Fort Chiswell stuns Rural Retreat 34-0

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

The Fort Chiswell Pioneers turned an upset into a flat-out rout by scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter and wound up defeating the Rural Retreat Indians 34-0 in a non-district football game played Friday night at Community Stadium.
Fort Chiswell Head Coach Stephen James said his team was “fortunate that we got some breaks and took advantage of them…We’re excited for the kids because they worked so hard. They deserved this.”
Chris Rodriguez led the Pioneer offense with 186 yards rushing on 17 carries. He scored four of FC’s five touchdowns.
“He (Rodriguez) had very good vision as the game went on,” said the coach.
James also liked his team’s defensive effort. Rural Retreat was held to only 149 yards of total offense, most of that coming in the first quarter. “We did a good job of not allowing any big plays,” said James.
Both teams’ first possessions were ended early with punts.
The Indians put together their best drive of the night on their second possession. Beginning on their own 20-yard line, the Indians drove nearly 80 yards. Quarterback Jake Whalen picked up three first downs on keeper plays.
But the Indians turned the ball over on a fumble, and the Pioneers took over on their own five-yard line.
FC quarterback Hody Viars completed passes to Bradley Robinson, Rodriguez and Michael Dunford, and Storm Bond carried for several yards. But the Pioneers had to punt again after moving out past the 30.
Rural Retreat’s third possession of the game was quickly ended, however, when Robinson picked off a pass and took it to the Indian 26.
A penalty negated a Rural Retreat interception, and the Pioneers took advantage with Rodriguez capping off the drive on a 10-yard run to the end zone. Kyle Mabry capped it off by kicking the extra point to put FC on top 7-0 with 1:10 left in the first half.
Viars camp up with Fort Chiswell’s second interception of the game on RR’s next series to keep the Indians off the scoreboard with time running out in the half.
Rural Retreat seemed on the verge of getting back into the game early in the second half when the RR defense forced a punt, and the Indians took over at the FC 49.
Whalen picked up one first down on a keeper and Michael Mills gained another as the Indians moved down to the FC 35. But the drive fizzled out there as the Pioneers took over with Rodriguez making a good run down to the RR 10.
Rodriguez then took it over two plays later from three yards out. Mabry’s kick made it 14-0 with 4:04 left in the third quarter.
Neither team threatened for the rest of the third quarter.
FC’s Storm Bond came up with FC’s third interception of the game to give the Pioneers good field position in the fourth quarter.
One play later, Rodriguez bounced off several would-be tacklers on his way to a 40-yard TD run. The kick missed the mark, but the Pioneers had taken a comfortable 20-0 lead with 8:30 left in the game.
Rural Retreat’s next possession was ended on downs.
It was then Rodriguez’s turn again. This time he raced through the Indian defense for a 65-yard touchdown with 4:01 left in the game. Mabry’s PAT kick made it 27-0.
RR’s next possession also ended quickly, this time with a fumble. Will Freeman took over at quarterback and quickly added to the score by firing a pass to Michael Dunford for a 30-yard touchdown with 2:23 left. Mabry’s kick made it 34-0, and the game ended shortly after that.

Fort Chiswell 0 7 7 20 – 34
Rural Retreat 0 0 0 0 – 0

Scoring:
FC – Rodriguez 10 run (Mabry kick)
FC – Rodriguez 3 run (Mabry kick)
FC – Rodriguez 40 run (kick failed)
FC – Rodriguez 65 run (Mabry kick)
FC – Dunford 30 pass from Freeman (Mabry kick)
(T – 2:12)