Friday night’s postponement of the Goochland home opener turned out to be a good thing for their opponents. Benedictine took full advantage of the schedule change that moved the night road game at GHS to an afternoon home game for the Cadets at Bobby Ross Stadium, where they handed the Bulldogs a 14-6 loss.

  Cadets Coach Greg Lilly said the hiccup in the schedule, caused by torrential rains in Goochland on Thursday, was significant because it “gave us one more day to prepare. We’re a young team and we needed all the time we could get things ready for Goochland.”

  Bulldogs Coach Joe Fowler downplayed the delay, but noted a decided difference in conditioning that did favor the Cadets. “Those guys didn’t look like the heat bothered them while we were cramping up and wilting in the sun,” he said. “They were ready to play football. We weren’t.”

  Both teams displayed a good amount of first game jitters at the start. “We had to call time out because we only had 10 men on the field and our quarterback got picked on one of his first passes,” Lilly said. “The key was not letting the turnovers get us down and we didn’t. Our defense stepped us and saved us today.”

  Cadet quarterback David Geary came out firing against a revamped Bulldog secondary, but his passes just missed the mark throughout the first half. “Our passing game was a little off today, and we need to work on that, but we had some patterns that almost worked,” Lilly said. “We were just off by a little.”

  Late in the first period, Goochland’s Patrick Clore picked a Geary pass and the Bulldogs set up at the Cadet 26-yard line. But Goochland failed to capitalize and eventually fumbled the ball back to the Cadets.

  Goochland began the following drive in Cadet territory, relying on a steady dose of running back David McKenna. Colby Cooke capped that drive with a 26-yard field goal, and the Bulldogs enjoyed a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter.

  The junior placekicker then added a 33-yard field goal later in the quarter, and the Bulldogs took a 6-0 lead to intermission.

  But the Cadets came out in the second half with a renewed purpose, especially on defense. Geary’s passes began to find their mark to wideout Solomon Bullitt. Coupled with a defense that stopped the Goochland running game cold, it was all the Cadets needed.

  “Our defense really stood out today and carried us,” Lilly said. “They consistently made key stops to give our offense a chance to get going.”

  On the other side of the field Fowler’s offense sputtered throughout the second half and never mounted a legitimate threat to the stout Cadet defense.

  “We think we are in great physical shape and that’s our plan- to wear teams down and take over in the fourth quarter,” Lilly said.

  That’s exactly what the young Cadets did; scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a Geary to Bullitt pass followed by a 19-yard run by sophomore tailback Corey Downey.

  Geary, a junior, finished the day 11-of-27 with one interception. Bulldog starter Ryan Crouch was 6-of-13 with two picks.

  But it was the Cadet defense that sealed the deal for Benedictine and Lilly was quick to credit their efforts.

  “Coach Coles and our defense was physical today with Nigel Williams and Keith Johnson,” Lilly said. “The defense kept us in the game, and great play from the guys up front allowed our secondary to play physical football and come up and make some tackles.”

  Senior linebacker Nick Valentine had six solo tackles and six assists and Williams, who played both ways for much of the game, had four tackles, four assists and three receptions on offense.

  Fowler said it’s back to the drawing board for his team. “We go back to square one and work on fundamentals such as carrying the football,” he said. “I don’t mind losing to football teams that are better, but today we beat ourselves.”

  Running back McKenna led Goochland with seven carries for 71 yards. Ryan Coles had three catches for 42 yards.

  The veteran coach said his Bulldogs would build on the positives and work hard on the negatives.

  “I thought we were better team than that,” Fowler said. “Our defense played great and our special teams great, but our offense really let us down today with the turnovers.”

Goochland     0   6   0   0   -    6
Benedictine   0   0   0   14   -  14
G- Cooke 26-yard field goal
G-Cooke 33 yard field goal
B- Bullitt, Solomon, 19-yard pass from David Geary, (Geary kick)
B- Downey, Corey, 12-yard run, (Geary kick)