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Thursday
August 19, 2021
SPORTS: Youth, High School, College, Recreational, Professional
Serving Goochland County Since 1955
Previewing Goochland football for the 2021 season By Nick Vandeloecht Sports Editor
GOOCHLAND -- As they gear up for the second season in 2021 - one that is slated to be of a regular length and bring Virginia high school football back to the fall - the Goochland Bulldogs are embracing the theme of “PLAY H.A.R.D.D.” For head coach Alex Fruth, the coaching staff and Goochland players, that means playing with hustle, a positive attitude, responsibility, dedication and discipline. And while a successful season remains the goal, Goochland football also remains committed to two continual focuses. The first is for the younger players to build constantly. “We want them to build towards what hopefully will be a successful senior year when they’re in (those) shoes,” Fruth said. The second is for the seniors to plant trees they’ll never see, and to write their legacy. “When you walk out of here, what kind of kids have you helped to improve?” Fruth said. “What kind of kids are you leaving for the next generation of Goochland football?” Several returners come back to help the Bulldogs build on a standout condensed spring season in which the team went unbeaten in the regular stretch, reached the Class 3, Region B championship game and ended their run with a setback to Independence, which has since moved to a different state classification. Senior C.J. Towles, a Division I talent, will help lead Goochland’s defense in the secondary and will also return to the starting quar-
Photos by Nick Vandeloecht/Goochland Gazette
Above: Goochland head football coach Alex Fruth talks to the players following a scrimmage at home versus Chancellor on Aug. 13; below: Goochland’s offensive line blocks Chancellor’s defenders.
terback position for the third consecutive year. Jason Woodson, J.D. Mills, Derek Pierce and Omarion Quarles will all take on roles in the backfield alongside Towles; Pierce and Mills are also among the players who will line up at receiver. Two
other players expected to help at slotback include Jamason Pryor and Gabe Liptak. With a strong running back core playing behind a battle-tested offensive line, the ground game should be a strength, and the Bulldogs should be run-heavy for a little while
until they get their feet under them across the board, Fruth pointed out. Pierce and Mills will also play in the secondary, and Quarles will bolster the defense at linebacker. Potential contributors to the defense this regular sea-
son include Nik Cotner, who caught an interception in last Friday’s scrimmage, Aidan Allen, Dylan Myers, Eyan Pace, Eli Umberger and sophomore Corey Mullins, who sacked the quarterback in the scrimmage. The lines on both sides of
the ball bring back a wealth of experience and talent. The offensive line, featuring both size and depth, includes Alex Rosenbaum, Hayden Raley, Josh Usry, Easton Bowman, Gavin Hazelton, Jahran Tucker and Carter Payne. The powerful defensive line should feature Bowman, Deontae Quarles, De’Andre Robinson, Kai Burton and Enrique Alvarez. Goochland’s defense overall looks to be very aggressive, and as the unit has shown both last spring and during this preseason, any one defender can fly to the football on any given night. Tyler Black, a junior and state champion this past season in the pole vault, returns as the team’s starting kicker. In the Bulldogs’ first season scrimmage against the larger Class 4 school of Chancellor, Fruth praised his team’s energy and focus on playing hard. He also saw what they could work on, including technique and fundamental issues. He noted that they have to tackle better. “The big thing is: we’re going to have some really good tape. We’re going to have a chance to go in there and fix it. We’re going to have a chance to kind of spend time talking through what we did well and what we need to fix,” Fruth said, “and it’ll be good; we got a ton of reps for the younger kids, we’ll be able to evaluate and really have a feel for what we have going into the second scrimmage.” While the Bulldogs are gearing up for that scrimmage on Thursday at Deep Run (7 p.m.) and they are set to open the regular season at home on Saturday, Aug. 27 (7 p.m.) versus King William, the pandemic remains a challenge as
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