Goochland didn’t know exactly what to expect Friday night for a variety of reasons. A new-look Fork Union squad with a ton of unknowns, was just one cause for concern.
For the second straight week, the Bulldogs were without Jordan Jefferson due to an injury and several other key players were stuck on the sidelines. Even the power to the scoreboard wasn’t going the way the Bulldogs wanted it to.
“Of all the nights for the scoreboard not work, this was a crazy one,” said Goochland coach Joe Fowler.
Out of seemingly nowhere, a group of contributors that included eight sophomore starters stepped up and managed to hold off FUMA in a 52-35 shootout.
The Bulldogs’ performance allowed them to jump out to a 24-7 halftime lead and hold on keep pace as the Blue Devils roared out of the locker room and scored 28 second half points.
“We really could have folded,” Fowler said. “For our kids to bounce back the way they did and to get that lead back and go back and forth with a great program like Fork Union is just really heartwarming to us. We have so many young kids and we’re just broad of the way they stuck together.”
The Blue Devils’ Rashon Torrence gave the Bulldogs the most problems with 140 yards on the ground, but Sam Allen proved to be a dangerous threat as the FUMA quarterback, rushing for 87 yards including a 50-yard sprint to the endzone that pulled the Blue Devils within a field goal at 24-21 in the third quarter. Penalties, however, continued to plague Fork Union.
“i don’t know how many teams we got into the redzone and then got backed up to our 40, you can’t do that and win,” said FUMA coach Brian Hurlocker. “We’ve got to be a better football team. We fought and I’m proud of them for that. But it’s just like week one (against Georgetown Prep), we’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The Bulldogs’ cast of sudden stars helped complicate FUMA’s self-imposed problems too, with Jaylen Allen exploding as the latest backfield contributor for the Bulldogs. Allen’s straight-line speed made the narrowest holes opened by the Bulldogs’ offensive line enough as he rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
“He’s just greasy, greasy fast,” Fowler said. “That’s the kind of thing in practice…you can’t simulate that in practice.”
He wasn’t the only one by any stretch. Tavion Fox exploded too, providing a pair of daggers on seam routes down the middle of the field. That’s where Goochland quarterback Reid Chenault found the burner for two touchdowns of 63 and 58 yards. Those two tosses accounted for nearly all Chenault’s production as he bounced back from a four-interception struggle against Essex to guide the Bulldogs to a win with a 3 for 7, 143-yard night.
“For him to bounce back like that and be so efficient and smart with the football was great,” Fowler said. “Reid makes those mistakes one time, he watches the film and he doesn’t make them again.”
After Allen’s sprint pulled the Blue Devils within three, Goochland wasted little time in re-extending the lead, with Chenault hitting Fox for the second long touchdown. Allen struck next and gave the Bulldogs some breathing room with a 17-point advantage.
But FUMA refused to go away, with Adisa Gitten-Smith’s kick trurn for a touchdown and a touchdown pass from Allen to Charles Clardy in a wild fourth quarter. David Dyer’s punishing, physical running that included a touchdown and another long strike by Fox, this time on the ground from 50 yards out, kept Goochland safely in front of FUMA.
The Bulldogs’ young players rarely wavered against the Blue Devils and just kept coming at FUMA, preventing Goochland from going into an 0-2 hole in the process.
“At the end of the first half when we were walking up to the locker room, we talked about reaching back and finding that extra reserve wherever it is at in your body,” Fowler said. “Fortunately our kids stuck together and things went our way.”
