Afternoon delight

• SLIDESHOW Blue Devils vs. Loudoun Valley

PURCELLVILLE - When the game was on the line against Loudoun Valley Saturday, CCHS quarterback Kyle Majors knew exactly what needed to happen. He needed to get the ball to his go-to guy.

Majors connected with Joey Powell on a short slant from ten yards out to give Culpeper a 28-21 overtime win over the Vikings.

"I can always depend on Joey to catch the ball," Majors said. "It was a sigh of relief. I'm glad he caught it and I'm glad we got the touchdown.

After back-to-back heartbreaking losses to C.D. Hylton and Osbourn Park, Culpeper came to Loudoun Valley ready to grab some momentum.

Finally, the breaks went the Blue Devils direction.

"It feels good," junior Steven Strother said. "We've been waiting for this. We certainly have a lot of talent out here."

The Vikings kept Culpeper off balance with their spread offense attack and jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead.

But then Culpeper's offense came to life. CCHS controlled the middle part of the game, much in part to Majors' poise under center. His athleticism kept the fast Loudoun Valley linebackers off balance all day.

He scored twice on runs - a 2-yard keeper in the first, and a 56-yard burst down the sideline in the fourth that gave the Blue Devils a 21-14 lead.

When the Viking linebackers started to focus on stopping the running game, Majors started throwing. He finished 10 of 27 for 154 yards and the game-winning touchdown. In the third quarter, he connected with Powell on a 20-yard pass that set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Steven Strother.

"It's all about attitude," CCHS coach Greg Martz said. "When you believe in yourself and believe in your team … good things are going to happen for us."

After the quick start, the Vikings couldn't figure out the Culpeper defense. Quarterback Cooper Barth scored on a 2-yard keeper with 3:54 remaining in the first quarter. The Vikings didn't have another first down until midway through the fourth quarter.

"We just started playing together," defensive end Roger Davis said. "Everybody came together and played our game."

But Barth and the Vikings offense got going again when it mattered. Loudoun Valley marched 80 yards in 17 plays to tie the game with 35 seconds remaining on a 9-yard run by Jack Devine.

After Carter Mills missed a 52-yard field goal with three seconds left, the game went to overtime. In Virginia, each team starts with the ball on their opponent's 10-yard line and has four downs to score.

Culpeper got the ball first and looked to pass. After Majors overthrew Stephanos Wenner on first down and Heath Brown dropped a jump-ball pass on second, Majors found Powell for the game-winner.

Loudoun Valley took over and, after running on the first two downs, threw two incomplete passes from the 5-yard line to end the game.

Powell finished with four catches for 75 yards. Strother overcame a slow first half to run for 72 yards on 20 carries. He also intercepted a pass on defense.

The Blue Devils host former CCHS running back Mark Simpson and the Liberty Eagles Friday.

"We want Liberty bad," Strother said. "We want blood, baby. We're coming to play."

Jason Simcoe can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 166 or

Culpeper 28, Loudoun Valley 21

Culpeper 0 7 7 7   7-28
Loudoun Valley 14 0 0 7  0-21

First Quarter
LV — Jack Devine 9  run (Garrett Krumpe kick) 7:28
LV — Cooper Barth 1 run (Krumpe kick) 3:54

Second Quarter
C — Kyle Majores 2 run (Carter Mills kick) 6:34

Third Quarter
C — Steven Strother 4 run (Mills kick) 7:59

Fourth Quarter
C — Majors 56 run (Mills kick), 2:36
LV — Devine 2 run (Krumpe kick) 0:35

Overtime
C — Joey Powell 10 pass from Majors (Mills kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING- Loudoun Valley, Wes Van Duser 1-10, Onzy Elam 8-34, Devine 18-81, Barth 12-20, JT Hornyak 1-3; Culpeper Strother 20-72, Majors 10-65, Rollins 3-15, K.K. Pollard 3-11
PASSING- Loudoun Valley, Barth 8-22-2-67; Culpeper, Majors 10-27-0-154, Pollard 0-1-0-0
RECEIVING- Loudoun Valley, Van Duser 2-16, Adam Odegaard 2-3. Hornyak 1-9, Eric Rothschild 2-6, Garrett Swankowski 1-33; Culpeper, Strother 2-22, Stephanos Wenner 2-30, Steven Reynolds 2-27, Powell 4-75