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Big First Half Propels Storm Past Wildcats
Despite a strong finish, the Rockbridge County High School football team fell 42-21 at Staunton in its first road game of the season on Friday night at Winston Wine Memorial Stadium in Gypsy Hill Park.
It was an improved effort from when the two teams met last year, when Staunton cruised to a 42-0 win in Lexington.
On Friday, 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 extrapoint attempts. Staunton would score again when Marc Geffrard made a 6-yard TD run with 5:56 left in the opening frame extended home team’s lead to 14-7.
It was a big night for Marc Geffrard, who led all players with 108 rushing yards on seven carries and scored four TDs.
The Wildcats fumbled the ball on their next drive, and Staunton recovered it at the RC 43-yard line. The Storm scored again when Marc Geffrard ran it in from 25 yards out, and 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 completed a 17-yard TD pass to Thomas Chisley. For the game, McCauley completed 2-of-5 passes for 27 yards.
With just under eight minutes to go in the half, Marc Geffrard broke loose for a 55-yard punt return for a TD, giving the Storm a 35-7 lead. He scored the final Staunton TD of the game by making a 9-yard run with 2:27 to go before halftime, 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 ran it in from four yards out 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 got their fans excited again by making 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.
As a team, the Storm racked up 236 total yards of offense, 209 rushing and 27 passing, while holding the Wildcats to 87 total yards, 83 rushing and four passing. Other than Marc Geffrard, Staunton’s top rushers were Tymek Strother with 50 yards on eight carries and McAuley with 36 yards on seven totes. Looney led RC with 47 yards on eight carries, Layman had 16 yards on five carries, and backup quarterback Eli Sorrells rushed for 11 yards on 13 totes and completed the only pass of the night for the Wildcats, a 4-yard toss to Wade.
RC and Staunton each had two turnovers, with the Storm fumbling twice and the Wildcats turning the ball over on the fumble in the first quarter and an interception of Sorrells in the fourth quarter.
Penalties were cleaner than in the Wildcats’ 33-16 loss to Parry McCluer in the season opener a week earlier in Lexington. Against Staunton, the Wildcats had four penalties for 30 yards, while Staunton had seven penalties for 40 yards.
Reviewing the game and looking ahead, RC head coach Martin Cox had a simple statement. “We’ve just got to keep getting better,” he said.
On Friday, the Wildcats will face another tough nondistrict rival on the road when they take on Alleghany (2-0) at 7 p.m.
RC 7 0 0 14 21
SHS 21 21 0 0 42
First Quarter RC – Sorrells 3 run (Meyers kick) SHS – McCauley 54 run (L. Geffrard kick) SHS – M. Geffrard 6 run (L. Geffrard kick) SHS – M. Geffrard 25 run (L. Geffrard kick) Second Quarter SHS – Chisley 17 pass from McCauley (L. Geffrard kick) SHS – M. Geffrard 55 punt return (L. Geffrard kick) SHS – M. Geffrard 9 run (L. Geffrard kick) Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter RC – Layman 4 run (P. Looney pass from Watkins) RC – Wade 3 run (pass failed) RC SHS
First downs 7 6 Rushes-yards 38-83 28-209 Passing yards 4 27 Comp-Att-Int 1-6-1 2-5-0 Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-2 Penalties-yards 4-30 7-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – RC, Looney 8-47, Layman 5-16, Sorrells 11-13, Earhart 2-6, Fox 2-1, Wade 6-0, Watkins 4-0. SHS, M. Geffrard 7-108, Strother 8-50, McCauley 7-36, Woodard 3-17, Stuart 2-1, Shepherd 1-(-3).
PASSING – RC, Watkins 1-3-1 4, Layman 0-3-0 0. SHS, McCauley 2-5-0 27.
RECEIVING – RC, Wade 1-4. SHS, Chisley 1-17, Shepherd 1-10.
WILDCAT SENIOR Jayden Layman attempts to tackle a Staunton player as the Storm build up a comfortable first-quarter lead. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
WITH STAUNTON’S Lennon Hartless (12) and Dontrae Hinton (1) trying to stop him, RC junior running back Marshall Earhart runs with the ball as teammate Kyle Knick (25) watches. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
RC SENIOR JP Welsh III holds the ball for a kick by junior teammate Aiden Meyers, who converted the extra point to give the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
