Fluvanna’s defense gave the Flucos a chance.
Time after time, the defense stood tall when it counted. But a stingy Spotsylvania defense and tough field position for the offense never allowed Fluvanna to find its stride as the Flucos fell 10-7 to the Knights at home.
“Our defense saved us tonight and gave us a chance to win,” said Fluvanna coach Jason Barnett. “Offensively the fact that we’ve only scored seven points this week and last week is not good.”
The defense allowed Spotsylvania to pile up yards — 273 on the ground alone — including a huge night from James Anderson. Anderson went for 153 yards on 19 touches. The Knights’ dual threat quarterback Ashten Dixon also put together a strong performance with 64 yards passing and 88 and a touchdown on the ground. He was also a big reason Anderson piled up yards, running the Knights’ option package to near perfection and that opened up some other possibilities.
“I think everything kind of went our way,” Dixon said. “I wonder some times what teams say about us before games. I guess they’ll say we run the triple option but then we come out in spread.”
It was a critical win for Spotsylvania, who broke a two-year long losing streak against the Flucos last year and won two games in 2011.
“That’s how you win a football game,” said Spotsylvania coach Ben Lawrynas. “They gutted it up, they faced adversity, they answered adversity and they kept playing hard. In the past we would’ve folded like a lawn chair. It was a great win for them.”
But the Knights couldn’t close the deal during the second half and build an insurmountable lead. Devin Goode’s leaping stop on fourth down and goal in the third quarter at the Fluvanna one-yard line highlighted that defensive performance.
Nearly the lone bright spot for the Flucos’ offense came early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Austin Foster, who’d stepped behind center after the break, connected with Jalen Harrison for a 52-yard catch and run for a touchdown.
The score gave the Flucos a chance, and a Jovan Burton interception with 8:03 left in the game made a comeback possible. But a fumble cut the ensuing drive short. After the defense forced another punt, Fluvanna was handed one last shot, but Spotsylvania came up with a stop on fourth and 25 and then ground out the clock.
“We’ve got to figure it out,” Barnett said. “We have to be able to trust all of our players. We can’t put ourselves in third and 13, third and eight, third and 15 and just throw it deep because that’s not going to work.”
Spotsylvania set the tone in the first half with a 16-play, 71-yard drive that ended in a field goal. The Knights complete just one pass on the march, instead grinding it out on the ground.
“We came out there and executed like we should have,” Dixon said. “This is just a start, we’re going to keep going hard.”
The Flucos’ road won’t get much easier next week as they face Buckingham, a squad coming off a 57-0 blowout of Prince Edward, a squad Fluvanna beat in its season opener.
