After helping his team build a lead in the first half of Western Albemarle’s season opener against Monticello, star running back Austin Shifflett had to watch from the sidelines as the Mustangs rallied for an overtime win.
With the Warriors not playing last Friday or Saturday, Shifflett had to wait 11 days for another opportunity to see the field.
But the time away from the gridiron allowed him to heal up, and the senior stalwart took out nearly two weeks of frustration on visiting Fluvanna County.
Shifflett exploded with five touchdowns and over 150 yards rushing in Western’s 35-20 triumph over the Flucos.
As if the 11-day layover was a long enough wait, Shifflett did not get a chance to carry the ball until late in the first quarter.
That is because the Fluvanna offense took the opening kickoff, and ran off nearly eight minutes on its opening drive.
The Flucos got all the way inside the WAHS two, before Shifflett and a gang of Warriors turned back quarterback Kobe Edmonds on fourth down. After finally getting a chance to take the field with the offense, Shifflett wasted little time reasserting himself.
On his first carry of the game and in the shadow of his team’s goal post, Shifflett bounced off of several FCHS tacklers for a gain of 30. Two plays later, Shifflett was celebrating in the end zone following a 58-yard run to paydirt for the first of his five touchdowns of the game.
Shifflett’s quintet of touchdowns came from 58, 3 14, 15, and 16 yards out respectively.
Behind Shifflett and his big offensive line, the Warriors (1-1) never punted on the night. Western scored on five of their seven offensive possessions, with the other two drives utilized in an effort to run out the clock in the second quarter and at the end of the contest.
Unlike the Monticello game when he could only watch what happened in the waning moments, Shifflett was on the field either carrying the ball or making blocks until the clock hit all zeroes.
“I was really happy that I got to finish this game with my brothers,” Shifflett said. “It hurt a lot to watch us fall apart and kind of not stick together at the end of that last game, and it was great to get everyone out here and do this as a team. We played together, and that’s the biggest thing.”
Shifflett rarely exited the field on offense, defense, or special teams in Friday’s win.
In addition to his five touchdowns on offense, Shifflett was also in on a pair of fourth down stops near the goal line in the first half when the game was far from decided.
“I think more than the physical presence, [Shifflett’s] mental presence is big for our guys,” Western Albemarle head coach Ed Redmond said. “He’s our leader and just having him on the field really boosts our confidence. We’re young, we’re building, but having him back healthy certainly helped us.”
Shifflett may have been playing in his second-to-last game in Crozet, but a new offensive weapon shined in just his second ever varsity appearance in freshman quarterback Nathan Simon. Simon entered the game early in the second quarter after starting quarterback Hudson Toll took a big hit and was slow to get up. Due to Fluvanna controlling most of the clock, Simon’s only two plays in the half were a handoff to Shifflett for a touchdown and a quarterback kneel to kill the clock heading into halftime.
But after deferring to Shifflett on the first three plays of the second half, it was time for Simon to show off his impressive skills behind center.
Simon completed back-to-back passes for seven and 13 yards respectively to Dakota Howell, and executed a pretty pitch play for seven more yards and set up Shifflett’s fourth touchdown of the day.
Simon completed four of five passes, with his only incompletion coming due to a heads-up play from Fluvanna defensive back William Wyche.
The ninth-grader’s play of the day came in the third quarter when the Flucos had some momentum on their side. Fresh off of a Fluvanna touchdown and facing a 3rd and 18 in his own territory, Simon shook off a defender and hit Shifflett on a screen that went for 42 yards and set up the fifth and final Western touchdown and put the game out of reach.
Depending on the availability of Toll in the coming weeks, Simon could very well be the first freshman starting quarterback of the Ed Redmond era, but his rookie debut gave the Warrior offense plenty to build off of.
“Coming from little league, coming up to varsity was a pretty big step, but it turned out very well with this 35-20 win,” Simon said. “Me and [Toll] have been friends for three years now. We’ve been on the field for probably thousands of hours together. It’s been a rough three years with him coming up as a sophomore and me as a freshman, but we both executed pretty good. Of course Hudson was out and I had to take his spot, but it all worked out pretty good.”
Simon also came up with a big tackle-for-a-loss in the second half on defense. Speaking of the Western D, the Warriors managed to keep the explosive Flucos in check, by not allowing the visitors to finish off several long drives including that opener that melted the clock.
The Flucos appeared poised to trim their 21-7 second-quarter deficit in half heading into intermission after a methodical, 11-play drive reached the WAHS 8-yardline. But after a stop out of bounds by Kyle Keyton and Howell on third down, and a gang tackle on fourth, the Warriors turned the visitors over on downs for the third time, and the second inside the 10.
“The goal line stands in the first half, I’m really really proud of the guys,” Redmond said. “Coach [Mike] Redmond did a nice job with the scheme. That’s a really good football team that we defended tonight. We’re certainly proud of our effort on the defensive side.”
Fluvanna (1-1) never led in Friday’s game, but the visitors did tie the score at seven apiece on the first play of the second quarter.
Facing heavy pressure, Edmonds darted the ball in Xaiver Copeland’s direction, and the speedy senior raced 77-yards for the Flucos’ first touchdown of the day. The Flucos did not find the end zone again until the 3:02 mark of the third quarter, when Copeland raced 21 yards for his second TD of the day.
Fullback Chase Paschall capped off the scoring for both teams with a powerful 13-yard run late in the fourth quarter.
Fluvanna will try to rebound at home next Friday against Albemarle, while Western will travel to Charlottesville for their first road game of the season, also slated for Friday.
