The simple fact that there are now games Fluvanna County football expects to win like the Flucos’ 24-6 victory over Nelson County Friday night, is an indication that the Flucos are no longer just an upstart program.
It’s perhaps an even better indication for the state of the program that when they don’t play up to their standard and execute the way they expect that they’re happy to get the win, but they aren’t completely satisfied.
“We definitely weren’t as together in the first half so we talked at halftime,” said Fluvanna lineman Trevor Wade. “We tried to suck it up and come together more in the second half and that’s what happened.”
The Flucos (2-1), who were coming off of last week’s loss to Spotsylvania, managed to hold off Nelson in part because they got a pair of second half interceptions from defensive back A.J. Wyche and two touchdowns on the ground from Kobe Edmonds to prevent Nelson from pulling off the shocker in Palmyra. Edmonds dealt what essentially became the death blow with a 36-yard sprint on a quarterback draw on the first play of the fourth quarter. The sophomore picked his way through the front seven and then sprinted past several Nelson defensive backs to push the lead to 17-6.
“It’s good when he breaks something like that,” said Fluvanna coach Michael Morris. “When you’ve got to defend Kobe, you’ve got to keep someone else in the box to help with that.”
After Edmonds’ touchdown, the Fluvanna defense largely handled the rest. Edmonds’ jaunt came on the heels of the first of Wyche’s two interceptions. Wyche is one of a host of first-year starters and he rose to the occasion in the clash with the Governors. The first pick in the third quarter snuffed out a Nelson drive that would’ve put the Governors ahead if they’d capped it with a touchdown.
“He’s got a lot of heart, he’s a great player and if he was 20 pounds heavier he could play outside linebacker for us,” Morris said. “He’s tough for his size, he’ll stick his nose in there and he’s coachable.”
Meanwhile, Wade and Walt Stribling were creating some serious havoc in Nelson’s backfield from the defensive front, helping pressure Nelson quarterback George Brown into completing just 12 of his 23 throws including the two picks.
“We’re just coming off the ball quick,” Wade said. “Once the ball was snapped we got off the ball.”
The Fluvanna offense got things going in the first quarter with a textbook Wing-T drive, milking 6:31 off the clock while driving 52 yards in 13 plays on the game’s opening drive. Edmonds scored his first touchdown to finish off that drive, powering in from three yards out. Malachi Hill’s 95 yards on 12 carries helped jumpstart that early offense as the Flucos pounded away at Nelson and wore them down with Hill on the bucksweep.
“It was something that was open and we stuck with it,” Hill said. “I know I was getting yards but I should’ve gotten through some things.”
Nelson, meanwhile, scrapped and clawed and hung in with the Flucos, moving the ball before turnovers and mistakes cost them scoring chances much of the game. Brown threw for 157 yards and Felix Rodriguez managed 48 yards on the ground. Brice Wilson had 68 yards receiving on seven catches. Brown scored the lone touchdown in the first half on a run.
“It’s a big step forward for this program — you hate to talk about the idea of moral victories but that’s a daggone good football team we played tonight,” said Nelson coach Matt Hicks. “We were able to do some things we were really happy with, we’ve got to work on consistency and sustaining.”
Fluvanna enters its bye week now before taking on Waynesboro in two weeks. The Governors (1-2) will host Rapphannock in an effort to get back to .500.
Fluvanna’s A.J. Wyche talks about the Flucos’ win and his two interceptions in First Off the Field presented by @PT_acac pic.twitter.com/xyA9mlgCly
— scrimmageplay (@scrimmageplay) September 14, 2019
