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Despite a strong finish, the Rockbridge County High School football team fell 42-21 at Staunton in its first road game on Friday night at Winston Wine Memorial Stadium at Gypsy Hill Park.
The Wildcats (0-2), who outscored Staunton 14-0 in the second half, scored the first touchdown of the game under three minutes in, but the Storm (1-1) scored the next six TDs to take a 42-7 halftime lead.
After the Storm defense stopped the Wildcats on their first drive, Staunton fumbled the ball on its first offensive play, and RC lineman Price Lunsford recovered the ball at the Staunton 3-yard line. Eli Sorrells then scored on a 3-yard TD, and Aiden Meyers made an extra-point kick to put RC up 7-0 with 9:03 left in the first quarter.
The Storm, however, quickly took back the momentum. On its next drive, Staunton scored when quarterback Maliq McCauley broke away from defenders for a 54-yard TD rush, and Luc Geffrard’s PAT tied the game 7-7 with 8:23 left in the first quarter. Geffrard made all six of his extra-point attempts. Staunton would score again when Marc Geffrard made a 6-yard TD run with 5:56 left in the opening frame extended RC’s lead to 14-7.
The Wildcats fumbled the ball on their next drive, and Staunton recovered it at the RC 43-yard line, and the Storm scored again when Marc Geffrard made a 25-yard TD run, Staunton led 21-7 with 2:17 left in the first quarter.
Staunton extended its lead to 28-7 with 10:26 left in the first half when McCauley made a 17-yard TD pass to Thomas Chisley. With just under eight minutes to go in the half, Marc Geffrard made a 55-yard punt return for a TD, and the Storm led 35-7. He scored his fourth TD of the night and the final Staunton TD of the game by making a 9-yard run with 2:27, as Staunton stretched its lead to 42-7.
The third quarter was scoreless, but the Wildcats had a bright spot defensively when Gabe Wade recovered a Staunton fumble at the RC 16-yard line late in the quarter.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Wildcats forced a turnover on downs at the Staunton 18-yard line. After making several short runs, RC scored when starting quarterback Jayden Layman made a 4-yard TD run with 4:51 left. Backup quarterback Elijah Watkins then passed to Pat Looney for a two-point conversion run to cut Staunton’s lead to 42-15.
The Wildcats then made a successful onside kick that RC’s Trevor Hoke recovered at the Staunton 39-yard line. From there, led by Looney’s runs, the Wildcats moved the ball down the field to set up Wade for a 3-yard TD run with 45.3 seconds left.
Next up the Wildcats will travel to Covington to take on Alleghany (2-0) next Friday at 7 p.m.
For the full story, photos and stats, with a prediction for next week, please see our Sept. 11 newspaper.
