Listening to coaches at every level harp on redzone production can get old.
Then something like what happened to Albemarle Friday night takes place and it’s a stark reminder of just how important it is to get it done inside the 20.
The Patriots floundered three times inside the redzone — twice inside the five — and lost 14-7 to Patrick Henry-Roanoke.
“Very frustrating — just one of those scores I think you have a change in momentum,” said Albemarle coach Mike Alley. “We could’ve done a better job with execution tonight. Three times in the redzone as close as we were — we weren’t at the 20, we were at the five — we need to score.”
On the flip side, Patrick Henry came up with three defensive stops in the redzone, starting with a chance right before the half where an offensive fumble that Albemarle’s Kevin McCarthy (on his second recovery of the night) scooped up and returned to the 2-yardline put the Patriots in a nearly impossible spot. Albemarle tried three straight runs and came up short, then tried a field goal on fourth that went wide.
“They’re showing a lot of character and we like that,” said Patrick Henry coach Alan Fiddler. “They’re making plays when they need to make plays. (Albemarle) has a good offense…(but) we got tough when we needed to get tough and made plays when we needed to.”
Albemarle’s second redzone chance came after an incredible clock-eating drive that opened up the second half. The drive itself was a striking improvement after the Patriots struggled to move the ball at all in the first half with a series of three and outs and less than 20 yards of total offense.
The march went 64 yards with a combination of Vincent Hunyh on the jet sweep, a couple of strong passes from quarterback D.G. Archer doing most of the leg work. Two Archer incompletions and a pair of stuffed runs that followed a first and goal from the four left Albemarle still scoreless.
“They kept eight in the box and they were coming and no matter what we did we couldn’t get inside so we had to change our plans and do some jet sweeps and tosses,” Alley said. “We’ll do a better job next week of mixing it up.”
Patrick Henry answered with a similarly sustained posession, burning clock while driving 99 yards. All of it came on the ground and the bulk came from running back Trevor Mike who capped the march with a 3-yard touchdown. Mike finished with 165 yards on 24 carries, handling the bulk of the Patrick Henry offensive load.
Albemarle got a third shot in the redzone, trailing 14-0, with another drive that moved inside the 20, advancing to the 11 after drawing a defensive pass interference penalty. But things stalled yet again and Patrick Henry took over.
Albemarle managed to finally break through in the redzone with 1:17 left in the game when Archer found Kevin Bernardino for a 24-yard touchdown on fourth down and inches. Even that score came with some frustration as Albemarle appeared to gain the first down on the third down before that play, but were marked short leading to some confusion on the sidelines as the squad lined up for the pass. Archer and Bernardino connected though and gave Albemarle a last gasp.
Patrick Henry recovered the ensuing onside kick though and ground out the clock with a couple of runs including a backbreaker from Mike.
Albemarle (1-2) now moves into Jefferson District play with a matchup with Fluvanna County next week.
