Lovingston
Nelson County, VA
By Lou Jones
Nelson County Governors Football Club
For more looks or to purchase photos of Last Friday night’s game, head on over to Paul Purpura’s web-site: www.photographybypaulpurpura.zenfolio.com When Paul’s home page comes up, place your mouse over “Portfolios” in the lower left and a sub-menu listing accessible portfolios will pop up.
On a night that honored one of the greatest teams in Nelson’s long gridiron history- the 1961 Seminole District champions – this year’s Governors hoped some of the championship mojo would rub off. If did, it wasn’t nearly enough.
The team entered this week knowing that they would need to open up their offense if they were going to beat the Gretna Hawks for the first time 2002. But while the Govs did manage their most successful effort of the season passing the ball, it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome some familiar problem areas, and Gretna walked away with a 48-8 win Friday night.
Looking to catch the Hawks off guard, Nelson opened the game with usual starting quarterback Tyler Vest at split end, Coby Etchison at QB, and Doug Taylor and Devonte Turner at running back. It was apparent early on that the run-oriented Governors would be passing more than usual, a game plan which stayed in place even after Etchison left the game with an injury and Vest slid back to his accustomed spot. However, while Vest went on to have his best night of the season throwing the ball (8 of 11, 138 yards), the Govs were eventually undone by two season-long problems: poor tackling and a failure to finish off drives.
Gretna quarterback Dyon Rosser was a one man wrecking crew for the Hawks (3-1 in the Dogwood, 6-2 overall), throwing for two touchdowns, rushing for three, and returning a punt for a touchdown. Several of his touchdowns game after breaking free of multiple Gov tacklers.
“We’ve got to get people on the ground when we’re in a position to make tackles” said Nelson Coach Mark Wells. “And on offense, we’re just leaving too many points on the field. We need to finish drives.”
Now 0-4, 2-6, the Govs travel to William Campbell next Friday night.
