This was about pride. This was about history.
But it was also about the fact that tackling Sabias Folley is really, really tough.
Charlottesville’s football team picked up its first playoff victory since 1999 Friday night with a 48-20 victory over John Champe, the Black Knights’ third win in a row.
“It’s really big for the school and the community,” said Charlottesville quarterback Sam Neale. “It’s the first playoff win we’ve had in 17 years so this is huge for the team.”
With the victory, Charlottesville advances to take on Woodgrove on the road next week in the Region 4A West quarterfinals. Woodgrove got a bye through the first round.
Folley led the attack with a five-touchdown, 152-yard performance that included a mix of short powerful scoring runs and a couple of long touchdown sprints that allowed the Black Knights to pull away. He stared the Charlottesville run with a 37-yard sprint on the opening drive and bookended it with a 55-yard jaunt in the fourth quarter.
“He’s like a little brother to me,” said Charlottesville senior Lorenzo Louderback. “He’s a great kid, in school, out of school.”
In between, he opened things up for the Black Knights’ speed on the edge as Louderback went for 77 yards and a score on eight carries. Neale also got involved with 52 yards on eight touches.
“When we’re executing the right way, things go really well because we’ve got our toss sweep and our triple and midline scheme underneath that puts defenses in binds,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry. “That’s a well-coached team (John Champe) and I thought they had a good scheme, we just kind of wore it down.”
When Charlottesville did put the ball in the air, Neale was successful, with a 37-yard touchdown to Tre Durrett and completed another for a crucial 22-yard pickup to Khalil Vest.
Dominion managed to keep pace with Charlottesville early, answering Folley’s first touchdown with a Cameron Parson touchdown pass to Brendan Caffrey and trailed just 14-6 after the first quarter. But the Black Knights closed the half strong with Louderback’s touchdown, Neale finding Durrett for a score and Neale picking off a pass to cut short a John Champe drive. The Black Knights entered halftime up 27-12 and largely in control of the pace and intensity.
Charlottesville kept things clicking in the second half and with turnovers piling up for John Champe, the Black Knights seemed to sense what was going on and their confidence continued to increase.
“I hope we haven’t peaked too much, I think we’ve got a lot left in us,” Sherry said. “I think its their focus, their mental focus and mental approach to the game has changed and it changed when they started believing in themselves at Western. When they realized they could do certain things and take some adversity in a game and come back, that’s a big thing and I think it grew on them.”
Charlottesville closed the door on Champe down the stretch, melting the clock with a couple of long drives, one of nine plays, the other 10. That limited Champe’s opportunities for a comeback.
Mitchell Temple rushed for 35 yards on just two carries, including a big-time fourth down run of 18 yards in the first half. O.J. Bolden made several big plays defensively including a fumble recovery and snuffing out a screen pass attempt by John Champe.
It was a critical win for a Charlottesville program that needed to taste some postseason success.
“We got a win and a lot of guys fought hard, played right,” Louderback said. “Everybody just came together as a team and played together throughout the game.”
Now Charlottesville can turn its attention to Woodgrove on the road and Neale, at least is thrilled for the opportunity.
“We get to play the Number one seed and they’re undefeated so we’re very happy to move on,” Neale said.
