Patrick HiteStaunton News Leader
WAYNESBORO — Braylen Fields admitted that he got down on himself early in Friday's game. The sophom*ore fumbled on Staunton's opening possession and Waynesboro turned that into a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
But when Staunton got the ball back and was inside Waynesboro's 5, the Storm went back to Fields. This time he held onto the ball and scored a touchdown, holding the ball high above his head as he crossed the goal line. Staunton led 7-3 and never trailed again in winning 48-10 to improve to 4-0 on the season.
It may have looked intentional, making sure one of your key players gets the ball back after making a mistake so he doesn't think about it too much, so he doesn't lose confidence. Head coach Michael Bell said that's giving him too much credit.
"I don't think about that," the first-year coach said. "We want our kids to be mentally tough. So if something bad happens, we don't want to hold it against them. We just want to move on to the next play. We'll fix it on Monday and talk about it Monday but during the game, we didn't want to talk about things. We keep moving forward."
Bell did say that, as a young player, it's important for Fields to understand that when bad things happen you have to bounce back from it. The sophom*ore did just that. He said he was motivated to make up for the fumble, so he not only scored that first touchdown, but two more in the win.
"It's big," Fields said of the win. "Last year was not our best year, but this year we're coming through, we've got a new coaching staff and we're just doing big things this year."
Photos:Check out our photos from Staunton's win
After playing at the school, then helping coach football, Bell was named head coach of the varsity team last spring. At the time there was a lot of enthusiasm from the players about their new coach and that excitement doesn't seem to have waned.
"Coach Bell, he's just showing great leadership," Fields said. "He's been coaching me since I first started playing for Staunton so it's really good. It's really good."
Staunton also got offensive touchdowns on a 72-yard pass from Walker Darby to Marc Geffrard, and a 12-yard run by Troy Tovar. Defensively, Staunton scored on a fumble recovery by Tovar and an interception by Geffrard.
"Every day we emphasize being tough," said Bell, who as the head wrestling coach knows a thing or two about being tough. "We emphasize grinding it out. We understand we're gonna be in bad situations sometimes and our defense, so far so good. They keep getting better. Playing some tough football."
Opponents have scored a total of 40 points against Staunton in four games, and on Friday the defense couldn't really be blamed for any of them. After the fumble and a 46-yard Waynesboro pass play, Staunton's defense faced a first-and-goal from the 7 and managed to hold Waynesboro to a field goal.
The second Little Giants' score came on a blocked punt that Waynesboro took to the end zone. Ten points, all from special teams. Staunton didn't allow the Waynesboro offense, which can be explosive, to score, and it kept the dynamic running back Ryan Barbour to just 48 yards on 16 carries. Waynesboro's quarterback Blake Jones finished just 6-of-19 for 79 yards.
"They're mentally prepared, they're physical and they're aggressive," Bell said of his D. "And they're not scared to play football."
As Bell was walking off the field Friday, he was reminded that the last time this Staunton program started 4-0 was in 2017, which also happened to be the year the team played for a state championship. "Man," Bell said then he started laughing. He doesn't need that pressure. Right now, the coach is only thinking about going 5-0 and not about any potential playoff games just yet.
It is worth noting that Staunton had a total of three wins last year, so they've already surpassed that. And the team won a total of three games combined the two previous years. So 4-0 is huge for a program that has not seen a lot of success in recent years.
Could it be 5-0? Well, maybe. Staunton plays at Harrisonburg next week as it looks for that fifth win. Harrisonburg has yet to win a game and has been outscored by opponents 209-27 in its five losses.
For now though, Bell will enjoy 4-0.
"Feels good, man," he said. "Feels good."
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Patrick Hite is The News Leader's educationreporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) atphite@newsleader.comand follow himon Twitter@Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to usatnewsleader.com.
