Goochland’s football program is waiting on a delivery after beating Fork Union 38-17 Friday night at home.
The Bulldogs played their second straight game without helmet decals because it’s a program tradition that they have to earn them, and Goochland struggled in their first two scrimmages. The the regular season started and the Bulldogs have found ways to get the job done, though the United States’ shipping industry couldn’t give them an assist.
“Honestly they earned them last week (in a narrow win over Essex) and I didn’t order them until they earned them because I didn’t want to jinx them,” said Goochland coach Joe Fowler. “They didn’t come in on time. I hope they’re here before next week. As soon as the UPS driver arrives they’ll have stripes and Gs on their helmets.”
It clearly mattered little what the sticker-less Bulldogs were wearing as running back Marcus Burton and an opportunistic defense pushed Goochland past Fork Union. Burton rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries while the Bulldogs’ defense recovered a fumble and picked off two second half passes, the first coming when Calvin Martin snagged an interception early in the third quarter to halt a promising drive by the Blue Devils.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the opening quarter and then leaned on Fork Union hard in the second half with a clock-chewing ground attack. Last week, Essex parked a pair of massive defensive tackles in the middle and refused to let Goochland run inside the tackle box. This week, the Blue Devils’ Iosefa Pua’auli essentially shut down the outside run, flying around on the edge and making several huge stops.
“Pua’auli is amazing he killed us all night long,” Fowler said. “We couldn’t do anything else except run the ball inside and that meant Marcus had to carry the load and he sure did tonight.”
That meant edge threats Martin and Cordell Mattox were neutralized after some early success, but Burton was given more room to operate in the middle.
“I knew I was not effective in the game but (Burton) stepped up and made some plays and we got the W tonight,” Martin said. “That’s all I cared about.”
Mattox, for his part, found other ways to impact the game. He got things started off with a 95-yard return for a touchdown on the opening kick, made a couple of pass breakups and then grabbed two touchdown passes from quarterback Tanner Bradshaw. He caught three passes in all for 80 yards.
Burton got a huge lift from the offensive line, a unit that had to overcome an injury to Tyler May. Jacob Davis, a senior that Fowler calls “Cowboy” moved from guard to May’s spot at tackle and played an incredible game for Goochland.
“The offensive line was blocking great, they just made plays for me and I had to do my part and make plays for them,” Burton said. “They were just hungry like all of us are.”
The Blue Devils faced the unenviable task of preparing for the Wing-T with a short timetable as they face their annual challenge of quickly bringing together a roster of new players.
“We knew what Goochland was going to run, you always know what Goochland is going to run, but we’ve just got to execute a little bit better,” said first year head coach Mike Hooper, who made his debut as FUMA’s head coach.
It was largely mental mistakes and lapses as well as an injury to power back Donavan Benoit that undercut Fork Union’s efforts.
“Turnovers and mental mistakes, we made some mistakes in coverage and it’s hard to recover when they score,” Hooper said. “We lost Benoit and it’s tough to lose a kid like that.”
There were also some serious bright spots that Fork Union can build on if they erase those mistakes. For starters, Pua’auli was a revelation defensively, blowing up the sweep from Goochland that has proven devastating over the years. Luke Wilson threw for 108 yards and two touchdowns in his debut as the starter and he showed a strong connection with Nathan Disbrow who caught a 45 yard touchdown and had three catches for 69 yards. With Benoit in, the Blue Devils moved the ball particularly well as he finished with 55 yards on 12 carries despite the injury cutting short his playing time. FUMA’s line has been bolstered by recent enrollees as well, giving them some depth up front.
“We thought our offensive and defensive line would be thin, we only had eight of them report and it has grown to about 12 or 13 plus we had another one come in Wednesday,” Hooper said.
Perry Snead-Johnson had the Bulldogs’ second interception. Jasper Carter came off the bench after Burton suffered a late minor injury and carried the ball nine times for 40 yards and a touchdown.
Goochland will travel to take on Amelia next week as the Bulldogs open up James River District play while Fork Union will hit the road to take on Georgetown Prep.
