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Rounding into form: Goochland gets solid effort on both sides in win over Fork Union

Photo: David Hawk

 

Sometimes the math is simple. For Fork Union, six turnovers was just far too many. Goochland’s defense had a huge game from the opening whistle, and when the Bulldogs’ offense find its rhythm in the second half, the game was simply out of reach. With a 38-7 win Goochland improved to 2-0 and heads into its James River District opener with Central Lunenburg next riding a nice wave of momentum.

 

“We found something but it wasn’t us reinventing the wheel,” said Bulldogs coach Alex Fruth. “We just got back to doing what we do best and that’s fullback runs, isolation plays and just hammer, hammer and hammer. You do that an then you break a couple of big ones on counters.”

 

After both teams traded fumbles and then punts, Goochland’s defense drew first on the scoreboard when Sam Brooks came up with a 30-yard interception for a touchdown with 11:09 left in the second quarter. It would be the first of four interceptions for the Bulldogs.

 

“What’s great about that is that kid has been talking about getting a pick-6 forever,” Fruth said. “The fact that he was able to do it was awesome.”

 

The Bulldogs won their opener with Thomas Jefferson 14-7 and the first quarter against Goochland looked an extension of that contest. Brooks’ pick brought the Goochland sidelines and stands to life quickly.

 

“We love playing defense,” Brooks said. “Making plays, making picks, that’s what we love to do here.”

 

An interception from Kindrick Brazton set up a 27-yard field for Jacob Hayward and just two plays later, the Bulldogs had the ball again with the first of two interceptions from Devin McCray. Quincey Snead broke things open for the offense on the ensuing drive, taking a carry outside to the right 41 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-0 going into the break.

 

The second half was about Goochland’s offense finding its traditional form. With Connor Popierlarz doing the inside running, the chains started moving. When Kameron Holman came up with a fumble at the goalline, the Bulldogs marched all the way down the field and Poierlarz cashed in a 2-yard plunge to make it 24-0 midway through the third.

 

“The line was blocking great so it’s just matter of seeing the hole and running hard through it,” Popierlarz said. “It felt good after starting off slow. We stuck with it and things just started to happen.”

 

On Goochland’s next possesion, Popeirlarz then zigged and zagged on another inside run, this time for a 44-yard touchdown with 2:40 left in the third.

 

The Blue Devils were able to move the ball up and down the field, but with a pair of fumbles, four interceptions and more than a handful of faulty snaps, drives were hard to come by. But with 9:21 left in the fourth, quarterback Kenyon Carter was able to break up the shutout with a beautifully placed 21-yard pass to Elijah Hawks in the back of the endzone. Unfortunately for FUMA, that was all it had for the rest of the night offensively.

 

“You can’t beat a team turning the ball over and we started the season like this two years ago where our first three games we had 18 turnovers,” said FUMA coach Mike Hooper. “We can’t have that happen again and win games. We have to have a short memory on this one but also, as a boarding school we’ve only been in traing camp since the 10th (of August). When have your team is new it’s an interesting melting pot. But we will get much better from this.”

 

With second teamers in for the end of the fourth, Goochland was able to wrap up the scoring at 38-7 when freshman quarterback CJ Towles improvised on a broken play for a 14-yard touchdown run.

 

On the night, Popierlarz led all rushers with 123 yards on nine carries. Snead finished with 60 yards on six carries. McCray, NyJavion Timberlake, Hunter Willms and Dakarhi Burgess each had 25 yards or more with McCray leading the pack at 33.

 

For Fork Union, Carter was 7-for-10 passing with 110 yards. Drew Hackenberg was 10-for-16 passing with 100 yards. Hawks led all FUMA receivers with 112 yards on six catches.

 

The Blue Devils will travel to Bullis next week while the Bulldogs host Central.

 

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