Western Albemarle has had some rough starts this season and it’s clear the Warriors just need a little time to settle in. Around six minutes to be exact.
“All we were talking about is the first six minutes, just get through it,” said Western’s Jack Weyher. “That’s all we had on our mind today.”
Apparently, if the Warriors can survive those first six minutes, an upset that seemed nearly impossible to pull off before the game can become quite possible.
The first six minutes against Louisa County on Homecoming went nearly perfectly Friday night as the Warriors built a two-touchdown lead and battled the Lions all night en route to a 38-30 shocker of a previously unbeaten Louisa squad voted unanimously to the No. 1 spot in the Central Virginia Power Poll.
The win came just hours after Western senior James Buetow announced at the school’s pep rally that the Warriors were dedicating the game to Kenny Gibson, a former Western student battling lung cancer who returned to the school today during that pep rally where he received a warm welcome from his former classmates as well as an autographed photo and video message from his favorite football player, former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, the result of a #peytonforkenny social media campaign that caught fire over the last few days and eventually found its way to a member of Manning’s team.
“I was really excited,” Gibson said after the pep rally.
Later that night, Western made the day even more special, taking advantage of an early Louisa miscue, a bobbled punt snap, to build that quick lead when Derek Domecq connected with Weyher for a touchdown. That score came just minutes after Domecq scored on the ground to cap the Warriors’ game-opening drive.
Western was up 14-0 and maybe more importantly, they’d gotten past that six-minute mark.
“If we can get through the first six minutes and not be in a hole, I think our kids get confidence from that,” said Western coach Ed Redmond. “Just get through those first two drives. I thought our kids, quite honestly, gave away a couple in that first half, but to Louisa’s credit they dug in.”
Louisa bounced back with Malik Bell completing a jump pass to Alex Hurley midway through the second quarter, cutting Western’s lead to 14-8. Western was unshaken though, with Domecq responding with a 5-yard touchdown run with three minutes left before halftime.
Domecq finished with 115 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground while unleashing an efficient 9-for-17, 152-yard, three-touchdown night through the air.
The Warriors’ defense stepped up throughout, and while Western didn’t completely shut down the Lions’ potent ground attack as Bell and Job Whalen each rushed for more than 100 yards (Bell going for 107, Whalen for 112), Western contained Louisa enough and prevented Louisa from breaking too many big plays. In key situations, that unit kept rising to the occasion. The Warriors’ defense, which has struggled mightily with power run teams as recently as last week against Orange, did everything a defense has to do to stuff a power rushing attack, mainly tackle in a gang and flow to the ball.
“We were ecstatic, that’s one of the best teams we’ve played,” said Western’s Tristan Ingersoll who had six tackles, four of them solo stops. “We knew they stacked the box to run and we had to get a lot of people to the ball. I think this is a game we’re going to remember the rest of the season.”
Out of the half, Louisa County struck first with a 12-yard touchdown run by Bell, but the Warriors responded with Domecq hitting Noah Yourkavitch on a well-thrown 18-yard toss to the endzone. Bell struck again, scoring from 15 yards out to cap a quick drive, pulling Louisa within six points at 28-22 to keep the pressure on Western. The Warriors, however, hung tough and refused to allow Louisa to overtake them.
“It’s an eye-opener and it’s a welcome to the big time,” said Louisa coach Mark Fischer of the Lions’ first loss of the year. “We’ll find out what we’re made of now.”
Injury woes didn’t help the Lions who had to go deep into its bench during the clash with the Warriors.
“We’ve got to get healthy, we had some JV guys out there doing their best,” Fischer said. “No excuses though, I don’t think it was a lack of effort, I think Western Albemarle came out and outplayed us.”
The dagger for the Lions came in two parts in the latter stages of the fourth. The first was when a pack of Western defenders stuffed Bell on fourth down with 6:30 to play in the game. The second part came when Louisa appeared to be ready to force Western to punt, but Domecq burned the Lions with a toss to Weyher on a rollout with 3:29 to play. Weyher then raced in from 55-yards out to put Western up 38-22.
“The coaches drew it up perfectly and we trusted the routes,” Weyher said. “They were in man so we had a lot of pick plays and the line blocked for Derek. They did a good job.”
Bell answered with 1:23 to play with a touchdown toss to RaQuan Jones (he finished with a 6-for-12, 109-yard, 2 TD performance through the air), but Western recovered the onsides kick and then Domecq picked up a first down on third down to put an end to Louisa’s comeback bid.
Darren Klein logged 109 yards on the night while also catching 42 receiving yards. Noah Crutchfield led the Warriors with eight tackles, four of them solo, and a sack late in the fourth.
Winning such an emotional game over a highly-regarded opponent like Louisa should give Western a lot of confidence as the Warriors head down the stretch.
“I think this is a game we’re going to remember for the rest of the season,” Ingersoll said. “We’re going to look at it as we can compete with anyone as long as we play as a team.”
And when they survive the first six.
