In its final home game of the season, the Rockbridge County High School football team suffered a 56-14 loss to Shenandoah District rival Fort Defiance on Friday night at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium in Lexington.
Star running back Jimmy Pruiksma scored all five of the Indians’ touchdowns in the first half, starting with an 85-yard return to the end zone on the opening kickoff, as Fort (3-5 overall, 2-4 district) raced to a 35-8 halftime lead.
With the win, the Indians snapped a four-game losing streak, while the Wildcats fell to 0-9 overall and 0-7 in the district, suffering their 19th consecutive loss.
The Wildcats got their offense moving on their first drive, starting with a 33-yard pass from Carson Fridley to Maliq Corbin to get the Wildcats to the Fort 39-yard line. Fridley, a junior, was making his first start at quarterback, after sophomore quarterback Taylan Tyree suffered a broken ankle in last Friday’s 62-20 road loss to Riverheads.
With runs by Jhordane Campbell and several more passes by Fridley, the Wildcats got as close to one yard to the end zone, but they then got two five-yard penalties for false starts. A tackle for loss pushed RC back to the Fort 14, but Fridley then made a 10-yard pass to Harvey Presnell to advance RC to the Fort 4. However, with an incomplete pass on the next play, RC turned the ball over on downs.
On Fort’s next drive, Pruiksma scored on an 11-yard run just before the midway point of the first quarter, and an extra-point kick by Isaac Burgess extended the Indians' lead to 14-0.
The Wildcats got their running game going on their next drive, and a 43-yard run by Fridley set up Campbell for a 2-yard TD run. Campbell then ran for a two-point conversion to cut Fort’s lead to 14-8 with 5:22 left in the first quarter.
Fort would score three more TDs in the second quarter, however, on runs by Pruiksma of 22 yards, 30 yards and 1 yard.
Just before halftime, Fridley intercepted Fort quarterback Carter Berry in the end zone and ran the ball back to the Fort 45. The Wildcats got one more play before the half ended, and Fridley launched the ball but couldn’t find a receiver.
On the first drive of the second half, Fort’s Lance Fridley intercepted Carson Fridley and ran the ball back 30 yards for a TD. The Indians added two more TDs in the third quarter, on a 1-yard run by Malik Davis and a 32-yard run by Corbyn Jack, to extend their lead to 56-8.
In the fourth quarter, Carson Fridley connected with Corbin on several passes before making a 19-yard TD pass to freshman Rylan Mohler for the final score of the game with 4:01 left. Fort ran the ball a few times before taking a knee at the end of the game.
Before the game, the Wildcats honored their seven seniors: Corbin, John Clements, Finn D’Antonio, Piercen Knick, Pat Looney, Brenden Staley and Cam Whitlock.
The Wildcats will have a bye next week before concluding the season with a district game at Alleghany (4-4, 3-3) on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m.
For the story, photos and stats, please see our Oct. 28 newspaper.
