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In its closest game of the season, the Rockbridge County High School football team came up short 20-14 to Valley District rival Harrisonburg in front of a large homecoming crowd on Friday night at Prasnicki-Ross Field in Lexington.
The Wildcats (0-7 overall, 0-3 district) trailed 20-8 at halftime, but they prevented Harrisonburg (3-3, 2-0) from scoring or even earning a first down in the second half, as the Blue Streaks won their third consecutive game. For the game, the Wildcats had 15 first downs while holding Harrisonburg to five, but with several long runs, the Blue Streaks were able to get into the end zone one more time than RC.
For the first time this season, the Wildcats didn’t commit any turnovers. The ’Cats also held the Blue Streaks to the lowest point total by an opponent this season.
Previously, the Wildcats’ closest game in this rebuilding season was a 47-35 road loss a week earlier at East Rockingham. Before last Friday’s game, 38 points were the fewest scored by an RC opponent this season.
RC junior quarterback Jayden Layman ran for both touchdowns for the Wildcats.
“We played probably the best game we played all year,” said RC head coach Martin Cox. “Harrisonburg’s on a roll. They beat a good team [Amherst County] last week. I’m taking nothing away from them.”
On the second-half shutout, Cox said, “I can’t say enough about [our defense] growing up tonight.”
Following a 14-game losing streak that dated back to 2021, Harrisonburg had earned two home victories, a 12-9 win over East Rockingham and a 25-13 victory over Amherst County.
Against the Wildcats, Harrisonburg scored on its first drive. Following a series of runs, quarterback JJ Engle completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Filipo Toelau. After a missed extra- point kick, the Blue Streaks led 6-0 four-and-a-half minutes into the game.
Overall, the Wildcats did a good job of containing the passing game, as Engle completed just 2-of-6 passes for 34 yards, but he rushed for 77 yards and a TD on three carries. Layman was more successful through the air, completing 7-of-9 passes for 67 yards, and he rushed for 25 yards and the two TDs on eight carries. “He played a heck of a game,” said Cox of Layman.
On RC’s first drive, the Blue Streaks stopped the Wildcats in their own territory. After Harrisonburg received the Wildcats’ punt, Engle escaped defenders and sprinted away for a 65-yard TD run. An extra-point kick by Jonathan Biller extended the Blue Streaks’ lead to 13-0 with 4:09 left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats got their offense going on their next drive. On fourth-and-9, Layman completed a 30-yard pass to Simon Emore to advance RC to the Harrisonburg 9-yard line. Josiah Saunders then ran the ball three times to get the Wildcats closer, setting up Layman for a 3-yard TD run. Layman followed up with a two-point conversion run to cut Harrisonburg’s lead to 13-8 with 8:52 left in the first half.
Saunders led the Wildcats with 87 rushing yards on 21 carries, while Gabriel Wade carried the ball 10 times for 39 yards.
After Layman’s TD, Harrisonburg answered just over a minute later when, on the second play of the next drive, VJ Bullard sprinted away from defenders for a 67-yard TD run. Biller’s PAT extended the Blue Streaks’ lead to 20-8 with 7:47 left in the half.
Bullard led all players with 102 rushing yards on seven carries, helping his team rack up 203 yards on the ground. The Wildcats had 186 rushing yards.
For the night, the Wildcats had more total yards of offense than Harrisonburg, as RC amassed 253 yards while holding the Blue Streaks to 237 yards.
During the halftime ceremony, the homecoming court was introduced. Sawyer Hattersley was named RC’s homecoming king, while Maddie Dahl was crowned as queen.
The Wildcats scored the only points of the second half when a series of runs set up Layman for a 2-yard TD run with 1:09 left in the third quarter. A failed two-point conversion run kept the score at 20-14.
RC had a chance to score again late in the fourth quarter, getting the ball to the Harrisonburg 27-yard line with about a minute left, but an incomplete pass on fourth-and-6 gave the ball back to the Blue Streaks, who took a knee to end the game.
With lineman Brady Edwards making big tackles to lead the RC defense, the Wildcats shut out Harrisonburg over the final 24 minutes.
Pleased that his players were as close as they’ve come to tasting victory this season, Cox said, “I can’t really say anything bad about them. We were a couple breaks away.”
Giving credit to the Blue Streaks for earning the win, Cox said, “They’ve got what we’re trying to get. They’ve got some really good skill players, but that’s also a testament to our defense.” Cox said the Blue Streaks “had some really shifty dudes, and we managed to keep them in the box.”
The Wildcats will have a bye this week before continuing district action when they travel to Penn Laird to face a tough opponent in Spotswood (6-1, 3-0) on Friday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. The Trailblazers have won six consecutive games.
Looking forward to the extra recovery and practice time, Cox said, “We’ve got a little time to keep getting better every day.”
