FORK UNION — Fork Union saved its best for last.
On Friday against Collegiate, the Blue Devils erupted for 24 unanswered second-half points and withstood a late drive by the Cougars to prevail 24-22 on a beautiful fall day.
After trailing 16-0 at halftime, FUMA finally hit its stride in the third quarter, climbing back into it with a pair of quick scores.
On the Blue Devils’ opening drive of the second half, Donovan Benoit burst up the middle for a 48-yard touchdown. Benoit, a 6-0, 214-pound sophomore, led all ball carriers with 102 yards on 11 carries.
On FUMA’s following possession, quarterback Chris Basso found Logan Justice over the middle for a 77-yard TD strike. Tyler Simon converted the point after attempt to cut the lead to 16-14.
“Our line was really hitting well up front and that’s what it all boils down to — our line did a really good job and lined up in the right place,” said Basso, who converted 10 of 21 passes for 164 yards.
“We came out in the second half and everybody knew where to go and everything came together harmoniously, and it amounted to those drives and those big plays hitting.”
After forcing the visitors to punt early in the fourth quarter, Fork Union got down to business and put together its most impressive drive of the day.
The Blue Devils (4-4) consistently kept the chains moving, aided by solid running by Iosefa Puaauli and Benoit. Puaauli capped the drive with a 2-yard run, giving FUMA a lead it would never relinquish.
“We came out flat. We made a lot of mistakes early on and they capitalized on them,” Fork Union coach Brian Hurlocker said. “We were able to come back in the second half and get our run game going and we had some things go our way. That [fourth quarter] was a heck of a drive. We pretty much ran the ball and did what we wanted to, we kept picking up first downs and drove the field.”
Fork Union clamped down on the defensive end on the Cougars’ following possession. On fourth-and-10, Adisa Gittens-Smith got a hand on a T Brewer pass attempt to thwart the drive.
FUMA got a much-needed boost from Simon, who nailed a 40-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-16 with 2:33 remaining.
However, Collegiate (1-6) marched down field, led by Brewer, who completed passes to Ayinde Budd and Grant Gorsline before hooking up with Will Allocca for his second TD of the day from 11 yards out.
On the two-point conversion attempt, Levord Burns intercepted Allocca’s pass to seal the win on senior day.
Brewer, a sophomore, finished 18 of 43 for 247 yards passing. Teammate Excellence Perry ran for 57 yards before leaving the game in the third quarter with an injury. Basso’s favorite target on the day was Justice, who hauled in five receptions for 135 yards.
“They started to play smash mouth football against us in the second half and we were a little thinner and they started wearing us down. That’s tough to overcome,” Collegiate coach Mark Palyo said. “From our side, we have to execute better. There were opportunities on the field and we missed some of them. You can’t have those defensive breakdowns against a team that has a lot of talent and Fork Union’s got talent.”
Collegiate plays host to Norfolk Academy next week while Fork Union visits Benedictine.
