Albemarle’s sophomore kicker Yousof Algburi and the Patriots’ senior quarterback J’Quan Anderson have their own personal ritual that they come together for before each kick.
“We have our own handshake, so whenever he kicks the ball we do that,” Anderson said. “I’m just so proud of him.”
Friday night, they combined for something more significant than that handshake, lifting Albemarle to a 32-29 victory over Charlottesville. After a sublime offensive effort by Anderson that included 309 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Algburi kicked an 18-yard, game-winning field goal as time expired.
“I’ve never been in a situation like this before, I was really nervous but my teammates cheered me on and lowered my nerves,” Algburi said. “I’ve been dreaming of this every night.”
With about six minutes to play and the score tied at 29-29, Charlottesville faced a fourth down just outside the redzone. The Black Knights’ Sam Neale tried to sprint to the left to pick up the short yardage, and first ran into Mahki Washington who slowed him down and then couldn’t fight his way past linebacker Eric Taylor who stuffed Neale for a loss. Taylor has been a rock for the Patriots, even in the midst of the four-game losing skid they ended two weeks ago.
“He’s done that for us all year, he plays when he’s sick, he doesn’t talk much and he does everything we ask him to do,” Isaiah said. “I’m not surprised by what he’s doing.”
That stop set the stage for what became a wild, clock-melting final drive. Anderson piloted the go-ahead drive in the final six minutes, grinding clock and helped along by several solid Anderson runs and an 18-yard pickup by Brock Shorten, helping the senior atone for a second half fumble that had made pulling off the win quite a bit more challenging. After Anderson dashed inside the two, a false start pushed the Patriots back to the five. Anderson again powered down to doorstep of the endzone. Albemarle coach Brandon Isaiah called a timeout with .5 seconds left on the clock and sent Algburi and the field goal unit out.
After an offsides penalty on Charlottesville, Algburi reset the block, took his steps and calmly kicked the ball through the uprights before sprinting toward midfield in celebration.
“Last year it was Nick Marstloff against Monticello, I’m just glad to be on this side of it,” Isaiah said. “We needed this win in a major way.”
The Patriots jumped out to a 14-0 lead to open the game, but Charlottesville cut the lead to 14-7 late in the first half on a Sabias Folley plunge. The Black Knights then took a 15-14 lead with 9:27 left in the third with a two-point conversion after a 37-yard touchdown run by Folley, who finished with 145 yards. That’s when the duel between Folley and Anderson kicked into high gear. Anderson answered Folley’s early second quarter touchdown with a 64-yard sprint for a score less than a minute later. Then four minutes later, after an Albemarle fumble, Folley struck again on a 46-yard touchdown run. Anderson again answered almost immediately, a 68-yard scoring run that put Albemarle up 29-22.
“It’s always a great feeling to duel with somebody,” Anderson said. “Sabias is a great running back and he’s only a junior so him being a junior and running like that is just scary. For our defense to just step up in front of him and make tackles is a great feeling.”
The Black Knights tied it back up late in the third with Rakeem Davis, who rushed for 120 yards, scoring to knot the game at 29-29. Charlottesville appeared to be in position to score and take control on the fourth quarter drive that ended in Taylor’s big play, but the turnover on downs proved costly as Albemarle milked the clock and ended the game with the field goal.
“We felt like we figured some stuff out at halftime and I think we were but it was critical, that one fourth down and I called the wrong play and put us in a bad position,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry. “We competed all night, it just wasn’t enough.”
The Patriots (3-4), now winners of two-in-a-row and 3-4 on the season, will travel to square off against Fluvanna next week. Charlottesville (5-2) will look to get back on track at home against Western Albemarle.
Albemarle’s Eric Taylor talks about his stop on fourth down that setup a game-winning drive in First Off the Field presented by @PT_acac pic.twitter.com/G7yvPcCJzx
— scrimmageplay (@scrimmageplay) October 14, 2017
