Muddy Thursday Shutout

Broadway Routs Rockbridge In Valley Opener

By Jonathan Schwab

The Rockbridge County High School football team suffered a 41-0 road loss to Broadway in the Valley District opener on a muddy and slippery field on Thursday night.

Running back Uriah Rutan rushed for two touchdowns on homecoming night for the Gobblers (3-2 overall, 1-0 district), who led 24-0 at halftime and dominated on both sides of the ball. The Wildcats (0-5, 0-1), who suffered their first shutout loss of the season, have lost 16 consecutive games, dating back to November 2022.

Like many games in the area, the game was moved up from Friday to Thursday due to heavy rain on Friday, but the field conditions were already sloppy because of rain throughout last week.

After preventing the Wildcats from getting a first down on their opening possession, Broadway scored on its first drive. Following a series of passes and runs, Broadway quarterback Brenden Glovier completed a 12-yard TD pass to Jordan Ennis with 6:20 left in the first quarter, and a twopoint conversion run by Renick Billmeyer put the Gobblers up 8-0. For the game, Glovier completed 5-of-12 passes for 52 yards.

Making tackles for losses, the Gobblers kept the Wildcats from getting past midfield again. The Wildcats played solid defense to prevent any more scoring in the first quarter, but Broadway recovered a Wildcat fumble at the RC 4-yard line midway through the second quarter. From there, Gobbler running back Jaday Castillo Luis ran it in, and he followed up with a twopoint conversion run to extend Broadway’s lead to 16-0 with 5:12 left in the first half.

The Gobblers added to their lead when Uriah Rutan returned an RC punt 30 yards for a TD with 42.3 seconds left. The Gobblers were called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that pushed them back 15 yards after the TD, but Glovier still found Rutan for a long two-point conversion pass completion to give Broadway a 24-0 halftime lead.

Broadway scored on its first drive of the second half, making a series of runs before Rutan took the ball 30 yards into the end zone, and he followed up with a two-point conversion run to extend the Gobblers’ lead to 32-0 just 1:39 into the second half.

The Wildcats recovered a couple of fumbles on their next drive, running the ball to the Broadway 36-line before sophomore quarterback Elijah Watkins was tackled for a 5-yard loss, and the Wildcats punted on fourth-and-14.

In the fourth quarter, the Gobblers scored on a safety when the Wildcats recovered their own fumble. Broadway’s Edwin Twyman IV made a tackle in the end zone to stretch his team’s lead to 34-0 with 7:41 left.

Broadway scored again on its next drive, making a series of runs before Glovier connected with Darnell Vandevander on a 15-yard pass that put the Gobblers six yards from the end zone. From there, Tanner Hinkle ran the ball in for the Gobbler’s final TD, and Dillon Rhodes converted the extrapoint kick with 4:35 left.

On their final drive, the Wildcats got the ball to the Broadway 29-yard line, but the Gobblers pushed them back, and time ran out before RC could get any closer.

The Gobblers, who had their largest margin of victory of the season against the Wildcats, dominated the running game, racking up 138 yards while holding the Wildcats to 13 rushing yards. In total, with Watkins passing for just six yards, the Wildcats had 19 total yards of offense, while Broadway had 190 yards of offense.

Rutan led all players with 75 rushing yards on three carries, while Mason Dellinger was Broadway’s second-leading rusher with 44 yards on six totes. Gabe Wade paced RC with 51 yards on six carries, while freshman Asher Wells carried the ball once for 16 yards. The Gobblers tackled Watkins in the backfield often, as the quarterback carried the ball 11 times for minus-42 yards. The Wildcats were without starting running back Pat Looney due to injury, and senior leader Jayden Layman was limited to one yard on two carries.

Reviewing the game, RC head coach Martin Cox admitted the Wildcats had their hands full with the Gobblers. “Broadway is a good team,” said Cox.

The RC coach credited Broadway head coach Danny Grogg for getting their program back on the right track after longtime head coach Brad Lutz stepped down in 2018. “He does a great job,” said Cox of Grogg. “He has picked up where Coach Lutz left off a few years ago, and he’s bringing them back to where they were.”

On the other side, Grogg was pleased with how his team bounced back after a tough 19-14 loss at Fort Defiance the previous Friday. Grogg said the key was “just executing. We played one half last week. You’ve got to put four quarters together. With ballclubs like this, we knew that they’ve been struggling, and we wanted to keep them struggling. Sometimes, you’ve got to beat teams that you should beat, and our team accomplished that tonight in executing in all three phases [offense, defense and special teams].”

RC got a strong kicking game from Tyler Woods, stepping in for injured kicker Aiden Meyers. “Tyler Woods, story of the game,” said Cox. “Great effort.”

Playing well defensively for the Wildcats was Wells with eight tackles, including one tackle for loss. Also making tackles for RC were Layman, Marshall Earhart, Kyle Knick and Price Lunsford.

The Wildcats will continue district action when they play host to East Rockingham (3-2, 1-0) Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.

Looking ahead, Cox said, “We’ve just got to keep getting better.”