Devils’ playground

The Blue Devils didn’t quite party like it was 1999 — the year Culpeper County High School won a state championship in football — but the dancing at midfield, the chants and chest thumping signaled that these are feel-good times at CCHS.

Culpeper is winning. The Blue Devils have triumphed in three of their last four games. They may have a 3-4 overall record, but they are 3-1 and only a game behind the leaders in the Battlefield District. It’s modest success, to be sure, but it’s the kind of success Culpeper and its fans haven’t enjoyed in five years and those around the CCHS program are basking in it.

“These kids had never won at home,” first-year Culpeper coach Mike Williams said after the Blue Devils beat Spotsylvania 34-2 at Broman Field on Friday. “It had been that long since we had won a home game. It’s a great feeling. These kids have worked hard and they deserve it.”

Culpeper hadn’t won three games in a season since 2004 and went 6-36 in the past four seasons, including a disheartening 0-10 finish a year ago. Morale, and often attendance at home games, hit an all-time low in 2008 as the new school in the county, Eastern View, debuted with a 7-3 record and generated excitement just a few miles away.

Nearly everything went wrong for Culpeper that year. Several top returning players wound up at Eastern View and the Blue Devils were forced to play a AAA schedule for one final year, despite having an enrollment much better suited for Group AA. Once the season started, there were weeks it seemed like more players were out with injuries than actually suited up for games.

Williams came to Culpeper in the offseason and replaced Greg Martz as head coach, installing an option offense and then making adjustments such as switching senior Cortez Rollins from quarterback to running back along the way that have paid off in victories against Caroline, King George and Spotsy.

Rollins rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns in Friday night’s win and as a three-year varsity player that endured some of the worst defeats of the past few years, he’s loving every minute of these victories.

“All my years on varsity, people were scheduling us for homecoming to get easy wins,” Rollins said. “Last year, we were embarrassed in our own homecoming. It feels so great to be able to come out here on our homecoming and get a win.”

Excitement is building at CCHS, though it’s still not quite like the days 10 years ago when fans lined the streets to welcome the Blue Devils’ bus back from a road game. There were plenty of empty seats in the bleachers during Friday’s rain-soaked game, but the fans that did show up enjoyed Culpeper’s resurgence.
Of course it gets tougher from here. CCHS’s remaining games are against district powers Courtland and Chancellor and a rematch against an Eastern View team that’s already beaten Culpeper this season.

“Courtland, Chancellor and Eastern View are all good teams,” Williams said. “But people looked down on us for a long time and we are not a bad football team. We’re a pretty good football team right now. If we get a break here and there we stand a chance of being competitive in all three games.”

Victories might be harder to come by the rest of the way, but Williams expects to enjoy coaching this senior-laden squad just as much each week.

“Some of these other teams may have kids that win more accolades than we do and stuff like that. But our kids are going to be going to college. It may not be on a football scholarship, but they are good kids and good students and a whole lot of fun to coach.”

And if — and even Williams acknowledges that’s a big if — the Devils can pull off an upset in one or two of those games they may just find a way to sneak in to the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

“The kids are believing in themselves now and there’s always a Cinderella story,” Williams said. “It’s about time we had one here at Culpeper.”