If they didn’t already, they’re definitely going to know now.
“Nobody was giving us a shot in this game and regardless of the outcome they’re going to know our name,” said Goochland coach Alex Fruth. “And the people across the state better know our name too because we’re going to play ball against whoever lines up against us.”
Saturday the Bulldogs took undefeated Hopewell to the absolute brink, falling 35-28 after a huge second half surge by the Blue Devils who trailed Goochland 21-7 at the break in the Class 3 state semifinals.
The win ended Goochland’s first trip through Class 3 after getting bumped up a classification after years of dominant play in Class 2. It’s a run that proved the Bulldogs can play with anyone as they nearly knocked off a Hopewell team led by four star junior running back Tre Henderson. While Hopewell eventually won it, they had to fight for every single inch of it.
“Our kids battled through adversity — (Goochland is) a good football team, they’re well coached and they’ve got some really good football players,” said Hopewell coach Ricky Irby. “They definitely took it to us in the first half. I’m just proud of how our kids responded.”
Goochland built that halftime lead on the strength of an explosive C.J. Towles to Kam Holman connection with Towles throwing for 177 yards on the day, with 145 of them going to Holman on six catches. The tandem hooked up for two touchdowns of 14 yards and 35 yards and set up the third one in the first half with a 45-yard toss that led to Towles sneaking in.
“That wasn’t the offensive gameplan, they came out in kind of a different look than we anticipated and we did a really good job taking advantage of the situation,” Fruth said. “(Holman) did a really good job coming open on some stuff and we took shots. It was good, it was really good. (Towles) played his tail off offensively and defensively, he’s a competitor.”
Hopewell was in a 21-7 hole at the break, with the Goochland defense making a huge stop late in the half after Hopewell picked off another attempt by Towles. Will Stratton’s sack on third down was critical in forcing a turnover on downs and preserving Goochland’s two-touchdown margin going into the locker room. A week after forcing seven takeaways against James Monroe, Goochland defense helped create four first half turnovers, with Anthony Holland recovering a fumble, De’Andre Robinson recovering a fumble and Kindrick Braxton picking off a pass.
Goochland didn’t get shaky when Hopewell came out in the third and Henderson ripped off an 81-yard touchdown. They went right back to taking advantage of what Hopewell gave them, with Towles hitting Quincy Snead down the seam for a 34-yard gain shortly after a 14-yard Connor Poerliarz run on a beautifully executed fake punt kept the drive alive. Towles snuck in from a yard out after Snead got dragged down just short of the goalline. Just like that, Goochland was up 28-14 and in good shape.
Things started to go off the rails though for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter, when Hopewell’s Kaiveon Cox scored to cut the lead to 28-21 with the Blue Devils turning to a full house backfield, power run game approach. The strategic shift became problematic with Cox, Henderson and Robert Briggs all running down hill at nearly 200 pounds each. The scoring drive Cox finished off took 11 plays, all on the ground and covered 87 yards.
“We just stayed strong and kept playing,” Henderson said. “(Cox) is a hard runner, he helped us out a lot.”
On the ensuing kickoff, Goochland mistakenly downed the ball at their own three, leaving the offense with its heels against its own goal line. A shanked punt ended a three and out and gave Hopewell the ball at the Goochland 20. Cox thundered in five plays later and Hopewell tied it at 28-28.
Goochland struggled to move the ball on its next drive and another fake punt, this time a Devin McCray run-pass option to the right came up painfully short after his throw bounced around and slipped out of the Bulldogs’ hands.
Hopewell went right back to that power run approach and Henderson went untouched around the end from two yards out with 1:11 to play to give Hopewell a 35-28 lead.
Goochland furiously tried to move the ball downfield for a score, but midfield was as far as they got as an incompletion ended the game with 25.2 seconds to play as Hopewell kneeled it.
The loss today ended the prep career of Goochland senior Devin McCray who went 52-5 as a varsity starter. He started his freshman year at safety, was a quarterback and defensive back for two years and a running back and defensive back this year. Against Hopewell he was shown an immense amount of respect as Henderson — who lived up to any hype with 211 rushing yards on 21 carries and an interception on defense — appeared to shadow him at his spot on the wing the entire game.
“They did a really good job taking him out of the passing game and really both our wings weren’t a factor and 32 (senior defensive end Keyon Williams) is a stinking monster, he was everywhere for them,” Fruth said. “We knew we didn’t have a lot of answers for him.”
McCray’s fellow senior Kindrick Braxton graduates with a 39-4 record during his three years as a starter. It was an incredible run for the Bulldogs as a team too as the flawlessly made the transition to Class 3 and won a Region 3B championship over a tough James Monroe squad and took the unbeaten Blue Devils down to the wire.
