It has been a long drought for Fork Union’s football team in its annual and, in the past, sometimes twice-annual, clashes with Liberty Christian Academy.
The drought is over.
Nearly six years to the day since the last time FUMA beat the Bulldogs during the Blue Devils’ 2010 state title run, Fork Union picked up a hard-fought 31-24 victory over LCA, the Blue Devils’ second victory of the season. Fork Union last beat LCA on October 15, 2010.
“Our guys are getting better each week,” said Fork Union coach Mike Hooper. “It has been a tough road but they’ve put in the work.”
The Blue Devils managed to build a 24-14 lead late in the third quarter on the strength of a DeAndre Clifton safety and a Iosefa Pua’auli’s 10-yard touchdown and two-point conversion. But LCA predictably refused to go away, scoring 10 unanswered points with Dominico Moncion tying the game up with just under four minutes to play.
The Blue Devils bounced back though, and Hayden Miles tossed his third touchdown pass of the day, this time finding Logan Justice for the go-ahead score from eight yards out. Miles started for the first time for the Blue Devils, taking over for Luke Wilson after Miles had a promising second half performance against St. Christopher’s last week where he went 6-for-11 and threw two touchdowns to rally Fork Union. He put them in striking distance after they trailed 47-14.
“We were just trying to give him some experience and suddenly we’re in it with three shots at the endzone to try and win it,” Hooper said. “So we thought, let’s ride the horse and see what happens. He’s a big kid and he stands in the pocket well where Luke is more mobile.”
Miles threw three interceptions against LCA, but he also threw for 186 yards on 16-for-26 passing including the trio of touchdowns.
Miles found Justice twice for touchdowns and six times in total for 92 yards. Justice was the squad’s top returning receiver, but an early injury slowed his entry into the offense. The last two weeks though, he’s started to emerge.
“In the Monroe scrimmage he tweaked his ankle, and now he’s getting his stride,” Hooper said. “We’re going to target him a little bit.”
Isaiah Barksdale also had a breakout game as the 6-foot sophomore wideout snagged eight passes for 56 yards and a touchdown, a 19-yarder that opened the third quarter run that put Fork Union out ahead of LCA.
After Miles’ toss to Justice in the closing minutes, the Fork Union defense stepped in and made the game-winner stand up, forcing a turnover on downs by the Bulldogs. That unit held Liberty Christian to just 111 yards on the ground on the day with Will Stupalsky’s five solo stops including two tackles for a loss leading the way. Pua’auli was in on 15 different tackles with three solo tackles while Donovan Benoit had Fork Union’s lone sack.
Wilson stepped up on defense for the Blue Devils too, a team with no shortage of roles to go around, playing a key role at corner in the secondary.
“If we don’t have his coverage we’re in trouble,” Hooper said.
The Blue Devils (2-5) now re-enter the thick of Prep League play next week as they travel to Collegiate Friday.
