Hornets blast Flucos

ORANGE — As tears mixed with sweat and Quintin Hunter soaked in his final moments at Porterfield Park, the soft-spoken, often-contemplative senior quarterback deftly summed up a complex moment.

“Every high school player comes to a point where he thinks his career won’t end, and you won’t realize it is over until the clock says zero,” Hunter said. “That’s where I am right now.”

With 8 minutes and 28 seconds left in the Hornets’ 48-26 victory over Fluvanna County, Orange called a timeout and subbed out a number of seniors, including Hunter, effectively ending the UVa commitment’s time as a high school quarterback. The Hornets, at 7-3 overall, were left on the outside looking in of the VHSL’s Power Poll system.

Despite the lack of a playoff berth, Hunter didn’t disappoint at all in his finale, rushing for 107 yards and three touchdowns and throwing for another. The 42-yard touchdown toss to Shane Atkins, another member of an incredibly large, 26-member senior class for the Hornets, came on a typical Hunter play. The senior escaped the pocket, moved to his right and unleashed the throw across the field, catching Atkins in stride for the score.

“They finished with five wins again [just like 2007] and that’s a great way to end it,” said Orange coach John Kayakanian of his seniors. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get in the playoffs, but we got better every week and they’re a real good group.”

After Fluvanna took a 6-0 lead on a 30-yard pass by Ryan Foster to Hunter Shepherd in the first quarter, Orange exploded past the Flucos. Hunter hit Atkins on the ensuing drive to knot the game at 6-6 going into the second, and then orchestrated four touchdown drives in the second frame to put the Hornets up 34-6 at the break.

Hunter capped three of those drives with touchdown runs of 2, 27 and 46 yards, and sophomore Amir Waller finished off the other drive with an 8-yard sprint on an end around.

The Flucos never seemed ready to pack things despite Orange’s onslaught, scoring on a pair of Ryan Foster touchdown passes in the final five minutes after the game. Fluvanna pulled out all the stops the entire night, with Keith Pillow and Tyler Denby both throwing wide receiver and running back passes.

Denby and Danny Edgell hauled in the final two touchdown tosses from Foster, who had three on the night to go with the junior’s more than 200 yards through the air.

“They had as many seniors as we had players, and they were huge and fast,” said Fluvanna head coach Joel Gray. “These guys lay their heart on a plate for us and play hard as they can play. You can’t find a better group of kids.”

Fluvanna wasn’t completely out of the game either, with senior Jamal Spears recovering a mortar kick early to open the second half, but the Flucos missed a long field goal on the ensuing offensive drive.

It was much the same story a few minutes later when Spears picked up a Hunter fumble in the third quarter and rumbled 15 yards for a touchdown, but the Flucos couldn’t capitalize on the momentum shift. Two offensive drives that went nowhere followed Spears’ touchdown.