Devils’ big night

It’s good to be the king.
Culpeper County High School senior running back Cortez Rollins was already well on his way to having a great night before he was crowned the Blue Devils’ homecoming king at halftime of Culpeper’s 34-2 victory against Spotsylvania.
By the time the night was over Rollins had his crown, 105 yards rushing, three touchdowns and the knowledge he’d helped secure Culpeper’s best season since 2004.
“It couldn’t have gone any better unless they hadn’t gotten that safety and we had the shutout,” a beaming Rollins said afterward. “It was a big thing for us to come out and finally get a win on our homecoming.”
Rollins teamed up with Larry Williams to help the Blue Devils establish a dominant ground game early on and then took over when Williams was banged up in the second half.
As a team, Culpeper rushed for 252 yards and four touchdowns and the CCHS defense never broke down as the Devils, now 3-4 and 3-1 in the Battlefield District, secured their first victory at Broman Field in four years.
“It’s been a long time,” first-year Blue Devils coach Mike Williams said. “These kids had never won at home. It’s a great feeling. These kids have worked hard and they deserve it.”
The Knights (0-7, 0-4) had lost their previous six games by an average of 59 points and early in the second quarter it looked like Culpeper might deliver the same kind of beating.
After Rollins scored on first-quarter touchdown runs of 20 and five yards, Blue Devils safety Matt Wince picked up a Spotsylvania fumble on the first play of the second period and ran 34 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0 with 11:45 remaining in the first half.
But as the rain began to fall in the second quarter the play of both offenses became sloppier.
The Culpeper defense, on the other hand, continued to dominate despite great field position for the Knights.
Spotsy took over past their own 43-yard line four times in second quarter, but couldn’t get any points, with the exception of tackling Culpeper quarterback Donald Downs in the end zone for a safety.
The Knights nearly reached the end zone just before the half when Cody Jenkins completed a 38-yard pass to Elijah Daley, who made the diving catch at the 1-yard line as time expired.
“Things like that carry over to both sides of the ball,” Mike Williams said. “If you can get a good defensive stand it just boosts the offense.”
Jenkins, a Culpeper native, completed 4-of-15 passes for 62 yards and had one pass picked off by Matt Nerkowski.
The Knights continued to move the ball with moderate success in the second half, but could never convert when they needed to as the Blue Devils’ defense continued to come up big with their backs against the goal line.
“We just had a bend, but don’t break attitude,” Rollins, also a linebacker for the Blue Devils, said. “We got inside the red zone and just dug our feet in and made sure we weren’t going to let them in.”
In the fourth quarter, Rollins scored for the third time and sophomore Josh Majors, who finished with 68 yards on three carries, added a two-yard touchdown run as Culpeper put to rest any thoughts of a Spotsylvania comeback.
“We ran the ball well tonight,” Mike Williams said. “Larry got a little banged up and had a few bruises so Cortez stepped up and did a wonderful job. The kids knew what the game plan was before we came in and they executed tonight.”

Culpeper 34, Spotsylvania 2
Spotsy 0 2 0 0 - 2
Culpeper 14 7 0 13 - 34
Scoring summary
First quarter
CCHS – Cortez Rollins 20-yard run. Jordan Cannon kick. 4:00
CCHS – Rollins 5-yard run. Cannon kick. 0:09
Second quarter
CCHS – Matt Wince 34-yard fumble recovery. Cannon kick. 11:45
SHS – Safety. 8:18
Fourth quarter
CCHS – Rollins 7-yard run. Cannon kick. 10:49.
CCHS – Josh Majors 2-yard run. Cannon kick blocked. 6:25
Individual statistics
Rushing: Culpeper – Cortez Rollins 11-105, Larry Williams 7-40, Donald Downs 9-42, Josh Majors 3-68, Duane Wilkins 2-7, John Lezcano 1 (-5), Dustin Whisenhunt 1-0, Devonte Tate 1-(-5), Jacob St. John 1-0. Spotsylvania — Chris Couch 14-89, Cody Jenkins 11-14, Nathan Ennis 2-(-1), Trey Nelson 11-62, Kyle Schubert 2-20, Steven Williams 1-1.
Passing: Culpeper — Downs 4-9-66-0. Spotsylvania — Jenkins 4-15-62-1.
Receiving: Culpeper — Lezcano 2-43, Wilkins 2-23. Spotsylvania — Schubert 2-17, Elijah Daley 1-38, Ennis 1-7.