-14), Bishop 1-2. Eastern View – Strother 27-151, Minor 2-3, Whitlock 1-(-8).
Passing: Martinsburg – Puller 10-12-136-0 4 TD; Rogers 1-1-18-0 0 TD, Jordan 0-1-0-0 0 TD. Eastern View – Whitlock 9-16-95-1 0 TD.
Receiving: Martinsburg – Hammond 5-88, Gladden 1-8, Rowland 2-28, Walker 1-9, Redman 1-3, Jordan 1-18. Eastern View – Safren 5-59, Settle 2-17, Case 1-6, Smith 1-3.