The adage that ‘defense wins championships’ has for the last few NFL seasons been questionable; New England took three Lombardi trophies to New England with the help of Adam Vinatieri’s foot; The Indianapolis Colts took one to The Circle City thanks to Peyton Manning’s Arm right before his younger brother took one to New York thanks to David Tyree’s Helmet and this past season Pittsburgh took the record books home to Ketchup Field thanks to Santonio Holmes golden gloves.
Then though, there are moments where history stands true and defenses win championships; The Indianapolis Colt defense which gave up more rushing yards than any team in the league in 2006 made it to the wildcard, and with the help of a resurrected Bob Sanders-who spent the entire season on the bench-kept a high powered, rush heavy Kansas City down to one first down until the third quarter. Or what about an early season game in September of 2007 when a Division I FCS football team from Boone, North Carolina toppled the mighty Michigan Wolverines on a defensive field goal block for the most improbable underdog victory in collegiate football?
More recently, what about the Dorman High School Cavaliers unseating the reigning kings of Division I 4A football Byrnes Rebels in a state championship game for the ages?
The Cavaliers (14-1) and Rebels (13-2) both entered this weekend’s championship arena quite familiar with each other; the Cavaliers defeated Byrnes in 2008 during the regular season only to lose against the Rebels during the playoffs. The Cavaliers would again lose during the regular season in 2009 before saying ‘enough is enough’ and bringing Dorman their first championship title since 2000. By all accounts, this was a defensive game for the boys in blue.
Dorman’s high powered offense could only muster one touchdown through the air to Cheron Peake who suffered an ankle injury early in the season, but that didn’t even matter. The Cavaliers-a team always respected for their unforgiving pass defense-intercepted a pass deep in their own territory and ran the ball back 56 yards for a score. After dropping an INT earlier in the game, Cavalier CB John Buckley made this one count, and count it did. Dorman forced four turnovers, and benefited from a multitude of penalties by the Rebels, and if time of possession means anything, Byrnes held the ball for nearly seven minutes more than the Cavaliers and ran twenty-eight more plays but Dorman’s power D kept strong. On the ground, The Cavaliers defense was just as destructive. Linebacker Kendrick Smith recorded 18 tackles, four behind the scrimmage, and earned one of two sacks on the Rebels.
Between the two, it was a relatively low scoring game; Byrnes is not unfamiliar with the championship environment, nor walking onto the field prepared to score upwards of 40, 50, and in some cases 63 points. In their 2008 meeting, the Cavaliers and Rebels respectively tallied four touchdowns offensively. All the credit can’t go to the Cavalier defense here; Byrnes suffered 10 penalties for 82 yards total-the Cavaliers responded to the constant run threat by Rebel running back Marcus Lattimore with two rushing touchdowns of their own, both from the goal line by RB A.J. Booker.
Final score, Dorman 28 Byrnes 17
David Smith
Dave is a guy who blogs, writes fiction, and battles tanks. He also obsesses about football.
I hated high-school maybe as much as I’ve hated anything in my life.
For whatever reason though, I still love to see my Dorman Cavaliers shut those Byrnes fans up, especially in the State Championship game. Go Cavaliers!
My kids are at DHS – well, one is, and the other is in the Gateway program at SCC, because like Chris, she hates the regime of the DHS machine to the point of nearly self-destruction! In a school that big a kid be BMOC through sports or go along and get along or they can try to buck the system. I’ve got one system-bucker and one go with the flow kid.
Not being a native here, I have no long term loyalties, but I must say I don’t mind seeing Byrnes being fed a little crow-burger from time to time! This is my third year as a DHS parent and I haven’t been to a game yet.
I grew up in AL and went to the high school that was state champions my entire career there and beyond. (They were featured on the MTV show “Two A Day” a while back – Hoover High.) It overwhelms the school and really rolls over anything else on campus that is not football-centric. Of course, that’s true of most HS sports in the South I expect. It does bring money to the school and a level “braggin’ rights” but it’s so lop-sided. As a student I don’t think I missed many home football games, but never once went to a basketball or baseball game, never went to a track meet or gold tournament. I went to a few wrestling matches, but only because I had buddies on that team. We had a band that was highly ranked – but even that seemed just a function of the football machine.
I can’t believe that my little guilty pleasure has somehow found me on the Spark- I loooved the MTV show Two A Days. I found it oddly fascinated.
Having grown up in Gaffney, I am always happy to see Byrnes lose a game. I don’t recall them ever being that big of a deal when I was in school (which wasn’t that long ago) but now so many people in this area seem to think they are invincible and no other local team can measure up. It warms my cold little heart when the supposed “underdog” wins.
I’m showing my age but Hoover High was Berry High when I graduated and in an older building. My kids watched the show but I never saw an episode. Heck, I’d probably recognize some of the parents, which would make me feel even older!
Being a Byrnes graduate, I was sad to hear they lost. But, I really could care less about football in general. Back when I went there, they were lucky to win a game.