Goochland’s Ayden Doczi took an extra few seconds, crouching in the corner of the end zone, soaking in a few extra moments. Will Stratton reminisced with his defensive coordinator Dan Summitt. Kam Holman hugged his teammates and encouraged the underclassmen.
“All these other schools break apart but we’ve had the same team basically our whole life,” Holman said. “I’ve been playing with those kids since I was six or seven, that’s why we’re so tight with each other.”
Seemingly each and every Goochland senior knew something special had just ended and they were right. In their time as Bulldogs, Goochland’s seniors went 44-5 and lost just two games on their home field, one as freshmen in the playoffs and the second on Friday night 27-17 to Independence in the Region 3B Championship game.
“That’s a great high school career,” Holman said. “We didn’t end how we wanted to, but I know these underclassmen will get it done next year.”
Friday those seniors tried to slow down Independence’s single wing led by 6-foot-3, 235-pound junior Brian Courtney, a recent Florida State commitment who operated behind a bruising offensive line. That element of the game, and it ended up being the bulk of the game as Independence controlled the clock throughout, was strength on strength.
“If you were in the 500 here you got your money’s worth, that was as physical a game as it gets,” said Goochland coach Alex Fruth. “Their brand of football leans into that and the way we play on defense? There are some kids who are going to be hurting tomorrow.”
Courtney proved to be as good as advertised. A week after rushing for 185 yards and five scores against Skyline, he rushed 41 times for 233 yards and three touchdowns, showing few signs of wear and tear from the workload over the course of the game. The Tigers threw in a wrinkle on offense too, adding another blocker to the single wing in an attempt to disrupt whatever plan Goochland had developed after seeing Independence in the playoffs a year ago.
“We knew coming in and they knew coming in that we were going to play smashmouth football and our guys won that challenge,” Courtney said. “We came in ready to drive block every play and it showed.”
Goochland forced Independence to snap it again and again and only allowed five runs of more than 10 yards so it wasn’t like the Bulldogs got gashed. Instead it was death by one thousand cuts and a clock that was slowly bled out from the first time Independence got its hands on the ball. That time arrived after Goochland picked up a first down midfield on the opening drive and then fumbled on an exchange. Independence pounced on the ball and the Tigers marched 59 yards on a 12 play drive, with Goochland forcing them to earn it the entire way.
“They definitely know where the weight room is and they run that superpower offense so it’s hard to stop,” Holman said.
Goochland answered with a drive that ended in a field goal and cut the Tigers’ lead to 7-3, but Independence stuffed the ball in behind that offensive line with Elijah Tidwell serving as a chance of pace back with 16 carries for 86 yards. This time it was a 76-yard, 14-play drive that melted the clock and pushed that Goochland defense to the brink. When Tidwell wasn’t changing up the pace he was helping clear the way.
“Elijah is a great blocker when you watch the film, he’s got more pancakes than the lineman, it’s crazy, he’s a real baller,” Courtney said.
With the momentum heavily in favor of Independence though, Goochland immediately found an answer with C.J. Towles letting loose a toss to Kam Holman who raced 74 yards before being dragged down at the six. Two plays later, Towles scored from three yards out and it was 14-10 Independence with less than three minutes left in the half. The Tigers got going quickly with another series of runs by Tidwell and Courtney and after the Bulldogs read a counter just outside the redzone well, Independence kicked a field goal as time expired and took a 17-10 lead into the half.
Independence went right back to the well in the second half, and march 65 yards on 11 plays with Courtney’s third touchdown of the night capping the drive. That drive included a critical moment when Josh Hand connected on a running back pass with a wide open Ulysses Carr to convert a third and 13, with Carr sprinting down to the one before being pulled down by the Bulldogs, setting up another Courtney plunge into the endzone.
The Tigers tried an onsides kick that De’Andre Robinson covered immediately for the Bulldogs and Goochland took just six plays to move 52 yards with help from a facemask penalty at the end of a Towles run. Kayshawn Smith scored from a yard out to cut the Independence lead to 24-17. A quick stop and Goochland would’ve been in business, but getting off the field against the Tigers is easier said than done. This time they marched down to the 11, including converting a critical fourth and two by drawing the Bulldogs offsides and hit another field goal to extend the lead to 27-17 with 5:01 left.
Goochland got the ball moving, and drove down to the 37, with Courtney on defense shadowing Holman much of the way. Towles finally got the look he wanted down the middle and took a shot, but Cole Parvin leapt up and made a pick near the goal line with 2:27 to play. Goochland forced a punt after the Parvin pick but couldn’t move the ball and Independence celebrated the program’s first region football title in just the second year of the school’s existence. They’ll face Lafayette in the Class 3 state semifinals next week.
“We came down here last year too and got beat up kind of bad, to come down here and win it second year, it shows all the hard work we’ve put in over the last two years,” Courtney said.
For Goochland, it ends a string of two state final four appearances and the careers of a special group of seniors.
“I feel like I’ve said Will Stratton’s name so many times in the last three years, Kam Holman, that kid has played four years of varsity football here,” Fruth said. “The amount of football they’ve played, the amount of blood and sweat they’ve given us? You can’t replace those kids. That’s the beauty of high school football and the sorrow of high school football as well. I’d coach those kids for as long as I could.”
