A season that includes an unbeaten run to the state championship game isn’t slapped together. It doesn’t just happen overnight.
It’s pieced together each day of the offseason and each day of practice, on every rep against the scout team. It’s forged, brick by painstaking brick.
Goochland linebacker Jess McLaughlin knows something about building things from the ground up. That’s exactly how he gets in shape during the offseason — working for his father’s stonemasonry company.
“I make a lot of mortar and I load a lot of stone,” McLaughlin said. “We build everything from foundation and up to fireplaces and chimneys — everything. It’s my workout for the offseason that’s for sure.”
The Region B and James River District defensive player of the year spends his summers working for Custom Brick and Stone, his father John McLaughlin’s construction company that builds, according to Goochland head coach Joe Fowler “really nice stuff.” We’re talking large stone and brick construction. Jess McLaughlin is part of the company’s muscle.
“I don’t get to do any of the hands-on stuff — I’m just making sure my dad has everything he needs,” McLaughlin said. “If we can’t use wheelbarrows we just load it up (in our hands).”
He’s the second McLaughlin to play football for Fowler with his brother Lee, a 2011 Goochland graduate who played along the line being the other. The Bulldogs have had a lot of great linebackers, but McLaughlin is one of the finest. He reads and reacts as well as anyone in high school football locally, constantly filling gaps and making plays. He’s averaged 5.1 tackles per game.
Along with Scott Pearce and Nathan Adams, he forms a fierce inside linebacking corps that makes it tough to run anywhere on Goochland. Up the middle, on the edge, wherever, one of those big, tough linebackers is there, stuffing the gap.
His offseason work has an added benefit beyond just conditioning too. Picking up stone all the time has increased his hand strength, an often-ignored trait. McLaughlin’s hand strength is off the charts, which allows him to shuck blockers with ease and wrap up and hold on tight when he’s making a tackle. Getting away from McLaughlin is a near impossible task and that reliability as a tackler makes it tough for opponents to break big plays on Goochland.
He had eight stops in Goochland’s poised defensive effort against Wilson Memorial, working in tight quarters to come with those stops. Against Gretna, Goochland will have more room to operate, but will face different challenges with the Hawks’ overall team speed (though running backs Connery Swift and Malik Rucks for Wilson can take off themselves) and the ability to put the ball in the air. With Wilson it was about getting downhill and attacking at the point of attack. Gretna spreads it around and versatile threat Tony Miller has game-breaking ability through the air or on the ground. His 25 total touchdown make that pretty obvious.
But with the stonecutter’s son at linebacker tracking down Gretna’s playmakers, Goochland is in good hands — and strong hands at that.
Goochland (14-0) versus Gretna (12-2) at Salem City Stadium, Group A, Division 2 state title game
The basics: Grudge match hardly does this one justice. This one is flat our personal. Sure, there’s a state title on the line, but unlike the typical state championship game, there’s a lot of familiarity between these two programs. The two schools locked up in the Region B playoffs three straight years from 2006-2008 before Goochland made its move up to Group AA’s Jefferson District from 2009 to 2010. Gretna stumbled early in the year against Amelia and lost late in the regular season to Appomattox. Gretna is balanced offensively with sophomore Dyon Rosser at quarterback (1,613 yards and 17 touchdowns on the year) triggering the offense. Bop Haskins, Tevin Clements, Kevin Moorman and Tony Miller all average more than eight tackles per game on a stingy Hawks defensive unit that’s picked off 12 passes and recovered 20 fumbles on the season. As it should be, this one appears on paper to have the makings of a classic.
Key matchup: Goochland’s secondary takes on Gretna’s Miller. Gretna has a bunch of playmakers — teams that make it to the state title game usually do — but Miller is a key cog. The 6-foot-1, 210 pound wide receiver/linebacker/running back/quarterback is a dynamic, deceptively fast star. He’s rushed for 950 yards and 18 touchdowns and hauled in another 664 yards and five touchdowns through the air. Amelia managed to hold Miller in check as he rushed for 32 yards and one score in the state semifinal last week, but when he gets his hands on the ball, special things usually happen. Goochland’s secondary will have to handle his receiving prowess and play a big role in containing Miller who can get the edge quickly. Look for Dasheem Norris, Mason Engel and Zakell Johnson, in particular, to play key roles.
Who to watch: Goochland’s Colby Cooke. When you ask some of Goochland’s previous opponents about the Bulldogs, the special teams performances of Cooke and punter Thomas Meadows are the things that always seem to come up. In a game that might be a defensive struggle with both teams’ units playing awfully good of late, Cooke’s big leg might be the Bulldogs’ difference maker. Being able to kick from pretty much anywhere inside the 40 is a huge advantage in a close game.
The line: Goochland by 1. The Bulldogs have been wire-to-wire favorites for the state title and despite taking many contender’s best shot, Goochland is still unscathed walking into Salem. There’s no reason to flip the script now.
