Youthful Martinsville football squad celebrates first win for coach Joe Fielder
At a media day held for Piedmont District football teams prior to the start of the 2024 season, the biggest topic for Martinsville coaches and players was an unfortunate one.
The Bulldogs came into this fall following an 0-10 season. Every question seemed to center on asking how the team bounces back and puts that winless fall behind them.
"These guys are tough, they stuck through it," Martinsville coach Joe Fielder said at the media day press conference. "These guys stuck through it, they played through it. They could see things were going to turn at some point. There's still a process to that. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes patience, but the progress is there and it's definitely going in the right direction, for sure."
On Friday, the Bulldogs patience paid off. Martinsville played nearly perfect on offense and defense on the way a 26-6 win over previously unbeaten Chatham.
The victory snapped a 13 game losing streak, and was also the first at Martinsville for Fielder, who is in his second season with the program.
After the final whistle, players poured the Gatorade bucket on Fielder and ran off the field cheering the long-awaited celebration.
"It's awesome," Fielder said on Friday. "These guys work hard. The 0-10 crap is done. Can't hear that again this year. It's done. Moving on. They worked hard. We let some things slip the last two weeks and we bounced back."
Earlier this season, Martinsville lost to Patrick County Week 1 and fell to Gretna in Week 2. The Bulldogs led Gretna 22-12 at the half in that eventual 24 point loss.
This season was likely to include some growing pains for a team that has just six seniors on the roster. The bulk of Martinsville's big plays on Friday came courtesy of underclassmen. Sophomore Caden Martin had three touchdowns. Freshman Camarion Plunkett had the other score, and is the team's leader on kick and punt returns. The quarterback, Da'Veono Lowe, is also a sophomore.
The Bulldogs have 12 juniors, 11 sophomores, and 16 freshmen this season.
The biggest difference from last year to this one, Fielder said, is his players simply doing what is asked of them. Fielder said his young squad is growing physically and mentally this fall.
"Mental toughness helps and we struggled with that," he said. "When things got bad they tucked their head, and we never let that happen tonight.
"We're finding our identity. The guys are buying in, understanding. They're tired of making mistakes, they're tired of hearing all the crap from people around us. That's what happens, when you lose you hear crap from people. It is what it is. They're working hard. They knew we let one slip away last week. We didn't play great. We were winning, and we fell apart in the second half, we ran out of depth. And they battled back. That was a heck of a job by all of those guys."
The Bulldogs (1-2) will come back home on Friday to take on Dan River (1-2). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
"Monday we move on and go back to work," Fielder said. "That's what we we've got to do."
Cara Cooper is the sports editor for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at .
