Warriors roll past Flucos

PALMYRA — When the spread offense is run efficiently, it can be a devastating weapon. When the spread is well-defended, it can provide a long night for an inept offense.

Both Western Albemarle and Fluvanna County run the spread. The Warriors ran it to perfection on offense and defended it exceptionally well on defense to rout the homestanding Flucos 35-0 on Friday.

In a game that saw the Warriors (3-4, 2-1 Jefferson) rip off rushing yards in huge chunks, Western senior running back Schuyler Wilkerson torched the Fluvanna defense to the tune of 209 yards on 22 carries, racking up three touchdowns along the way.

“My line did a great job and I made some good cuts to get upfield,” Wilkerson said after the first 200-yard rushing performance of his career. “We had a game plan to keep that running game going and it worked in the second half.”

After taking a 14-0 lead to the half, WAHS dominated the second 24 minutes of action with sustained offensive drives that wore down the Fluvanna defense and resulted in three scoring drives. Western ran a total of 61 plays in the game, compared to only 35 for the Flucos (2-4, 1-2). The Warriors ran 32 plays in the second half while the Flucos managed 12.

That disparity in play production can be attributed to two things — a hard-nosed running attack and great defensive play by Western Albemarle.

Fluvanna quarterback Ryan Foster had trouble finding open receivers all night against a stingy Warriors secondary. Foster managed just 17 yards passing on a night that had him running for his life instead of finding open receivers.

“Our defense has been our strength all year and they played great tonight and made it really tough on him,” said Western coach Ed Pierce.

Fluvanna which managed only 102 yards of total offense, was held to minus-3 yards in the second half while giving up yards on the ground.

“We’ve got a good corps of receivers but they definitely blanketed our guys and Ryan had to try and buy some time,” said Fluvanna coach Joel Gray. “They had two weeks to prepare and it showed.”

After Cody Davis got the scoring started with a 3-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter, the Wilkerson show began. Wilkerson scored on runs of 10, 50 and nine yards, all in a span of roughly 10 minutes over two quarters, to cap off his career night. Western rolled up 429 yards of total offense, with 343 coming on the ground.

Quarterback Stephen Schuler added a 12-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.