Wildcats Slay Dragons, 28-6

RC Concludes Football Season With Convincing Win

By Jonathan Schwab With a complete team effort, the Rockbridge County High School football team ended its season on a high note, earning a 28-6 home win over Valley District rival William Monroe on Friday night at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium in Lexington.

Four different Wildcats each scored a touchdown, and RC’s defense stepped up to prevent William Monroe (2-8 overall, 1-5 district) from scoring in the second half.

“Defense played incredible today,” said RC head coach Martin Cox. “They kept us in the ballgame until we could get rolling. I can’t give them enough credit.”

See Wildcats , page A9 After going winless last year, the Wildcats ended the season with a record of 2-8, going 2-4 in the district.

Before the game, the Wildcats honored their 10 seniors: Devin D’Antonio, Brady Edwards, Elijah Fox, Andrew Hughes, Kyle Knick, Jayden Layman, Ashtin Taylor, Gabe Wade, JP Welsh III and Isaiah Woolfrey.

After RC fans rushed the field, Cox was doused with cold water to celebrate the win.

“I’m just really happy for these seniors who stayed the course,” said Cox, completing his third year as RC’s head coach. “They get to walk out of here with the win. It’s all about them today.”

On their first drive of the windy night, the Wildcats ran the ball into WM territory before fumbling the ball, and WM’s Lucas Shifflett recovered the ball at the WM 33-yard line. The Dragons then fumbled on the next play, and RC’s Aiden Meyers recovered the ball at the WM 37.

After a scoreless first quarter, WM took a 6-0 lead when Odell Morton ran for a 10-yard touchdown with 3:25 left in the first half. Meyers then blocked Brendan Strickland’s extra-point kick attempt.

The Dragons’ lead was short-lived, as the Wildcats responded immediately, with Marshall Earhart returning WM’s kickoff 72 yards for a TD. Meyers then converted the extra-point kick to put RC up 7-6 with 2:12 left in the half.

Just before halftime, RC made a big defensive play when WM fumbled the ball in the red zone, and RC linebacker Kyle Knick recovered the ball at the RC 5. The Wildcats then took a knee to let the clock expire on the first half.

RC stayed mostly with its running game in the second half and scored again when sophomore quarterback Elijah Watkins made a 1-yard plunge, and Meyers converted the PAT to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 14-6 with 4:24 left in the third quarter.

After stopping the Dragons in WM territory, the Wildcats scored another TD on a 6-yard run by Meyers, who then converted the PAT to stretch RC’s lead to 21-6 at the clock expired on the third quarter.

The Wildcats scored their final TD on a 3-yard run by Wade with 1:21 left in the game, followed by a PAT conversion by Meyers. Wade also stepped up defensively in the game, recovering a WM fumble on a kickoff return at the start of the fourth quarter.

Thrilled to go out with a win, Wade said, “It meant the world to do it with all my senior friends, to do it with my cousin, [Caleb Robinson], to do it with the whole team.”

“It was so nice to have, especially the last game ever that’s guaranteed,” added Wade, noting that he hopes to play in college. “It was just so nice. The team was all there. Everybody was getting hyped. Everybody was scoring. We were having a good time. It’s nice to go out on Senior Night with a win after a few games of no wins.”

Wade, who rushed for 44 yards on nine carries, said scoring his last TD was “just something personal, last one of the season, lastever game, to score the last touchdown.” Last year, in a seasonending 42-6 road loss to WM, Wade scored the Wildcats’ only TD of the game.

Reflecting on his career, Wade said, “I’m happy with what I’ve done. I’m happy with the team I did it with. It’s been a fun ride. It sucks that it’s gotta end, but they’ve all got to end sometime.”

The Wildcats racked up 245 total yards of offense, all on the ground, while the Dragons were held to 181 total yards, 184 rushing and minus-3 passing. Pat Looney led RC with 85 rushing yards on 13 carries, while Earhart ran the ball eight times for 79 yards, and Meyers rushed for 42 yards on 10 totes.

WM’s Shifflett led all players with 96 rushing yards on nine carries, while Jerry Weakley ran the ball 10 times for 34 yards. Deonte Welcher rushed for 24 yards on four totes, and Odell Morton ran the ball five times for 25 yards.

Neither team threw the ball much, with Watkins tossing two incomplete passes and WM’s Cole Hamblin completing 1-of-6 passes for minus-3 yards.

WM committed three turnovers, all on fumbles, and RC lost the ball once on a fumble.

Among the Wildcats making tackles, including tackles for loss, were D’Antonio, Robinson and Price Lunsford.

The Wildcats will look back on this season as a rebuilding one, with improvement throughout the fall. While they suffered some tough losses, the Wildcats were able to get back in the win column for the first time in nearly two years with a 26-17 road victory over Harrisonburg on Oct. 11.

Again praising his seniors, Cox said, “These guys have stuck around. All of them have been in the program since we [coaches] got here. They haven’t wavered. They’ve played through all this adversity. They’ve taken the losses in stride and tried to get better every day like we asked them. … I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

WM 0 6 0 0 6

RC 0 7 14 7 28

First Quarter No scoring

Second Quarter WM – Morton 10 run (kick blocked) RC – Earhart 72 kickoff return (Meyers kick) Third Quarter RC – Watkins 1 run (Meyers kick) RC – Meyers 6 run (Meyers kick) Fourth Quarter RC – Wade 3 run (Meyers kick) WM RC

First downs 12 10 Rushes-yards 37-184 42-245 Passing yards -3 0 Comp-Att-Int 1-6-0 0-2-0 Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1 Penalties-yards 3-16 9-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – WM, Shifflett 9-96, Weakley 10-34, Welcher 4-24, Morton 5-22, Gault 3-9, Johansen 1-4, Team 1-4, Hearn 2-(-1), Hamblin 2-(-8). RC, Looney 13-85, Earhart 8-79, Wade 9-44, Meyers 10-42, Watkins 2-(-5).

PASSING – WM, Hamblin 1-6-0-(-3). RC, Watkins 0-2-0 0. RECEIVING – WM, Weakley 1-(-3). RC, none.