It all started off pretty promisingly. On Fork Union’s first offensive drive, Christian Hackenberg stepped up in the pocket and with a Hermitage defender hanging off of him, connected with Isaiah Wright for a 19-yard gain.
Then on Hermitage’s first offensive play, T.J. Dudley and a couple of teammates smashed through the line and stuffed the Panthers’ bruising superstar back Derrick Green for no gain.
What happened after that was anything but promising. Hermitage dismantled Fork Union with a combination of power, speed and savvy, capitalizing on an early momentum swing to knock off Fork Union 38-0 in a nationally televised game on ESPNU at Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake.
The momentum swing came on a Fork Union fumble on a kick return immediately after a Hermitage field goal in the closing seconds on first quarter. Hermitage scooped it up and returned the ball to the three-yard line. After the teams flipped sides, Green pounded in from three yards out to put Hermitage up 10-0.
“That changed the momentum—we fumbled the kickoff and then boom we’re done,” said Fork Union coach Micky Sullivan. “With a new group that doesn’t know how to fight every play and every series, their head drops and you’re playing a great team with a great tradition and they just went right at us real hard.”
Hermitage’s head coach Patrick Kane agreed that changed the game’s dynamics.
“We pride ourselves on special teams, we preach it a lot and we work on it a lot,” Kane said. “That was a big boost for us to get things rolling.”
From there, the Blue Devils offense sputtered as Hermitage turned up the pressure on Hackenberg, sacking the senior signal-caller six times in the game. The defense struggled for the rest of the first half too as Hermitage built a 31-0 halftime lead with Niko Johnson throwing two touchdowns passes, one to Brian Brown, another to Jayshon Lewis. Green capped the first half explosion with another three-yard scoring plunge.
“They’re good up front, they’ve got quick people off the edge and they’ve got a great scheme,” Sullivan said. “They’ve got a lot of speed and that’s something we’re going to have to get used to. We just weren’t fast enough and I don’t know what else to do but we just weren’t.”
The pressure on Hackenberg was a big part of the Hermitage game plan and disrupted the entire rhythm of the Fork Union offense.
“That was huge and we were really concerned because he does a great job of stepping up and finding his crease,” Kane said. “We knew we could get edge pressure, but we were a little concerned about the middle. We did a good enough job to slow him down.”
The offensive struggles continued after the break — with just four first downs and several punts. The defense though, despite being on the field most of the time, stood tall after the half. Hermitage managed to break through with another Johnson touchdown toss, but the Blue Devils forced a quartet of punts.
“I’m pretty happy with the way we played defensively in the second half,” Dudley said. “We came out there and we weren’t intimidated any more. We stepped it up in the second half and we came to play.”
Green exploded for 135 yards of total offense and his two touchdowns. Hackenberg finished with 140 yards passing while Johnson piled up 151 through the air for the Panthers. His favorite target on the day was Lewis with five catches for 81 yards. Johnson had 74 yards on the ground too. Jeremy Bell led Fork Union with 51 rushing yars.
Fork Union’s murderer’s row of a schedule continues next Friday with a road game against Georgetown Prep.
