The rhythm became inescapable Friday night.
A Charlottesville player got injured, E.C. Glass ripped off a long run. A Charlottesville player got injured, E.C. Glass ripped off a long run.
In the process, Glass piled up 402 yards rushing as a team in a 42-3 win just a year after these two squads battled down to the wire in Lynchburg. DreSean Kendrick exploded for 242 yards on 15 touches on the night while Ty Foster rushed for 117 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries.
“It took us a minute to seize control but great job by the coaching staff figuring out what’s open,” said Glass coach Jeff Woody, Monticello’s former head coach. “We ran the ball a whole lot more than I’ve ever had to run the ball, which is a good thing because you think about the two guys that we have in the backfield.”
The Black Knights suffered injuries to a wide range of players including James Leonard and Dwane Greenwood at one point, but took it particularly hard at quarterback where Daimon Washington went down and the dominoes eventually fell and forced the backup junior varsity quarterback into action late in the game.
“I’ve never seen anything like tonight but it’s football, it happens,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry. “We were not the better team tonight, E.C. Glass was. I don’t think we had a good week of coaching this week and executing and tonight it showed. We’ve just got to do better.”
Sherry and the Black Knights are 0-8 in season openers since he took over in 2011, with four of those losses coming at the hands of Glass.
“I think I need to schedule bye weeks in openers from here on out,” Sherry said. “What you don’t do is change and change your philosophy, you work harder and work smarter.”
Even when something went right for the Black Knights like Latarius Jackson’s interception on a deep ball to start the second half that seemed to give Charlottesville new life, the rhythm returned. Just minutes after the pick, the Black Knights stalled on fourth down after Sabias Folley stepped out briefly with an injury. Kendrick ripped off a 34-yard run followed by a 13-yard jaunt. Foster capped the four-play drive with a 6-yard TD, a 28-3 lead for the Hilltoppers and the likelihood of a Charlottesville rally greatly reduced.
The Black Knights got positives out of the Jackson pick and a stellar fourth down stop in the redzone late in the second quarter, but without Washington, their chosen successor at quarterback to Sam Neale, to take some attention off Folley, the offense largely sputtered throughout. Meanwhile, with the defense stuck defending on quick turnarounds and without key players as well, Glass kept churning out long runs.
“We felt good about what was going on up front, everybody is understanding their role,” Woody said.
Charlottesville was banged up during the week too, with Isaiah Washington, a two-way starter, suffering an ankle injury. That left the Black Knights pretty thin going into the contest and then injuries started stacking up quickly on the night as Leonard left early on.
Quincy Edwards appeared to provide a big spark for the Black Knights when the sophomore ripped off an excellent return across midfield to open the game, but Charlottesville stalled and went three and out. Glass also opened with a three and out — Woody attributed it to pregame jitters — and Charlottesville stalled out after a quick first down. That’s when the Hilltoppers went to work, with Kendrick ripping off a 27-yard touchdown to open the scoring.
The Black Knights answered with an 11-play drive that resulted in a Joe Von Storch field goal, but that was the last time they’d get on the board at 7-3. Glass then took just four plays to rumble 80 yards on the ensuing drive with Foster going for 21, followed by Kendrick for 25 and eventually Foster again for a 38-yard touchdown.
Charlottesville will try and get healthy and bounce back on the road against James Monroe next week. Folley finished with 70 yards on 14 carries and tacked on another 16 yards through the air with two catches.
“We have a lot of youth right now and that youth has to grow a little quicker than we thought but we’ll figure it out,” Sherry said.
