Western Albemarle used an explosive offense, combined with some timely stops on defense to get past a pesky Fluvanna County team in its Jefferson District opener on Friday night.

Western Albemarle never led by fewer than two touchdowns after the first quarter despite its seven turnovers en route to a 42-7 victory over Albemarle.

The defending Jefferson District champion Warriors, though, held strong as the fourth set went to the limit, finally grabbing the set and the match, 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 28-26).

After opening the season with a 35-point first quarter explosion last week against Waynesboro, Western Albemarle took a little longer getting started Friday night against visiting Turner Ashby.

Western Albemarle started its season off with a bang on Friday night, scoring 35 first-quarter points en route to a 49-0 defeat of Waynesboro.

Western Albemarle’s senior leadership paved the way for a decisive 49-0 season-opening shutout over visiting Waynesboro on Friday, and head coach Ed Pierce hopes the trend continues.

Now, with his grades in order, White has earned a spot in the starting lineup and has been named one of the Warriors’ captains.

On Wednesday night, however, it was a veteran Western Albemarle team that looked like the champs, defeating the Patriots 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 in front of an energetic home crowd.

With new coaches (William Monroe and Fluvanna) as well as a new team (Goochland) there are a lot of unknowns in the Jefferson District this season.

Scott Willard has been chosen as the Miller School’s athletic director and boys basketball coach.

The Warriors — behind the senior doubles tandem of Alex Politis and Riley Wilson — won their third straight state title in a 5-4 marathon that lasted 6 1/2 hours and left spectators numb.

In the end, the Warriors were the ones left standing. They won 5-3 and advanced to this morning’s finals against Hidden Valley. Western (18-1) will be gunning for its third straight state title.

Western Albemarle High’s Joey Manilla sat on a courtside bench with his older brother, Danny, for several minutes following a 6-3, 6-0 loss to Salem’s Patrick O’Keefe in the semifinals of the Group AA singles tournament.

This morning at Radford University, Manilla will get another crack at O’Keefe when they meet in the individual state semis.

Two first-place finishes from Tyler Stutzman lifted Western Albemarle to a repeat Group AA boys outdoor track championship.