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Despite improved efforts from the previous week, the Rockbridge County High School football team suffered a 42-0 loss to Staunton in its home opener on Friday night at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium in Lexington.
The Wildcats (0-2), coming off a 56-14 loss in the season opener a week earlier at Parry McCluer, again struggled to take care of the ball in the nondistrict contest, committing four turnovers – two fumbles and two interceptions.
RC head coach Martin Cox chalked up his team’s lopsided loss to inexperience, but he said the effort was more evident. “Let’s just be honest,” he said. “Half these guys have never even been in a varsity game till last week. They’re doing the best they can. I’ve got to give it to them. They played harder this week. They’re trying.”
“They’re getting better, but it’s an uphill battle, but tonight I can say there were some of them who understood last week, and they fought a whole lot harder.”
Staunton (1-1), coming off a 15-14 loss in its season opener a week earlier at Madison County, recovered one of RC’s fumbles on the Wildcats’ kickoff return at the start of the game, at the RC 33-yard line. The Storm scored a touchdown just 1:22 into the game when quarterback Maliq McCauley completed a 16-yard pass to Marc Geffrard for his first of three TDs. Brycen Fields, who made all six of his extra-point kicks, put the Storm up 7-0. For the game, McCauley completed 3-of-5 passes for 57 yards and three TDs.
On its next possession, Staunton fumbled the ball, and RC’s Caleb Robinson recovered it at the Wildcats’ 46-yard line. Two plays later, however, RC quarterback Jayden Layman was intercepted by Staunton’s Jamil Ford. The Storm made a series of runs to set up McCauley for a 15-yard TD screen pass to Kealo Smith, extending Staunton’s lead to 14-0 with 6:14 left in the first quarter.
Layman was intercepted again on RC’s next drive, with Smith picking him off at the RC 35-yard line. On the next play, Geffrard broke loose for a 35-yard TD to stretch the Storm’s lead to 21-0 with 4:35 left in the first quarter.
It was a tough night for Layman, who completed 3-of-12 passes for just 15 yards with the two interceptions and carried the ball once for a yard. Later in the game, Elijah Watkins came in to replace Layman and had one incomplete pass.
After Geffrard’s second touchdown, a series of runs by RC running back Ryan Maxwell got the Wildcats into the red one, but the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs on the Staunton 16-yard line. Maxwell was one of the few bright spots for RC, leading the Wildcats with 89 rushing yards on 17 carries and catching a 14-yard pass.
“Maxwell played his heart out tonight,” said Cox. “Maxwell epitomized what I’m trying to get these dudes to understand Wildcat football’s supposed to be about. He did an excellent job.”
Staunton extended its lead to 28-0 when McCauley connected with Geffrard for a 31-yard TD toss with 8:18 left in the first half. Staunton scored again with 4:25 left in the first half when Braylen Fields made a 21-yard run to the end zone to put the Storm’s lead at 35-0 at intermission.
The teams played the entire second half with a running clock because the lead was 35 points or more, but the Wildcats did play better defensively, holding the Storm to one TD in the half. The score came on a 30-yard run by Braylen Fields with 8:08 left in the third quarter. Fields led all players with 173 rushing yards on 16 carries, while Staunton’s Leon Woodard carried the ball twice for 69 yards. Maxwell had some impressive runs in the third quarter, including a 30-yard run to the Staunton 30-yard line, and got the Wildcats all the way to the Staunton 16-yard line, but RC turned the ball over on downs when Layman threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-4. In the fourth quarter, with a lot of Staunton’s starters resting, Maxwell and running back Daniel Grimm did a good job running the ball for the Wildcats, but Staunton’s defense prevented the Wildcats from reaching the end zone. For the game, Grimm rushed for 64 yards on 11 carries.
The Wildcats will continue nondistrict action with a home game against Alleghany (2-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. Preparing for another tough team in the Cougars, who have started the season with 28-point wins over Waynesboro and Fort Defiance, Cox said, “We’ve got to keep working on what we’ve been working on. We’ve got to get better, and we need experience. No magic bullet there.”
