ROANOKE, Va. – Tuesday night in the Salem Civic Center was quite a big one for Cave Spring. By beating Central Woodstock, their ticket to the Class 3 state championship game on Friday.
“We just ran over to the student section and jumped up, got happy and all with our fans and stuff because they’re a huge part of our team,” senior Parker Huffman said.
But Wednesday afternoon, it was back to business as usual.
“It’s awesome to be able to practice right now. We’re one of two teams left in the state, so we feel very fortunate and very blessed to be playing right now,” head coach Jacob Gruse said. “Anytime you can play in March it’s a good time. If you can play in the middle of March, like we are right now, it’s really good.”
This is the first time in Gruse’s tenure at Cave Spring the team has been in the championship. The closest they’ve been was the state semifinal in 2019.
“Our guys have been in a couple state games last year, a couple this year, I don’t think they’re going to get awed by the big lights,” Gruse said. “We want to enjoy the game, we want to enjoy the work, we want to enjoy getting the win. We don’t just want to go up and be happy and content to be there.”
The Knights will face the Region A champions Lakeland High School out of Suffolk, Va.
“Our four goals this season were to win out the regular season, win the district, win the region and then win the state championship,” senior Jalen Buster said. “That’s been our mindset since day one, so nothing has changed.”
Tip off is set for 8 p.m. on Friday at VCU’s Siegel Center.