When a team rallies for a win, it’s easy to talk about redemption. It’s obvious.
When a team loses, it’s harder to talk about redemption. It’s less in your face.
While Goochland lost to Gretna 21-16 in Saturday’s Group A, Division 2 final, several Bulldogs redeemed themselves during the clash with the Hawks. Jake Martin and Mitchell Brice and Jake Martin both bounced back from mistakes Saturday and managed to make huge plays for Goochland that helped the Bulldogs give Gretna everything it could handle.
“They don’t quit — our team doesn’t quit,” said Goochland senior linebacker Jess McLaughlin. “They have a lot of heart.”
Brice turned the ball over deep in Gretna territory, allowing the Hawks’ Cam Jefferson to scoop the ball up and rumble to the one yardline. Gretna scored and took the lead. But Brice refused to hang his head. The junior bided his time and struck when he ran a simple seam pattern on first and 10 after another Gretna touchdown and raced 70 yards for a touchdown to keep the Bulldogs’ hopes alive.
“It kept us in the game, picked our defense up and gave us a little bit of hope,” said Goochland coach Joe Fowler. “But that last drive there we kind of got bogged down and got ourselves behind the chains.”
Jake Martin’s redemption happened much faster. The Goochland senior fumbled the ball on an early Goochland possession, a fumble that clearly gave Gretna momentum. On the ensuing play though, Martin took up his spot in the secondary and trained his stare on a deep Gretna throw over the middle. Martin broke perfectly on the ball and intercepted it to immediately flip the momentum back to the Bulldogs. A few plays later he ripped off a huge first down run.
“That speaks to their character, the fact that they can bounce back from adversity and still block that out of their mind, make big plays and help out their teammates,” Fowler said.
Martin and Brice’s resiliency is emblematic of the entire Goochland roster. When resiliency triumphs it’s quite clear. But when it doesn’t, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Goochland fought tooth and nail, with players like Brice and Martin never quitting as the odds mounted against them.
That’s all a coaching staff and a community can ask of its team. The Bulldogs gave it to them Saturday evening.
