CCHS QB makes yards with his legs

Kyle Majors finally found some room to run.

The Blue Devils quarterback finished with 81 yards rushing Friday night in the 15-12 loss to Hylton. In the season's first four games, he gained a total of two yards on the ground.

The CCHS quarterback has the ability to be a dual threat for the Blue Devils. His speed and agility make him a dangerous scrambler. But until Friday night, Majors hadn't picked up a lot of rushing yardage.

"I had the ability to run other games, I just opted to pass," Majors said. "I guess my legs got me a little bit farther this game."

Majors' athleticism opens up the Blue Devils' offense. When he's able to scramble for yardage, or he has time to throw, opposing defenses can't focus on running back Steven Strother.

Majors' playmaking ability makes the offense more balanced, which, in turn, creates more big play opportunities, such as Strother's 73-yard touchdown run Friday night.

Offensive production
Finally, the Blue Devils offense got rolling.

CCHS has struggled to consistently move the ball this season. They've failed to score more than 13 points in any of their games.

But Friday night against Hylton, the Blue Devils moved the ball up and down the field on several occasions. According to Strother, it was the big men up front that made the difference.

"The line worked really hard in practice," Strother said. "They're tired of people saying Culpeper is losing because of the line.

The line really came out ready to work (Friday) and they showed it on the field."

The linemen won the battle in the trenches all night, clearing the way for Strother to rush for 119 yards. He and Majors combined for 200 yards on the ground, a sharp improvement from the week before against Fauquier, when the team managed just 83 yards of total offense.

For the first time since the Colonial Forge game, the Blue Devils also managed to string together a sustained drive. In the first half, they moved the ball from their own 32 all the way to the Hylton 1-yard line. CCHS settled for a field goal, but it showed the offense is improving. According to Majors, the reason for the success is simple - the Blue Devils haven't been trying to do too much. They're letting the game come to them.

"We're trying to work on (getting) one first down at a time," he said.

Missed opportunities
CCHS coach Greg Martz wasn't all smiles after the Hylton game. After all, a loss is still a loss.

But Martz knows his team is getting closer.

"This is the tough part - it feels like every week we get closer and closer to doing great things," he said. "…Victories have to be in the wins column. But sometimes in all truth, you do win on the scoreboard, and sometimes you don't, but you have some victories you can celebrate. This young group is coming together."

The Blue Devils led the game into the fourth quarter before finally falling. But the defense held a tough Hylton offense for most of the game.

Roger Davis, Matt Bennett, and Kris Stewardson spent much of the game in the Hylton backfield, harassing Bulldogs quarterback Joel Himan.

When he did have time to throw, the CCHS secondary was smothering. Himan completed 8 of 20 passes for 77 yards. Strother and Cortez Rollins each picked off a pass for the Blue Devils.

"We played tough," Martz said. "I was proud of our defense, especially. Hylton's got a good offense."

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