<span style='font-size: 14pt'>The Post</span>
"Published in Big Stone Gap, Virginia since 1890!"
Wednesday, November 16, 1994
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Vikings Win LPD Crown</span>
PV holds off Appy, 27-26
BY JOHNNY TEGLAS
Keith who?
The question most certainly will be the topic of conversation around town over the next few days. But that's okay. Sophomore defensive tackle Keith Esteppe won't mind.
Grinning ear-to-ear after sacking Appalachia's freshman quarterback Travis Turner and sealing Powell Valley's 27-26 Lonesome Pine District championship victory Friday night, the 6-1, 209-pound 10th grader shyly described his contribution to one of the most prolific matchups between the two high school rivals.
"We just saw pass and rushed in on them," he explained. "I'm only a sophomore and I guess that was my most important play ever."
What an opportune time to introduce yourself to the league. With his teammates swarming around Bulldog receivers, Esteppe powered his way through a thicket of blockers and stormed toward Turner with just a couple of minutes to go. The Appalachia quarterback tried to elude the pressure, pulling up on his first pump and then ducked. Esteppe pressed onward and dragged him down, thwarting the Bulldogs' two-point conversion attempt and preserving the ever-so-slim win.
That play--turned in by a virtual unknown--was a fitting end to a classic clash between conference heavyweights. Billed as a battle between big-name backs and all-state performers, it ultimately came down to role players.
"We have a little more experience but probably not as much talent," Powell Valley coach Phil Robbins explained after his club picked up its first LPD title since 1990 when a star-studded Viking unit marched to the second of back-to-back Division 2 state championships. "But I don't think we've ever had a bunch of kids who played together this well as a team."
"There was too many kids who made big plays, you can't single any of them out," defensive coordinator Barry Jones said after his unit weathered an 89-yard Appalachia scoring drive that led to the crucial try for two. "These kids are great, that's all I can say. They came through when they had to."
And with 2:03 left on the clock, Esteppe did just that.
Thanks to a 15-point third period performance, the Vikings overcame a six-point halftime deficit and edged ahead, 27-20, on tailback Thomas Jones' 1-yard burst and Jason McCoy's PAT. Powell Valley snapped a 20-20 deadlock just before the first half concluded.
Defending three-time district champ Appalachia couldn't move the ball on its ensuing possession but came up with a critical defensive play midway through the fourth when Tony Gollaway darted into the Viking backfield and wrestled Jones to the turf on fourth down at the Bulldog 11.
Gollaway's hit came with 7:25 to play and was just the lift Appalachia needed. Relying on gutsy running by Larry Huff and a couple of key connections between Turner, Todd Jessee and Travis Clark, the Bulldogs marched toward the end zone. A little over five minutes later, Turner rifled a 3-yard touchdown pass to Chris Mabe and closed the gap to a single point.
After both clubs used time outs to size the other up prior to the conversion attempt, Esteppe stepped into the limelight.
"I'd rather have a one-point win up here stopping them on a two-point conversion play as to win in a blowout," an ecstatic Robbins said after clinching the win and finishing the regular season at 8-2, 6-0 in LPD play.
"How many two-point conversions have they made in their lifetime?" he pondered aloud. "Millions!"
Not on this night, though.
Appalachia was 1-for-4 in the conversion department, the only successful two-point try coming just before halftime when Turner hit Jessee after teaming up with Mabe on a 14-yard TD that gave his 8-2 (5-1) club a 20-12 lead.
Robbins suspected the game played in front of more than 5,000 nail-biting spectators could come down to defensive execution. It was especially important since the Vikings had to overcome four first-half turnovers--a fumble, an interception, and two muffed punt receptions.
That wasn't the case early on. Capitalizing on an impressive line surge, Powell Valley quickly turned its opening possession into six points. Jones put the finishing touches on a 77-yard drive, exploding into the end zone off right tackle from two yards out with 5:32 left in the opening frame.
Appalachia wasn't able to take advantage of a 48-yard Sam Sellers return on the ensuing kickoff but benefited from Powell Valley's first turnovers on the punt with Mabe recovering the loose ball at the Viking 25. Six plays later, big Michael Myers--half of Appalachia's twin tandem that plays in the backfield about as much as on the line--burrowed over from the 1. Huff was stopped shy of the goal line on the conversion, leaving the game tied at 6-6.
Sellers snuffed out Powell Valley's initial second-period series by intercepting Ryan Witt in the end zone and then Mabe came up with yet another recovery with 9:10 on the clock when Jessee stripped the ball from Jones near midfield. Still unable to move the ball, Appalachia had to kick away but again made a move when Huff smothered another muffed Viking punt reception.
That final turnover resulted in Appalachia points with Huff following guard Harold Bowman into the end zone with 5:29 to go.
Powell Valley bounced right back thanks to a spectacular open-field run by Jones on a counter trap. The LPD's top rusher, who finished the night with 154 yards on 28 carries, put on a clinic with his 45-yard score that knotted things up, 12-12, with 3:19 left before the break.
Appalachia bounced right back, however, and scored nine plays later when Turner hit Mabe from the Viking 14. The drive covered 65 yards and put the Bulldogs on top by eight, 20-12, when Turner spotted Jessee deep in the end zone on the conversion.
The Vikings capitalized on Appalachia's inability to handle the second half kickoff to even the score. Todd Zirkle's wicked kick bounced in front of and over Appalachia's deep men, leaving the Bulldogs under the shadow of their goal posts at the 3. Taking advantage of a PV bounce on a short punt four plays later, the Vikings set up shop at Appalachia's 20. Facing fourth-and-five at the Bulldog 15, Witt made his major contribution of the night, looking off his primary receiver and spotting Zirkle in the right corner of the end zone.
He then fired to McCoy on a crossing pattern on the conversion to tie the game.
Jones' 1-yard run with under a minute to go in the third and McCoy's kick gave the Vikings the advantage that eventually withstood the test of Appalachia's late-game rally.
"It was just a hell of a game and I loved to play in it," Appalachia's Chris Mabe said.
"I hated losing but I loved playing in it. This game is over and we've got four more to go onto and that's what we're going to do."
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