After dismantling East Rock in the regular season. East Rock is returning the favor tonight. 34-7 end of three
East Rock vs Clarke County
- Thread starter StrasburgFball
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Karma is returning its favor to Clarke's head coach for running up the score vs. Rapp. 
Maybe, but Rutherford being out definitely changed CC.Karma is returning its favor to Clarke's head coach for running up the score vs. Rapp.
I dunno, I think CC adjusted well after we lost Rutherford. The East Rock team we played tonight was NOT the East Rock team we played back in September, that's for sure. Clarke looked lethargic tonight. Could be karma for last week, who knows. Good luck to East Rock next week!
Kickoff return touchdown sparks East Rockingham past Clarke County
Clarke County's Deonte Trammel is brought down by three East Rockingham defenders during a first quarter kickoff return in their Region 2B playoff game Friday at Clarke County High School. East Rockingham won 41-7.
Clarke County quarterback Colby Childs breaks through the East Rockingham defense on a keeper play in the first quarter of their Region 2B playoff game Friday at Clarke County High School. Childs had a hard time escaping the East Rockingham defense though, as he was sacked eight times. lor/The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE — The Clarke County football team has one of the best special teams weapons in the Bull Run District in senior kicker Kellan Dalton — for example, more than two-thirds of his kickoffs had landed in the end zone for touchbacks through six games this year.
But it's not easy sending the ball 60 yards through 40-degree night air. And arguably the district's best weapon overall gave East Rockingham the spark it needed to explode after halftime.
Senior Trenton Morris — the only All-Bull Run District first team selection for offense, defense and special teams — returned Dalton's second half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to break open a six-point game, and East Rockingham pretty much rolled from there for a 41-7 win in the Region 2B quarterfinals on Friday night at Clarke's Wilbur M. Feltner Stadium.
Sixth-seeded East Rockingham (7-4) — which lost 42-7 to No. 3 Clarke (8-3) on Sept. 27 — won its fifth straight game and will play No. 2 Buckingham County (10-1) in next week's semifinals. Buckingham defeated No. 7 Page County 20-19 in overtime on Friday.
East Rockingham owned the second half. ERHS outscored Clarke County 28-0 and held the Eagles to minus-30 yards in the final 24 minutes thanks in large part to six of their eight total sacks (Ethan Mitchell had three sacks). Clarke County finished with 92 total yards.
ERHS also had two of its three takeaways in the second half, both of which led to touchdowns. Clarke County certainly could have used injured star running back Peyton Rutherford, who had 299 yards and three TDs as part of a 413-yard Clarke County rushing effort in the initial game against ERHS.
But things might have turned out a little differently if not for the kickoff return by Morris (190 yards and two touchdowns on six carries and five catches for 52 yards and a TD), a linebacker on defense who is the Bull Run District's Defensive Player of the Year.
When the second half started, it was Clarke County that had the momentum as a result of Danny Lyman blocking Colby Price's 28-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half to keep the ERHS lead at 13-7.
"We were in a dogfight. It was a ballgame," said Clarke County coach Chris Parker, whose team had only been outgained 126-122 by ERHS prior to Morris' 41-yard run just before that field goal attempt. "[That kickoff return] definitely broke the momentum. We talked about it. We had to get a stop.
"We were very aware [of Morris], it's just that kid had a career night. He did a heck of a job in all three phases of the game."
The first team all-district kick returner Morris caught the ball on the right side and began angling left, and once he crossed East Rockingham's 40-yard line there was no catching him. He then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 21-7 with 11:46 left in the third quarter.
"Last game we were used to their kicker kicking it all the way into the end zone," Morris said. "I just don't think [Clarke] was ready for it not to go in the end zone. I got it and saw the hole. Thanks to my blockers. They opened that hole up beautifully for me."
Lyman (seven carries, 20 yards, TD, three catches 20 yards) said the kickoff return took away all the momentum the Eagles had built up with his blocked field goal attempt.
ERHS simply refused to give the momentum back. Things started to snowball after East Rockingham recovered a fumble by running back Jack Taylor (18 carries for 85 yards) at the Clarke County 20 with 8:03 left in the first half. One play later, Colton Dean (17 carries, for 60 yards and two TDs) ran the ball in for a score to make it 27-7.
