Charlottesville pulled within a point early in the third quarter, all but erasing a 22-point deficit with some explosive play by Malik Bartee, Rashad Brock and others.
But suddenly a rash of leg cramps and a bigger dose of Eastern View’s Kendrick Kube allowed the Cyclones to pull away and pick up a 56-28 victory.
“We’re right there and a couple of things played into it,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry. “You’ve got to give credit to Eastern View, they dominated the line of scrimmage all night. But we’re right there, the game is competitive and then we take the one body blow…and that kind of sent things spiraling for three straight possessions.”
The Black Knights couldn’t contain Kube — on those three possessions and throughout — as the Eastern View standout peeled off six touchdowns and more than 300 yards on the ground including a 53 and 59-yard touchdowns in the final 7:24 of the contest. The offensive line for the Cyclones opened up some huge holes as Eastern View attacked Charlottesville up the middle with Kube running north and south and gashing the CHS defense.
“A lot of that credit goes to our offensive line, I thought our offensive line played great tonight … Kendrick running the ball ,” said Eastern View coach Greg Hatfield. “We pride ourselves on being in shape and being a well-conditioned football team and I think that showed. It’s 22-21 and then our conditioning I think paid off.”
Charlottesville’s offense managed to get the ball rolling for stretches, with Bartee and Brock doing much of the damage. Bartee, who rushed for two touchdowns, was in his first real action as a quarterback as he stepped in as the signal-caller over the last couple of weeks following the injury to planned starter Mica Girstanas. At times Bartee thrived as he learned on the fly and he continued to have an impact as a safety and kick returner. A long return opened the second half and set up a rugged touchdown run by Brock that pulled the Black Knights within a point.
“I think people saw a little bit of a coming out party from Bartee,” Sherry said. “Bartee has Brock in the backfield and he has Nick Epps and Hunter Rolph running on those sweeps. There’s a lot to be positive out here, there’s so much going well.”
Charlottesville will now turn its attention toward preparing for Culpeper and continuing to shore certain facets of the game up as a group of young, inexperienced athletes attempt to mesh with known entities like Brock, Epps and standout linebacker Larry Anderson, who just returned from injury.
