By John Allen

Special to the Dispatch

The Kenston Forest School varsity football team made the scenic, more than three-hour drive to Little Washington, in Rappahannock County, in the hopes of improving its record but came away with a blowout loss Friday evening.

The Kavaliers and the Rappahannock County High School Panthers appeared relatively evenly matched early on, but the Panthers eventually ran away with a 44-0 victory.

The defeat drops Kenston Forest to 4-4 this season.

Both teams featured large, physical lines Friday, but Rappahannock had more depth. The first quarter remained scoreless as neither team could reach paydirt.

The Panthers took advantage of a poor punt made under pressure that provided them with excellent field position, and they were able to push across the goal line for their first score.

Kenston continued to play excellent defense the remainder of the first half.

On the last play of the second quarter, however, a Rappahannock linebacker sniffed out a
Kavaliers screen pass, intercepted the attempt and raced in for the score. That play, which gave
Rappahannock a 14-0 lead, changed the game. The Panthers charged out the gate in the second half and demolished the Kavaliers.

Halfway through the third quarter, Rappahannock had added 10 points, and seven Kavs had been injured. The depth-shy Kavaliers could really no longer compete.

The Panthers continued adding to their sizable lead in the fourth quarter to reach their final tally of 44 points.

Despite the loss, Kenston Forest freshman Elijah Warner continued to put up good overall numbers: 49 rushing yards, 49 passing yards, 22 receiving yards and 33 return yards. He also contributed 12 tackles on defense.

Senior Tripp Jones was in on 11 tackles, and senior Cole Hagaman had a fumble recovery and eight tackles before he exited in the third quarter due to injury.

The Kavaliers will try to get healthy before Friday’s 7 p.m. game against visiting Portsmouth Christian School.