With a new signal-caller leading the way for Charlottesville High, running back Rashad Brock is pretty vocal about when he should be getting the ball in the Black Knights’ read option. In an incredible feat of football instincts and intelligence, the junior is actually making the read himself from his slot at tailback as quarterback Malik Bartee settles in to his new role.
“He tells me ‘give it to me give it to me give it to me’ before I even give him the ball,” Bartee said. “As soon we snap the ball, it’s a read play, and he’ll just say ‘give it to me give it to me give it to me’.”
And when Bartee should take it?
“He’s not (saying anything) — he’s reading it for me,” Bartee said. “He’s giving me the read.”
He was quieter than usual in Friday night’s 35-14 victory over Culpeper then as Brock’s pounding presence in the middle (17 carries for 148 yards) allowed Bartee to electrify on the edge with the quarterback in his second start exploding for 229 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
“He’s the No. 1 distraction—every team comes in here watching out for Brock,” Bartee said. “They same his name on the field. ‘Watch out for Brock, No.4, Brock.’ So as soon as I fake it to him, they automatically think he’s going to get it and that opens it up for me on the side.”
For good measure, Bartee started the night with a 70-yard touchdown catch and run off a reverse pass from Camden Brown that helped jumpstart the Black Knights. But it took awhile for Charlottesville to build on that lead, as a series of turnovers wasted some solid defensive play. Hunter Rolph in particular emerged as another playmaker in the secondary for CHS with a big pass breakup and a couple of critical open field tackles while the defensive front did a solid job of pressuring Culpeper signal caller Jeremy Robson in critical situations.
“I didn’t do that well at first but I started seeing things and looking at the right keys and it started working out,” Rolph said.
By halftime, Brock had unleashed a 33-yard, tackle-breaking run for a touchdown in the second quarter to give the Black Knights a 13-0 lead. CHS then built a 21-0 lead in the third quarter after one of Bartee’s three touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
But at that point, Culpeper got into a groove and like last week, Charlottesville players started dropping like flies with cramps or other ailments, leaving the Black Knights exceedingly short handed as the Blue Devils’ offense got moving.
Culpeper scored two straight touchdowns on Robson touchdown passes and pulled within a score. As the CHS defense left the field, they appeared frustrated and in danger of coming apart at the seams.
“When things get sketchy we kind of get inside our minds and start pointing fingers,” Bartee, who doubles as a safety, said. “We had to remind ourselves you can’t point fingers, we got to pick (our teammates) up. If you make a mistake you’ve just got to move on to the next play.”
Bartee was a big reason why they didn’t. About two minutes of game time after that Culpeper touchdown, Bartee sprinted in from 39 yards out, giving the Black Knights a two-score cushion and the defense new life, as they promptly clamped down on Culpeper.
“We saw they were going two slots and two wide receivers so we just went outside linebackers on the (slots) and corners on (the outside wideouts) and just went man,” Rolph said. “It stopped that passing.”
Charlottesville cruised from there with Bartee adding a 62-yard touchdown with 1:16 to play to ice the game. The Black Knights will get a chance to heal up during a bye next week before they host William Monroe at 7:30 p.m. September 19.
