By Ben Sheridan / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Goochland and Blue Ridge’s Saturday clash wasn’t on the schedule when the season started, but fate in the form of a double booking by Fork Union and a cancelled Randolph Macon Academy campaign brought the two squads together for the first time Saturday.
Goochland came in and dominated on all areas of the game, leaving with a shutout victory by a score of 53-0.
It all began when the Barons received the opening kickoff. On that possession, the Bulldog defense forced a punt, one of four punts by the Barons in the half. That dominant Goochland defense also blocked one of those punts, forced a fumble and forced a turnover on downs.
“Our guys have gotten better and better each week, and I wouldn’t want to play that defense, so I can’t imagine what it’s like going against them,” said Goochland Coach Alex Fruth.
It was a dominant effort on defense for the Bulldogs, and that suffocating approach seemed to give the offense a spark too. On their first possession, the Bulldogs started at the Blue Ridge 21-yard line after a big punt return, and Dakahri Burgess punched the ball in two plays later for the opening score. That was also the first of three total touchdowns for Burgess on five carries for 93 yards.
After that Blue Ridge fumble, Devin McCray powered his way 21 yards for one of his two scores on the day, making things 14-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
The offense didn’t stop there in the first as McCray found his second touchdown, this time coming of a shuffle pass from C.J. Towles for 54 yards, giving Goochland a 20-0 advantage. That start gave the offense the momentum to keep everything firing on all cylinders.
“The offense clicked right away, guys spent hours watching film, and we went back to our roots,” Burgess said.
The offense never slowed down in the first half, as Burgess ran for his second score near the beginning of the second quarter. The defense forced another Baron punt and the offense went right back to Burgess. He got his third score of the game on a 74-yard sprint down the field, giving the Bulldogs a 34-0 lead.
“I was feeling good, after the run I made sure I went and dapped up all the o-line, quarterback and everybody because without them I wouldn’t have scored,” Burgess said.
The offense still was not done in the first half. In the half’s final minutes, Towles found Kayshawn Smith for a 35-yard score. Towles finished 5-for-5 with 108 yards and 2 scores through the air and Smith had that reception and another touchdown on the ground.
The Bulldogs took a 40-0 lead into the half, and kept the defensive intensity for the rest of the game. Not only that, the Bulldog offense also never let the punt team see the field. Rushing touchdowns from Smith and Aiden Allen rounded out the offensive effort.
A dominant win can be good for a team’s confidence, but the Bulldogs know that they have work to do with tough competition looming in district play.
“Our last two district games are gonna be tough, we get to play a tough Central Lunenburg team and Bluestone comes to us and their gonna spread things out,” Fruth said. “We’re gonna have play physical teams and adjust with spread teams in the playoffs.”
