Video
Orange County rushed for a back-breaking 304 yards in the first half and added two passing touchdowns to rebound from last week’s loss to Louisa and head into the 5A North playoffs with a 51-7 win at Fluvanna.
“I’m pleased to come out here and play a clean football game,” said Orange coach Jesse Lohr. “We stayed within our identity; we ran the football, we play-action passed. Proud of the defense. We just kept going forward and put the game away.”
The Hornets’ defense helped create all of the team’s first quarter scoring. After Fluvanna received the opening kickoff, junior defensive back Jay Lewis-Nixon intercepted a third down pass at the Flucos’ 42. Junior running back DeAngelo Hunt rumbled 26 yards on his first carry to setup first and goal before scoring four plays later from 3 yards. Orange next stuffed Fluvanna’s ground game for negative yardage and forced a three-and-out, whereupon the snap sailed high over the punter and bounced out of the end zone for a safety. On the second play after the free kick, Hunt broke loose for a 32-yard touchdown.
Down 16-0 at the 5:55 mark, Fluvanna had one shining moment on its next offensive play. Senior quarterback Gavin Patrick backpedaled into his own endzone before tossing a screen to junior running back Mark Grooms on the right side. Grooms raced down the sideline for a 94-yard touchdown.
“The defense was aggressive, and we tried to get them to stay aggressive and then go over the top on the short screen,” said Fluvanna coach Steve Szarmach. “Got some good blocking downfield and it worked well.”
The Fluco defense forced a punt, but Lewis-Nixon came up with another pick for Orange to thwart the home crowd’s hopes of a rally. Starting at the Fluvanna 11, senior Jabarri Washington scored on the third play from three yards to make it 23-7 after one quarter.
After changing ends to gain the favor of the wind, senior Marcus Ditta uncorked a 56-yard punt after Fluvanna’s next three-and-out. However, Hunt made it irrelevant on the first snap when he took a handoff to the right, and then worked back to the left for a 95-yard touchdown.
“I broke out and got kind of tired, and I just started running, looking for the open hole,” said Hunt, who carried once more for 41 yards before calling it an early night with 220 yards on nine rushes.
Orange’s next possession was an eight-play, 82-yard drive. The passing game got some work as senior quarterback Caleb Clenney converted third and eight with an 11-yard completion to Darius Minor. On the next play, Clenney hit Elijah Smoot for a 9-yard touchdown. The wind held up the ensuing kickoff so it dropped in no-man’s land for Fluvanna, and the Hornets fell on the loose ball at the 32. Clenney promptly found Tyrone Warren for another touchdown.
“We run, we run, we run, and we need our quarterbacks to be successful in the passing game,” Lohr said. “We’re going to get those one-on-one shots, and it’s good that Caleb hit those tonight so he can get a positive taste and move forward into the playoffs. If we’re going to do anything in the playoffs, we’ve got to find ways, yardage-wise, to be balanced.”
Fluvanna went wildcat on its next series with Grooms taking snaps, but a fumbled exchange recovered by Orange again with a short field. Sophomore Shayvonn Ellis gained 20 yards on three carries before junior fullback Donavan Jackson plunged in from a yard out to make it 51-7.
“We had some injuries this year, and [our offensive line] was hit hard, but we keep putting guys in there and they keep giving these big backs a chance to get to the linebackers, a chance to run through tackles,” said Lohr. “John Prinz, Brian Singh, Dustin Shifflett, Devon Washington, Alize Johnson, I’m proud of those guys. They keep coming to work for us and letting these backs do their thing.”
The second half featured a running clock. Fluvanna mounted a 10-play drive in the third quarter that reached the Hornets’ 20, but a field goal attempt missed wide right. In the fourth, a 23-yard touchdown pass from Patrick to Jay Amos was nullified by an ineligible receiver downfield penalty.
Grooms led Fluvanna (0-10, 0-7) with 28 yards rushing on 14 attempts, plus three catches for 100 yards He will be back next fall as Szarmach continues to rebuild the program.
“It’s really getting down to working hard in the offseason and creating better football,” Szarmarch said. “We’re going to give them a week off, then we’ll be starting conditioning.”
Orange (6-4, 4-3) earns the #12 seed in the Group 5A North playoff bracket, and will head to #5 Stone Bridge (6-4) in Loudoun County next Friday.
“We really want this playoff game,” Hunt said. “We want to turn this program around, and we want everybody to say the 2015 Orange County Hornets got it back on track.”
