Playing their third home game in six days, Albemarle football found itself continuing a recent stretch of dominance against Goochland, rolling 48-3 on a frigid Friday night.
The Patriots have now completed their insane schedule stretch with three straight blowout wins, setting up a monster clash of the district’s two unbeaten squads against Louisa County in The Jungle Friday.
Albemarle got off to a fast start against the Bulldogs, forcing a three and out on Goochland’s initial drive. On the Patriots’ first offensive play from scrimmage when quarterback Amaje Parker hit wide receiver Noah Grievous over the top for a 42-yard touchdown.
The first quarter ended with Albemarle up 28-0. Everything was working for the Patriot offense from dominating the line of scrimmage with the run game to Parker rolling out and hitting his receivers deep.
“Me and Amaje talk a lot about just letting the offense work for you,” said Albemarle head coach Brandon Isaiah, Sr.. “He’s a talented kid; he can throw, he can run, and now he’s several guys around him who can make plays.”
At halftime the score was 35-0 in favor of Albemarle. Parker finished the first half with five passing touchdowns to four different targets and about 200 passing yards. Goochland’s offense was scoreless going into the locker room due to Albemarle’s stifling defense primarily forcing three and outs, and creating turnovers.
Out of halftime, it was more of the same from the Patriots on both sides of the ball. With Albemarle up by 35 points, the running clock rule was in effect, and Albemarle switched to more of a ball control offense. They started running the football, trying to milk the clock, and forcing the Goochland offense to be more aggressive, which often led to mistakes made.
Isaiah pointed to his upperclassmen working together as the key piece to the Patriots finding their stride of late.
“We have a nice Junior class, a really talented Junior class…it’s just a really good mix of talented kids, but more importantly their personalities have blended together,” Isaiah said. “It’s a perfect storm in my opinion.”
Although this win was a good confidence booster for Albemarle midway through their season, Isaiah also recognizes the significance of next week’s matchup against Louisa.
“It’s a challenge,” said Isaiah. “But we’re excited for what could potentially be the deciding game to win the Jefferson District.”
