Father-son partnership winds down

Albemarle wide receiver Zach Vrhovac hauled in a pass on an out pattern from quarterback Jeremy Robinson, then took a bone-jarring hit from a Mountain View safety, who just like every other Commonwealth District defensive back, knew exactly where Vrhovac was before the play and was flying toward the senior as soon as the ball was in the air.

But, like he’s done numerous times before, Vrhovac popped back up, congratulated his opponent with a tap on the head and jogged to the huddle.

“The whole way I know he wasn’t breathing, I could tell that it took the wind out of him,” said his father, Albemarle coach Rick Vrhovac. “Just seeing some of the hits he’s taken, I just like his passion.”

Over the next two weeks, Albemarle’s father-son tandem that has been a fixture on the sidelines — since Zach joined his dad when he became the Patriots’ ball boy as a fourth-grader — will play out their final two games together. It’ll start with the pair’s final home game Friday night against Stafford, their 29th together of what will soon be an even 30 contests.

“You just kind of keep hoping [the end] doesn’t come,” Rick Vrhovac said. “Zach’s been on the sidelines with me since he was in second grade — I think he’s been to every football camp we’ve been to since he was in the fourth grade.”

In fact, Zach started going to summer camps with Albemarle when some of the Patriots, including

St. Anne’s-Belfield assistant Hunter Price, then a high school quarterback, made a trip to Tennessee. That happened to be the same camp that New York Jets running back and former Virginia star Thomas Jones attended — when Jones was a high school senior.

“Here’s a guy who’s run his course in the NFL — it’s been a long time and it’s hard to believe that it’s coming to an end,” Rick said.

They’ve packed a lot into those years, particularly Zach’s last three seasons on varsity. Between camps and 7-vs.-7 outings in the summer and hours upon hours on the practice field, the Vrhovac family — not just father and son, but mother and daughters, too — has devoted a lot of time, effort and energy to Albemarle.

“It’s kind of great to see that kind of family, [Zach’s] mom comes out and supports us every Thursday with meals,” Robinson said. “It’s a good relationship on the field — it’s all football when it’s football time.”

There’s ample discussion of the game at home too, as the two watch film together on Sundays regularly, good preparation for Zach’s planned future as a football coach after he attends college, likely as a track athlete. He was part of the Patriots’ outdoor 4x800 team that earned All-American honors from Track and Field News.

“He’ll say, ‘What about this, what about this,’ and later in the week he’ll remind me, and I’ll say, ‘Yeah, we haven’t practiced it enough, we’re not going to try it,’” Rick said. “Down the road, he wants to major in education and become a coach — and I think he’d make a pretty good one.”

For right now though, the duo seems content to enjoy the final chapter of a storied career, a career marked with mostly highs. In one of his first games as a sophomore, Zach took a monster hit on a big catch from former Monticello star Mike Brown and popped back up, a definitive sign of things to come. As a junior, Vrhovac put together what will likely go down as his best statistical season with over 800 yards and 10 touchdowns while earning first team

All-Central Virginia honors. While his senior season hasn’t gone as planned because of a series of critical mistakes in close games by the Patriots, he’s become an even more explosive force at free safety and at kick returner.

“He knew that [football] was my passion and it became his passion,” Rick said. “I know running is really big in his heart — but it’s been nice to know that he’s willing to go out there and give me everything he can give me. There’s been a lot of players who’ve done that, but to know that your son will do that is great.”

The Vrhovacs’ relationship has also endured all of the Patriots’ best and most frustrating times — a shutout win in the rain against Western Albemarle in 2007 where Zach hauled in over 180 yards and four touchdowns stands out as a major positive. But this season’s recent losing skid during Commonwealth play, most recently a devastating 42-6 home loss to Brooke Point, stands out in a different way, one that’s left a frustrated senior class, including Zach, searching for answers. Not that that comes as a surprise — he clearly picked up his father’s ultra-competitive nature.

“Anything he does, he wants to win just like me,” Zach said. “These past couple of games have been killing me — all I wanted was to win.”

It’s clear that both have a sense of how important these last two games are, neither taking for granted the chance to enjoy that bond as father and son, player and coach for another two weeks.

“It’s meant everything to me to be actually playing on the field now as a varsity player, playing for my dad,” Zach said. “It’s a very special thing.”