By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplay.com Contributor
Eighty-five.
That number will haunt some members of the Western Albemarle football program for years to come.
For over nine months, the last memory on their home field that the Warriors’ defense had was when they surrendered 85 points to Stanton River in the highest-scoring playoff game in VHSL history. Fast-forward 280 days and the eight returning defensive starters for the Warriors were singing a different tune.
As Western lined up for the postgame handshake, defensive stalwarts Luke Tenuta, Jarrett Smith, James Buetow and company smiled while observing the goose egg on the visitors’ side of the scoreboard after a 40-0 victory.
Western Albemarle limited Broadway to 166 yards of total offense, and used several new faces on offense to cruise to the season opening win.
The Warriors’ defense dominated the line of scrimmage early, limiting the Gobblers to -31 yards offensively in the first quarter. Western turned back the Gobblers despite missing All-Conference 29 defensive end Noah Crutchfield, who missed Friday’s contest with an injury to his eye suffered in a recent scrimmage.
The stakes were far less high than that of a regional playoff game, but Western head coach Redmond was pleased with the way his defense responded.
“We feel like we have some guys [on defense] that have experience there,” Redmond said following the win. “Schematically, we’re a little different, but we’re sort of an attacking-style defense now. We’re trying to come downhill after people.
The Gobblers gained 83 of their 166 total yards on just two plays, well after the Warriors jumped out to a big lead.
Broadway worked its way to a first down and goal towards the end of the first half, and threatened to cut into Western’s 20-0 advantage heading into intermission. Following a one-yard loss on first and goal, Robert Sims and Aidan Saunders dropped Broadway quarterback Jesse Layne for a sack and a loss of six on second down. A bad snap later, and the Gobblers were facing a fourth down and goal from the 32-yard line.
Tenuta then stuffed Broadway for a short gain on fourth down, and the Gobblers were rarely heard from again on offense.
“The goal-line-stand at the end of the half I thought was a huge lift for us going into halftime,” Redmond said. “First and goal on the six and fourth and goal on the 32… we really dug our feet in, and that’s something that we really take pride in… playing in the red zone.”
While the defense returned numerous contributors from the 2015 Jefferson District Championship squad, the Warriors ushered in wholesale changes on offense for the second time in three seasons. One thing that didn’t change is that Western Albemarle continued to run its unique brand of power running out of the shotgun.
Junior Derek Domecq, who has been a reliable wide receiver for the past two seasons, started his first game under center for the Warriors. He finished the contest with 308 total yards and five touchdowns. The junior scored rushing touchdowns of 27, 28, and 58 yards, while averaging an impressive 17.8 yards per carry. As he has done all throughout his Western career, Domecq also did a little bit of everything for the Warriors including the kicking duties and returning punts.
Junior Darren Klein, who spent the 2015 season as a hybrid linebacker/defensive back, took over at Western’s primary ball carrier after two years of Oliver Herndon as the starter, and picked up right where Herndon left off in the offensive scheme. Klein announced his arrival on a 10-yard run to paydirt on the fourth play of scrimmage, and the rugged junior continued to have his way with the Gobbler defense.
The Warriors found themselves in the shadows of their own goalpost on their third offensive series of the game, but Klein remedied that in a hurry, with a 96-yard screen pass for a touchdown, to double the Western Albemarle lead.
Klein tallied 144 total yards and two touchdowns in what was a homecoming of sorts for him. The former defender spent his freshman season on the JV team as a running back, but made the transition to defense upon being called up to varsity last fall. With Western needing a powerful runner to take the pressure off of Domecq, Klein appears to the natural fit to be the next man up.
“A lot of this offseason has been just trying to remember all of the plays that I learned my freshman year and then just translating that to running the ball,” Klein said. “We wanted to start this game off strong, and I feel like [the initial touchdown], really helped us set the tone for the rest of the night.”
Redmond said the program’s approach is part of the reason that Klein was ready.
“We had no issues with Darren going into this thing,” Redmond said. “We certainly don’t try to replace people; we just try to do our own thing. The guys he’s stepping in after, those guys are gone now, and it’s just his turn. It’s his turn in the program. When you have a program that’s really based on that, guys sort of just move into their role.”
In an odd scheduling twist, the Warriors will take the field in Crozet just three more times this fall, and will play four of their next five games on the road.
Western will begin a difficult month of September in Lynchburg next Friday night against Brookville.
