Salem, VA - Sometimes things don’t start well, but finish really well. Such was the story of the Radford Bobcats vs. the Riverheads Gladiators, winners of the past seven state titles at the Class 1 level.

Playing in a light rain, Radford received the opening kickoff to the VHSL Class 2 State Championship and fumbled at their 28-yard line. Three plays later, Riverheads got a four-yard run to go up 7-0. Radford would answer that score and went on to capture a state title by defeating Riverheads 39-21.

“It started badly for us, but we are built to be mentally tough,” said Radford Head Football Coach Michael Crist.

Radford tied the game at 7-apiece as Max Kanipe caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Landen Clark, the Elon commit who has delivered so many highlight-reel plays during the 15-0 unblemished season for the Bobcats. From there, the Bobcats would go ahead on the first play of the second quarter with Clark hitting junior Luke Woodard on a 10-yard pass, but the point after was wide left to leave the score 13-7.

Riverheads moved back in front, 14-13, with 4:58 left in the second quarter. Just like their first score, Cayden Cook-Cash - who came in with 103 career touchdowns and earned Class 1 State Offensive Player of the Year each of the past two seasons - ran in a touchdown from four yards out, and Zac Brooks' kick was good.

On their next possession, the Bobcats answered behind their own Player of the Year candidate in Clark, who went off guard on a quarterback draw. With the two-point conversion pass failing, it kept the Bobcats only up five at 19-14. However, one of the biggest plays of the first half was about to occur.

Facing fourth-and-1, Riverheads handed off to the bulldozing Cook-Cash, but the Radford defense proved ready for the task and stopped him cold at the 49-yard line of the Bobcats.

That momentum bled over to the offense because Clarke connected with Kanipe down the sideline, and with him scoring over a Riverheads defender, their lead suddenly reached double-figures at 25-14. Riverheads batted down the two-point conversion pass to keep the deficit at 11. Yet, the huge fourth down stop and quick-strike through the air gave Radford a bit of a cushion at the break.

Riverheads received the second half kickoff, and not wanting to see their 33-game playoff winning streak halted, drove 64 yards to paydirt. The drive concluded with the dependable Cook-Cash bullying his way into the end zone from two yards out. With a successful PAT, Riverheads trimmed the Radford lead to 25-21 with 5:23 to go in the third quarter.

The Gladiators had controlled the ball for 13 plays over 6:37 to put themselves right back in the contest.

It took Radford just 4:12 to answer the opening score of the third quarter as freshman JD Grubb showed coming of age in the moment, catching a seven-yard pass from Clark for a score that gave the Bobcats a 32-21 advantage. Radford‘s defense held up against the Riverheads ground attack again on fourth-and-1.

With just 1:21 remaining, Riverheads took over inside their own 10 after recovering a fumble. Following back-to-back plays that resulted in no yards, the Gladiators attempted just their third pass of the game on a third-and-10 play. As junior QB Levi Dunlap dropped back to throw, a Radford defensive lineman - senior Dawson Martin - intercepted the ball in the end zone to put the game away.

“I’m so proud of these guys and the city of Radford has been great. This was a heck of a game.” commented Crist.

“The two defensive stops and that score just before half-time was big for us. They scored on our mistake, but we didn’t flinch. Proud of the city of Radford. Their support has been unbelievable. Coach [Norman] Lineburg built a tradition here and I’m just trying to manage it. We have mature leaders on this team and they are always on time and at the practices.”

This marked Radford’s first State Championship on the gridiron in 51 years. The Bobcats won back-to-back state titles under Lineburg in 1971 and 1972. Crist also now can say he’s a state title winning Head Coach like his father, Dave, who led Blacksburg to State Championships in 1977 and 1989.

“I’m a Coach because of my dad,” the younger Crist noted. “The players from 71-72 wanted us to win this and so did the Radford community.”

In his final game, Landen Clark threw four touchdown passes and ran for another. He rushed for 101 yards and threw for 255 yards. That brings his season totals to 3364 yards passing with 40 TD’s through the air while also rushing for 1184 yards and 26 TD’s.

Max Kanipe caught nine passes for 221 yards and two scores. Radford finished with 389 total yards comapared to 269 total yards for Riverheads.

Cayden Cook-Cash finished with 34 carries for 195 yards and had all three of the Gladiators touchdowns to bring his career total to 106.

Courtesy of Robert Anderson

Radford - 7 - 18 - 7 - 7 = 39

Riverheads - 7 - 7- 7 - 0 = 21

Rushing - Radford - 29 rushes - 134 yds., Riverheads - 54 rushes - 269 yds.

Rushing- Radford- Clark - 15-101, Grubb 13-27, Taylor 1-6, Riverheads - Cook-Cash 34-195, Talbot 11-48, Dunlap 4-13, Fortune 3-6, Mulcahy 1-0, Boehm 1-7

Passing - Radford - Clark - 14-21- 0 Ints.- 4 Tds. - 255 yds., Riverheads - Dunlap - 0 -3- 1 Int. -0 Tds. - 0 yds.

Receptions - Radford - Kanipe 9- 221. - 2 TD's , Woodard- 3-12- 1 TD. - Grubb - 1-7 Td., Taylor - 2-15. Riverheads - None

First Downs - Radford - 19, Riverheads 14

Fumbles/ lost - Radford 3/ 2. Riverheads 2 /1

Penalties - Radford - 2-10, Riverheads - 7-46

Total Yds. - Radford - 389, riverheads - 269

Turnovers - Radford 2 , Riverheads 2

Punts / avg. - Radford 0 / 0 , Riverheads 0 / 0