.jpg)
In its most lopsided loss of the season, the Rockbridge County High School football team fell to Valley District rival Spotswood 64-6 on Thursday night in Penn Laird.
After trailing 50-0 at halftime and 57-0 early in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats (0-8 overall, 0-4 district) scored their lone touchdown when lineman Brady Edwards recovered a Spotswood fumble to set up quarterback Jayden Layman for an 18-yard touchdown pass to Simon Emore.
For the Trailblazers (8-1, 4-0), who have won eight consecutive games and will challenge Turner Ashby for the Valley District title, quarterback Elliott Brown threw four TD passes, two to wide receiver Matt Craig. After TA (8-0, 4-0) visits the Wildcats this Friday, Spotswood and TA will meet in the final game of the regular season next Friday, Nov. 3.
Giving credit to the Wildcats’ opponent, RC head coach Martin Cox said, “Everything’s tough about Spotswood. They’re a good team.”
The game was moved from Friday to Thursday due to the forecast of rain for Friday.
RC stopped the Blazers on their first possession, but Spotswood then got its offense going. A series of runs and passes set up Brown for a 25-yard TD pass to Rayne Deane. An extra-point kick by Yafet Kflom, who was 8-of-8 for the game, put the Blazers up 7-0 with 4:21 left in the first quarter.
Spotswood, which honored its 15 seniors in its final home game of the regular season, held the Wildcats in their own territory on their next possession. The Blazers scored on the first play of their next drive when Brown passed the ball to Craig, who ran away from defenders for a 59-yard TD. Spotswood then faked an extra-point kick, and Dean passed to Justin Barnes to extend the Blazers’ lead to 15-0 with 2:06 left in the first quarter.
For the game, Brown completed 8-of-12 passes for 202 yards, with Craig making two TD catches for 69 yards.
On their next possession, the Wildcats faced fourth-and-5 from their own 30-yard line, and Aiden Meyers punted the ball to the 50-yard line. From there, Brown tossed the ball to Parker Constable, who evaded defenders for a 50-yard TD. Kflom’s PAT stretched Spotswood’s lead to 22-0 with 18.3 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Following a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, Wildcats started their next drive at their own 20yard line. On the first play, they fumbled the ball, and Spotswood’s Jackson Graves recovered it and returned the ball to the end zone for a 28-yard TD. A PAT by Kflom made it 29-0 with 9.8 seconds left in the first quarter.
Spotswood carried the momentum into the second quarter, getting the ball back in the first minute and gradually running the ball down the field to set up Brown for a 10-yard TD pass to Craig, with Kflom’s PAT extending the Blazers’ lead to 36-0 with 8:26 left in the first half.
The Blazers scored their next TD when Levar Robinson returned the Wildcats’ punt 64 yards for a TD, and the PAT made it 43-0 with 5:06 left in the first half. Spotswood’s final TD of the half came when Ortigosa made a 34-yard run to the end zone with 1:51 left, and the PAT made it 50-0.
The Wildcats only earned two first downs in the first half, both late in the second quarter, and had five first downs in the entire game, while Spotswood had eight first downs – a low number due to the long runs and three TDs scored by defense or special teams.
Just before halftime, Craig intercepted a pass by Layman near midfield, one of two turnovers for the Wildcats. Layman had a rough night, completing 4-of-13 passes with the interception for 47 yards, with Emore catching two passes for 34 yards.
Because the Blazers’ lead was 35 points or more, the teams played the second half with a running clock.
Spotswood scored just under two minutes into the third quarter when Jack Parlee sprinted away from the defenders for a 63-yard TD, and the PAT made it 57-0.
The Blazers put in a lot of their reserves for most of the second half, and the Wildcats finally had a small offensive spark when Layman completed a 9-yard pass to JP Welsh and followed that up with a 17-yard pass to Emore to advance the ball to the Spotswood 28-yard line. After short runs by Josiah Saunders and Gabriel Wade, the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs, but Edwards then recovered Spotswood’s fumble at the Blazers’ 18-yard line. It was the only turnover of the night for Spotswood.
Layman then completed an 18-yard TD pass to Emore. “That was great,” said Cox of the play to avoid the shutout. A two-point conversion run attempt by Meyers was stopped, but the Wildcats were finally on the scoreboard, down 57-6 with 4:23 left in the game.
Spotswood then scored the final TD of the game on a 65-yard kickoff return by Ja’corey Shelton with 3:59 left.
The Blazers were dominant in every phase of the game. They racked up 379 total yards of offense, with 202 passing yards and 177 rushing yards while holding the Wildcats to 157 total yards, with 47 passing yards and 110 rushing yards.
Spotswood shared the ball well, with nine players earning rushing yards, led by Parlee with 63. Saunders led the Wildcats with 45 rushing yards on 13 carries, while Wade had 39 rushing yards on nine totes.
The Wildcats will return to action when they play host to district rival Turner Ashby (8-0, 4-0) for their final home game of the season on Friday at 7 p.m. Before the game, the Wildcats will honor their nine seniors. RC will conclude the season with a district game at William Monroe next Friday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m.
Looking ahead to the final two games and the practices leading up to them, Cox said, “We’ve just got to keep trying to get better every day.”
RC 0 0 0 6 6 SHS 29 21 7 7 64 First Quarter SHS – Dean 25 pass from Brown (Kflom kick) SHS – Craig 59 pass from Brown (Barnes pass from Dean) SHS – Constable 50 pass from Brown (Kflom kick) SHS – Graves 20 fumble recovery (Kflom kick) Second Quarter SHS – Craig 10 pass from Brown (Kflom kick) SHS – Robinson 64 punt return (Kflom kick) SHS – Ortigosa 34 run (Kflom kick) SHS – Parlee 63 run (Kflom kick) Fourth Quarter RC – Emore 18 pass from Layman (run failed) SHS – Shelton 65 kickoff return (Kflom kick) RC SHS
First downs 5 8 Rushes-yards 39-110 24-177 Passing yards 47 202 Comp-Att-Int 4-13-1 8-12-0 Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1 Penalties-yards 1-5 3-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – RC, Saunders 13-45, Wade 9-39, Grimm 6-15, Layman 3-6, Fox 3-5, Meyers 3-1, Emore 1-1, Team 1-(-2). SHS, Parlee 1-63, Ortigosa 3-40, Dean 1-18, Rodriguez 4-16, Craig 2-16 Reese 2-14, Cekada 4-12, Furr 2-4, Brown 5-(-6).
PASSING – RC, Layman 4-13-1 47. SHS, Brown 8-12-0 202.
RECEIVING – RC, Emore 2-34, Welsh 1-9, Fox 1-4. SHS, Craig 2-69, Constable 1-50, Dean 1-25, Barnes 1-20, Hamilton 1-15, Cekada 1-12, Ortigosa 1-11.
