On “Sea of Blue” night at Eddie Dean Field on Friday, it was Madison County’s ground game that led to a 35-0 victory over visiting Nelson County.

Wendell Green enters his first season as head coach at Albemarle, as former head man Rick Vrhovac stepped down after his 2008 squad finished 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the Commonwealth District. Gone from last year’s roster are starting quarterback Jeremy Robinson, receivers Zach Vrhovac and Tyler Molinaro and key linemen Jon Pfeifer and Will Gimble.

Enrollment changes will knock several area high schools down to lower divisions for the 2009 and 2010 football seasons.

With their opponent lacking a go-to guy on offense, Nelson was able to hold off a pesky Buckingham squad 59-53 and complete the season sweep of the Knights.

The senior point guard lifted the Dragons to a 56-47 victory over a young Governors squad, finishing with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Trailing by 29 points early in the fourth quarter, it’s fair to call Nelson County’s 41-39 loss to defending state champion Gretna a moral victory.

Nelson County head coach Tim Crawford admitted that his team got dominated in its opener last week against Madison County. On Friday night, his troops traveled to Buckingham County and came away with a decisive 28-7 victory, their first of the young season.

Madison, looking like a team that had worked out the early-season kinks before taking the field last night at Booster Park, dominated the line of scrimmage from start to finish in a 28-8 win over Nelson County.

Unfortunately for Nelson County, it’s becoming more obvious that the path to a Group A state title runs right through the Governors’ Dogwood District.

Box scores from Thursday night’s prep action

Since losing its season opener to Albemarle just over a month ago, the Western Albemarle soccer team has come a long way.