By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
With a cumulative tally of 7 points through four games, Orange County’s offense finally came alive on a rainy night in Palmyra. Led by a determined ground attack, the Hornets racked up six touchdowns to earn their first win of the season with a 42-19 triumph over Fluvanna.
“Obviously, a rough start for us, but it shows that we didn’t quit,” said Orange coach Keita Malloy. “We’re going to go back to work every week. I’m proud of them.”
Both sides suffered early injuries to key offensive players: Fluvanna running back Mark Grooms went down late in the first quarter, while Hornets’ quarterback Dayvon Greene appeared to hurt his left ankle on a scramble four and a half minutes before halftime. While senior Nicholas Morgan was able to step in and direct the Orange offense, Fluvanna’s attack became one-dimensional.
“Our running game is through Mark, and when he went down, it kind of went out the window,” said Fluvanna coach Jason Barnett. “We really have to be able to throw and run out of the same sets. We can’t give away all of what we’re doing just based on who’s in the game.”
Fluvanna had a prime opportunity early after a mishandled snap caused the Hornets’ punter to put his knee on the ground while collecting the ball. Starting at the Orange 28, the Flucos failed to pick up a first down with four running plays. On its second series, Orange converted third and eight via a Greene run one play before he hit Trevon Smith for a 60-yard touchdown.
Vaughan Bodie set the Flucos up in Hornets’ territory again with a 55-yard return on the ensuing kickoff. The offense soon faced fourth and 10, but quarterback Gavin Patrick found Macen Dahl down the middle for a 26-yard touchdown. The pair would connect 13 more times on the night to account for all but seven yards of Fluvanna’s total offense.
After an Orange three-and-out, Fluvanna drove 46 yards in eight plays, including Dahl receptions of 23 and 38 yards. Marcus Ditta gave the Flucos a 10-7 lead with a 34-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the opening quarter. However, Orange would hold a 14-10 lead entering the second, as DeAngelo Hunt took a handoff and went 76 yards on the first snap after the kickoff.
“I refuse to go down,” said Hunt, who finished with two touchdowns and a game-high 161 yards on just nine carries. “Before I got the ball, I was sitting there in the formation just telling myself, ‘the middle is wide open, I got this.’ I felt two people wrap me up, but I wasn’t going down. When I felt myself get loose, I was smiling the whole way there.”
Heavy rain began falling early in the second quarter, likely contributing to key fumbles for both teams. Orange lost one first on a backfield exchange in its own territory. Four plays later, Dahl hauled in another fourth down pass down the middle for a 38-yard touchdown. After forcing a three-and-out, the Flucos took over with a 16-14 lead. However, a Hornet rusher stripped Patrick in the backfield to setup Orange with first and goal. Smith took the first handoff and barreled in from nine yards out.
The teams exchanged punts until Morgan was called on to start the Hornets possession with less than three minutes left in the half at the Fluco 42. On second and 10, he found a wide open Keith Ellis down the right sideline for a touchdown, sending Orange into the break with a 28-16 lead.
“Keith Ellis is one of our best players, and we just saw some one-on-one out there,” said Malloy. “We changed up some scheme there, so we ran some different routes to sell it and set it up off routes we ran earlier.”
Fluvanna opened the third with a 75-yard drive, most of which came via Patrick-to-Dahl for a gain of 70 on third and 20. The Hornets’ defense held firm inside the five and forced a 22-yard Ditta field goal. The teams traded punts for most of the quarter until Fluvanna gained a big field position edge: holding and intentional grounding penalties backed the Hornets up to their own 3. Following a short punt, the Flucos had a chance to pull within one score; however, Patrick was sacked before he could find Dahl on third and 11, and an errant snap as Ditta setup a 33-yard field goal attempt foiled the chance for points.
“Our defense did a really good job tonight giving us short fields, and we really didn’t do a good job capitalizing on that,” Barnett said. “Orange did a good job putting pressure on us all night, brining one more than we could handle.”
Still trailing 28-19 in the fourth, the Flucos mounted another drive in Hornets’ territory, but Patrick was forced to scramble out of bounds for a loss on fourth and six with 7:04 to play. Orange then mounted a game-clinching 62-yard touchdown drive in eight plays, the first seven of which were runs. Ellis and Smith each went for gains of 20-plus to convert third downs, and Morgan lobbed a pass to wide-open tight end Matthew Chatten for the score. After a turnover on downs, Hunt broke a 62-yard touchdown run on the Hornets’ next snap to cap the scoring.
“We have to finish tackles,” said Barnett. “We’d have one person to the ball, and we needed two or three, sometimes four, to help bring them down. That’s a great job by their running backs never giving up.”
Orange totaled 233 yards rushing, compared to minus-two for Fluvanna. After Hunt, Ellis totaled 37 yards on five rushes, and Smith added 34 and a score on four touches. Bodie took a game-high 12 carries for the Flucos but managed just 16 yards. Dahl piled up 258 receiving yards on 14 catches. Patrick finished 17-of-43 for 267, while Greene and Morgan each completed 3-of-7 for Orange for 70 and 50 yards, respectively.
Fluvanna (1-4) heads to Monticello (4-1) next Friday, while Orange (1-4) hosts Charlottesville (2-3).
