Western Albemarle’s Osiris Crutchfield, quite simply, set the tone.
Bursting through the line and coming up with a sack on Orange County’s first possession and then a tackle for a loss on the second, the sophomore defensive tackle ignited a 62-14 onslaught.
“We really talked in pregrame about how we needed to get three and out quick and hopefully get our offense on the field and score to take the wind out of sails,” said Western quarterback Kent Henry. “Osiris made big plays and allowed us to do that.”
The Warriors’ defense surrendered a number of big plays, including two long touchdowns from Hornets quarterback Garret Johnson to Keith Ellis (82 and 68 yards each) but some of that was because Orange got a lot of possessions due to the efficiency of the Western offense. The Warriors piled up 48 points in the first half alone and were working a large number of substitutes into the lineup by the end of the second quarter.
Henry piled up six touchdowns, four of them on the ground and the other two through the air. His most brilliant moment was the final touchdown at the start of the third quarter, a weaving 63-yard sprint where he cut back from the sideline after out-running most of the Orange defense.
Western adjusted to focus on the ground game almost entirely because that’s what the Hornets were giving them, but the passing game wasn’t bad when they took to the air either. Henry averaged 21 yards per attempt on the night.
“That’s the beauty of our passing game, we sort of run concepts where we run off coverage — whatever you do to us we can adjust on the fly,” said Western coach Ed Redmond. “I thought Kent and our receivers were on the same page, and again our offensive line did an outstanding job, I was real pleased with them tonight.”
Nic Drapanas was solid in his return from an injury, hauling in 63 yards and a touchdown on just two catches. Chase Stokes hauled in 52 yards and a score on his two receptions and Burks Summers grabbed a 42-yard catch. Crutchfield’s early play was just part of a big step in the right direction for the Warriors’ defense who forced three punts by the Hornets in the opening quarter and contained Orange’s speed for nearly the entire game. Crutchfield wreaked havoc by shooting gaps as soon as the ball was snapped and had a big impact.
“We watched a ton of film and we got to learn a lot of tendencies and it went as planned,” Crutchfield said. “(Right after) the kickoff, we had the momentum.”
Michael Mullin pounced on a fumble as well for the Warriors’ defense that took another solid step forward after looking shaky late in August camp.
Orange also continually committed penalties at unfortunate points, two of which brought back long touchdowns including a 99-yard catch and run from Garret Johnson to Damian Walker in the second half. Ellis finished with five catches for 173 yards and his two touchdowns, but the Hornets couldn’t muster much of a run game, averaging just three yards per carry while gaining 64 yards. On the flip side, Western averaged 10 yards per touch, including Henry’s 159 yards on eight touches. Oliver Herndon had a 51-yard touchdown sprint and finished with 67 yards while Justin Haws and Josh Meeks also scored on the ground. Sam Hearn, Henry’s backup, even got in on the action with 54 yards on five carries in relief of the Warriors’ top signal-caller.
Western (4-0) now gets a chance to take on Albemarle next week in a cross-county clash at AHS (2-2) while Orange tries to end their slide against Fluvanna County at home.
