Charlottesville’s defense was attacking from all over the field Friday night against Harrisonburg, with a barrage of players disrupting the Blue Streaks’ backfield.
At times it even looked like there might be three or four Folleys in the mix, swarming Harrisonburg ball carriers.
“There’s (only) two of us but I’ve got a lot of family on the team,” said CHS junior Sadarius Folley. “(Rashad) Brock, that’s my cousin. Deandre (Bryant), that’s my cousin…but there’s (just) two Folleys.”
Those two Folleys and a pack of other Charlottesville defenders sacked Harrisonburg quarterback A.C. White eight times on the night and held the Blue Streaks to just six points in a 28-6 win in the Black Knights’ home opener.
Bryant and Kejuan Shivers each had two sacks, with Shivers also forcing a fumble. Sadarius Folley and Sabias Folley each had a sack with Sadarius forcing a fumble on a big hit and a tackle for a loss in the first half. Even Brock and Lorenzo Louderback got in on the act with a sack each.
With a trio of long touchdowns by the offense, that smothering defensive effort was more than enough to push the Black Knights past the Blue Streaks. Still, at the end of the first quarter, CHS appeared to be in some serious trouble. With the score still deadlocked at 0-0, Charlottesville elected to let a Harrisonburg punt roll and it came to rest at the Black Knights’ own one-yardline.
Brock made sure that wasn’t a problem. Brock bounced out to the left on first and 10 and broke loose, flying down the Charlottesville sideline for a 99-yard touchdown run that energized the Charlottesville bench and the home crowd.
“That one play shows you (what an impact he has),” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry. “I mean, 99 yards?”
The other two long touchdown runs came from sophomore quarterback Rahkeem Davis in the second quarter when he ripped off a 59-yard score on a keeper. Tre Durrett rounded out the big plays with an 85-yard jaunt with 11:24 to play that was likely the final nail in the coffin for Harrisonburg. Both Davis and Durrett are sophomores, which gives Sherry every reason to be excited about the program’s future — and the present.
“I’ve got five impact seniors, the rest of them are (mostly) sophomores,” Sherry said. “This is a young team. I think we’ve turned a corner here.”
Durrett and Davis both stepped up nicely with Brock shelved due to a lower leg injury from the second quarter on. But they were also getting a ton of help from a defense that gave up some yards late but was otherwise completely lock down. Of course, the Black Knights’ offense kept scoring in big chunks of yardage, which forced the CHS defense to spend a lot of time on the field.
“I think we got a little tired near the end but we were playing a lot of defense,” Sherry said. “The kids do rally to the ball and get after people. As long as they stay within the scheme, things should happen in front and they can just rally and play.”
The Black Knights piled up 358 yards of total offense with Brock and Durrett both posting 100-yard games while Rahkeem Davis had 79 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Harrisonburg threw for 182 yards on the strength of White’s left arm and the Blue Streaks rushed for another 85 yards.
“I think everybody on the team just likes defense, just likes hitting and getting after people,” CHS’s Sadarius Folley said. “We were just working tonight.”
Charlottesville (1-1) will look to make it two-in-a-row at William Monroe next Friday at 7 p.m.
