My Top 15 Essex Football Game Memories

[uvacavs1]

The posts below in the 1A Preview thread caused me to reflect on my times as an Essex supporter (I still pull for the Trojans, usually that is, ha). I will start in 1999 as that was my 1st year pulling for Essex Football. Some of you may share these memories, others may think of different great games. Please add them. I will go in chronological order - some games were amazing victories, others were crushing defeats. Please correct if any errors were made.

1) 1999- Essex lost to New Kent 7- 6 in the last game of the season in a difficult, tough loss. I still remember Stacy Tutt making a spectacular catch from one of the Wind boys.

2) 2003- Essex won over James Monroe in Fredericksburg 16-13 in the playoffs. Carter Ball kicked the winning field goal to set off the celebrations.

3) 2003- Essex lost 40-15 to Gate City in Essex's 1st State Title game held at JMU in the snow. We Essex fans were literally outnumbered like 400 Essex supporters to 5,000 GC fans but it was a cool memory. It is fun to be such an underdog at times (to me anyway).

4) 2006 - Regular season - Essex won over King William 17-14. Both programs were very strong that year winning 10 or more games.

5) 2006- Undefeated 12-0 Essex travelled to undefeated 12-0 Goochland in December for the showdown. Essex was crushed 31-8. I remember seeing lots of shock and tears on the Essex sidelines. I also remember my fun Essex crew that came over to my house before traveling to see that whipping by the Dogs help me put up my kid's swing set. Funny what you can recall.

I will continue the countdown in the next post.

 

[uvacavs1]

6) 2007 - Essex over major Northern Neck rival Washington and Lee 21-20.

7) 2008- Essex (12-0) lost to powerhouse Gretna (at Gretna) 45-40 in a State Semis thriller!

8) 2009- Essex v Gretna in the state semis again - this time at Essex - Essex wins 8-0 at the end in what was the Ice Bowl - Freezing driving rain, sleet, winds, cold, it was wild - Controversial ending- what a battle of men in the elements- Essex goes on to win state title the next week in a 30-0 win over Radford.

9) 2012- Coach John Fulks era- Essex (14-0) wins D-2 states semis over John Battle 40-9. I remember the awesome, huge crowd from John Battle. They were such friendly folks that I felt bad for them.

10) 2012 - Essex gets destroyed by the powerful Goochland machine once again, this time in the State Title game, 41-14 in Salem. It was memorable for the complete disaster that it was.

11) 2013 - Essex opens up season with a spectacular win over powerhouse Goochland (yes, rare state title rematch). Essex won 42-28 to answer its many critics from the state title disaster. IMO, one of Coach Fulks and staff's greatest victories and set the tone.

12) 2013 - October at 3A powerhouse James Monroe - Essex lost at Maury Stadium 40-37 in OT in what was an absolute thriller. It was without a doubt the best high school football game I've ever experienced. It was like a Rocky fight to the end filled with magnificent plays and loaded with wild controversy.

13) 2013- Essex wins over Fort Chiswell in the State Semis 38-13 in a very memorable, somewhat ugly contest. I'll just leave it at that.

14) 2014- Essex wins over Haysi in the State Semi's (held at KW). Haysi brought a huge, great crowd. They were super friendly. It was their school's and long time coach's last football game. Essex Pastor Larry Schools made an outstanding video tribute to Haysi.

15) 2014- Essex lost it's third State Championship in a row - this time with honor as Altavista won an awesome back and forth battle to the end, 22-20.

And so ends my trip down Essex Football memory lane ha.

 

[NNDman]

That's an interesting list. One I think you may have overlooked was the 2012 season opener vs. Gretna. Essex was coming off its first losing season since 1995 and spanked the defending state champs 41-18

 

[uvacavs1]

Absolutely that Gretna win was massive and started the 14 game winning streak.

I knew I missing one of the big Gretna games. I remember that one very well. I was sitting in the Essex stands with a large friendly group of Gretna fans nearby (with their blue hats on).

Of course, they did not know or expect what we had in our future state record breaker QB Dominek Broaddus and all of his super fast receivers. Anyway, whenever Broaddus would drop back and his speedy WRs would take off, I'd stand up, arms out like a 3 pointer and say Touchdown (EssexTrojan1 knows what I'm talking about ha). After the third TD or so, the Gretna folks asked me "How do you know its gonna be a TD pass?" I nicely responded "our boys are just plain bad a----."

You are certainly right, that was the beginning of Essex's recent success (under Coach Fulks). That beat down was also the beginning of the end for Gretna's successful run (IMO).

