By Jack Veltri
Correspondent
Lewis Price had been pestering Catawba Ridge head coach Zac Lendyak about it for a while. If the right moment came, Price knew he could make good things happen.
So, with the Copperheads within a foot of the end zone, Lendyak sent out the offense, along with Price, who normally plays in the middle of the team’s defensive line. Lined up in the backfield at fullback, this was it. This was his play.
It didn’t take much, as Price took a direct handoff and pummeled in for the score. All Lendyak could do was laugh with a smile on his face.
“I think he had a little dance back here — big man shuffle,” Lendyak said. “But Lewis is the heartbeat of the team and anytime you can reward that, it was a great situation for us, and we were glad to get that one for him.”
It was huge night for Price, along with his team, as Catawba Ridge pounded its way to a 38-14 win over Spring Valley on Friday for the Copperheads third consecutive win to improve to 3-1.
For majority of the night, Price was making plays everywhere on the field. He wasn’t just lining up on offense and scoring a touchdown. Early in the game, he powered his way through the Vikings’ offensive line, nearly untouched, and obliterated a defenseless running back in the backfield, forcing a fumble and picking it right up. It was the first of two fumble recoveries by the senior.
“When he goes, he’s almost unblockable at times,” Lendyak said. “I don’t even know on the other one, I think he just ripped the ball out. He’s a force in there and he’s a great kid. To see him make some plays, it’s always fun for him.”
In the early going, it was a struggle for either offense to get rolling. But once the Copperheads struck first, they never looked back.
By halftime, senior quarterback CJ Couch had already thrown for three touchdowns, helping his offense build a 31-0 lead. Overall, it was a great night for him, as he finished 19-for-29 passing, good for a 66 percent completion rate.
“He’s listening to the coaches and really executing the game plan, seeing some stuff,” Lendyak said. “Once he gets into a rhythm, and the receivers get into that rhythm, we tend to find a lot of success. The game is starting to slow down for him and knows where to go with the ball. He’s making good, accurate throws. Typically, at the quarterback position, if you can do that, good things will follow.”
Scoring points hasn’t been much of an issue for the Copperheads in the first few weeks of the season. This is now their third game in which they have scored more than 30 points. This has made Lendyak feel confident in what his offense could do the rest of the way.
“We feel pretty good about it. We like the receivers we have. We did a good job,” he said. “We had a guy go down at practice this week and we took some guys, we’re rotating a bunch of positions in there. But we love our receiving core, and we love what the offensive line can do protecting.”
Since losing by 10 points in the season opener against Chapin, Catawba Ridge has won its last three games. And with Region 3-5A play starting next week, Lendyak likes where his team is at right now.
“That Chapin game was tough,” he said. “I think we had four or five turnovers in the first seven minutes and it kind of skewed that whole game. But after that, we really played well.
“They just have recognition of, when we play Catawba Ridge football and we do things the right way, typically good things happen. So, after the game against Chapin, these guys were excited, motivated, didn’t hang their head. They said, ‘Coach, we’re there. We just gotta keep playing clean for 48 minutes’ and that’s what the difference has been the last three weeks.”
The Copperheads will travel to face Fort Mill next Friday, Sept. 20. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Bob Jones Stadium.
