Sports
UPCOMING EVENTS
04
07 2021
College softball: Mary Washington at Randolph-Macon 3:00 p.m./5:00 p.m.
04
09 2021
Prep football Patrick Henry at Monacan 7:00 p.m.
| Youth, High School, College, Recreational & Professional
Patriots complete sweep of county teams By Dave Lawrence Sports Editor MECHANICSVILLE – The rivalry may date back to 1959, and its latest installment may have been postponed a few months because of the COVID19 pandemic, but when Patrick Henry visited the recently renamed Mechanicsville High School Friday night for the latest installment of the Tomato Bowl, the intensity was just as intense as ever. For a while after the opening kickoff, the undefeated Patriots looked as though they were going to have a hard time wrangling the winless Mustangs. But, in time, Patrick Henry, led by James Epps and Jordan Allen and helped by three Mechanicsville turnovers, rolled to a 37-15 victory and the Tomato Bowl trophy. The victory ensured Patrick Henry’s berth in the Region 4B semifinals. The fourth-seeded Patriots will travel to No. 1 Monacan Friday at 7 p.m. Patrick Henry (6-0) was the team to beat all season and Patriot head coach Ken Wakefield said the pressure from such a status helped motivate his team. “The pressure was definitely on us, but it’s a good thing,” he said. “That’s what you want. You want the target to be on your back a little bit. Our kids have been able to respond to some of the adversity they hit. To beat a team twice in one season – it’s not easy to do that in the same year and we had to do that three times. It was tough. It was defi-
Macon men make history By Dave Lawrence Sports Editor
Joel Klein for The Local
Patrick Henry running back Jayden Mines (2) disposes of Mechanicsville defensive back Cole Varner in the Patriots’ 37-15 victory.
nitely tough.” Friday night’s game certainly started out tough. Patrick Henry’s defense struggled to stop Mechanicsville’s offense early on, with Mustang running back Eric Drozdowicz doing an especially good job of pounding his way through the Patriot defensive line. Drozdowicz picked up most of his 55 rushing yards in the first quarter. The Patriots, whose first drive ended in an interception,
scored on their second. After a Mechanicsville drive stalled after two holding penalties and a sack, a short punt gave Patrick Henry possession on its 47. From here, Patriot running back James Epps started pounding his way through the Mechanicsville line. With the help of a 22-yard pass from quarterback Jordan Allen to Jackson Thurston, Patrick Henry took seven plays to reach the Mustang 2, and Epps closed
the rest of the distance for the first touchdown of the game. Allen added the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0. Mechanicsville wasn’t fazed, however, and responded with a drive that reached the Patriot 14 before Patrick Henry’s Dylan Schloss picked off a Jordan Callahan pass to end the threat. In the final five minutes of the half, the two teams traded touchdowns, but Patrick Henry parlayed a 2-for-1 deal into a
24-7 halftime lead. Allen ran in from 1 yard out, then completed a pass to Jonathan Derricott for a 2-point conversion to put the Patriots up ahead 16-0. The Mustangs followed that with a 50-yard scoring toss form Callahan to Dallas Hairfield with 46.2 seconds left to make it 16-7. Patrick Henry made expert use of the remaining seconds
R an d o lp h - Ma c on’s men’s basketball team is only three years old, but the toddler program among the college’s varsity sports reached an important milestone by reaching the postseason for the first time. The Yellow Jacket men, which compete in the Continental Volleyball Conference rather than the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, earned a berth in the CVC quarterfinals after closing their regular season with a hard-fought loss at Southern Virginia. They traveled to Rutgers-Newark Saturday, giving the Scarlet Raiders quite a fight in the first two sets 25-22, 25-23 before fading in the third in a 25-15 loss. Despite the sweep, the playoff experience have been good for the team. “It’s good memories,” said Randolph-Macon head coach Jared Horrigan. We made program history this year with making playoffs. So that was a big win in our book.”
see PATRIOTS, pg. 23
The Mechanicsville Local
April 7, 2021
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