Hayes Fountain, in an instant, changed the energy for Western Albemarle.
The junior captain and stalwart at left back shifted up in the Warriors’ formation after a first half goal by Fluvanna County and he broke through just two minutes into the second half, with a physical, aggressive equalizer.
“That first goal was critical,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “They couldn’t play with as many defenders. But it was also a physical goal and that kind of helped hit the reset button and set the tone that hey, we’re going to play a little bit differently in this second half.”
From there the Warriors took over, reeling off five unanswered goals for a 5-1 victory over Fluvanna Thursday night.
Western dominated the second half, taking the lead just six minutes after Fountain’s goal with a Brandt Berry tally with 32 minutes left in the contest. After holding Fluvanna in check for another 20 minutes, Western started putting the game away with a brilliant goal by Kevin Salazar. A Salazar header from point blank range capped a long cross by Fountain that Berry reached close to the goal line near the left post and chipped back across to the sophomore Salazar who buried it in the net.
“Hayes just put it in a good spot and I was just sprinting on and it just went right to Kevin’s head,” Berry said. “We were all pretty mad at halftime and we wanted to come out hard.”
Fountain’s move up to the left wing almost immediately after Fluvanna’s Quinn Johnson hit the first half goal that gave the Flucos a 1-0 lead was critical to the energy shift for the Warriors as they started to get things figured out late in the first half. But Fountain wasn’t the only one that helped spark the Warriors.
“Seth Dusci came in and I think he provided a good lift for us,” Berry said. “He was a good catalyst for the team.”
Berry himself finished with two goals and an assist on the night. The second goal came on a hustle play where the junior sprinted down the middle of the field and knocked home a rebound after Forrest White unleashed a laser toward goal that ricocheted off the Fluvanna goalie’s hands right to Berry’s feet. He quickly slotted the ball for a 4-1 lead.
White scored just 32 seconds after Berry’s finish to put Western up 5-1 with 6:20 left to play.
“We didn’t have many chances the entire game and one of the few we had we actually put it in the net,” said Fluvanna coach Earl Gibson. “Those guys are as good as advertised. They’re a well-coached, well-organized, polished group of players and they showed it in the second half.”
Jordan Thacker, a junior, connected with Johnson on Fluvanna’s goal with a long crossing pass from the left side to Johnson deep in the box. It was a terrific goal that came off a nice set of passes on the left flank and a well-timed run by Johnson.
But the Flucos couldn’t recover from Western’s more aggressive approach after the break and played much of the second half on their heels. Dale Ludwig did manage to create a slew of turnovers in the midfield, but Fluvanna didn’t find a way to answer Western’s offensive explosion.
