King’s Fork football team prepares for opener

King’s Fork’s offense showed what it’s capable of in its second and last scrimmage of the preseason Wednesday evening. Next up for the Bulldogs will be putting it into action when the final score counts.

On the first play of the night for the Bulldogs, Charles Clark took a pitch from quarterback Matt Hommell going around the right end. Clark cut through a hole and outran the whole Heritage defense down the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown run.

Moving back to the Bulldog 40, the Bulldogs went to the air on the next snap. Hommell lofted a ball for wide receiver Davon Grayson down the right sideline for a 40-yard gain.

In the first series of 10 plays, as each team traded possessions in a controlled scrimmage for the first half of the evening, the Bulldogs picked up six first downs.

“We did a better job finishing tonight than we did on Friday,” said King’s Fork head coach Joe Jones.

The Bulldogs scrimmaged at Western Albemarle last Friday night. Jones is getting his squad ready for Friday, Aug. 26 and the season-opener at Booker T. Washington.

“We did a better job tonight than last season. We did a better job than we did Friday, but we’ve still got to do a better job finishing next week,” Jones said.

The visitors from the Peninsula District returned the favor with its first chance with the ball, picking up big chunks of yardage on most of its snaps and scoring a touchdown.

Uriah Adams led the Bulldogs in their second series on offense and remained in the action through most of the scrimmage. King’s Fork marched down the field with its ground game, getting to second and goal on the six-yard line by the time its 10 plays were up.

The scrimmage became more of a simulated game for the final hour of play. The defenses took over more. The Bulldogs held Heritage on its first two possessions of the “second half,” first forcing a fumble to stop a Hurricane drive, and then holding Heritage three-and-out with two plays that could’ve been interceptions.

Adams led a touchdown drive, leading the Bulldogs 60 yards in seven plays. All seven snaps kept the ball on the ground with the Bulldog option game.

Clark carried for a 19-yard gain. Devin Taylor rushed 16 yards to inside the Heritage 10. Adams kept the ball going around the left side of the line for a 5-yard touchdown run.

“We have a fair number of guys banged up, probably five or six projected starters were out tonight. Some of those guys could’ve played maybe, but we decided to hold them out looking ahead to next week,” Jones said.

“One man’s bad luck is another man’s opportunity,” Jones said. “More guys got to get more reps than they might have and that will actually help us in the long run.”

From the perspective of the coaches and players, the regular season starts on Monday for King’s Fork, as a game week’s practicing and game-planning starts for next Friday’s meeting with the Bookers.