When the Fluvanna varsity football team beat Western Albemarle on Oct. 6 at home, the Flucos’ victory (their first Homecoming win in two years) was a reminder of how different this season has been from recent years.
Currently holding a record of 5-2 as of Oct. 16, Fluco varsity has beaten Orange, Broadway, Chancellor, Charlottesville, and Western Albemarle, and lost to Albemarle and Buckingham. Many months of conditioning, increased discipline, and practice has been evident on the field.
Meanwhile, the JV team is undefeated. Again, this is a significant improvement over their recent records which were 6-4 in 2018, 8-2 in 2019, 2-3 for the spring 2021 season, 5-5 for the fall 2021 season, 5-4 for the 2022 season (with the last game canceled by AD), and 5-5 for the 2022 season.
Both teams have done a lot of work during the off-season to get ready for this year. They started conditioning even before school let out last May, and have emphasized discipline and growing as teammates. For example, on Aug. 5 they did a community service project at a church graveyard in Columbia where they picked up trash, removed trees, and cut the grass.
“It builds character to go out and clean with your teammates, and frankly, it was very fun. I loved it,” said freshman running back Anthony Gwein.
In addition, both teams have practiced nearly every morning on the football field with running drills to get their speed and endurance up, and also trained in the weight room on early mornings during the off-season to build up muscles and strength.
For varsity in particular, some felt there was nowhere to go but up. During the pandemic year of 2020-2021, they did not have a season, but there were two 2021-2022 seasons. The first of these had a record of 1-5 in the spring, followed by a record of 2-8 in the fall, and a gut-wrenching 0-10 in the 2022-2023 season.
“I think we did bad because there was no change. We did the same stuff that did not work and the players were tired of it,” said Varsity Senior Captain Linwood Perkins.
As for JV, Gwein ascribes their current success to the coaches and the conditioning. “They are putting us through hard work and that’s helping us with endurance, strength and teamwork. My highlight so far of this season was getting a touchdown when we played Charlottesville. I think it was a great play,” he said.
The Flucos have three games left in the regular season, including games against Lousia on Oct. 20, Goochland on Oct. 27, and Monticello on Nov. 3. You can save money buying your tickets for the Oct. 20th game online in advance by going to Gofan.co.
