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Stick with who brung ya: Goochland keeps it simple in win over Orange

Photo: David Hawk

In a season where any simplicity is welcome, Goochland coach Alex Fruth has tried to pound home to his spring 2021 squad that the Bulldogs’ identity is and always be the same.

 

“Today we stuck to what we do — that was the (former coach and current athletic director) Joe Fowler playbook,” said Goochland coach Alex Fruth. “Control the ball. Find a way to eat clock and I don’t care what century we’re in. Here? We’re going to eat clock. And then don’t have turnovers. You do that and play great special teams and be physical on defense — that’s a great recipe.”

 

Visitor Orange County made things frustrating with their opportunistic playmaking. The Hornets kept things very close for two and a half quarters. But when those opportunities dried up and the Bulldogs cashed in on playing on a short field, whether because of turnovers or a difficult day for the away team on special teams. The levees broke for Goochland in the fourth quarter and in the end it led to a 47-18 win that looks a lot more comfortable than it was, at least early on. And given the Bulldog’s all-out scrap with Liberty Bealton last week, this was a good win in what looked like a trap game for a while there.

 

For Orange, that it was able to keep things so close wasn’t just impressive because of how the Hornets got it done with big plays on downs that required exactly that, but also because they were without starter quarterback Paul Porier who also doubles as the team’s starting punter making matters more difficult. 

 

“That situation is what it is and in high school when it comes to depth you just try and make the best of the situation,” said Orange coach Jesse Lohr. “But we aren’t looking for excuses. We’re looking for four full quarters of good football and we didn’t have that today.”

 

Goochland opened up the scoring by capping its opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge from Connor Popielarz after quarterback CJ Towels and Eyan Pace connected for a 20-yard throw and catch to set up shop in the redzone. Orange was able to respond three minutes later when Douglass Newsome found a wide open Donald Brooks for a 39-yard bomb on fourth down. The Bulldogs answered right back with a steady diet of inside runs and Jason Woodson rumbling in from nine yards out to make it a 14-6 advantage late in the first. Once again, Orange answered as it got its rushing attack rolling with Markell Jackson doing the heavy lifting and pushing through from three yards out to make it a 14-12 game after a failed 2-point convert.

 

From there both defenses settled in for a bit but with 3:45 left in the second, Popielarz capped another grinding drive with his second touchdown of the day from three yards out. Things got interesting. Orange appeared to have shanked a punt on fourth down but some confusion from the officiating crew after a hold by Goochland on the return gave the Hornets a first down. The Hornets didn’t waste it as quarterback Caelen Reinhold helped to march his team down into the redzone. With time expired Reinhold hit Bryant Chiles from 21-yards out in the back left corner of the endzone to cut the deficit to 21-18 going into the break.

 

“They tried to box things in so it can be difficult to go over the top so you have to establish the run game and I thought we did that a bit with Markell,” Lohr said. “Then we took some shots and tried to take advantage of the opportunities we had and I thought we did that in the first half for the most part. In the second half we just mis-fired.”

 

The second half was quite odd as Orange struggled mightily between turnovers and problems on special teams to give Goochland an awfully short field on way too many occasions. And yet, the defense forced a fumble to get out of one problem and then held the Bulldogs to a pair of field goal attempts on two others with just a 29-yard attempt from Taylor Black putting points on the scoreboard. However, there was little panic or frustration shown by the Bulldogs as they plugged the line of scrimmage on defense and kept sticking to a simple inside rushing attack as the field conditions allowed for very little else. 

 

“We just tried to make due with what the defense was giving us,” Popielarz said. “We just tried to do our jobs and churn out the first downs.”

 

With a minute left, Goochland got the dagger it needed when Popielarz scooped up his third score of the game on a 13-yard grind to make it 30-18.

 

“Costly penalties, turnovers and some things on special teams… unfortunately our defense basically got to play what looked like a controlled scrimmage on one half of the field in the second half,” Lohr said. “They never had to drive the ball the length of the field in the second half.”

 

The Bulldogs scored 17 points in the fourth quarter with all of them coming late with the game out of reach. Towels was able to lead a scoring drive and pick up a 1-yard rushing touchdown. Black then hit on an impressive 33-yard attempt. With a minute left and the second team offense and defense in for both squads the Bulldogs got senior Ben Ragland a 1-yard rushing touchdown after he set up first and goal on a 20-yard run. That wrapped up the scoring at 47-18.

 

“This probably wound up as the best game we’ve had offensively this year,” said Goochland center Ayden Doczi. “We were able to get our hands on and not just push people around for four quarters. We understood that we just needed to keep running it down their throat.”

 

On the day, Popielarz led the rushing attack with 17 runs for a hard 87 yards and three touchdowns. Woodson added 10 carries for 63 yards and a score. The Goochland defense came away with a pair of turnovers on downs, two interceptions and a fumble recovery to not only hold Orange to just its first half points, but also set up its offense with outstanding field position.

 

For Orange, Jackson quietly put together a 129 yard performance on his 29 carries. Reinhold wound up with 129 yards passing and pair of touchdowns. Brooks accounted for 91 receiving yards on six catches.

 

The Hornets (1-3) travel to Fluvanna County this week. The Bulldogs hit the road to face an old fashioned James River District opponent in Central Lunenburg in the last game they will be a part of the JRD for the foreseeable future as they re-join the Jefferson District this fall after a 10 year hiatus from the two year cycle of 09-10.

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