At that point, Clarke had to start throwing the ball more, and the Eagles struggled mightily to handle the ERHS pressure. Five of the sacks came after Dean's 20-yard TD run. Three plays after Dean's score, Moses Condrey (two interceptions) picked off Eagles quarterback Colby Childs (6 of 10 for 12 yards and two interceptions) at the Clarke County 46.
Three plays after that, ERHS quarterback Tyce McNair pitched the ball ahead to Morris on a jet sweep left, and Morris made a quick cut back toward the middle after getting around the edge for a 27-yard TD to make it 34-7 with 4:57 left in the third quarter.
"Their physicality was a lot more intense [than in the Sept. 27 game]," Parker said. "We played pretty well in the first game, but their kids stepped it up and we had trouble blocking them. They were swarming to the ball."
"They played more physical than us," Childs said. "They ran everything perfect. They were sending 'backers in different types of ways. They played better than us."
Childs said the Eagles' execution simply wasn't as good as it was in the first matchup with East Rockingham.
"We were missing tackles, we were missing holes, we were missing blocks, I threw some bad passes," Childs said. "Overall, we didn't play well. We should have beat them, but they outplayed us. They played better than they did the last time."
East Rockingham broke through on the game's fourth possession when Morris burst through a big hole up the middle into the clear, then cut toward the right sideline about 15 yards downfield. He finished things off for a 72-yard touchdown with 1:13 left in the first quarter, and Price's extra point made it 7-0 ERHS.
East Rockingham forced a punt after five plays on Clarke County's next possession and took over at the CCHS 39 after it traveled 27 yards. Six plays later, ERHS spread the Eagles out with three receivers on the left and handed off to Morris, who blasted through another big hole up the middle for a 17-yard TD to make it 13-0 with 8:24 left in the second quarter. The extra point attempt went off the right upright.
"If you could go back and do it again, I'm sure we would have done it perfectly," said Lyman, also a defensive back. "Just a couple of missed tackles leads to big plays."
Clarke County finally got on the board on its fourth possession. Taylor started the nine-play, 65-yard drive off with a 25-yard run to the ERHS 40, but it was Lyman who finished it with a sweep around the left side. He beat the ERHS defense to the front left corner of the end zone for a 2-yard TD, and Dalton's extra point cut East Rockingham's lead to 13-7 with 4:17 left in the second quarter.
ERHS almost added to its lead just before the half when Morris found an opening up the middle and then made a quick cut left after nearly stopping to get to the CCHS 11. He ran out of bounds with eighth-tenths of a second on the clock. ERHS lined up for a 28-yard field goal attempt, but Lyman was able to come off the edge and easily block the attempt to send the game into halftime at 13-7.
Though Friday's loss was a difficult one for the Eagles to take, Clarke County left Feltner Stadium knowing it had ample reason to feel great about its season.
The Eagles spent practically all season dealing with injuries, and at one point they had seven players out. The Eagles got healthier by the end of the season and managed to win four straight games without their best player Rutherford prior to losing Friday. Clarke County's win last week against Rappahannock County clinched a share of the Bull Run District regular-season championship.
"I'm really proud to be a part of this team," Lyman said. "It's a great team. I loved every moment of it. District champions, you can't be mad about that."
"We had players go out with injuries, but people stepped up," Childs said. "Everyone contributed to help us get to where we did."
Parker said it was definitely a season to remember. The Eagles made their 13th straight appearance in the playoffs.
"I told the guys after the game I'm very proud of them," Parker said. "They don't want to lose. The football staff hates to lose. But we were co-district champs even though we had a lot of adversity. To get to this point, we were fighting, and kids responded.
"A lot of teams would love to be 8-3 in the playoffs. I feel bad that we lost, but you've got to pull from the positive."
Clarke County's Deonte Trammel is brought down by three East Rockingham defenders during a first quarter kickoff return in their Region 2B playoff game Friday at Clarke County High School. East Rockingham won 41-7.
- Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star
Clarke County quarterback Colby Childs breaks through the East Rockingham defense on a keeper play in the first quarter of their Region 2B playoff game Friday at Clarke County High School. Childs had a hard time escaping the East Rockingham defense though, as he was sacked eight times. lor/The Winchester Star
- Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE — The Clarke County football team has one of the best special teams weapons in the Bull Run District in senior kicker Kellan Dalton — for example, more than two-thirds of his kickoffs had landed in the end zone for touchbacks through six games this year.
