By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
In a rough tightly contested battle, the visiting Culpeper High Blue Devils outlasted the Fluco boys lacrosse squad on March 25. The Flucos, under Coach Ned Dressel, showed speed and toughness but they were only able to fire in a single goal in the second half and the Blue Devils scored five of the last six goals recorded. Dressel is in his first year at Fluvanna, but has coached lacrosse in the past in the private school sector.
After only a minute and half of play, the Flucos broke through with a goal by speedy sophomore midfielder Cole Weisenberger. Two minutes later Culpeper evened the score. After another minute, the Blue Devils scored from in close to take a 2-1 lead. They scored again with 6:32 remaining for a 3-1 lead before the first quarter was even half over. With just under three minutes remaining in the initial quarter, the Blue Devils upped their lead to 4-1 and things did not look good for the Flucos. They trailed by three at the end of the first quarter and projecting that score forward suggested a blowout might be coming.
However, the Flucos came out strong at the start of the second quarter. Weisenberger scored again early in the quarter on an assist from senior midfielder Joey Sawyer to make it a two-goal margin. With 7:32 left, sophomore Conner Jeffries, a long stick midfielder, fired a long shot that beat the Culpeper goalie and brought the Flucos within a goal. A third straight Fluco goal came at 4:53 of the second quarter to tie the game. This goal was scored from in close by junior attacker Danny Marshall. Unfortunately, Culpeper managed to counter with two goals late in the quarter and took a 6-4 lead at the half.
Culpeper started the second half with a goal right off the face-off. With only 32 seconds gone off the clock, they made it 7-4. After two more minutes of play, the Flucos scored what would be their last goal of the game as senior attacker Evan Crouch beat the Blue Devils goalie. Culpeper added a goal at 5:16 of the third quarter, upping their lead to three.
The fourth quarter showed a lot of up and down action, but no one could get a shot past the respective goalies. With only 2:40 left in the contest, Culpeper managed to score a somewhat meaningless goal from in close to make the final score 9-5 in their favor.
After the game Coach Dressel noted that the Flucos worked hard, and had some strong efforts, but this loss drops them to 0-3 early in the season. The Flucos did show some good speed. Weisenberger, and Marshall were both quick and so was junior attacker Alden Valentine who made a very impressive length of field run past a series of Blue Devils defenders. The Fluco defense was also strong. Holding an opponent under double figures in lacrosse is an accomplishment. Senior defender Sean Oliva had a good game for the Flucos.