 

[Essex Trojan1]

Uvacavs1....Man, you took me back!!!! Lol. And yes, I know what you are talking about with Broaddus and the receivers. Both QBs Broaddus (2012, 2013 &'14) and Garner ('08 & '09) had some VERY talented receivers during those years. The receivers those years were so good that, both QBs registered multi 1,000-3,000 yards passing seasons and tons of TD passes. With all the passing yards and TD passes the QBs enjoyed, (I could be wrong) but I don't think any of the receivers got over a thousand yards receiving during regular season because during those 5 years I listed, each QB enjoyed receiving cores that went 4 deep. The ball got spreaded around very well to all of them as well as the RBs. If any WR posted 1,000 yard regular seasons, it might of been Keith Bundy jr and Trey Jones in 2012. Good memories uvacavs1. Only game I didn't see was the New Kent game. I was living in Richmond at that time. I'm looking forward to the scrimmage tomorrow at Bruton.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Great memories guys. Thanks for sharing. Good luck this season.

 

[uvacavs1]

Thanks EssexTrojan1 and DP. Best of luck of Dinwiddie and to Essex and ole Coach Jones!

I look forward to seeing how Coach Todd Jones and his Trojans do this season!

I am hoping that you guys will have some tough new district competition this season .

I have nothing but respect for Jones. I (along with many others) was saddened when he left in the Summer of 2010. I'm I am so glad that he is back in the community!

I also have great respect for Coach John Fulks, his staff, his players and all of their amazing accomplishments. Fulks did a lot of behind the scenes work (and so did his great Dad, Papa Fulks) with often very little assistance or resources.

Often many members of the community (like the great Essex Volunteer Fire Department, local great Churches and many caring citizens would help out the athletic department and the kids).

I just wanted to publicly say thank you to Coach John Fulks and best wishes in your new endeavors!

Now Essex needs tremendous improvements to its athletic facilities - I hope that the Essex powers that be will finally step up and help out AD/Coach Jones. Bring some pride to Essex County!!!

 

[DinwiddieProud]

As I read your post, two thoughts came to mind.

First, how sad it is that many people don't come out and make memories like we're shared above. I venture to say that most of us would admit that some of our best memories are associated with high school sports, and high school football in particular.

Secondly, as you eluded to above, football can and does do something that otherwise might not happen. It brings the community together. When it's a good thing, everybody wants to be a part of it. Churches, (and Good Lord do we need more of that influence), clubs, businesses, former players and more often, former player's families, the fire departments and rescue squads, the police and/or the sheriffs departments, and it goes on and on. I would venture to say that high school football, along with JV, middle school, and rec league football do more, and in most cases a lot more, to bring a community together than anything else.

 

[uvacavs1]

As I read your post, two thoughts came to mind.

First, how sad it is that many people don't come out and make memories like we're shared above. I venture to say that most of us would admit that some of our best memories are associated with high school sports, and high school football in particular.

Secondly, as you eluded to above, football can and does do something that otherwise might not happen. It brings the community together. When it's a good thing, everybody wants to be a part of it. Churches, (and Good Lord do we need more of that influence), clubs, businesses, former players and more often, former player's families, the fire departments and rescue squads, the police and/or the sheriffs departments, and it goes on and on. I would venture to say that high school football, along with JV, middle school, and rec league football do more, and in most cases a lot more, to bring a community together than anything else.

I completely agree, my friend. Football is definitely the sport that can have the most positive impact on a community because of its immense appeal and popularity across America. I would also say that all sports (for those involved in a team family concept) can, often it seems, be the only vehicle that can bridge together groups divided by socioeconomics, race, religion, and the ever widening political divisions in our country.

One major sports related issue that has always baffled me is why many intellectuals argue that "great success in athletics will take away from great success in academics."

I can assure anyone who will listen that the exact opposite is generally true.

Participation and success in high school athletics often directly leads to more overall academic success in the academic setting. I have witnessed this academic improvement in my own limited observations and data analysis over the years. Athletic success and participation leads to higher graduation rates, better grades, fewer discipline issues, more and better parent involvement, higher standardized test scores, improved school pride, team work skills, improved student self confidence, and so on. There are many excellent studies on this important topic by top research universities as well.

In other words, if your school needs academic improvement, why not upgrade your athletic facilities, if needed, with some of those precious funds and increase school and community pride along with the test scores.

Oh well, so much for my morning diatribe. Ha!

 

[WP02alum]

I'm 100% onboard with athletic participation enhancing students' lives & that connection to academic success.

