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In a dominant performance from start to finish, the Parry McCluer High School football team cruised to a 56-14 home win over rival Rockbridge County in the season opener at Bobby Williams Field in Buena Vista.
With Jeremiah Brockenbrough making his head coaching debut for PM, the Fighting Blues, who had not beaten the Wildcats since 2016, snapped a five-game losing streak to RC.
Proud of his team for putting on a show in front of a massive crowd, Brockenbrough said, “It’s on these kids right here. We’re gonna win together and lose together, but at the end of the day, they executed everything we asked them to.”
“I think it was a really good team effort all around,” added Brockenbrough. “We blocked. We tackled.”
PM’s defense held the Wildcats to 105 total yards, 93 rushing and 12 passing. “Hats off to the defense,” said Brockenbrough.
The Blues, meanwhile, racked up 298 total yards of offense, with 175 passing yards and 123 rushing yards.
On the other side, second-year RC head coach Martin Cox was clearly disappointed in his team’s debut to the 2023 season. “We played passionless, we didn’t do anything we were taught to do, and they kicked our tail, plain and simple,” said Cox. “All credit to the Blues. They wanted it, and we didn’t.”
“They played the game like they were supposed to, and we didn’t,” added Cox.
Other than in 2020, when the fall season was canceled due to COVID-19, the teams have met every year since the Blues’ last victory in the rivalry. Of the 21 times the two schools have faced off on the football field, RC, a Class 3 school, has won 12 times, while PM, a smaller Class 1 school, has won nine times. The last two meetings were close, with the Wildcats winning 14-6 in 2021 and 32-29 last year.
On Friday night, PM had a strong team defensive effort and an outstanding offensive performance from running back JJ Jones, a transfer from RC, as the senior scored three touchdowns. His first TD came on a 50-yard run just 56 seconds into the game, which started at 8 p.m. instead of 7 out of an abundance of caution due to the heat. For the game, Jones led the Blues with 42 rushing yards on three carries.
“I think JJ is a big addition to our football program,” said Brockenbrough. “He’s got breakaway speed. It’s hard to handle. He’s just got clear vision. He runs the ball well.”
The Wildcats fumbled on their first possession, and PM’s Landon Catlett recovered the ball at the PM 36-yard line. The Blues scored when sophomore quarterback Nathan Glass, making his first start, threw the first of his three TD passes on a 21yard toss to Aaron Pruett with 5:19 left in the first quarter, and a two-point conversion run by Jackson Brockenbrough extended PM’s lead to 14-0. For the game, Glass had an impressive debut, completing 6-of-10 passes for 123 yards.
PM added two more TDs in the quarter. Glass completed a pass to Jones for an 80-yard TD. A recovery of another RC fumble by Glass then gave the ball back to the Blues, but they got to the RC 44-yard line before punting on fourth-and-10.
The Wildcats got the ball at their own 1-yard line, but, on the next play, Pruett recovered an RC fumble at the 1-yard line and ran the ball into the end zone. A two-point conversion run by Jones stretched PM’s lead to 28-0 with 49 seconds left in the quarter.
PM added two more TDs in the second quarter, on a 34-yard run by Parker Camden and a 5-yard pass from Glass to Jackson Brockenbrough, and took a 43-0 lead into halftime.
With a running clock in the second half because the lead was 35 points or more, the Wildcats finally got on the scoreboard just past the midway point of the third quarter. After Price Lunsford recovered a PM fumble at the Blues’ 41yard line, the Wildcats made a series of runs to set up junior quarterback Jayden Layman for a 2-yard TD run. However, the Blues responded right away with a kickoff return of about 65 yards for a TD by Jones, and an extra-point kick made it 50-6.
RC scored its other TD at the end of the third quarter when Josiah Saunders made a 1-yard plunge into the end zone, and Layman passed to JP Welsh for a two-point conversion, cutting PM’s lead to 50-14.
PM sophomore running back Zavion Dunn scored the final TD of the game on a 13-yard run with 1:58 left.
The Blues did a good job running the ball the whole night. While Jones led PM, Dunn rushed for 41 yards on six carries, Camden had 31 rushing yards on three totes, Pruett carried the ball once for 24 yards, and Jackson Brockenbrough rushed for 23 yards on nine carries. Stepping up in his first varsity game was PM sophomore Tyler Wade, who rushed for 15 yards on four totes.
While the Wildcats’ performance left a lot to be desired, one bright spot was running back Elijah Fox, who led all players with 79 rushing yards on nine carries. The rest of the Wildcats were held to under 20 yards, however, with Saunders rushing for 17 yards on three carries.
The Wildcats also struggled with turnovers, losing the ball four times on fumbles, while the Blues turned the ball over once on a fumble.
Layman, who started some at quarterback last year, had just one completed pass in five attempts on Friday, completing a 12-yard pass to Simon Emore.
Both the Blues and Wildcats will play at home on Friday at 7 p.m., with RC facing Staunton (0-1) and PM taking on Cumberland (0-1).
While the Wildcats try to refocus, Brockenbrough and the Blues will aim to improve to 2-0 against a solid football team. “I’m super excited for the direction this program’s going,” said Brockenbrough.
RC 0 0 14 0 14
PM 28 15 7 6 56
First Quarter PM – Jones 50 run (pass failed) PM – Pruett 21 pass from Glass (Brockenbrough run) PM – Jones 80 pass from Glass (run failed) PM – Pruett 1 fumble recovery (Jones run) Second Quarter PM – Camden 34 run (Pruett run) PM – Brockenbrough 5 pass from Glass (Conley kick) Third Quarter RC – Layman 2 run (run failed) PM – Jones 65 kickoff return (Glass kick) RC – Saunders 1 run (Welsh pass from Layman) Fourth Quarter PM – Dunn 13 run (run failed) RC PM
First downs 7 8 Rushes-yards 27-93 21-175 Passing yards 12 123 Comp-Att-Int 1-5-0 6-10-0 Fumbles-lost 6-4 2-1 Penalties-yards 4-35 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – RC, Fox 9-79, Saunders 3-17, Wade 4-2, Team 1-2, Maxwell 4-(-1), Layman 6-(-6). PM, Jones 3-42, Dunn 6-41, Camden 3-31, Pruett 1-24, Brockenbrough 9-23, Wade 4-15, Glass 1-(-1).
PASSING – RC, Layman 1-5-0 12. PM, Glass 6-10-0 123. RECEIVING –RC, Emore 1-12. PM, Jones 1-80, Pruett 3-38, Camden 1-0.
