The varsity game was played Oct. 19 at the Phil Browning Field. The game started off well, with the Flucos scoring once within the first five minutes. But they were quickly outmatched by the Mustangs, who scored off of the resulting kick return, making the score 6-7 in the Mustangs’ favor. From then on, the game went south for the Flucos.
The Flucos scored once more, racking up another seven points, bringing their game total to 13 points. But that wasn’t enough. By the end of the game, the score was 13-48 in the Mustangs’ favor.
Coach Mitchell Pace said that taking on the Mustangs required a very different style of play. “Charlottesville uses their speed as their primary tool, while Monticello is more of a strength team, so they use their strength and speed. It’s a tougher combination,” Pace said. “We were very much in the game at half-time, only down eight at the break. But it quickly got away from us because of the turnovers,” he added.
Two days prior on the Mustangs’ home field at Monticello, the junior varsity team had had a similarly negative experience with the Mustangs. The junior varsity Flucos scored 13 points before finally falling to the Mustangs with an overall score of 42-13. Strangely enough, the junior varsity and varsity scores almost mirrored each other.
“We played hard,” said sophomore and junior varsity player Eric Wentz. “They had bigger players, but we did our best. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Track and field
On Oct. 17 the cross country team took a trip to Powhatan, where they took on the local team and lost by three points. “We have a lot of improving to do,” said team member Drew Walls.
“We didn’t do as well as we’d hoped,” conceded Travis Moe, another cross-country athlete. “But we didn’t do badly either. We took the top two slots.” Moe came in second that meet, closely following the first-place runner, Chris Markham, who also runs for Fluvanna. “We didn’t win this time, but we’d love to beat them at districts,” Moe added.
As for the girls’ team, they came out on top at the event. The Lady Flucos won their match with a score of 33-24. Like the boys, they had runners place high up in the roster; in fact, over half of the top ten spots belonged to Fluvanna.
Junior Nikki Douma was the first Fluvanna runner to finish, having come in second place with a time of 19:57; she finished less than twenty seconds after the first place runner. Douma was quickly followed by Devon Burger and Stephanie Bossong, who finished in third and fourth place with times of 20:20 and 20:34 respectively. After them came Bridget Bossong, who came in seventh; Peyton Olinger, who came in eighth; and Brook Haislip, who came in tenth.
The girls moved on to regionals on Oct. 24, where they faced Western, Powhatan, Monticello, Charlottesville and Louisa at Powhatan’s home track. “We’re seeded to win,” said Coach Rose Brogan, “but nothing’s guaranteed.”
Volleyball
On Oct. 8, the junior varsity and varsity volleyball teams travelled to Monticello to face the Mustangs. junior varsity played first, winning with a score of two games to one. “We played hard,” said sophomore Kelsey Silverman. “It was a great game.”
Next, it was the varsity’s turn. “We weren’t doing overly well at first,” said sophomore Kylee Dixon. In fact, according to Silverman, who watched the varsity game, it didn’t really pick up until the second half, which was delayed because of an altercation caused by the coaches.
“After [Monticello’s] coach got carded, they broke up the game for a little while,” Silverman said. After a brief intermission of about 20 minutes, during which the dispute was settled, the game started up again with a vengeance. At that point, the Flucos kicked it into high gear, beating the Mustangs with a score of 3-1. “We crushed them,” said Silverman. Dixon agreed. “That’s really the only way to put it,” she said.
This win sets the team’s record at 13-1-2: thirteen wins, one tie, and two losses.
Cheerleading
Once a year, cheer teams from all over the area congregate for the district competition to see who will take home the top title. On Oct. 8, district cheer teams showed their stuff at Fluvanna for the 2012 event, vying for the chance to go to regionals. But while the Lady Flucos competed against Monticello, Charlottesville, Western, and Powhatan for the chance to go to regionals, they didn’t succeed.
“Only the top two teams can move on,” explained junior Antonia Wilson, “and we didn’t make it. We placed fourth.” According to Wilson, the team would have placed third, but in an unfortunate incident, one of the stunts that they performed was called out and pronounced illegal.
“In cheerleading, you aren’t allowed to do flips if you’re tossed. But, during one of the stunts my head went past my knees, and they called it,” Wilson said. “It cost us 15 points.”
Despite the loss, the team was pleased by its performance. “We aren’t happy we lost,” said Wilson, “but we did our best. We can’t ask for more than that.”
