Jenkins rushes for 123 yards; Luray controls the ball for nearly 34 minutes
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Aug. 29 — The Bulldogs executed their traditional playbook well on Friday night against the Eagles of East Rock in both team’s season opener. Luray racked up 287 yards on the ground and controlled the ball for nearly 34 minutes. However, despite gaining fewer yards and only having the ball for 13:32 in the non-district matchup, East Rock was able to use opportunistic turnovers and one long pass to defeat the home team, 27-14.
Junior Ryan Jenkins lead all ballcarriers with 123 yards on 23 carries (5.3 ypc) and reached the end zone once. The 6-foot, 200-pound running back wearing his older brother’s No. 44 jersey was a tough load to bring down. Jenkins had runs of 19 and 13 yards, but mostly ground out the tough yards when the Bulldogs needed a first down.
However, Luray used a three-headed rushing attack with senior Cason Bryant picking up 62 yards on 15 carries (4.1 ypc) and scoring one touchdown, while sophomore Caleb Cyphert gained 76 yards on nine touches (8.4 ypc). Junior quarterback Ayden Haddock ended up with only 6 yards on nine carries, due to four sacks by the Eagles’ defense. Haddock went 2-for-8 through the air for 16 yards.
“We made some mistakes, offside penalties and other things that kind of stuffed us back on offense,” LHS head coach Lynn “Skip” Hamilton said after the game.
East Rock junior Demetrius Arrington carried the load for the Eagles with 104 yards on 14 touches (7.4 ypc), including two touchdowns. Junior quarterback Aiden Raines picked up 66 yards on 11 carries (6 ypc) and found the end zone once on the ground and once through the air. Raines was 1-for-7 through the air, but that one completion was a 69-yard touchdown to junior Jonathan Englehart midway through the second quarter.
“Defensively, we planned for their strength and they did a good job of going off of that strength,” Coach Hamilton said on Friday night. “So they would fake strong [side] and go to their weak side, and we would overflow…cause we emphasize that, and we made adjustments as the game went on, but that first series right there they did a good job of adjusting to what we were doing.”
The Bulldogs struck first on Friday night, but they had to find the end zone twice before putting points on the board. Senior Chance Beahm broke loose for 65 yards on the first play from scrimmage, but an illegal block called the play back. However, Luray put together a nine-play drive over 3:46 that ended with Jenkins crossing the goal line with 8:14 left in the first quarter. The big junior running back then added a two-point conversion to go up 8-0.
East Rock answered back in only six plays over 1:41 when Raines rambled in from 12 yards out to bring the score to 8-7. Following a Luray punt on the next possession, the Eagles then went 60 yards in seven plays over 2:09, as Arrington scored his first touchdown to go up 14-8 near the close of the first quarter.
Despite picking up a couple of first downs, Luray also gave up a couple of sacks in its next possession and ended up punting for a second time. East Rock only needed two plays to increase their lead, as Raines hit Englehart for a 69-yard touchdown strike — their only completion of the night — to go up 21-8.
Luray got back on track midway through the second quarter and mounted an 11-play drive taking 5:27 off the clock and ending with a 1-yard touchdown by Bryant. The two-point conversion failed and the Bulldogs still trailed 21-14.
Both teams traded turnovers on their next possessions. Beahm snagged an interception on the Eagles’ first play, only to see a sack fumble on Luray’s first play recovered by East Rock junior Blayne Gooden. The Eagles suffered a couple of sacks themselves just before the half to leave the score at 21-14 going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the Bulldogs had some hard-hitting answers on defense and slowed down the Eagles’ offense, allowing only three first downs and one score in the second half.
“When we made those adjustments and realized how they were attacking us, we were able to change it and put some more pressure on them,” Coach Hamilton told PVN.
Each team only had one possession in the third quarter and ended up turning the ball over on downs. However, the Bulldogs mounted an 18-play drive that consumed nearly 10 minutes, but ended up empty on the 4-yard line.
On their first possession of the fourth quarter, East Rock recovered a fumbled punt on the Luray 32-yard line. However, after a pair of big penalties the Eagles ended up giving it back to Luray on only their second punt of the night. The Bulldogs looked like they were going three-and-out deep in their own territory, but then attempted a fake punt on their own 13-yard line, trailing by a score with only 4 minutes left in the game. The effort came up about a yard short of a first down.
“The punt fake was just a bad decision… on my part,” Coach Hamilton said after the game.
East Rock went 16 yards in two plays, with Arrington scoring his second touchdown to secure the win, 27-14. Luray would post a nice 13-play drive covering 43 yards, but the Bulldogs would run out of time while inside the red zone.
“Offensively we started moving the ball a little better, but then we had a couple of sacks, and some penalties that drove us back,” Coach Hamilton said.
Overall, Luray posted 295 yards of offense and picked up 17 first downs while milking nearly 34 minutes off the clock, despite being penalized six times. By contrast, the Class 3A Eagles gained 260 yards on offense and picked up only six first downs (three each half) while only having the ball for 13:32. East Rock was penalized nine times during the game. While the Eagles gave up an interception, the Bulldogs fumbled three times (recovering only one).
“The guys have a lot of grit and that’s our main focus this year, and they did a good job of fighting through everything,” Coach Hamilton told PVN after the game. “We just have to get some mental things fixed, so we’ll take care of that and get ready for Stuarts Draft.”
Up next, Luray (0-1) travels to Stuarts Draft to take on the Cougars for a 7 p.m. non-district matchup on Friday, Sept. 5. East Rock (1-0) heads to Woodstock to face the Falcons of Central.
For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
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