Albemarle’s Lee Carneal rolled out to his right and couldn’t find anyone open, Charlottesville had his fleet of receivers well covered. So the senior quarterback tucked it and took off.
“Charlottesville had good coverage on that play and coach always says, instead of throwing it away, just get all the yards that you can,” Carneal said. “It all happened so quickly I don’t really remember it.”
What happened is that Carneal bounced off a couple of Charlottesville defenders pursuing from the backside, deftly reversed field, picked up some key blocks from his own linemen, and won a footrace to the opposite corner of the endzone. Suddenly, Albemarle was up by four touchdowns and in complete control of what became a 62-14 blowout for the Patriots in Thursday’s benefit game between the two long-time rivals.
Even an electric 95-yard kick return on the kick off after Carneal’s run from sophomore standout Chris Thurston couldn’t get the Black Knights back into things. A series of mental errors including a pair of fumbled snaps by the punt team early in the contest set Albemarle up for two easy scores. The Patriots were up 14-0 with just a five total yards of offense on a single play early in the first quarter. Kevin Gaines pounced on the first fumbled snap for a 7-0 lead and Micah Rivers scored from five yards out for the second touchdown after Albemarle recovered.
“We got whipped and the thing is we got whipped all around,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry. “Not just the boys I think we got whipped coaching wise. We’ve got to get our base plays—we’ve got to do the things we do bread-and-butter wise a lot better. It’s going to be a tough thing, but I have a feeling we’ll circle the wagons and we’ll be alright.”
Albemarle led 41-6 at the break with the defensive front leading the way. They penetrated Charlottesville’s front five consistently, creating havoc for a Black Knights’ squad getting its first live action against an opponent and running a brand new triple option offense. Larkeem Jackson had a big night for the Patriots, highlighted by a stuff on third and eight near the end of the first half that forced another Charlottesville punt return.
Micah Rivers handled the bulk of the run duties for the Patriots, showing his full potential with several solid runs without the hang-up of an ankle injury that hampered him last season. With Joe Anderson — the kicker/punter/running back who threw a touchdown to Timmy Aker on a fake punt in the first half — and Carneal also back there, among a number of other solid options, Albemarle has a much deeper backfield than it did through most of 2010.
“It was just nice out there to have a healthy team and our players have a better football I.Q. so it’s really helping a lot,” said Albemarle coach Mike Alley.
It doesn’t hurt either to have a backup quarterback, Dashon Tibbs, who appears to have a lot of talent and an excellent rapport with Carneal. Tibbs had a winding long run of his own and threw a strike to Major Jackson for 17 yards in the second half to get Albemarle out of a jam after a fumble.
“It’s really good, we push each other every day in practice because we know either one of us could start,” Carneal said. “We both have out strengths and weaknesses and on my weaknesses he picks us up with his strengths.”
Charlottesville’s new option-oriented offense struggled to get into gear, but it was the first live action the Black Knights had faced this year because the Harrisonburg scrimmage last week was canceled. Albemarle attacked with an array of packages, making it tough on the Charlottesville offense. Albemarle is familiar with Massaponax’s system (Sherry’s last coaching stop and the genesis of his approach on both sides of the ball) and had the advantage of playing South Fork from Suffolk last week, a well-run, Group AAA triple-option program.
With outside pressure, the Patriots forced new Charlottesville quarterback Mason Sherry to make a dive read on the majority of plays, and Albemarle was in turn able to stuff fullback Eli Haden as he tried to pick his way up the middle. Sherry managed one big-hitter, a 68-yard touchdown throw to Diamante Scott in the second half where Scott out-ran several Albemarle defenders.
