All four of these senior Central Virginia athletes have won titles in their own respective districts and won playoff games. The next time Louisa County’s Andre Mealy and JD Dennis, Goochland’s Jess McLaughlin and Buckingham County’s Tarian Ayres step on a football field it will be as collegiate athletes. But last week this group spent the week in Hampton practicing for the East team for the 41st annual VHSCA All-Star football game.
Andre Mealy and JD Dennis led Louisa County to its second straight Region II playoff berth this past fall, and for one last time, the two got to play together with Mealy playing at linebacker and Dennis getting a chance to play defensive tackle.
“Practices were fun because it was very competitive,” Mealy said. “It was big difference from playing in the Jefferson District to playing with All-Stars. All the guys are going to D-1, D-2 colleges and they all know how to play.”
This spring both Mealy and Dennis made future plans with football in mind. Mealy is heading to James Madison University this fall while Dennis will attend St. Augustine in North Carolina.
“This was a good eye-opener playing with the top notch athletes because it shows you that you’ve got to keep working on your game,” Dennis said. “Playing with Andre (one last time), that was emotional because that’s my boy. He’s a worker and the last two years he made excel at my game a lot more.”
Goochland’s Jess McLaughlin was pivotal part at linebacker for one of the top defenses in the state this past fall. The Bulldogs marched all the way to the Group A Division 2 finals in a season that included a season saving goal line stand in the Sectional championship and critical stops in the regular season against Buckingham and Amelia to preserve the team’s unblemished record.
Getting a chance to play with more than a handful of athletes he’s lined up against the last few years ad some of the state’s top talent was one last lesson to help him prepare for his playing days at Randolph Macon.
“There was a lot of knowledge here,” McLaughlin said. “You’re getting a lot out of this experience. We worked a lot. Personally I feel like I improved a lot in pass coverage.”
The one constant for Buckingham as its earned three straight post season trips has been Tarian Ayres under center at quarterback. Ayres jumped at the chance to soak up as much information as he could with a slew of players on both rosters having earned scholarships to major programs and almost every athlete with some kind of playoff experience.
“I learned so much here learning about reading coverages,” Ayres said “Then you’ve also got a lot of guys here who’ve signed with big time schools like Virginia Tech and stuff so I talked a lot of with them. So this was a lot of fun.”
Heading to Virginia Military Institute in the fall where he’ll continue his football career, Ayres got a chance to see what one of his new teammates looked like in action with James Monroe’s Ethan Preston also headed to Lexington.
The Game
Early going, it didn’t look like any of the East roster was going to finish the week on a bright nore. The West quickly jumped out to a 21-0 lead just a few minutes into the second quarter with its defense forcing 3-and-outs and the its offense marching down the field with little resistance.
Needing a spark, East coach Stan Sexton (Phoebus) went to his third string quarterback in Tarian Ayres. The Buckingham graduate played three series in the game and in all three the East found the endzone.
“I always know that I can play, so here I was just waiting for my chance to shine,” Ayres said. “The plays are set up pretty straightforward and the defense can only play in certain coverages so I looked to exploit that and hit the gaps. We worked hard and got it done.”
Ayres provided the East with the spark it was looking for by going 2 for 3 for 39 yards and rushing twice for six yards. That allowed the East to the goal line where former Lafayette receiever Thomas Smith, a Virginia Tech signee, was able to take an end-around in for a 2-yard score to make it a 15 point game.
In the spirit of keeping the contest close when possible the VHSCA has a rule where a team down by more than nine points gets the ball back after scoring. So Ayres and company went right back to work with the quarterback launching a 34-yard bomb to Tavon Miller from First Colonial to set up another short rushing touchdown. A failed 2-point convert left the game at 21-12.
The West scored their only points of the second half in the third quarter on a 52-yard field goal to make it 24-12.
Early in the fourth quarter, Yakee Johnson broke loose for an 82-yard touchdown, the only touchdown drive that the East had with Ayres on the sidelines. That score tied the game at 24 and both teams saw their next drives stall. With time winding down, the East defense came up with its biggest stop with the West threatening to cross midfield. On third and short the East defensive line with Dennis in the middle at tackle, forced a West punt. Smith took that punt and churned out 22 return yards to set up the East in prime position at the West 32-yardline. Two rushes from Ayres put the East in a goal line situation, including a lengthy run where his future VMI teammate, Thomas, laid a critical block to open up a running lane on the left edge of the field.
Kavon Bellamny took the ball on first and goal from the two into the endzone to give the East a 31-24 lead with 37 seconds on the clock
Equipped with two time outs but with time quickly running down, the West tried to hail mary its way back into the game, but the contest ended with an interception.
Ayres finished the game going 5 for 6 with 82 yards passing and five carries for 38 yards. McLaughlin had a pair of tackles. Mealy had one tackle. Dennis was in on three hurries.
This was the third straight win for the East team and fifth of the last six.
