Defense playing better; offense improves, but still looking for answers
By Randy Arrington
SHENANDOAH, Sept. 11 — The score is a bit deceiving. Page County, one of the smallest Class 2 schools in Virginia, put up a good fight on Friday night against Class 3 East Rockingham. Despite the lop-sided 33-0 score, the Panthers endured a series of self-inflicted wounds against the Eagles and a few inadvertent whistles, and still held a Valley District team to 10-0 until a minute before halftime.
“Defensively, we really decided that as a group we are going to figure out and understand exactly where we are supposed to be…and then the technique will follow,” PCHS head coach Joe May said after Friday night’s loss. “First game, we didn’t look very good; Perry Mccluer, we counter-punched those guys. I think they averaged five [yards] a carry. We talked tonight about not being the counter-puncher…but [being] the aggressor, and I thought we really came out tonight and showed that.”
The Panthers’ defense held the Eagles’ standout senior running back Demetrius Arrington to only 53 yards in the first half. Also on Friday, Page’s offense racked up more yardage in the first half than they did the entire season opener against Rocktown.
“I know this old 1900s offense is kinda predictable, but we do a hard job of game planning and seeing where we can pick on a guy or do some things different,” Coach May said. “We had great offensive production last year. This year, these guys have had another year to kinda figure us out. We have to keep putting some wrinkles in here or there. We did pass the ball tonight…early…so that was a positive. We’ve been working on that.”
After gaining 14 yards on the first play, Page fumbled on the fifth play from scrimmage on fourth down after picking up enough yardage for a fresh set of downs. East Rock stripped the ball away and sprinted 41 yards for the first score of the game with 10:24 left in the first quarter. Page would then mount a 10-play drive, but turn the ball over on downs at their own 31 yard line. The Eagles moved the ball through the air and on the ground, but tossed an interception on the sixth play of the drive. Senior Jordan Roberts grabbed the errant throw, and Page would hold the ball going into the second quarter only down 7-0.
Following a Page punt, East Rock ended an eight-play drive with a 23-yard field goal to go up 10-0. Senior Jeremy Englehart may be small in stature, but he’s one of the best place kickers in the region, at any level. He would close the first half with another field goal — this time from 41 yards out.
A second Page fumble ended a three-play drive that lost yardage and left the Eagles on the 25 yard line. The Eagles took only six plays to get Arrington his first touchdown off a direct snap from five yards out and go up 17-0. However, there’s something to be said for the effort of the Page defense, who only allowed the first offensive touchdown of the game with 1:06 left in the first half.
The Eagles then used their three timeouts after stopping Page on three run plays to preserve 10 seconds before halftime. After one completed pass, Englehart hit his 41-yard field goal to give the visitors a 20-0 lead at the half.
East Rock started the second half with a fumble on the first play, recovered by Page junior Logan Richards. However, both teams would trade positions by giving up the ball on downs in a scoreless third quarter. East Rock picked up its next score in three plays with 9:17 left in the game, after senior quarterback Aiden Raines hit senior Salvador Robles for a seven-yard touchdown pass. The game’s final score came when the Eagles’ senior running back Dabriel Skievaski found the end zone from nine yards out on a fourth-and-two with 3:48 left.
East Rockingham amassed 284 yards of offense on the night — 183 rushing on 25 carries (7.3 ypc), and 101 yards passing. Arrington lead the Eagles’ ground game with 124 yards on 13 carries (9.5 ypc), while Raines went 8-of-9 passing for 101 yards through the air. His favorite targets on the night were junior Cater Stickley and senior Dorien Gholson.
“We had him two years ago…he played at Rocktown,” Coach May said of Arrington. “They will go as far as he can take them.”
Page County ground out 146 yards of offense, with 114 on the ground and 32 through the air. Senior Jordan Taylor had 51 yards on 13 carries (3.9 ypc), while Richards recorded 52 yards on 23 carries (2.3 ypc). Taylor also went 2-for-3 through the air for 32 yards. Roberts caught one pass in the first quarter for 30 yards.
Page County could complain about the flags, but East Rock actually had one more penalty than the home team. The Panthers could say they shot themselves in the foot, but each team had two turnovers — two fumbles in the first half for Page, and East Rock with an interception in the first half and a fumble in the second. However, there were two whistles that cost Page at least 12 points, and potentially changed the momentum early on. The turnover on the first series was thought to have been whistled dead before the ball was stripped, but officials said there was no whistle and the East Rock touchdown counted. Late in the game, Richards was caught up in a scrum and the play was whistled dead early — just before Richards broke free and sprinted to the end zone. Even the ref acknowledged that he hit the whistle early, but the play had been blown dead, stopping play — no touchdown.
“It’s kinda the way it goes here…we’ve talked about it and joked about it all the time…I don’t know who traded their soul at one time here, but it seems like if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen to us,” Coach May said. “I have told the kids, adversity is a requirement of life, and if you can’t overcome adversity we’re doing the wrong thing here. That’s the things we’re here to teach.”
It did seem like a night where the Panthers were clawing their way uphill both ways, but the improvement from Week 1 was noticeable, on both sides of the ball — despite the result on the scoreboard.
“We’ve got a great group of guys…they won’t quit. This was one of those emotion games where it seemed nothing went right for us,” Coach May said. “At halftime we felt pretty good, we made some adjustments…they had a good defensive game plan up front…we kinda fixed that and moved the ball a little bit the second half. But I told the guys remember how you feel right now because this is the last time I want to feel this way this season…we have some opportunities coming up…lets’ be real, we’re probably the smallest Class 2 school in the state right now, and these Class 3 schools, we come out and we give them a good show, and I can’t ask much more than that. Our kids did what we asked them to do.”
Up next, Page County (0-3) ends a three-game home stretch to open the season and hits the road the next two weeks, traveling to Harrisonburg High School next Friday, Sept. 18 and to Quicksburg to face Stonewall Jackson High School on Sept. 25.
East Rock (3-0) will travel to Clarke County on Sept. 18 and host Harrisonburg on Sept. 25.
For the Page County Panthers’ full 2026 schedule,
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