FD Runs Past ‘Cats, 56-14 Indians Snap Skid While RC Loses 19th Straight
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. For the game, Pruiskma led all players with 148 rushing yards on 16 carries. The Indians racked up 287 rushing yards while holding the Wildcats to 81. Other leading rushers for Fort were Corbyn Jack with 55 yards on two carries and Lance Fridley with 47 yards on five totes.
“They’ve got some kids that run the ball well, but our guys played as hard as they could play,” said RC head coach Zack Rhodenizer.
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 the previous Friday’s 62-20 road loss to Riverheads.
For the game, Fridley completed 20-of-31 passes with two interceptions for 218 yards and a TD. His most frequent target was Corbin, who made eight catches for 99 yards. Corbin, who is only in his second year of playing football, said he felt good about his career. “This was probably my best game,” he said.
Rhodenizer said Fridley “did the best he could do with four days of prep.”
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.
Penalties hurt the Wildcats, as they had 13 penalties for 105 yards, while the Indians had just two penalties for 12 yards. The Wildcats also committed four turnovers, two on interceptions and two on fumbles, while the Indians had just one turnover on an interception.
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 TDs in the second quarter, however, on runs by Pruiksma of 22, 30 and 1 yard. After the first TD of the frame, RC’s Culton Reilley hustled to block the extra-point kick attempt by Burgess, but Fort later had a two-point conversion run by Lance Fridley and a PAT by Burgess.
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 Carson Fridley launched the ball but couldn’t find a receiver.
For the game, Berry completed 7-of-11 passes with the interception for 99 yards.
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 completing a 19-yard TD pass to freshman Rylan Mohler for the final score of the game with 4:01 left. For the night, Mohler made two catches for 31 yards. Fort ran the ball a few times before taking a knee at the end of the game.
Among the Wildcats making tackles were Reilly, Ethan Armstrong, Finn D’Antonio and Asher Wells.
Before the game, the Wildcats honored their seven seniors: D’Antonio, Corbin, John Clements, Piercen Knick, Pat Looney, Brenden Staley and Cam Whitlock. Three of the seniors – Clements, Looney and Knick – sat out with injuries.
“We’re banged up a little bit,’ said Rhodenizer. “We’ve got guys playing in different spots.”
The Wildcats will have a bye this week before concluding the season with a district game at Alleghany (4-4, 3-3) next Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m.
Rhodenizer said the Wildcats would “try to get healthy” during the bye week. “We’ll do the best we can in Week 11 against Alleghany.”
“We say it every week,” added the RC coach. “The Shenandoah District’s a good football district. There are no easy opponents.”
