Wildcats Hope To ‘Get Strong, Get Fast And Eliminate Mistakes’
With a new artificial turf field and 23 returning players, the Rockbridge County High School football team is excited about the upcoming season. The 2026 campaign will kick off when the Wildcats play host to local rival Parry McCluer on Friday at 7 p.m. at Prasnicki-Ross Stadium at Veterans Field in Lexington.
In Zack Rhodenizer’s first year as the Wildcats’ head coach last season, the team went 0-10 overall and 0-8 in their first year in the Shenandoah District.
Despite the winless campaign, the Wildcats showed improvement throughout the course of last fall, during which they constantly dealt with injuries. Rhodenizer said the Wildcats “were learning a new system. We were also playing in a new district, so you try to get a feel for everybody, but we certainly saw progress as the year went on.”
The Wildcats graduated 13 seniors from last year’s team, led by three all-district selections: punter Tyler Woods, running back and defensive back Andrew Kelly, and Aiden Meyers, who was a wide receiver, defensive back and kicker. Meyers and linemen Caleb Robinson and Xavier Flowers, also seniors last year, are continuing their academic and football careers at Division III school Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista.
This year, the Wildcats have 35 players: nine seniors, 15 juniors, 10 sophomores and one freshman.
Rhodenizer said the Wildcats are glad to play on the new turf field surface, built to professional-grade standards and designed to handle the heavy use that has worn down the school’s previous grass field over the years. “Being able to practice on a good surface when it rains will be huge, and it’ll be good for other sports, too,” said Rhodenizer.
While the turf was being installed over the summer, the Wildcats had their practices and home 7-on-7 scrimmages on their practice field. It was a productive summer, with strong participation and five 7-on-7 scrimmages.
The Wildcats planned to name captains this week, and Rhodenizer said he was confident in the team’s leaders.
One of the returning leaders is senior Pat Looney, wide receiver and safety. Looney made impressive catches last year and played well on defense. “He’s a great guy,” said Rhodenizer.
Returning as the Wildcats’ starting quarterback is sophomore Taylan Tyree, who had an impressive freshman year of passing and rushing. The Wildcats run a spread offense, and Tyree will be counted on to lead the way.
“He’s growing,” said Rhodenizer. “He’s doing a good job.”
In addition to Looney, the Wildcats have nine eight other wide receivers: seniors Maliq Corbin, Peyton Fix, Brenden Staley and Cam Whitlock; juniors Harvey Presnell, Cole Fine, Carson Fridley and Brennen Tomlin; and sophomore Kolin Bennington. First-year varsity wide receivers are sophomores Trey Rhamey and Wyatt Orebaugh.
Returning at running back and defensive lineman is junior Asher Wells, while senior John Clements and junior Marquis Corbin also bring experience as running backs. Moving up from the junior varsity team is sophomore running back Jhordane Campbell.
Looney will take on some of the Wildcats’ kicking duties, and Rhamey will also be helping. “We’re doing a little work looking around for a kicker,” said Rhodenizer.
The Wildcats return nearly all of their offensive and defensive linemen. Back from last year are seniors Billy Chittum, Finn D’Antonio and Piercen Knick; juniors Bryson Brown, Isaiah Ezell, Cole Hartless, Bryce Taylor, Shayde Tomlin and Parker Zollman; and sophomore William Wallen, who played the second half of his freshman season. Sophomore Ethan Armstrong joins the varsity squad as a lineman.
Adding depth to the roster are several first-year varsity players: junior tight end and outside linebacker A.J. Morris, sophomore tight end and middle linebacker Reilley Culton, sophomore defensive end and tight end Eli Ramsey, sophomore outside linebacker and tight end Hudson Pugh, junior tackle Chance Gaines and sophomore tackle Michael Riccioni. The Wildcats’ lone freshman on the varsity team is Micah Floyd, a tight end and middle linebacker.
The Wildcats have had two scrimmages, a jamboree at James River High School in Buchanan on Aug. 14 and a scrimmage at Staunton River High School in Moneta last Friday. Following the jamboree, Rhodenizer said, “It’s not extremely game-like because you’re trying to practice specific things, but at the same time, the guys came out and played well, played hard. We gave up one big play to Craig County, but Craig County won 10 games last year. The defense played well against James River. Offense played well against Craig. I didn’t have any major complaints. The big thing was, nobody got hurt.”
The Wildcats have a familiar coaching staff, with five assistant coaches returning from last year. Robert Rhodenizer, father of Zack, is in charge of the offensive line and linebackers. Pete Lampman returns as the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. Also coming back is Adam Doll-Hennis, who coaches the running backs, linebackers and special teams. Philip Shapiro, who was the defensive quality control coach for the football team at Virginia Military Institute last year, joins the staff and will coach the defensive backs and wide receivers.
The head coach for the junior varsity team, which has its largest squad in several years, is Lyle Pugh. Bob Harrison and David Wells coach the JV offensive and defensive lines, while William Ware joins the staff to coach JV running backs and linebackers. Zack Rhodenizer is also pleased that the Maury River Middle School football team, which brought back its program two years ago for the first time in 24 years, is continuing to grow.
Rhodenizer and his staff have set several goals for the varsity team. “We’re a oneday- at-a-time team,” he said. “We focus on ourselves. We want to eliminate our mistakes, and we think if we play mistake-free football, we should be able to compete with people.”
“Week-to-week, we set specific goals, we want to emphasize this or that,” added Rhodenizer. “The big thing with football is, know your job, do your job. That is a goal that never goes away. We want to execute at a high level. We want to play fast, cut down on the mental mistakes and play the game with as great effort as we can. That’s been the goal of the offseason – get strong, get fast and eliminate mistakes.”
After playing the Fighting Blues this Friday and then traveling to take on Turner Ashby next Friday, Sept. 4 in Bridgewater, the Wildcats will start Shenandoah District action when they play host to Staunton on Friday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. Rhodenizer expects defending district champion Wilson Memorial and Stuarts Draft to be the Wildcats’ toughest opponents. The Wildcats will play host to Draft on Sept. 25 and will entertain WM on Oct. 9. However, he noted that eight of the teams the Wildcats played last year went to the playoffs, and he looks for challenges from district rivals Alleghany, Buffalo Gap, Riverheads and Fort Defiance.
“The whole district is tough,’ said Rhodenizer. “When you watch film, you have a lot of respect for the coaches because they’ve been there for a while. They’ve established what they want to do. They’ve got their guys where they want to be. I don’t think we have a game in district play that’s not a tough game.”
For the matchup against PM this Friday, Rhodenizer said, “It’s a good small-town rivalry. The kids know each other. The parents know each other. It’s a good atmosphere.”
Rhodenizer said he and his players and assistant coaches are looking forward to a challenging season. “The game of football is one of those games – you’ve got to line up and play,” he said. “We recognize that we’re playing good teams, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Editor’s Note: A photo of the RC varsity football team was not made available to The News-Gazette.