It's a bit of a stretch (to put it lightly) to say schools who need to make significant academic improvements should spend money on athletic facilities to make that academic difference. I think the research you reference would not support that spending concept.

 

[gwb16]

I'm 100% onboard with athletic participation enhancing students' lives & that connection to academic success.

It's a bit of a stretch (to put it lightly) to say schools who need to make significant academic improvements should spend money on athletic facilities to make that academic difference. I think the research you reference would not support that spending concept.

This isn't related to "spending", but it's interesting scenario that played out in Windsor several years ago. I'll admit up front that I was extremely skeptical and once I explain the scenario, you might understand why I was....

Pardon me for not remembering the head coaches name, he eventually left Windsor to become the Head Coach at Prince George...

Anyway, I was at a School Board meeting back in 07-08 time frame.... Windsor High School AD and HC made a presentation to the School Board, asking for a minimum GPA "to play" variance...IOW has a strict 2.0 to play rule...with NO rounding up.
Coach was asking the SB to allow kids at WHS who had a 1.5 GPA to become eligible to play football (it was actually for all sports), with the strict caveat that EVERY player who had a GPA below the 2.0 would be required to attend after school tutoring prior to going to practice, he also had a lengthy list of teachers who were willing to volunteer their time to help with the tutoring. It was allowed for 2 years and the amazing thing was, those kids who were between the 1.5 and 1.9 window, ALL improved their GPA's to above 2.0. The student body rallied for the cause, the sense of pride and hard work to improve grades had kids GPA's climbing. And then, for reasons that I still cannot explain, the SB wouldn't allow the program to continue after 2 years. But, given the general attitude of THAT SB, it doesn't surprise me. They did what they wanted, when they wanted. For me personally, the ability to keep that kid off of the streets and interested in athletics and MAKING him or her work harder for the GPA had many positive sides. I just couldn't understand the decision to dump it.

 

[uvacavs1]

I'm 100% onboard with athletic participation enhancing students' lives & that connection to academic success.

It's a bit of a stretch (to put it lightly) to say schools who need to make significant academic improvements should spend money on athletic facilities to make that academic difference. I think the research you reference would not support that spending concept.

Awesome WP in that we are in agreement on athletic participation and success often enhances overall academic performance.

Let me address your completely understood doubts about spending on Athletics/Facilities and it helping in academic improvements in another post.

 

[uvacavs1]

I freely admit that I made the correlation from basic athletic participation and success improving academic performance to hey, if you spend money on improving athletic facilities it will lead to significant academic improvements. I have not read any research (as of yet anyway) supporting this school of thought.

So yes, it was my own leap, but I am fairly confident that great clean schools plus great athletic facilities can indeed indirectly and, possibly directly, improve academic achievement. Leaders must also be on board with the concepts as GW was discussing in order for the students to buy in.

Look at Cosby High School - superior athletic facilities and sport teams, outstanding academics. The list goes on - George Mason, Radford, Blacksburg...We could analyze the top VHSL Wells Fargo Cup Schools - is there a pattern?

In our area, many of top local academic schools have strong and above average athletic facilities- is their a link?

Anyway, this is just off the top of my head - yes, many, many variables impact student achievement but it may be worth it for some schools in major need of an athletic makeover to make an investment in school and community pride - not so subtle hints.....

 

[WP02alum]

There's definitely a pride correlation. Students & communities want something to be proud of. I've seen kids lives changed because they had a sport to hold onto while they struggled in school. It's the only reason they attend some days. There is a significant portion of the student population that doesn't engage with athletics though.

I think I agree with the premise as it works that way for many students, but I would be very wary if I saw my community tackling academic concerns with a heavy dose of athletics.

 

[uvacavs1]

There's definitely a pride correlation. Students & communities want something to be proud of. I've seen kids lives changed because they had a sport to hold onto while they struggled in school. It's the only reason they attend some days. There is a significant portion of the student population that doesn't engage with athletics though.

I think I agree with the premise as it works that way for many students, but I would be very wary if I saw my community tackling academic concerns with a heavy dose of athletics.

Just returned from the Richmond County Fair - Americana at its best.

Oh I absolutely agree. Improving athletic and extracurricular activities/facilities would come only after major improvements in academics have already been implemented for many years. Also, they would probably be a fairly small part of the overall massive budget and enhancements would be phased in over many years.

The school would already have plenty of teachers, aids, new textbooks, tons of great technology, countless staff development training, good enrichment programs and so on. Sorry, I did not make those vital details clear.

 

[WP02alum]

I think we agree more than we disagree. Good talk. Sorry to detail this Essex thread, everyone!