As drizzle and breeze at kickoff became soaking rain with howling gusts by halftime, it was clear that ball security and breakout plays in the ground game would be the keys for either Fluvanna County or Goochland to tally win number one before the calendar flipped to October.
With 207 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries, Bulldog senior Jamason Pryor provided plenty of offense. Meanwhile the defense, highlighted by a four-play goal line stand ending with a scoop-and-60-yard-return by Derek Pierce, improved upon last week’s stingy showing in Crozet by pitching a shutout as Goochland claimed a 21-0 victory.
“You’ve just got to hammer it, and 2 (Pryor)’s our guy,” said Goochland coach Alex Fruth. “We really felt like our left side of the offensive line was going to give us a good push. Running behind those guys all night, we thought we’d be successful.”
Pryor had the home crowd buzzing before they hunkered down beneath umbrellas with a 51-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage. It was one of his eight runs for double-digit yardage on the night. No other player for either offense had one.
“It felt great but I couldn’t do anything without the linemen and h-backs and receivers blocking, so it was a team effort for the win,” Pryor said.
Still, it remained 7-0 for a while as Goochland’s next two possessions came up empty. On the first, a holding penalty set the offense behind the chains and a 53-yard field goal attempt came up short and wide right. Then, after the defense stonewalled Fluvanna on fourth-and-1 to halt a 12-play drive, five Pryor runs had the Bulldogs back inside the Fluco 30. But a couple of deep passes to the endzone fell incomplete and the series ended on downs.
Fluvanna reached the Goochland 35 on its third and final series of the first half before a holding penalty likewise proved insurmountable. After a fourth-down incompletion, Goochland drained the final two minutes off the clock and headed into the break with a 7-0 lead.
“We knew Mother Nature was going to give us a night where your options were going to be extremely limited, and you didn’t have to be cute tonight to win a game,” said Fruth. “In the first half, we may have tried to be cute with a couple of the shots we took. But once it turned from a drizzle to a downpour, that was that.”
The Bulldog defense forced a quick three-and-out to start the second half. Then came what felt like a game-defining drive by the offense. Pryor rushed 13 straight times as Goochland marched from its own 43 and drained 6:09 off the clock, overcoming a fumbled backfield exchange and a holding penalty that nullified a long touchdown run along the way. Pryor ultimately scored from five yards out to make it 13-0.
Once again, Fluvanna’s offense went three-and-out. But a 37-yard punt by Camdyn Via flipped field position and set the stage for a prime scoring chance when the Fluco defense recovered a fumbled snap on the first play of the fourth quarter. However, starting with first-and-goal at the 4, the Bulldogs allowed only three yards on three rushes. After a false start pushed the fourth down snap back to the 6, an errant pitch to the right ended up loose in the backfield, and that’s when Pierce dashed Fluvanna’s hopes of a late rally.
“That stand was big,” said Fruth. “You look out there at the 11 guys we have on the field. It’s a bunch of different kids that are coming in, stepping up in big-time moments, assuming roles that at the beginning of the year we did not assume that they’d be playing, and they’ve done a wonderful job fulfilling that. The defensive staff’s done an incredible job. I can’t wait to see what we continue to grow into.”
Taking over at the Fluco 25 after Pierce’s return plus a facemask penalty, the Bulldogs went for the clincher. After another holding penalty set them back, quarterback Darius Rivers completed his only pass of the game with a screen to Pryor that covered 24 yards and set up first-and-goal. Four plays later, Rivers called his own number as the defense keyed on Pryor and strolled in for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 19-0 with 5:09 remaining. Goochland’s defense helped make up for a couple of mishandled snaps on PATs by tacking on a safety.
“We’re not looking at the results as much as we’re looking at the process,” said Fruth. “For us right now, we’re doing a good job with the process. We’re getting better.”
Goochland (1-4, 1-1) will try to take another step forward as it heads to Charlottesville (0-5, 0-3) next Friday. Meanwhile, Fluvanna (0-5, 0-2) will look to spoil homecoming and claim its first win on the road at Monticello (0-5, 0-2).
