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Resilient: Orange shakes off 0-4 start, blows past Albemarle

Photo by Kristi Ellis

By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor

 

Records, particularly early in the high school football season, can be deceiving.

 

Just ask Orange County.

 

The Hornets opened the 2019 campaign with four consecutive losses, but two of those defeats came against state powerhouses, North Stafford and Eastern View.

 

The other two occurred as a result of a goal-line-stand and in overtime, respectively.

 

Despite that 0-4 start, head coach Jesse Lohr felt as though his team was close to putting it all together, and the team’s fortunes would change soon enough.

 

On Friday night against Albemarle, Lohr’s belief proved to be true.

 

Orange County racked up 501 yards of total offense, most of which came in the first three quarter in a 50-7 blowout of the Patriots.

 

The half-century mark on offense is quite a turnaround for a Hornet team that struggled to consistently put points on the board during the first month of the season.

  

“We’re probably a little disappointed where we are in the records, but I’m proud of our resilience and our resolve,” Lohr said. “The kids keep coming back to work each and every day. They probably had their best week in practice this week.”

 

The Hornets (1-4) outscored Albemarle 36-0 in the second and third quarters, with all of those points taking place in just 18 minutes of football time.

 

As has been the case all season, Jaylen Alexander was the catalyst on offense for OCHS. 

 

Alexander rushed for 155 yards off of 19 carries, with all but 10 of them coming in the first half.

 

The senior took Orange’s first offensive play from scrimmage for a first down before rushing 31 to the end zone to fire up the homecoming crowd.

 

Alexander averaged an impressive 8.2 yards per carry as he ran both through and around the Albemarle defense.

 

After the Patriots trimmed the Hornets’ lead to 14-7, Alexander rushed for a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, from 10 and eight yards out respectively.

 

Albemarle often loaded up the box and made a few plays behind the line of scrimmage, but the Patriots could never keep Alexander down for consecutive plays.

 

“He did a good job of allowing the blocking scheme to develop. He was patient, when it was there, he hit it,” Lohr said. “I think the five senior offensive lineman played their best collective game tonight. We were able to move the ball in chunks, and open up the passing game.”

 

Alexander was far from the only Hornet to join in on the offensive outburst.

 

Quarterback Walker Johnson steered the ship for Orange, passing for 194 yards and three touchdowns. The Hornets went to the air mostly to open up the ground game and when they did, Jireek Washington was Johnson’s favorite target. Washington took a slant over the middle and raced 57 yards for a touchdown to give Orange a 35-7 lead at intermission. Washington finished the day with two catches for 98 yards and a pair of TDs.

 

If there was any concern that the Hornets would stumble out of the extended halftime break, Paul Porier put those fears to rest with an 81-yard scamper for a score on the first play of the third quarter. Porier rushed for 111 yards on just seven carries.

 

The Hornets rarely needed help in short yardage situations, but when they did, Lohr turned to senior Noah Carey to get the job done. The six-foot, 225-pound bulldozer grinded out 36 yards, averaging nine yards per carry.

 

As happy as Lohr was with his offense, he was even more pleased with his team’s effort on defense. Seven points is the fewest that the Orange County has surrendered since the Hornets blanked Fluvanna County, 36-0 on November 4, 2016.

 

Orange limited Albemarle to just 121 yards of total offense, and the Patriots spent little time in Hornet territory after the first quarter. As a team, AHS averaged 3.7 yards per carry, and earned just eight first downs all night.

 

“The defense has been playing really well at times this year, and it was great to see them get [Albemarle] off the field in third down situations,” Lohr said. “They came out throwing the ball, most of teams have tried to throw the ball on us. Our back end did a pretty good job; our front did a really good job of getting some pressure on the quarterback.”

 

After falling behind 14-0 less than four minutes into the game, Albemarle (0-5) began to show signs of life on its third offensive series. The Patriots reeled off an impressive, nine-play, four-minute-plus drive that culminated in a nine-yard run to paydirt by Ebenezer McCarthy.

 

Then, on Orange’s ensuing drive, Albemarle’s Kaleb Burtman stepped in front of a Johnson pass and recorded the game’s lone takeaway for either team. Unfortunately for Albemarle, the Patriots could not capitalize off of the turnover.

 

AHS will look for its first win of the season next Friday against Monticello at home. Up next for the Hornets is a date in which Lohr and company have had circled since the schedule came out last spring. The Hornets will travel to archrival Louisa County, and look to hand the Lions their first district loss since the 2016 season.

 

“I’m an Orange native and Louisa’s game has always been a rival,” Lohr said. “One of our goals, all these kids know it, everyone in the community knows it, is to beat Louisa and to win playoff football. It hasn’t happened in awhile, and we’re trying to make it happen this year.”

 

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