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Fight On: Brookville holds off Fluvanna in Region 3C playoffs

Fluvanna County was still scrapping. They were still calling timeouts. They were still trying to rally.

 

Even down 10 with under two minutes to play, the Flucos refused to go quietly, they refused to roll over.

 

They refused to quit.

 

“We just kept fighting, you can’t put your head down after one thing that happens, you’ve got to keep going and keep going,” said Fluvanna senior Dahris Tinsley. “Sometimes you’ll come out with a victory and sometimes you won’t.”

 

The Flucos’ historic 2018 campaign came to an end Friday night as they fell 16-6 to Brookville in the Region 3C quarterfinals, but the Flucos finished at least in part on their terms, continuing to try and scratch their way back into the game. It was Fluvanna’s first playoff appearance since 2000 and their first winning record since 2001 when the Flucos’ current players were in diapers or hadn’t even been born.

 

“We wanted to make teams know we were going to be competitive and fight until the end,” said Fluvanna coach Michael Morris. “We tried to continue to fight and make sure it was still a close game and not fall apart. They just made more plays than us.”

 

Containing a Brookville team forced by injuries to turn to a Wildcat set for essentially the entire game though proved too tough of a task. Brookville controlled the clock for the most part with Liberty commitment and usual wideout/safety Micah Glaize rushing for 248 yards on 25 carries out of the Wildcat.

 

“He’s one of the best athletes in Central Virginia so we just figured we’d put the ball in his hands a lot and ride the wave,” said Brookville coach Jon Meeks, formerly the head coach at Louisa County.

 

Despite that performance by Glaize, Fluvanna forced four turnovers defensively, several of them in the redzone to give themselves a shot. The Flucos have bent but not broken much of the year and with Prophett Harris picking off two passes, Austin Craig snagging one and Colby Martin pouncing on a fumble, Fluvanna’s defense kept them close.

 

“We hadn’t forced many turnovers in the last few games,” Morris said. “It was a good measuring stick, it’s good to see where we are at compared to somebody like that.”  

 

While the Brookville defense hemmed in the Flucos for the most part, freshman quarterback Kobe Edmonds found some success on the ground, ripping off an early 38-yard touchdown run as part of a 78-yard outing. Fluvanna was trailing just 9-6 until Glaize ripped off 61-yard touchdown with 5:54 to play and then Fluvanna tossed an interception on a halfback pass to give the ball right back.

 

“I think they’re a well-coached, scrappy team,” Meeks said. “I coached with coach Morris at Louisa one year and I think he’s done an amazing job, they fought.”

 

Brookville stalled and gave the ball back, allowing Edmonds to operate a quick two-minute drill, but Elonte Jones picked off a screen pass and essentially ended the Flucos’ comeback bid.

 

“It ended so fast,” Tinsley said. “I’m proud of all the underclassmen, I’m proud of all the seniors — we finally put Fluvanna on the map. Hopefully the underclassmen can keep that going.”

 

What Tinsley, Harris, Martin, Joey Van Dyke, Walt Stribling and the rest of the Fluvanna seniors accomplished, buying into a new system and playing as hard as they did this year after three years of frustrating results was impressive. It’s the kind of foundation a program can build on.

 

“The coaching staff we had, I really appreciate them,” Tinsley said. “We were tired of losing every year, tired of having a losing record, tired of (people) talking down to us. We wanted to change the atmosphere and everything connected.”

 

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