The curtain closed on the Rockbridge County High School football season with a 39-0 home loss to Shenandoah District rival Alleghany on Friday night at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium in Lexington.
The Cougars (9-1 overall, 7-1 district), who will advance to the Region 3C playoffs as the No. 5 seed, got an outstanding game from senior quarterback Des Jordan, who completed 16-of-18 passes with one interception for 184 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 40 yards and two scores on eight carries.
The Wildcats ended the season, during which they were constantly dealing with injuries, with an overall record of 0-10 and record of 0-8 in their first year in the Shenandoah District. RC moved from the Valley District to the Shenandoah this year, with shorter travel distances, but the competition didn’t get any easier. Last year, RC went 2-8 overall and 2-4 in the Valley District.
“This was a tough season,” said firstyear RC head coach Zack Rhodenizer, who replaced Martin Cox at the helm after Cox guided the Wildcats to a 6-24 record over three years. “We stepped into the Shenandoah, where the teams are good, the competition’s stiff, and we played our young guys, and they learned, and they grew.”
“Injuries are not something that we want to use as an excuse,” added Rhodenizer. “It gave an opportunity for some of our young guys to play.”
After the public address announcer recognized veterans in honor of Veterans Day (yesterday) before the game, Alleghany scored on its first drive when Jordan made an 11-yard run into the end zone on fourth-and-1 midway through the first quarter. RC senior Aiden Meyers blocked the extra-point attempt, but the Cougar defense would get the ball back later in the quarter. Alleghany scored again when Jordan completed a 12-yard TD pass to Austin Greene, and Mason Hale’s extrapoint kick extended the Cougars’ lead to 13-0 with 1:49 left in the first quarter.
Hale made things challenging for the RC offense by constantly launching kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.
Jordan completed two more TD passes in the second quarter, a 28-yarder to Greene and a 4-yarder to May, stretching the Cougars’ lead to 26-0 by halftime. The Wildcats did get their fans excited late in the quarter when senior Trevor Hoke intercepted Jordan at the RC 9-yard line, and RC freshman quarterback connected well with his receivers to get the Wildcats close to midfield. However, an RC fumble put the Wildcats back to their 28-yard line, and they turned the ball over on downs after senior Tyler Woods faked a punt and threw an incomplete pass.
On the final play of the first half, Alleghany’s Elijah Leisure-White intercepted Tyree and ran the ball back to the RC 37-yard line, where he was tackled by Xavier Flowers as time expired.
The Cougars scored their final two TDs in the third quarter, on a 55-yard run by Brady May and on a 6-yard run by Jordan.
Early in the fourth quarter, Tyree went out of the game after he was sacked and took a hard hit. Sophomore Carson Fridley played quarterback for the Wildcats for the rest of the game. After they got the ball back, the Cougars milked the running clock for the rest of the game.
Tyree concluded an impressive freshman year with a strong game, completing 13-of-19 passes with one interception for 130 yards. “I feel like I had a pretty good game,” said Tyree.
Grateful for his offensive line, Tyree said, “The line gave me a lot of time, which I really appreciated. They did their best, and it helped a lot.”
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Cougars dominated the running game, racking up 176 rushing yards while holding the Wildcats to minustwo rushing yards. For the game, Alleghany amassed 360 total yards of offense, while RC had 128 yards of offense. May led the Cougars with 76 rushing yards on five carries, Carter Nicely ran for 44 yards on eighth totes.
Greene led Alleghany’s receivers with five catches for 71 yards, while Talyn Elliott caught two passes for 35 yards, and May made three catches for 31 yards. Pat Looney led the Wildcats, making four catches for 38 yards, while Andrew Kelly caught three passes for 36 yards, and Meyers made three catches for 28 yards.
Defensively, while the Cougars were hard for the Wildcats to stop, among those making tackles for the Wildcats were Flowers, Looney, Harvey Presnell, Price Lunsford and Caleb Robinson.
Before the game, the Wildcats honored their 13 seniors: Flowers, Meyers, Hoke, Kelly, Lunsford, Robinson, Woods, Grayden Brown, Ben Davis, Joseph Dorey, Marshall Earhart, Tyler Watson and Carlos Yebra.
All of the seniors were in the game in the final moments, and the coaches allowed them to do a senior walk to be recognized by fans after the game.
“It’s nice to take a moment at the end of the game and give the seniors their moment because each year, you’re nothing without your old guys,” said Rhodenizer. “Those guys bought in, and they did the things we asked. They came in the offseason, and they did everything you ask a football player to do. I’m proud of those guys. We’ll miss this guys, but once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat, so when they come back around, we’ll welcome them. We look forward to seeing them in the stands, and maybe one of these days, coaching their kids.”
The seniors went through some tough times, with two winless seasons in the last three years. They helped the Wildcats keep games close early this season, with a 21-11 loss at Parry McCluer in the season opener, and seven-point losses to Staunton in Waynesboro in September, before injuries and other struggles kept the Wildcats from keeping the rest of their games close.
Looking ahead, Rhodenizer is optimistic about his underclassmen and the middle school players who are moving up to the high school level. “In the offseason, we’re gonna watch a lot of film and lift a lot of weights, kind of hone in on the techniques that we’ve installed and start to play faster,” he said. “We want to get away from thinking every play and start playing fast. That’s gonna be one of the rally cries of the offseason, to start moving fast.”
“We’re gonna hit the weight room, gonna hit the offseason with everything we’ve got, and we’re gonna grow,” added Rhodenizer.
In the huddle after the game, Rhodenizer told his players, “Look, growing’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna require some sweat, some blood.”
“We’re gonna move some weights, but the foundation is there,” added Rhodenzier. “We’re excited moving forward.”
WILDCAT SENIOR wide receiver Aiden Meyers runs with the ball, leaving Alleghany’s Jayvon Myers (33) trailing. Meyers made three catches for 28 yards. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
