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FUMA 28, Collegiate 35
FUMA's prep football team fought hard and valiantly against a strong Collegiate team but came up short as defending champion Collegiate won 35-28.
The game started out shakily for the Blue Devils, with the Cougars putting up 21 unanswered points by the early second quarter. The Blue Devils went three-and-out on each possession in the first quarter, racking up less than twenty yards of total offense. On the sidelines, players were showing frustration with each other and pointing fingers. One of the FUMA coaches pointed to the scoreboard and said "There's still 36 minutes to play. Just relax. Everything's okay. Just relax and play the game."
The coaching advice seemed to work because FUMA stopped playing like they were afraid to lose and began to play like they were eager to win. FUMA rolled up 21 straight points and ended the half at 21-21, erasing what had seemed like an insurmountable Collegiate lead.
The second half started well for FUMA when Collegiate fumbled an outstanding kickoff by Stephen Wilson and FUMA came up with the ball. Tyrone Wilson ran for another FUMA touchdown to take the score to 28-21.
Collegiate's pass offense was relentless, however, and they quickly answered with a score of their own to tie the game at 28-28.
FUMA and Collegiate traded long drives that ended with turnovers and it seemed like the fight might become a stalemate. With less than four minutes to play in the game, Collegiate's quarterback Russell Wilson spotted an open receiver streaking toward the left sideline. FUMA players on the sideline watched, stunned, as the Cougar collected the pass with no Blue Devil within shouting distance and ran it in, making the score 35-28 in favor of Collegiate.
FUMA was unable to close the gap in the remaining three minutes and were forced to watch the Cougar quarterback take a knee to run out the final seconds on their season.
The Blue Devils finish at 8 and 3 on the season. Their losses in the regular season to St. Christopher's and Collegiate both came on scores made in the final seconds of the game. FUMA had the pleasure of avenging their loss to St. Chris by trouncing them 31-6 in last week's playoff game to get into the State Championship game. The painful losses to Collegiate must now wait until next year to be answered.
The coaches at FUMA can look ahead to next year with confidence and anticipation, noting that FUMA has a number of sophomores and juniors playing key roles on this team who should return next year -- not to mention the members of this year's undefeated junior prep team who are likely to move up in 2005.
It will still take some time for the sting of Saturday's loss to diminish, however. But as the days go on, FUMA's Blue Devils will be able to look back on a season of great achievement with tremendous pride.
Charlottesville Daily Progress coverage of the game
Richmond Times-Dispatch coverage of the game
Posted by CPT Dan Thompson, Sunday, November 21, 2004 09:33 PM
Athletics
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