The goal tonight was to collect information about the four sporting events that our Cavaliers were involved in on Wednesday night.
Logic said that if I drove down to Chilhowie and watched the JV Girls play I could then sit down there and watch the CCHS – Radford feed on my phone 📱.
I have to take a minute and flash back to last Fall when I made the circuit with the CCHS football team and reported the games for Max Preps. That was the start of this journey that has me typing now.
It was my first year living here and I wanted to find a way to give back to our new community so I hit the road with very little knowledge of anything.
It was a team that finished up with a 2-8 record but in six of the eight defeats the Cavaliers were in a position to tie or win the game on the final play.
I wrote a story calling them the best 2-8 team I’ve ever watched play. Zero knowledge of the Coaches or the Players on that team but Wow, did they play with a great deal of heart ❤.
Back to the game in Radford tonight, Coach Barnes and his squad were just 48 hours removed from having pushed the District leading Bobcats before falling 54-45. I enjoyed writing ✍ the story about how hard this team plays every night and while they have dropped a few games lately they have taken opponents best punch 👊 and remained standing.
Both Coaches had a day in between to make adjustments and this time it was the Cavaliers making the extended Bus ride prior to the game.
This was primed to be the night that the Cavs would finally be knocked out by an opponent.
CCHS once again opened up strong and scored the games first 7 points and carried an 11-5 lead into the break between the first and second quarters.
How long could our Home Town Five hang around? Radford didn’t draw even until 19-19 and the Cavs answered with three points right before the horn to lead 22-19. Halfway home and never trailing was a great thing.
Radford opened the second half quickly with four points and finally led, 23-22 but not for long as Elijah Cox poured in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Cavaliers what would prove to be their final lead at 25-23.
Radford quickly scored the next seven points and old Uncle Momentum was clearly on the Bobcats side. Down five and on the cusp of fading away the Cavs bounced back again with three out of four free throws to end the third quarter down just a bucket at 30-28.
4 minutes remained and the Cavs trailed 39-33 and the following possession sums up the Never Say Die of this team. The team came up empty on two attempts but a second offensive board led to Cox completing what the young folks call an And One.
Down 43-39, Bryce Smoot came up with a steal and his two free throws made it an one possession game with 1:46 on the clock ⏰. Like most close games this one would come down to fouls and free throws and the Bobcats are pretty solid from the line.
The final score would end up reading 50-44 and I could have just posted the score and moved on to the next story but that simply wouldn’t do justice to the effort these young men put out every time they lace up their sneakers and take the court as our Cavaliers.
The team returns to action 🎬 Friday night when they host James River on the Hill.
Thank You to Paul for twice checking in from the Radford Gym to make sure I was aware of the happenings – help is always appreciated!
CCHS. 11 11 6 16 -44
Radford. 5 14 11 20 – 50
A.S.P.N on The Hill 