Wise rolls up the yards

The Highland Cavaliers enjoy another strong season and now hope to make the NAIA playoffs.

By Cody Dalton
Special to The Roanoke Times

WISE, Va. -- Take a trip down I-81 to Abingdon, then drive west for another hour and you will find a high-scoring football team at the University of Virginia-Wise.
The 14th-ranked Highland Cavaliers are not well known, but that is changing for the NAIA program founded in 1991.

Led by quarterback Randy Hippeard and tailback Ra'Shad Morgan, the Cavs are averaging 49.5 points per game and over 500 yards of total offense. At 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the Mid-South Conference after Saturday's 55-14 victory at West Virginia Tech, the Cavs are hoping they earned their third NAIA playoff appearance.
Playoff bid or not, UVa-Wise has emerged from four straight losing seasons to post consecutive winning seasons. Recognition for the program's turnaround can be attributed to many factors.

Credit for the crowd-pleasing high-scoring games -- several of which have been close -- begins with Hippeard and Morgan.

Hippeard has thrown for 3,455 yards and 37 touchdowns -- three of those TDs coming on Saturday's game -- and is already the school's all-time passing leader as a junior.

Morgan, last year's Dudley Award winner for small college players, leads the nation with 1,490 yards and 27 touchdowns -- he went for 181 and three TDs on Saturday. He is going for his second straight NAIA rushing title.

"I remember telling those guys four years ago after spring practice in the training room that they would have a major impact in shaping this program for the next three years," Cavs coach Bruce Wasem said. "It has certainly turned out to be that way. Their qualities and leadership sold what I believed in with people, family, and success not just on the field, but off the field as well."

The sometimes porous defense surrenders gives up 35.1 points per game, but the unit has strong leaders linbacker Ben Robertson at and end Reggie Dorsainvil -- the team's top two tacklers.

"When a big game happens, a lot of the younger guys look up to us," Robertson said.
"We are just trying to take them 'under our wing' and tell them not to worry about it. We know if we can play our game, then we can win."

The coaching staff has improved in six years under the Wasem's leadership. He started at Wise as an assistant coach when the program was begun.

Offensive coordinator Dewey Lusk was hired three years ago and took over the play-calling duties after 14 seasons as an assistant at Emory and Henry.
Wasem landed defensive coordinator Denny Compston four years ago. Compston is a veteran of six other small-college coaching staffs.

"We brought in two proven professionals," Wasem said. "They knew how to coach and how to recruit. They brought a tremendous amount to our program. It has made a big difference in recruiting and coaching."

Morgan loves the job the coordinators have done with their different approaches.

"Having both of them on the staff was something that we needed," Morgan said. "Coach Compston is a guy who takes his job serious and that reflects on the guys. Coach Lusk is a guy who is really laid back and a player's guy. Guys just really like to play for them."

Robertson said the third major building block to Wise's foundation are the facilities and the campus.

"That was the first thing I noticed when I came here," Robertson said. "I saw the weight room and the field we had, which stuck with me from the beginning. With us getting the equipment and being able to use it all, it has helped improve our game. It has been a great improvement and asset to the program."

Wasem has seen the program grow into one that draws recruits who now represent seven states, and he hopes that the lure of a winning team is only part of what brings them to Southwest Virginia.

"Kids want to go somewhere they know they can win," Wasem said. "That starts to make them look this way. I hope there are some other things that when they get here help to make them sold on our college. There are things that this campus offers, like a UVa education."

The Cavs will find out this afternoon if they will be part of the 16-team playoff that begins next Saturday

"It's important for these guys because [making the playoffs] was their goal coming into the season," Wasem said. "They have turned things around and got us close last season. It is important to make a stand."