Fleming football clears latest hurdle in momentous win over rival Patrick Henry

Unlike last week's win over Salem where it dominated from the opening kickoff to the final whistle, the William Fleming football team faced adversity in the first half Friday night.

Call it pressure from a massive rivalry game or hubris from such a sizzling start to the season, the Colonels fell behind to Patrick Henry just 60 seconds in, fumbled the ball twice and turned it over twice and surrendered more points in the opening two quarters than it had in its first three games combined.

Fleming rebounded, however, capitalizing on a big punt return by taking the lead before halftime, scoring on a chunk early in the second half to go two-for-one and holding the Patriots to just 49 yards in the final two frames to pull away for a 41-13 victory in the 75th meeting all-time between the two squads.

"All wins feel good. This just happened to be the next opponent we had, and we executed," Fleming head coach Nick Leftwich said. "That's our job."

The victory marks the first regular season win for the Colonels over the Patriots since 2014, also the last year the team started the season 4-0. It's also Fleming's first back-to-back victory over its crosstown rival since the 2008-09 campaigns, as Fleming was coming off an upset win in the Region 5C first round last November.

Since taking over the program and installing an I-formation offense, Leftwich is 12-5 with Fleming.

"That's these athletes. They're the ones that put in the work," he said. "I'm fortunate enough to be able to coach this team, to have a great staff. Our assistants do a great job coaching these guys up, preparing each week, but this is kudos to our players. They wanted it, they executed the game plan, they trusted it, and again it's about them, so I'm just very proud of them."

On Friday, Patrick Henry recovered a fumble at the opposing 3-yard line and punched it in on the next play to level the contest at 13-13 with 3:06 remaining in the first quarter. In the second, it gave the ball away on an interception but got it right back on a pick. On a punt seven plays later, the ball ricocheted off the Fleming returner, a chance for PH to retain possession in the red zone, but Omarza Gray grabbed hold of it and ran 45 yards to set up the Colonels in PH territory.

The play ended up being the catalyst for Fleming's pull-away, as it resulted in a go-ahead 3-yard touchdown from Davion Faulkner with 1:01 to play before halftime.

The Patriots elected to kneel the ball to end the half, and coming out of the break Malachi Coleman took the first play from scrimmage and sprinted 65 yards to the end zone to suddenly give the Colonels a two-possession lead, up 27-13.

Fleming then forced a turnover-on-downs from its own 29-yard line and answered with a lengthy, 13-play, 84-yard scoring drive that took nearly seven minutes, Jayden Robinson capping it off with a 4-yard plunge. The Colonels then forced a three-and-out and salted away their largest win over the Patriots in 16 years with a 15-play, 86-yard drive that Za'mondre Spinner ended with a 2-yard run.

"Our chemistry has just gotten better over the years," said quarterback Jycer Preston, who had a 55-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. "This is the squad right here."

Fleming used six different ball carriers to amass 329 rushing yards, including 220 in the second half. It's now outscored its opponents by a combined score of 213-20.

"We stuck to the game plan, trusted the system, loved each other, trusted each other," Leftwich said. "That's what I tell the guys every game, it's the last thing I tell them before we go out; you love each other, you trust each other, you have fun in the process, and we definitely did that in the second half more so in the first half, so I'm proud of that."

The Colonels now get a break as they enter their open week. They'll return Oct. 4 in South Boston for a game against Halifax County (0-3), trying to get to 5-0 for the first time since 1997.

Fleming beat Halifax 42-21 last year.

"I know people get tired of hearing it, I give y'all the same answers week-in and week-out. We've just got to go 1-0 every day," Leftwich said. "I'm happy to celebrate this one, (We'll) prep ourselves next week with the bye week and then get ready for Halifax in Week 5."

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