Warriors roll past Black Knights

Following a 40-point blowout loss to Jefferson District-leading Monticello a week ago, Western Albemarle was eager to get back on the field and get back in the win column.

Oh, what a difference seven days can make.

The Warriors (4-5, 3-2 JD) forced five Charlottesville turnovers and held the Black Knights to 48 yards of total offense in a decisive 41-0 romp.

“We had a letdown last week, and I think our guys were determined to come out here and fix that,” said Western Albemarle head coach Ed Pierce of his team’s dominant performance. “We got good pressure up front and forced them into some tough throws downfield.”

Charlottesville (1-8, 1-4), which suffered its own lopsided loss to Orange County last week, watched Western march 58 yards on 13 plays on the Warriors’ first possession of the night, culminating in a 2-yard Schuyler Wilkerson touchdown run to open the scoring.

Two plays later, Black Knights quarterback Tyrell Vaughn fired a pass over the middle only to find Western’s Cody Davis, who made an acrobatic, one-handed interception and returned it 40 yards to extend the visitors’ lead to 13-0.

From there, the Warriors never looked back.

Leading 13-0 late in the first half, Western Albemarle went to the two-minute drill and quarterback Seth Bowman found Wilkerson on a
22-yard touchdown pass to move the score to 20-0. Charlottesville fumbled deep in its own territory on the Knights’ ensuing possession and Stephen Schuler needed only one play to plunge in from five yards out to set the halftime score at 27-0.

“With Charlottesville it’s always a big game, but our guys really just wanted to get better. Last week was a very big disappointment to us and they felt that and came out here and played well tonight,” Pierce said.

The Warriors got more points from their defense in the second half as Christophe Drapanas picked off two passes, returning one 35 yards for a touchdown. The Warriors added another late score to set the final tally.

The Black Knights were again without the services of standout quarterback Kevin Leatherwood, who missed his third game with a high ankle sprain. With the leader sidelined, Charlottesville was forced to use junior Philip Wilson, who threw three interceptions, at quarterback for most of the night.

“That’s our inexperience and we’re inexperienced in a lot of areas,” said Charlottesville head coach Chris Fraser. “The plus for us is, our guys are playing hard and that’s what we’re trying to build on.”

Charlottesville has next Friday off before closing the season at Monticello. Western caps off the regular season next week at home against Orange County.