Streaks’ offense, special teams thump Fort

HARRISONBURG — Even without star running back Michael Holmes for most of the game, the Harrisonburg Blue Streaks were able to get by the Fort Defiance Indians on Friday night, 34-12.

Coming off a 28-7 loss to Stuarts Draft, Indians head coach Dan Rolfe was very pleased with how his team responded against the Streaks.

“I thought we did one whale of a job tonight against a better team than us,” Rolfe said. “Take away a few special teams miscues, and we hung right in there.”

The Streaks (5-1) capitalized on special teams, as sophomore Corbin Whitelow scored a touchdown on a punt return in the second quarter and senior Troy Jones took a kickoff for a touchdown in the fourth quarter for Harrisonburg’s final score of the night.

The Indians (2-4) added a special teams touchdown of their own, with junior Chris Huffman taking a kickoff 92 yards for a score in the second quarter, trimming the Streaks’ lead to 7-6 at that time.

“Chris has been close to returning a couple this year,” Rolfe said. “That was a big play for us, and most importantly, it showed us that we could hang with these guys.”

Senior quarterback Michael Cook and junior fullback Ronnie Mongold led the Indians’ ground attack, as Cook ran it in from five yards out in the fourth quarter for Fort Defiance’s second and final score. Cook accumulated 28 yards on five carries, while Mongold carried the heaviest load for the Indians with 13 rushes for 55 yards.

It was the third loss in a row for Fort Defiance, but Rolfe sees his team turning the corner.

“We got whooped last week, we came back, we made a few adjustments and I think we played very well up front tonight,” Rolfe said. “We’re still learning how to play throughout all four quarters.”

The Streaks survived a scare with Holmes, their junior running back, going out in the second quarter with flu-like symptoms. Holmes did not return, but Whitelow filled in nicely, scoring three touchdowns on the night, including a pair of seven-yard touchdown runs in addition to his punt return score. The sophomore put up Holmes-like numbers of his own, running for 117 yards on 11 carries.

Jones scored a pair of touchdowns for the Streaks, one on a 25-yard pass from junior Jake Johnson with 1:29 remaining in the first half, and the second coming on his fourth-quarter kickoff return.

The Indians will look to get back on track when they host Spotswood at home next week, while the Streaks travel to Stuarts Draft