Sports

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 quarterback 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 season 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

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.

Photos by Nick Vandeloecht/Goochland Gazette

For Goochland golf, Will Gravely chips a ball over a hill, Gintas Putinas drives a ball out of a sand bunker, Luke Manno tees off and Isaac Hite putts during a 2021 home golf match.

Previewing Goochland golf for the 2021 fall season

Staff Reports

To head coach Knox Milligan, Goochland golf has certainly transitioned from a team of competitors who only play golf during the golf season, to a team of competitors who play golf all year round.

“Love this team,” Milligan said. “They all are great kids!

It’s a young team - there are no seniors in the unit this year - but they bring back multiple players who consisted delivered top-four scores for the team last year.

Milligan said that sophomores Will Gravely and Luke Manno and junior Matthew Floegel are the backbone of this year’s group.

“Scores from them at par or better will happen,” Milligan said. “We need their score to count every match.”

Milligan added that freshmen Michael Monahan and Isaac Hite, junior Gintas Putinas and sophomore Henry Vazales “are all very capable of providing scores in the high 30s to low 40s.”

“I am confident we will have multiple matches under 160 this year,” Milligan said. “We certainly will need it as our district play is much tougher than previous years.”

Goochland also has two freshmen - Garrett Ware and Carson Murray - whom Milligan believes will improve quickly and will be part of the top six lineup in their next three years.

“Both of these freshmen would have easily cracked the starting lineup in years past,” Milligan said. “They have already tasted tournament play as they were our 5 and 6 seed for the opening event at Meadowcreek. I was very proud of their performance as they both posted a nine hole score in the 40s.”

In their season opener last Monday, the Bulldogs finished third in a Jefferson District golf tournament at Meadowcreek.Gravely led his Bulldogs in the tournament with a low score of 71.

Looking to bounce back from this past Thursday’s 174-156 setback to a talented Western Albemarle team, Goochland was set to play at Fluvanna on Tuesday and will host Charlottesville at Hermitage Country Club on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Football

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COVID cases are back on the rise across both the state and the nation. Fruth emphasized the importance of the team being able to do all the little things they’ve got to do right in order to play the following scrimmage, as well as the 10 regular-season games and beyond.

He added that they’ve got to build every week. The potential is there following a successful spring, but the “ability to turn that potential into something is why we have to work.”

“We can’t take for granted that we had success last year,” he said. “We’ve got to put in a lot of time, we’ve got to get stronger in the weight room. Hopefully we’re not taking anything for granted.”