But it's not easy sending the ball 60 yards through 40-degree night air. And arguably the district's best weapon overall gave East Rockingham the spark it needed to explode after halftime.
Senior Trenton Morris — the only All-Bull Run District first team selection for offense, defense and special teams — returned Dalton's second half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to break open a six-point game, and East Rockingham pretty much rolled from there for a 41-7 win in the Region 2B quarterfinals on Friday night at Clarke's Wilbur M. Feltner Stadium.
Sixth-seeded East Rockingham (7-4) — which lost 42-7 to No. 3 Clarke (8-3) on Sept. 27 — won its fifth straight game and will play No. 2 Buckingham County (10-1) in next week's semifinals. Buckingham defeated No. 7 Page County 20-19 in overtime on Friday.
East Rockingham owned the second half. ERHS outscored Clarke County 28-0 and held the Eagles to minus-30 yards in the final 24 minutes thanks in large part to six of their eight total sacks (Ethan Mitchell had three sacks). Clarke County finished with 92 total yards.
ERHS also had two of its three takeaways in the second half, both of which led to touchdowns. Clarke County certainly could have used injured star running back Peyton Rutherford, who had 299 yards and three TDs as part of a 413-yard Clarke County rushing effort in the initial game against ERHS.
But things might have turned out a little differently if not for the kickoff return by Morris (190 yards and two touchdowns on six carries and five catches for 52 yards and a TD), a linebacker on defense who is the Bull Run District's Defensive Player of the Year.
When the second half started, it was Clarke County that had the momentum as a result of Danny Lyman blocking Colby Price's 28-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half to keep the ERHS lead at 13-7.
"We were in a dogfight. It was a ballgame," said Clarke County coach Chris Parker, whose team had only been outgained 126-122 by ERHS prior to Morris' 41-yard run just before that field goal attempt. "[That kickoff return] definitely broke the momentum. We talked about it. We had to get a stop.
"We were very aware [of Morris], it's just that kid had a career night. He did a heck of a job in all three phases of the game."
The first team all-district kick returner Morris caught the ball on the right side and began angling left, and once he crossed East Rockingham's 40-yard line there was no catching him. He then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 21-7 with 11:46 left in the third quarter.
"Last game we were used to their kicker kicking it all the way into the end zone," Morris said. "I just don't think [Clarke] was ready for it not to go in the end zone. I got it and saw the hole. Thanks to my blockers. They opened that hole up beautifully for me."
Lyman (seven carries, 20 yards, TD, three catches 20 yards) said the kickoff return took away all the momentum the Eagles had built up with his blocked field goal attempt.
ERHS simply refused to give the momentum back. Things started to snowball after East Rockingham recovered a fumble by running back Jack Taylor (18 carries for 85 yards) at the Clarke County 20 with 8:03 left in the first half. One play later, Colton Dean (17 carries, for 60 yards and two TDs) ran the ball in for a score to make it 27-7.
At that point, Clarke had to start throwing the ball more, and the Eagles struggled mightily to handle the ERHS pressure. Five of the sacks came after Dean's 20-yard TD run. Three plays after Dean's score, Moses Condrey (two interceptions) picked off Eagles quarterback Colby Childs (6 of 10 for 12 yards and two interceptions) at the Clarke County 46.
Three plays after that, ERHS quarterback Tyce McNair pitched the ball ahead to Morris on a jet sweep left, and Morris made a quick cut back toward the middle after getting around the edge for a 27-yard TD to make it 34-7 with 4:57 left in the third quarter.
"Their physicality was a lot more intense [than in the Sept. 27 game]," Parker said. "We played pretty well in the first game, but their kids stepped it up and we had trouble blocking them. They were swarming to the ball."
"They played more physical than us," Childs said. "They ran everything perfect. They were sending 'backers in different types of ways. They played better than us."
Childs said the Eagles' execution simply wasn't as good as it was in the first matchup with East Rockingham.
"We were missing tackles, we were missing holes, we were missing blocks, I threw some bad passes," Childs said. "Overall, we didn't play well. We should have beat them, but they outplayed us. They played better than they did the last time."
East Rockingham broke through on the game's fourth possession when Morris burst through a big hole up the middle into the clear, then cut toward the right sideline about 15 yards downfield. He finished things off for a 72-yard touchdown with 1:13 left in the first quarter, and Price's extra point made it 7-0 ERHS.
