Jenkins rushes for 220, throws for 110, accounts for all five offensive TDs
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Sept. 4 — On Friday night, the Luray Bulldogs put every team in VHSL Class 1 on notice…we’re coming in November. After a tough, season-opening loss to a solid Class 3 East Rockingham in week one, Luray handed Class 2 Stuarts Draft a 49-26 loss during their home opener at Bulldog Field.
Luray head coach Skip Hamilton fully realizes his team could be 2-0 at this point, if not for tripping over their own mistakes in McGaheysville last Friday against the Eagles.
“After the game last week, we watched the film and we were close…close in every aspect of the game,” Coach Hamilton said on Friday night. “We had some blocking assignments messed up because of what East Rock was doing…they did a good job of confusing our guys. Props to them, they got the victory, but we had nine penalties and two turnovers…we didn’t help ourselves.”
During that game, the Bulldogs had two long touchdowns by junior Mason Cubbage called back on holding penalties — one a 79-yard run in the second quarter, the other a 70-yard interception return in the third quarter. Luray lost the opener on the road 14-6.
Cubbage picked up where he left off by returning a punt 92 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter against the Cougars on Friday night.
“He had another runback…he didn’t score a touchdown, but where he put his hand down, he popped back up and he gained about 30 yards….that was probably a better run than the touchdown,” Coach Hamilton said of Cubbage. “He’s just ‘no quit, all grit’…he does what he has to do to get the job done.”
A big change this season that should have every defense they face worried is the relocation of senior Ryan Jenkins from running back to quarterback. While Jenkins still carried the ball 22 times for 220 yards (10 ypc) and three touchdowns against Draft, he also did something that has been uncommon in Bulldog Nation for a few years…he threw the ball. The ground-and-pound rushing offense so common to the Bulldogs now has another weapon, an aerial assault.
“That allows us to get other guys the ball more. If they get so focused on Ryan, we can now run Mason on a sweep, or get Caleb [Cyphert] going on the inside…things like that. It allows us to get the ball spread out more instead of just focusing on or depending on Ryan,” Coach Hamilton said after Friday’s win. “We lost Cason Bryant, who graduated, Chance Beahm graduated…so we kinda knew that we had to spread out to try to get more guys an opportunity to touch the ball, and if we get more guys touching the ball that’s means that’s more people that the other team has to worry about.”
Jenkins threw the ball seven times against the Cougars, completing three, for another 113 yards and two more touchdowns. Jenkins had a hand in all five offensive touchdown on the night against Stuarts Draft.
Senior Ayden Haddock, who previously called the signals, has proven to be a prolific pass catcher. Haddock had two receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown on Friday, while also accounting for Luray’s only score last week against East Rock. Junior Chester Jeffries caught an 87-yard touchdown pass from Jenkins late in the first quarter on Friday.
After a three-and-out by Draft, Luray scored first in just five plays with a two-yard ramble by Jenkins. The Cougars answered back seven plays later as senior running back Brandon Pritchett scored from four yards out. Draft took the lead with a successful two-point pass from sophomore quarterback Jake Yow to junior wide receiver Zakarre Hymes-Williams, to go up 8-6 with 7:16 left in the first quarter. That combo through the air would be Draft’s best weapon all night.
Under a beautiful sunset over the Massanutten mountain, Luray scored on its first four possessions and ran back a punt on what would have been their fifth offensive possession. The Bulldogs were up 34-8 with 10:41 left in the first half after touchdowns from Jenkins (2-yd run, 70-yd run), Cyphert (11-yd run), Jefferies (87-yd reception), and the 92-yard punt return by Cubbage.
Stuarts Draft had two key first half turnovers that helped the Bulldogs build momentum and build up the lead. After Luray’s second touchdown (a 70-yard run by Jenkins), the Cougars fumbled the kickoff and gave Luray the ball on their 36 yard line. Then midway through the second quarter, Draft ended a nine-play drive with an interception snagged by Cyphert.
“That helps because that puts pressure on them, but it put pressure on us,” Coach Hamilton said. “That quarter was so long we were dragging halfway through the second quarter. We had to get to halftime to get a little bit of juice back…but the guys fought through it.”
The humidity and heat was so high on Friday night that at least one VHSL game in the Richmond area was called at halftime.
“It’s tough all over, but we just had to fight through that…so it’s that ‘no quit, just grit’ attitude that we have here,” Hamilton continued.
The Cougars were able to pick up two more scores before halftime at Bulldog Field, with a 17-yd run by Pritchett and a 35-yard touchdown pass from Yow to Hymes-Williams. Luray lead 41-20 at the break.
After a long, drawn-out first half, the second half flowed along much quicker and with fewer possessions. Despite the turnovers, the Cougars actually recorded eight possessions in the first half. The two teams combined for only 10 possession in the second half, and one more score for each.
Draft put up the only points of the third quarter on a three-play drive that ended with Pritchett breaking loose for an 80-yard touchdown run. Two possessions later, Luray answered back with a nine-play drive ending with a four-yard touchdown run by Jenkins. It would cap the scoring at 49-26. Cubbage would snag another interception on the next possession.
The Bulldogs’ attitude and attention to detail intensified in Week 2. Luray had no turnovers on Friday night, and helped force three by their opponent. The Bulldogs were penalized only eight times, while Draft had 10.
Coach Hamilton said his team is becoming more focused, and it all started with doing the laundry.
“East Rock did a great job and they beat us by one score, and it was the little things that killed us…so we focused on the details this week. We put focus on the small details, because if you can do that then the big things will take care of themselves….it was all about folding clothes, they didn’t fold the [jerseys] and put them where I wanted…they just threw them on the pile, so I said that’s not how a championship team acts,” Coach Hamilton said. “You do everything the right way, every day, and that bleeds into football, that bleeds into academics, that bleeds into everything you do in life because you’re focusing on the small things.”
It seems the Bulldogs are taking care of the details, as the home team put up 470 yards of offense — 357 on the ground, and 113 through the air. They had only four penalties each half, and committed no turnovers. Jenkins had 150 yards of rushing in just the first half, and the offense is more diverse and dangerous than it has been for a while.
Cyphert finished with 62 yards on 14 carries (4.4 ypc), while Cubbage added 55 yards on seven carries (7.9 ypc) and Jeffries had one carry for 20 yards.
Draft put up 418 yards of offense, most of that through the air. Yow completed 14 of 32 passing attempts for 268 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The young quarterback had negative yards rushing (due to sacks), but his arm is something that opponents will have to plan for in the weeks ahead.
“He’s going to be a handful the next couple of years,” Coach Hamilton said after Friday’s win. “And with this realignment and everything, we hope to continue playing Stuarts Draft because we have a lot of respect for that program.”
Pritchett lead the ground game for the Cougars with 141 yards on 17 carries (8.3 ypc), followed by junior Levi Bartels with 17 yards on two carries. Draft committed three turnovers on the night.
With a total of 32 pass attempts, Coach Hamilton felt the Bulldogs got in some good work on its pass defense — something that has plagued them in the past.
“We’re improving [on pass defense]…there are still some things we need to work on,” he said, “but we showed some improvement…better than we have in the past.”
Up next, Luray (1-1) will travel to Greene County to take on Class 3 William Monroe for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday, Sept. 11.
After a Week 1 win at home over a tough Central squad, 18-7, Stuarts Draft (1-1) remains on the road in Week 3 as they travel to Riverheads next Friday.
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