Football Friday: Ocean Lakes 35, Cox 34

By Chic Riebel

The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH

For at least one more game the Ocean Lakes football players will be able to keep alive their dream of someday telling their grandchildren they would have been undefeated if it wasn’t for those six forfeits the VHSL upheld earlier this week.

And after Friday night’s scintillating, 35-34 overtime defeat of Cox, they’ll be able to offer dramatic details to the story of their lost season.

The Dolphins (3-6) rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter, scoring the tying TD on a 1-yard run up the middle by quarterback Lafonte Thourogood with 38 seconds left in regulation.

They won it in OT when Willem Van Reesma kicked the PAT after Thourogood pounded another keeper in from the 1.

Cox (6-3) had taken a 34-28 lead in overtime on a 7-yard run by quarterback D.J. DiNardo, but lost its gamble on a 2-point conversion, leaving the door open for a winning kick.

“It would have been bad to lose this game,” said Thourogood, who rushed for 184 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries and passed for another 102 yards. “That would have kind of knocked us all the way down with the adversity we’ve had.

“It all came down to the coaches and the players whether we were going to stay in there or not after we got behind.”

Ocean Lakes coach Chris Scott was in tears after the game.

“This means everything, I’m just so proud of the guys,” he said. “They’ve just never stopped, no matter what’s been thrown at them.

“In the first half, I think some of the frustration was seeping in. The guys who made mistakes, it was uncharacteristic of them. In the locker room, nobody was yelling and screaming. We just knew we had to get out of this together.

“That was the story of the game.”

Not completely. There’s the Cox angle. The Falcons, led by DiNardo, who ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries, played a terrific offensive game. Cox amassed 324 yards in total offense against one of the area’s top defensive squads and scored on their first three possessions.

Cox had leads of 14-0, 21-7 and 28-14 before it succumbed to the more athletic and talented Dolphins, who piled up 441 yards.

“I’m speechless,” Cox coach Bill Stachelski said after the overtime period. “It’s a shame we didn’t come away with the win. I can’t be upset with them. They gave everything they had. They left everything on the field.”

Ultimately, the Dolphins did what they had to do to avert the upset.

“If anybody wants a blueprint of how to handle adversity,” Scott said. “This team is showing how to do it.”