Volleyball

On Sept. 27, the Lady Flucos had home games against the Orange County High School Hornets. The JV volleyball team were victorious by with a score of 2-0, winning the first set with a score of 25-10 and the second set with a score of 25-18. The Lady Flucos won 3-0, winning the first set with a score of 25-12, the second set with a score of 25-4, and the final set with a score of 25-19. “We utilized Orange’s mistakes and just played at a higher level than Orange did,” said varsity Team Captain Tyler Haislip ‘17.

The Lady Flucos seemed very pleased with the win against Orange. “It went very good. We served very well, and we are coming together as a team,” said varsity Head Coach Christi Harlowe. The team believes the main thing they need to work on is getting through adversity. “We got the chance to work on more difficult skills that we would not be able to work on in a closer game,” said varsity Team Captain Amanda Harris ‘17.

On Sept. 29, the Lady Flucos had away games in Mustang territory at Monticello High School. The JV volleyball team won once again with a score of 2-1, making them undefeated thus far this season with a record of 6-0. “It was a really tough game, but we pulled through and got the win,” said JV Captain Alena Pelham. The Varsity Lady Flucos finished with a score of 3-1, winning the first set with a score of 25-22, losing the second set 26-24, winning the third set with a score of 25-23, and also winning the final set with a score of 25-13. “We played well as a team, and we never played down to their level,” said Candice Shaheen ‘16.

Cross Country

On Sept. 28, the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams both had home meets at Pleasant Grove. The girls’ team placed 2nd out of four teams. Finishing 1st for the Flucos and 2nd overall was Saige Haney with a time of 21:04. In addition, Jackie Rodriguez finished 3rd overall and 2nd for the Flucos with a time of 21:08; Hattie Lintecum finished 4th overall and 3rd for the Flucos with a time of 21:14; Shae Jonkman finished 14th overall and fourth for the Flucos with 23:29; and McKenzie Morris finished 16th overall and 5th for the Flucos. “Almost every girl had their season personal best time yesterday. The improvement for girls was anywhere between four seconds and two minutes and 14 seconds over last week’s meet at Pleasant Grove,” said Coach Rose Brogan.

Meanwhile, the boys’ team came in 4th out of four teams. Finishing 1st for the Flucos and 8th overall was Jack Rice, with a time of 18:28. “All but one athlete set a season best time at yesterday’s meet, and the young man that didn’t was only off by one second,” said Coach Tom Casto.

Golf

The last regular golf match of the season that took place on Sept. 29 at the Glenmore Country Club “went pretty well,” said Coach Bryan Searcy. Although most of the team did not score well enough to move on, Senior Jack Stanke– who is generally acknowledged as the best golf player in the school– qualified for the regional tournament on Oct. 3.

Stanke has become an almost legendary golf player at FCHS in his four years on the team. He shot a 158 at the Glenmore Country Club meet, earning him second place and a position for Regionals.

Stanke said he has learned how to depend on only himself while playing golf “because it’s only you [on the green].” He believes that players must be prepared to have their own thought processes on the green, as well as make their own decisions about how hard to hit the ball and assess wind conditions and distance.

Noting that “the team is growing,” Stanke said that new team members have the opportunity to advance quickly, and that given enough practice, even freshmen can become extremely good by their senior year. Although he admits that putting may be his weakest skill, he has worked hard on it over the years and has been able to improve it consistently. “Most importantly, my attitude has changed,” said Stanke, who added that he has developed a more positive outlook over the years. As he prepares for applying to college and graduation, Stanke reveals that trying to become a professional golfer is not in his plans. “It would just take up so much of my life,” he said.

For now, however, Stanke is fine with keeping his focus on golf, especially after he qualified on Oct.3 for the state golf tournament, held on Oct. 10. 

Stanke shot a 79 at Glenrochie Country Club in Abingdon on Oct. 3.  He qualified 5th as an individual and he was also on the All-Region team, meaning he shot one of the 10 lowest scores of the entire tournament.  He next plays at The Traditions Golf Course at Stonehouse in Williamsburg in the state golf championship on Oct. 11.

Football

During the football game on Sept. 23, Fluvanna County took on Charlottesville, and the result was a tough loss for the Flucos, as varsity lost 43-0. “We underestimated them,” said Junior Brandon Beasley. Senior Craig Russo agreed, saying “we could have secured the outside edge better.”

One thing which may have contributed to the loss was that Sophomore Nathan Smith had his foot broken during the game. Another factor is that the Flucos threw very few passes. “We mostly ran the whole game,” said Beasley. On the positive side, Fluvanna did make two sacks, one by Judson Searcy, and the other by Russo, who said that his sack felt “good,” since he was helping the team out. “I’m going to continue to put my heart out for them,” he said.

Despite this loss, the Varsity team is working hard both on and off the field to improve their skills and win more games throughout the season. “[We] won’t hold anything back [for future games],” said Senior Josh Carlton, who added that team members would endeavor to “leave it all on the field.”

Having won two games this season, the Junior Varsity team feels good about the future. “I’m proud of what we [have] done, but I think we can do better,” said Carlos Perez.  Team members say that they could improve their game by bettering their offense, and playing more as a team, although they say that the JV team is already a close-knit, dependable unit. The most enjoyable aspect of being on the football team, said Sophomore Josh Elliott, is “being with our brothers.”