Clay-Battelle’s Sean Hays makes a tackle against Calhoun on Friday. 
Clay-Battelle coach Ryan Wilson reacts against Calhoun on Friday. 
Clay-Battelle’s Cadon Skavinsky makes a tackle on Mason Bailey of Calhoun on Friday. 
Clay-Battelle’s Sean Hays makes a tackle on Mason Nicholas of Calhoun on Friday. 
Clay-Battelle’s Sean Hays rushes for a touchdown against Calhoun on Friday. 
Clay-Battelle coach Ryan Wilson reacts against Calhoun on Friday. 
Clay-Battelle’s Sean Hays rushes for a touchdown against Calhoun on Friday. 
Calhoun’s Adam Parsons makes the pitch just as he is hit by Clay-Battelle’s Daniel Gorbey on Friday.
BLACKSVILLE, W. Va. — With his right arm bandaged up like a mummy, Daniel Gorbey wasn’t even sure he was going to play, let alone make one of the key defensive plays of the game.
“I’m pretty sure we dressed him just to scare the other team,” said Clay-Battelle quarterback Levi Carrico, whose strip and fumble recovery with 1:02 remaining in the game Friday sealed a 21-14 victory over Calhoun County. “I don’t think any of us were expecting him to play.”
Suffering from a separated shoulder from last week’s loss to Tygarts Valley, the 6-foot-2 sophomore linebacker didn’t practice this week and didn’t play in the first half against the Red Devils (1-5).
“They had a heating pad on it in the first half that cooled when it hardened, but that didn’t help me a whole lot,” Gorbey said. “Then they started wrapping me up and they put a knee pad on my shoulder and that pretty much did the trick.”
C-B coach Ryan Wilson said he was sitting in the coaches’ office at halftime, when his assistants said Gorbey wanted to play in the second half.
“I was like, ‘Well, that’s get him in there,’ ” Wilson said.
The difference Gorbey made? Calhoun running back Travis Richards rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. In the second, Richards was held to 43 yards and the Cee-Bees defense pitched a second-half shutout.
“Honestly, after watching how things were going early, I didn’t feel good about our chances,” Gorbey said. “Our team showed a lot of heart and determination by staying in the game and not getting down on each other.”
Gorbey, too, showed a lot of heart — “Oh my, he had a gutsy game,” Wilson said. — and his quarterback sack on a 4th-and-three play on the final play of the third quarter was a game-changer.
“At first, I kind of stayed back. I didn’t want them to think I was blitzing,” Gorbey said. “I got past the running back. I guess he didn’t see me and I was able to sneak in there.”
Trailing, 14-0, and after having one offensive drive stall on a fumble at the Calhoun 4-yard line, the Cee-Bees (3-2) mounted a comeback behind running back Sean Hays, who caught a 5-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half and then his 34-yard scoring run in the third quarter tied the game.
C-B took the lead on Carson Shriver’s 29-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left in the third quarter.
“Our kids just battled,” Wilson said. “We had two chances to score in the first half that came up short, but we gained a lot of momentum when we finally punched it in late in the half. Our guys just kept getting after them. We made some defensive adjustments in the second half and then our guys just kept battling. I’m so proud of their effort tonight.”
One of those adjustments was getting Gorbey into the game.
“Our defense won the game for us tonight,” said Carrico, who threw for 100 yards and also had his fourth-quarter punt downed at the Calhoun 3 in another key moment. “Gorbey makes our team better. I don’t think any of us thought he was going to play. His shoulder is hurting him pretty good, but he showed a lot of heart by going out there and playing as well as he did.”
Hays finished with 134 yards rushing on 21 carries, caught four passes for 52 yards and also recorded an interception.
As for Gorbey, he said the pain was manageable after a win.
“Actually, it feels pretty good right now,” he said. “Adrenaline does wonderful things.”
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