East Rockingham forced a punt after five plays on Clarke County's next possession and took over at the CCHS 39 after it traveled 27 yards. Six plays later, ERHS spread the Eagles out with three receivers on the left and handed off to Morris, who blasted through another big hole up the middle for a 17-yard TD to make it 13-0 with 8:24 left in the second quarter. The extra point attempt went off the right upright.
"If you could go back and do it again, I'm sure we would have done it perfectly," said Lyman, also a defensive back. "Just a couple of missed tackles leads to big plays."
Clarke County finally got on the board on its fourth possession. Taylor started the nine-play, 65-yard drive off with a 25-yard run to the ERHS 40, but it was Lyman who finished it with a sweep around the left side. He beat the ERHS defense to the front left corner of the end zone for a 2-yard TD, and Dalton's extra point cut East Rockingham's lead to 13-7 with 4:17 left in the second quarter.
ERHS almost added to its lead just before the half when Morris found an opening up the middle and then made a quick cut left after nearly stopping to get to the CCHS 11. He ran out of bounds with eighth-tenths of a second on the clock. ERHS lined up for a 28-yard field goal attempt, but Lyman was able to come off the edge and easily block the attempt to send the game into halftime at 13-7.
Though Friday's loss was a difficult one for the Eagles to take, Clarke County left Feltner Stadium knowing it had ample reason to feel great about its season.
The Eagles spent practically all season dealing with injuries, and at one point they had seven players out. The Eagles got healthier by the end of the season and managed to win four straight games without their best player Rutherford prior to losing Friday. Clarke County's win last week against Rappahannock County clinched a share of the Bull Run District regular-season championship.
"I'm really proud to be a part of this team," Lyman said. "It's a great team. I loved every moment of it. District champions, you can't be mad about that."
"We had players go out with injuries, but people stepped up," Childs said. "Everyone contributed to help us get to where we did."
Parker said it was definitely a season to remember. The Eagles made their 13th straight appearance in the playoffs.
"I told the guys after the game I'm very proud of them," Parker said. "They don't want to lose. The football staff hates to lose. But we were co-district champs even though we had a lot of adversity. To get to this point, we were fighting, and kids responded.
"A lot of teams would love to be 8-3 in the playoffs. I feel bad that we lost, but you've got to pull from the positive."
Irrelevant to this game IMO , not into karma and such but Riverheads was up 35-0 at the end of the 1Q vs. Rappahannock County. They won 45-0.
There’s just a way to do things.
Riverheads head coach Robert Casto stole a page from the NBA, and employed his version of “load management,” sitting a few of his starters and the rest were on the sideline long before the first quarter was over.
There’s just a way to do things.
Riverheads head coach Robert Casto stole a page from the NBA, and employed his version of “load management,” sitting a few of his starters and the rest were on the sideline long before the first quarter was over.
They definitely got what they deserved. Maybe Clark should have saved some of those points for this week. No excuse for putting 84 up on that team.Karma is returning its favor to Clarke's head coach for running up the score vs. Rapp.
https://www.winchesterstar.com/colu...cle_c863c085-4ab0-5f6f-b0db-fc0f72460181.htmlKarma is returning its favor to Clarke's head coach for running up the score vs. Rapp.
Why not punt on Clarke's 1st down if you didn't wanna run up the score?
Nice article and the writer is certainly entitled to his opinion. The team I witnessed from Rappahannock Co had no business being in the playoffs especially against a 10-0 and defending state champion but they didn’t get beat 84-0 either. I think coach Parker is a very good coach and it may not have been his intent to score any where close to that many points. I don’t know what he considers a lot of points, but it’s in black and white what he said and that can’t be disputed, period. There is not a way to spin that after the fact to make the comments seem less intentional. No ill will towards the players from Clarke on my part but don’t try to paint that display as anything other than what it was, poor game management by a coach that had every intent to run the numbers through the ceiling. Albeit with substituted players but the foot was still on the gas. Anyone offended that someone called this out is in denial. I won’t comment any further as it really doesn’t t matter to me other than to see the diametrically opposing views of this event.
I can tell you Riverheads is a far superior team than Clarke and they managed to hold it to 45. Like I said no excuse to put up 84.
Agree. It shows me how classy of a program Riverheads has.
