William Fleming survives rally by Martinsville

None of the numbers seemed to work in favor of William Fleming’s football team Friday night.

Except the most important ones :The final score.

Maybe the Colonels’ 21-19 victory over Martinsville was destiny.

Fleming parlayed three big plays — a kickoff return and two long passes — into touchdowns and then held off a furious Bulldogs rally in the final quarter.

Martinsville kicker Riggs Jordan attempted what could have been the game-winner, a 45-yard field goal attempt in the game’s waning seconds, but it was blocked.

The Colonels improved their record to 2-0, matching their cumulative win total over the previous three seasons. Martinsville stands at 0-2.

“I am thankful, I am grateful,” said first-year Fleming coach Bobby Martin, who was elated with the victory even though it came at the expense of his nephew, first-year Bulldog coach Orion Martin. “We won the game; I didn’t beat him. We got the ‘W’; I don’t know that we made the big plays.”

The Colonels had negative total yardage at halftime and still led 7-6. Take away Jerome Hill’s 95-yard first half kickoff return for a score and sophomore quarterback Tyrell Adams second-half touchdown passes of 71 yards to Jabari Robinson and 39 yards to Nijay Wade and Fleming’s output for the night was a measly 99 yards.

The Bulldogs put together a sustained 12-play first quarter drive to go up 6-0. But Hill answered with his kickoff return down the left side of the field to give the Colonels a 7-6 advantage.

It appeared Fleming was coasting in the final period, up 21-6 with just over seven minutes to play. But Martinsville quarterback Brandon Carter, who scored his team’s first touchdown on a 1-yard sneak, led the Bulldogs on two more drives that took relatively little time.

He moved his team 61 yards on five plays in less than a minute, to pull Martinsville within nine points, 21-12. Then the Bulldogs failed on a two-point conversion attempt.

After an ensuing Fleming punt pinned the Bulldogs on their 3, Carter moved his team virtually the entire length of the field, picking up six first downs in about a minute and a half. He found Shaq Tinsley on a 10-yard scoring pass with 1:46 left.

Attempting to kill the clock, Hill fumbled the ball back to Martinsville with 1:07 remaining. Aided by a critical personal foul against Fleming, Martinsville ran eight plays before Jordan was called in for his kick.

“That is inside his range,” Orion Hill said. “We just didn’t give him enough protection.”

Jordan also missed an extra point and two field goals in the first half.

Fleming quarterback Adams connected on six of his nine passing attempts for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

Martinsville 6 0 0 13—19

William Fleming 7 0 7 7—21

M — Carter 1 run (kick blocked)

WF — Hill 95 kickoff return (Dolue kick)

WF — Robinson 71 pass from Adams (Dolue kick)

WF — N. Wade 39 pass from Adams (Dolue kick)

M — Taylor 10 run (run failed)

M — Tinsley 10 pass from Carter (Jordan kick)

MR WF

First downs 17 7

Yards rushing 180 72

Passes C-A-I 7-19-0 6-9-1

Yards passing 86 137

Penalties-yards 5-37 7-56

Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-2

Punts-average 5-33.6 4-14.3

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Martinsville: Carter 20-111, Taylor 13-64, Hairston 1-4, Tinsley 6-1. William Fleming: Jones 9-35, Glenn 2-23, Hill 16-19, Wade 1-0, Adams 7-(-5).

PASSING — Martinsville: Carter 7-19-0-86. William Fleming: Adams 6-9-1-137.

RECEIVING — Martinsville: Tinsley 2-51, Turner 1-21, Dillard 1-11, Hairston 2-2, Jordan 1-1. William Fleming: Robinson 3-85, N. Wade 1-39, T. Wade 1-11, Hill 1-2.

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