News Virginian Write-Up after Caissons Football Beats Model
By DANA JONES/FOR THE NEWS VIRGINIAN
After a long struggle with Model Secondary School, Fishburne pulled off a 34-33 win at the last two minutes of the game.
After a long struggle with Model Secondary School, Fishburne pulled off a 34-33 win at the last two minutes of the game.
Down 33-26, with only two minutes and 10 seconds remaining and possession in the Eagles’ hands, the Caissons’ David Candelario recovered an Eagle fumble, allowing the Caissons one last shot at victory.
The recovery put the Caissons on their own 25-yard line and after two short passes from quarterback J.P. Gonzalez for a combined 15 yards, the Caissons were on the 40 and ready to roll.
“These kids usually get behind and give up,” said Fishburne coach Val Gochenour. “This is the first time that they kept fighting. Inch by inch, they kept fighting. Today they had heart.”
With the clock ticking down, Gonzalez let a long pass fly down field and straight into the hands of Tevin Washington, who strode the ball into the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown.
With no field goal kicker present, the Caissons were forced to go for yet another two-point conversion after succeeding in only 1 out of 4 attempts previously. On the fifth attempt the Caissons made magic with Nolen King sneaking to the outside, giving the Caissons a one-point lead.
With one minute and 42 seconds left in the game, the Caissons nervously awaited their fate as the Eagles started their march down field, but little did they know that one Caisson in particular would cool their nerves. On first and ten at the 31-yard line, the Eagles took a stab at a pass play only to be thwarted by the sure hands of Washington for the interception, clinching the game for the Caissons.
“When I picked-off that pass, I was so excited that I couldn’t even breathe,” Washington said. “I’m glad that my team stayed strong and didn’t give up.”
Washington led the Caissons with three touchdowns, the first off a 45-yard touchdown pass and the second on an 80-yard kick return, a total of 132 receiving yards, and two interceptions.
“Washington has a lot of skill,” Gochenour said. “He’s the real deal. He’s got the speed, the moves and a good set of hands.”
The Caissons’ first touchdown came from Chris Lowder off a 73-yard run, and Candelario added another off a 25-yard pass play. All in all Gonzalez gained 189 passing yards off 19 attempts and eight completions for two touchdowns.
“We didn’t have a quarterback, but Gonzalez stepped up to the plate and made a lot of progress in a short time,” Gochenour said. “This was a great win for us.”
Read More: Click hereCross Country Gets First Win
The Caissons defeated Blue Ridge School to earn their first cross country victory of the season, 25-30 (low score wins).
Colin Turnnidge put on a surge up the final hill of a challenging 5000 meter course to drop his opponent and cross the finish line in first place with a time of 20:33.
Alex Burkard finished a strong third in 21:15, Travis Knapp fourth in 22:16, Tim Moriconi eighth in 27:10, and Lozie Goolsby ninth in 27:27.
Ben Drew took a wrong turn at some point on the rugged forest terrain but managed to finish the race.
We’ve struggled through some early season illnesses and various interruptions to training, but hopefully we are not back on track with consistent running.
The runners understand they will be training fairly hard through the early season meets and therefore race with somewhat dead legs early on, with the expectation of resting later in the season and peaking for the major XC events. For example, earlier in the week we ran up to the Wintergreen Resort, back down into the valley, and then back up again to the Blue Ridge Park. Fortunately, we have a small but tough and mature group of athletes that understand the reason for this necessary suffering.
Read More: Click hereCoach Greene and the Soccer Caissons defeat MMA
Heraldo McCoo and Michael Portago both had hat-tricks in Fishburne’s 10-1 rout of rival Massanutten Military Academy. Ryan Anderson, Jeehyun Jung, Gabriel Sun, and Incheol Yang all added a goal apiece. Portago and Sun, along with Charliy Male, also had two assists while Alex DeCicco had one. Krishna Shukla continues to improve and has become a crucial part of the Caissons’ defense. Alex Andersen had two saves in goal. The soccer team will be shorthanded again when they take on EMHS on Anderson Field, Tuesday at 4:30.
Read More: Click hereSoccer Team Crushes Roanoke Catholic
FMS 6 Roanoke Catholic 0
Incheol Yang’s first of two goals was Fishburne’s first of the season but the Caissons would put up 5 more before the final whistle on Thursday to rout conference foe Roanoke Catholic 6-0. Michael Portago also had 2 goals and Chris Anderson and Lance Clark added one apiece. Heraldo McCoo stepped up at midfield showing good leadership and applying two assists to the winning effort. Jeehyun Jung and Portago both had one assist. Alex Andersen had six saves in the shutout to improve his season total to 21. Charliy Male continued his superb play on defense and Min Ho Cho showed improvement in only his second game of the season. The Caissons will try to even up their 1-2 record when they travel to Lynchburg on Monday to play Liberty.
Coaches Comments
“What I was most impressed with today was our demeanor and discipline. This team showed me that they will play hard no matter what the score. They have handled winning and losing with sportsmanship and dignity. We still have a lot of areas to improve in but I am very proud of how they have represented our school. This is a team that Fishburne can take pride in.”
-Bryan Greene
Shots on goal
FMS 18 Roanoke Catholic 10
Saves
FMS 6 Roanoke Catholic 1
Goals
Michael Portago 2
Incheol Yang 2
Chris Anderson 1
Lance Clark 1
Assists
Heraldo McCoo 2
Jeehyun Jung 1
Michael Portago 1
Record 1-2 Next game: Monday @Liberty, 4:30
Read More: Click hereSoccer loses a tough one against Carlisle
Despite 8 first half saves by goalkeeper Alex Andersen, Carlisle jumped out to a 5-0 first half lead on their way to leaving Fishburne’s field with a 7-0 win. Andersen finished the game with 11 of the Caissons’ 13 saves. Chris Anderson, who came in for relief of Alex Andersen in the second half, had the other three saves before leaving the game with an injured hand. Charliy Male played a fantastic game for the shorthanded Caissons after moving to defense early in the first half.
Read More: Click here
