After a solid six-year run at the top, of the heap, Blue Ridge alum Chad Byers, the area’s all-time total offense leader, has to move aside.
Kent Henry is taking over.
“It’s pretty cool that we can run the spread efficiently enough to produce stats like that and still win games,” Henry said.
Western Albemarle’s senior quarterback became the Scrimmage Play area’s career total offense leader after piling up 407 yards of total offense Friday night in a 41-6 victory over Fort Defiance. Henry rushed for 108 yards on 13 carries and threw for another 299 yards and five touchdowns while completing 14 of 18 throws.
His 407 yards gives him 1,003 yards on the year, good for 8,066 on his career, edging Byers’ 8,057-yard total at Blue Ridge. Considering Henry has at least seven games left to play in his career, it’s an incredible total at this point. He’s also within range of Byers’ area career passing mark of 6,472. Henry is currently fourth on the list with 5,338 yards behind Byers, Bradley Starks and Christian Hackenberg.
The Warriors rolled past the Indians, building a 31-6 lead by halftime with Henry rossing four touchdowns before the break to four different pass catchers. When he hit Chase Stokes for a third quarter score from 12 yards out, it was five touchdowns to five different receivers, with Tre Banks, Dylan Curry, Steven Hearn and Burks Summers joining Stokes with touchdowns.
“Certainly not having (injured wideout Nic Drapanas) changed the gameplan but our line blocked and everybody was open,” Henry said. “We just played toss and catch and just got downfield.”
After some offensive rhythm issues against Spotswood, the Warriors seem to be back to their “whoever is open gets the ball” philosophy that worked so well for them last season.
“Early in the season we really struggled with that and I kind of targeted one or two receivers but this week in practice we had a bunch of team discussions and we gained each other’s trust back and the chemistry started to flow,” Henry said.
Tony Cardoso led the Warriors with 6.5 tackles on the night, including one for a loss. The Warriors’ defense took a huge leap forward, limiting a power-running Fort Defiance squad to just 140 yards of total offense and six points.
The Warriors head into their bye week at 3-0 on the season, including a pair of road wins against Spotswood and Waynesboro. Western will next host Orange County September 27th in their Jefferson District opener.
