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Week Two Lookback

In their first two games of the year, the Western Albemarle offense, defense, and special teams all seemed to be perfectly in sync. On Friday against Albemarle, the Warriors finally faced some adversity though as the offense, after steam rolling the Patriots for 21 points in the games first 12 minutes, found a way to turn the ball over seven times in the next 30 minutes.

Nonetheless, Western worked it’s way through the problems. From the scoreboard, which read 42-7 when it was all said and done, you’d never know that the game was ever in question.

That’s because as shaky as the offense was during the second and third quarters, the defense never flinched. In three games the Warriors have surrendered a total of 14 points. While the front seven is getting the job done early in games, you couldn’t help be impressed with Western’s secondary.

“Our secondary is seasoned, smart, well coached,” said Western coach Ed Pierce. “Sam Spencer is our defensive coordinator and also our defensive backs coach. We work all the time on drops, all the time on pattern recognition – all the things that you don’t find a lot in high school.”

That work showed against the Patriots. When the Warriors shut down the run game, the Patriots committed entirely to the pass in their spread formation and the Western secondary was up to the task. Talented Patriot wideouts Jordan Hill and Andrew Frazier were able to make a few big plays, but for the most part, Albemarle could not get the ball into the hands of their receivers, much less find a man uncovered.

So as they head into their bye week, Western’s defense is sending a clear message – they don’t care if you want to run or pass, they’ve got the skill to take out both, and in many cases, both at the same time.

Still searching 

It’s clear that two games into the season, Albemarle is in dire need of a decision at quarterback. Against Western, both Joey Varaksa and Josh Sites saw significant playing time, but neither was able to settle into a rhythm with their receivers.

“Our quarterback timing wasn’t the best,” said Patriots coach Wendell Green. “Right now we’re struggling to find a quarterback that can throw.”

That’s unfortunate for the Patriots, because it looks like they have a set of receivers who beyond having great speed, aren’t afraid of contact in the middle of the field. Until the Patriots demonstrate that they can consistently throw down field with any kind of accuracy, teams are going to zero in on running back Mayn Francisco like Western Albemarle did on Friday.

The Patriots did surrender 42 points, but it’s hard to pin the loss to Western on the defense, especially since it forced seven turnovers in a two quarter stretch.

“The one thing I was pleased about was that we kept fighting,” Green said. “The defense is continuing to improve. I thought they definitely did from last week.”

A big part of the those turnovers was the pressure that Albemarle dialed up on Western quarterback Stephen Schuler. When Albemarle was able to keep Schuler contained or take away his running lanes and force him to look down field, the Patriots were able to stop the bleeding that took place in the first quarter.

Albemarle was also without one of their top defensive players in Kendall Ravenell. The senior linebacker was sidelined because of a shoulder injury but is expected to recover quickly.

Injuries mount for STAB

Coming into the 2009 season the St. Anne’s-Belfield football team was probably green enough already considering the numbers they lost to graduation. Just to make life a little bit harder for the Saints, the injury bug has nicked up a number of linemen, not to mention their starting quarterback Jacob Rainey.

“We need to get healthy,” Blake said. “That’s the big key for us. Our kids are beaten up. If we can get healthy and kind of settle in to what we do and not freak out about (losing the first game) we’ll be fine. We’ve got time. We just need to get back to what we do well.”

While St. Anne’s was knocked around by a bigger, stronger Fork Union squad, the odds are good the Saints won’t see a team of that caliber for the rest of the year. With that said, FUMA did demonstrate one thing that other teams will try to replicate. The Blue Devils put all their efforts into stopping Saints’ running back Aaron Clark, and in shutting him down they completely bottled up the STAB offense. Willie McGee and Owen Van Arsdale had reasonable averages in the yards per carry department, but not enough to take the pressure off of Clark.

If the STAB offense is going to be successful, getting big plays out of Van Arsdale, Will McGee, or something from the passing game will be the key.

FUMA rounding into form

Though they may only be two games into the season, Fork Union has the look of a state championship football team. The Blue Devils always bring one of the state’s toughest defenses to the field, and it’s no different this year. What is different this year is that FUMA has the weapons on offense to keep that defense fresh. Running the ball is nothing new for Fork Union, but completing big passes is, and that’s just what Richard Quittenton was able to do against St. Anne’s-Belfield on Friday.

With the exception of his 12-yard touchdown pass to Akeem Garnett at the end of the first half, every one of Quittenton’s completions went for 15 yards or more. In fact, he averaged 16.2 yards per attempt. Of course, a lot of that should be credited to the Blue Devils’ offensive line, which gave the junior quarterback all day to pick apart the STAB defense.

“I’ve never had a line like that before,” Quittenton said. “It’s like a luxury. It’s really nice to just sit back there and make more than just one read.”

Everyone knows that the running back trio of Antonio Markland, Andre Parker and Louis Litkett is going to be asked to carry the work load for the Blue Devils on offense. But now that Fork Union finally has a quarterback capable of making big time throws, stacking nine defenders in the box isn’t going to be an option for teams like it was last year.

“Our passing game looks very efficient,” Garnett said. “I love it. Last year we were a little more one-dimensional. Of course everybody knows about our linemen, Shuman and Bodine — we’ve got a big line so running the ball has never been a problem. But now that t

he receivers have chemistry with the quarterback, we’re staying after practice, working hard. We’re all excited.”

The idea of FUMA being efficient on offense is scary for opponents, because its defense has yet to be scored on in its first two games. The Blue Devils are huge up front, but they’re fast too. St. Anne’s is a quick team, and the FUMA defenders had no trouble tracking down the Saints’ ball carriers on runs on the edge.

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