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Bounce Back: Albemarle shuts out Fluvanna

Photo by Bob Kenward

 

Last week, the Albemarle football team had more than their fair share of struggles, resulting in a shutout loss against Goochland.  

 

The Patriots flipped the script this week, regrouping to pitch a shutout of their own, taking down Fluvanna 13-0.

 

“Our staff did a great job, we had a rough week last week offensively and put them in a bind a little bit but we just told them to keep plugging and expecting more effort from everybody,” said Albemarle coach Brandon Isaiah.

 

In the first quarter, both teams came out fighting hard defensively. The game remained scoreless with a ton of quick drives for both teams. There was also one turnover, an interception courtesy of Fluvanna’s AJ Wyche, but it wasn’t until Albemarle’s first drive of the second quarter where the scoring opened up. Ebenezer McCarthy Jr. got the Patriots on the board with an 11-yard touchdown run. McCarthy finished with 20 carries for 181 yards and that touchdown.

 

“O-line, D-line, Offense, Defense, we all worked the whole game — look at the score 13-0 we worked the whole game,” said McCarthy.

 

The defense used the momentum from that score quickly, as Alex Freire picked off a pass on Fluvanna’s next possession, setting his team up in Fluco territory. The offense got back to work, and Noah Grevious stepped up and punched it in to put the Patriots up 13-0 going to the half.

 

The second half was truly a defensive battle, with neither team giving up anything to the other.  The Flucos were able to cause a couple of turnovers, including a pick from Lance Gowans, but the offense was never able to get going. Albemarle created more turnovers themselves, with Jacob Terry getting an interception of his own. The Patriots just found ways to stop them again and again until the final horn sounded, leaning on the ground game and their defense to seal the game.  

 

“We’ve got to be able to run the football, at any level of the game the game is won up front by either side,” Isaiah said. “Obviously we feel that we have a running back as good as any in the state in Ebenezer McCarthy and a pretty talented freshman in Noah Grevious, so we want to make sure we get those guys going and let some of the other guys play off of them.”

 

Both squads will play at home next week, with the Patriots hosting Western Albemarle, and the Flucos taking on unbeaten Louisa County.

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