A valiant effort to rally from a 28-7 halftime deficit fell short for the Rockbridge County High School football team, which suffered a 28-21 home loss to Shenandoah District rival Waynesboro on Friday night at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium in Lexington.
The Wildcats (0-4 overall, 0-2 district) scored on their first drive, but Waynesboro (2-2, 1-1) capitalized on three turnovers and scored four touchdowns in the first half.
After a 37-yard pass from RC senior quarterback Grayden Brown to Aiden Meyers on the first drive, Brown made short runs to get the Wildcats to the Waynesboro 1-yard line, and Marshall Earhart made a plunge to the end zone with about fourand- a-half minutes into the game. Meyers then converted an extra-point kick to put RC up 7-0. On the ground, Earhart led all players, rushing for 116 yards on 10 carries.
The Little Giants responded with a series of runs and then a 26-yard pass from quarterback Caiden Turner to Casey Breeden. Nashawn Mickens scored from there, and a PAT by Nicholas Rosas tied the game 7-7 with 3:25 left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Breeden intercepted Brown and ran the ball back to the RC 40-yard line. It was the first of three interceptions of Brown, a senior playing quarterback for just the second game, following an injury to freshman Taylan Tyree, who started the first three games at quarterback, during the Wildcats’ 14-7 road loss to Staunton a week earlier. Brown completed 6-of-17 passes for 72 yards.
Proud of Brown’s effort against a tough defense, RC head coach Zack Rhodenizer said, “Tip of the cap to Grayden Brown. He came in last week with an injury to Taylan, stepped up again this week. Quarterback’s a tough position, and he gave it everything he had. A lot of pride in that young man, the way he came out. He kept slugging.”
After the interception, the Little Giants moved the ball down the field, and Ethan Newsome made a 22-yard run to the end zone. A PAT by Rosas gave Waynesboro a 14-7 lead with 6:04 left in the first half. Three minutes later, Breeden intercepted Brown again and ran the ball back about 40 yards for a TD, with another PAT by Rosas extended the visitors’ lead to 21-7.
On the Wildcats’ next drive, Brown was sacked and fumbled the ball, and Waynesboro recovered it at the RC 37-yard line. Several runs by the Little Giants led to a 12-yard TD run by Jared Culmer, and the PAT by Rosas extended the Little Giants’ lead to 28-7 with 44.4 seconds left in the first half.
The Wildcats made adjustments at halftime and played better offensively and defensively. After holding the Little Giants back on the first drive of the second half, the Wildcats blocked a punt, and Andrew Kelly recovered it at the Waynesboro 22yard line. Earhart then ran the ball twice to set up Kelly for a 6-yard TD run. Kelly then made a twopoint conversion run to cut Waynesboro’s lead to 28-15 with 7:45 left in the third quarter.
After the teams traded possessions, Kelly scored on a 10-yard run with 4:59 left in the game to trim the Little Giants’ lead to 28-21. For the game, Kelly rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries.
The Wildcats then stopped the Little Giants on a three-and-out and got the ball back at their own 31yard line. Several runs by RC and a Waynesboro facemask penalty got the Wildcats to the Waynesboro 34-yard line, but Breeden again intercepted Brown, and the Little Giants took a knee to end the game.
Pleased with his team’s effort and willingness to keep battling in the second half, Rhodenizer said, “The big message this week was to come out and play our brand of football, and I think we finally have done that. The offense came alive in the second half. We made a little adjustment here at halftime, and the guys put everything they had into it. I got great effort, I got great kids. Coaches gave everything they had on the sideline.”
Offensively, the Wildcats got the ball moving more, despite coming up short. The Wildcats racked up 263 total yards of offense, 191 rushing and 72 passing, while the Little Giants amassed 191 yards of offense, 143 on the ground and 48 in the air. Mickens led Waynesboro with 62 rushing yards on 11 carries, while Turner rushed for 38 yards on seven carries and completed 5-of-8 passes for 48 yards. Meyers led RC’s receivers with three catches for 45 yards, while Breeden paced Waynesboro with four catches for 42 yards.
One of the key differences in the game, though, was that the Wildcats committed four turnovers, while Little Giants had none.
Rhodenizer was proud of his defense for holding Waynesboro scoreless in the second half. Among those making key tackles were Marquez Flowers, Caleb Robinson and Parker Zollman. “The biggest thing is, the kids are giving it everything they have,” said Rhodenizer. “That’s all I can ask for as a coach. They’re trying to execute the scheme. Defense made an adjustment at halftime. It obviously worked. We held them scoreless in the second half, put 14 more points on the board. A little bit too little, too late.”
The Wildcats will continue district action with a challenge on the road at Stuarts Draft (3-1, 2-0) on Friday at 7 p.m.
WHS 7 21 0 9 28 RC 7 0 8 6 21 First Quarter RC – Earhart 1 run (Meyers kick) WHS – Mickens 1 run (Rosas kick) Second Quarter WHS – Newsome 24 run (Rosas kick)
WHS – Breeden 40 interception return (Rosas kick) WHS – Mickens 12 run (Rosas kick) Third Quarter RC – Kelly 6 run (Kelly run) Fourth Quarter RC – Kelly 6 run (run failed) WHS RC
First downs 8 11 Rushes-yards 29-143 37-191 Passing yards 48 72 Comp-Att-Int 5-8-0 6-17-3 Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-yards 9-70 2-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – WHS, Mickens 11-62, Turner 7-38, Newsome 8-22, Culmer 1-11, T. Jackson 2-10. RC, Earhart 10116, Kelly 16-87, Sorrells 2-(-1), Brown 9-(-11).
PASSING – WHS, Turner 5-8-0 48. RC, Brown 6-17-3 72.
R ECEIVING –WHS, Breeden 4-42, T. Jackson 1-6. RC, Meyers 3-45, Dorey 3-27.
ABOVE, Several Wildcats work together to tackle Waynesboro running back Nashawn Mickens, who led the Little Giants with 62 rushing yards and a touchdown. AT LEFT, RC senior running back Marshall Earhart finds room to move. Earhart led all players with 116 rushing yards and scored the Wildcats’ first touchdown. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photos)
