Bristol Herald Courier

CHILHOWIE, Va.

— It was the start of Apple Festival weekend.

Former Chilhowie High School football star Stephen Fields and ex-Marion hoopster Clarence Hanley were inducted into the Smyth County Sports Hall of Fame.

Chilhowie ran its record to 4-1 behind a methodical defense and the playmaking abilities of junior running back Brett Johnson.

Chilhowie's Brett Johnson turns up field against Northwood
Bristol Herald Courier

Those were not even close to being the most memorable occurrences on Friday night in Smyth County.

A power outage halted play for nearly an hour in the second quarter of Chilhowie’s 35-0 Hogoheegee District victory over Northwood.

"We’ve never had one of those," said Johnson, who scored four touchdowns. "We talked to Stephen Fields; he played here 20 years ago, and he said there’s never been a blackout that he remembers."

After Northwood’s Dustin Clear carried the ball for a 6-yard gain, the lights shut down and left the stadium dark with 7:16 left in the second quarter. Players milled around the field and at one point after a meeting between school officials and coaches at midfield it appeared the game would be suspended and resumed during both teams’ open week in October.

However, electricians eventually solved the problem, sort of. Lights were restored to just one side of the field, while floodlights from the Smyth County Fire Department were used to provide lighting on the visitors’ side of the field.

Northwood head coach Billy Wyatt remembered a similar scene in the mid-1970s in a matchup between Saltville (which eventually consolidated to former Northwood in the mid-1980s) and Chilhowie. Just one set of lights were used in that game.

Chilhowie coach Larry Russell said his players took the delay in stride.

"We talked to them off and on," Russell said. "Not a whole lot, because there was so much going on. Right before we started ours leaders did a good job. We’ve got a good senior class and they did a good job of [keeping everybody under control]."

Johnson scored two touchdowns before the delay and tacked on two more after some of the lights came back on. He scored on runs of 22, 9 and 73 yards and also hauled in a 26-yard TD pass from Rhett Sturgill.

Johnson finished with 159 rushes on eight carries. He now has 647 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns to his credit.

"It’s not really about that," Johnson said. "I just came down here and all I want to do is win, really. Every time we win, it’s great."

The Chilhowie defense limited Northwood (0-5) to just 74 yards of total offense, with Levi Gillespie (nine tackles) and Daniel Ashby (eight tackles) leading the way. Reid Sturgill and Tim Cline picked off passes for the Warriors.

The hard-charging Clear again played well for Northwood, but the Panthers continued to sputter on offense and committed five turnovers.

Meanwhile, Chilhowie has played well since a Week 2 loss to Grayson County.

"I think that ballgame helped us a little bit," Russell said. "We were trying to find out what kind of character we had. We came back the next week and then came back with a big win against Fort Chiswell last week. We found out we had a lot of character. We’re getting there."