Both Fluvanna County and Orange County needed this win to improve their playoff resumes but before Fluvanna could blink, a substantial hole had been dug on the road at Porterfield Park against Orange County. The Flucos and Hornets mostly traded blows from the end of the first quarter through the fourth but on senior night but the damage that Jaylen Alexander did on two of his first three touches of the game proved to be too much in a 36-22 victory.
“We got out and went,” said Orange Coach Jesse Lhor. “We found out a lot about ourselves depth wise between injuries and a targeting penalty from the last game so there was a learning curve there. So obviously it was great that we got off to such a good start.”
Orange won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. After a quick five yard run where he slipped on the slick turf, Alexander took his next carry — the second play from scrimmage in the game — 56 yards to the house to make it 7-0. Then after the Orange defense forced a punt, the Flucos’ punter bobbled the snap and a less than full strength kick put the ball in Alexander’s hands again. He was able to race it back for a 54-yard touchdown return to make it 14-0 less than three minutes into the first quarter. That start was of little surprise to the Hornets senior as the work during the week has improved dramatically since the start of the year, setting the table for a breakout start like the one seen Friday.
“The mindset at practice has changed,” Alexander said. “You can see it, there’s a willingness to practice and it’s showing.”
Fluvanna put together a lengthy drive to answer but a 40-yard field goal attempt fell short. However, the Flucos got the ball back quickly with defensive back AJ Wyche coming up with an interception to set up a short field. After an 11-yard touchdown run from Keontae Harris, the Flucos were able to get on the board with six seconds left in the first frame.
The Flucos attempted another 40-yard field goal but it too was short with just over a minute to play in the half. After a couple of quiet drives, the Hornets offense found some urgency in the two minute drill. On the final play of the half, Orange got creative with Jaylen Alexander taking a direct snap, then handing it off to Sihle Mthethwa who appeared to be running a jet sweep. He then dropped back to pass to the quarterback on the play, Walker Johnson sitting wide open in the endzone. The 4-yard touchdown pass gave Orange a 21-7 lead going into the break.
“We’ve been holding on to that play for a long time and haven’t used it yet, showed it to anyone,” Lohr said. “In that moment you’ve got players and coaches in your ear and we just decided to go with it and the guys came out and executed it. It was a big play to send us into the half.”
On the opening drive of the second half, Fluvanna made it a one possession game with a methodical drive that was capped by an 11-yard TD run from Gabe Stoy and after Tyler Stoy ran in the 2-point convert, the deficit was down to 21-15.
That was the closest the Flucos would get as the Hornets ran the ball effectively. Alexander picked up a touchdown from nine yards and then ran in a 2-point convert to follow to make it 29-15 for Orange with 1:31 to play in the third.
“We just did what we always do — be physical at the point of attack and just keep driving guys and keep opening holes,” said senior lineman Colby McGhee. “We’ve come together as a team and kind of realized that we have to do our best, put our best foot forward and keep moving. That’s the way we’re winning games. We’re all in it together now.”
The final scoring drive for Fluvanna came midway through the fourth. Malachi Hill and Kobe Edmonds marched their way down and the latter was able to punch in a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 29-22 with 4:11 left on the clock in the fourth. The Flucos elected to try an onside kick. However, the Hornets recovered and with Alexander grabbing a pair of first downs the game was essentially over. He was able to add a 1-yard TD run shortly after to wrap up the scoring at 36-22.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times but the biggest issue was that hole early in the game,” said Fluvanna coach Mike Morris. “Orange just made the plays they had to in timely situations and we weren’t able to do that as well.”
On the night, Alexander finished with a gaudy 22 touches for 244 yards, giving him 5,514 yards for his career. That makes him the Scrimmage Play area’s No. 2 all-time leading rusher, passing Buckingham County’s John Perkins. He’s about 900 yards behind all-time leading rusher Takeeem Hedgeman of Monticello. Johnson was 5-for-9 passing with 100 yards and 84 of them going to Jireek Washington who had a pair of catches.
This was Orange’s third straight victory and its fourth in five games. The Hornets (4-5) will look to bounce back from an 0-4 start to get to .500 with a road trip to Western Albemarle. Orange was ranked 11th in a loaded Region 4D coming into Friday and will need a win and some help around the field to slip past Huguenot and Chancellor who are 5-win teams ranked seventh and eighth.
“That first half of the schedule challenged us physically and mentally,” Lohr said. “To be here, to have our guys hold water and now give us a chance, that’s huge. We don’t get here without a lot of senior leadership.”
For the Flucos, Hill had 17 carries for 112 yards. Edmonds chipped in 69 yards on 14 rushing attempts and had 41 yards in the air. Holland had two catches for 28 yards.
Fluvanna (4-5) will finish its regular season with a senior night against Monticello. The Flucos, ranked seventh in Region 3C before Friday’s contest will hope a win over the Mustangs can put them in the playoffs for the second straight season.
“I told my guys that I’ve seen this in person, a team finishing 5-5 and winning it all,” Morris said. “All you want is that chance. We’ve got to give ourselves this chance by winning next week. We’ve played some physical teams these last two weeks, Orange is much improved and we hung with Louisa. Now we just can’t make any excuses. We have to go out and win.”
