Varina has come a long way in three weeks. On a much different night than March 12th the Blue Devils and Hermitage clashed on a cold February night. That night the Blue Devils showed us they had the defense, the offense was another question as they were rusty, inconsistent and ineffective.

Three weeks later it was like watching another offense last night. The Blue Devils offense roared to life in the second quarter matching the intensity for which the defense brought. That made for a dangerous due for Deep Run as it ultimately made for their first loss of the season.

That defense saw pressure applied all night long with Jalen Murrphy, Jailin Walker, Amari Baylor and Javah Eppes bringing it all night long. That pressure kept Deep Run from consistently playing to their potential on offense.

The first quarter was all about the two defenses as neither team had much success moving the ball on one another. Perfect example being when Varina finally got the ball across midfield and the Deep Run defense rose to the occasion. Varina, forced to punt pins Deep Run back at their own 8 yard line for which they could not recover from.

Luckily for the Wildcats the Blue Devils could not capitalize on the Wildcats backed up at their own 8. The Blue Devils Quincy Jefferson nearly had an interception, one of many almost INT's in this contest.

The Blue Devils stuck to the plan, they kept running the ball and in the first quarter that duty belonged to JMU-bound Jailin Walker who scored from 6 yards out to give the Blue Devils their first lead of the night.

While the Wildcats avoided the INT earlier, they could not overcome putting the ball on the ground. A pass from Bo Kite to Ronique Capers and a football move later the ball was on the ground and Christopher Grant was on top of it.

That turnover setup a 50-yard touchdown pass from Bobby Dunn to Carlo Thompson and just like that the Blue Devils had a 14-0 after Bobby Dunn converted the two-point conversion to make up for the missed PAT on the first touchdown of the night.

Varina had the lead 14-0 at the half.

Deep Run who received the second half kickoff could make nothing of their first opportunity but their second opportunity saw a nice run from Alva Rose who was shaken up on the play but proved to be okay.

The Wildcats who were moving the ball on Varina for the first time with success saw their progress stymied by Amari Baylor getting to QB Bo Kite with the sack and the drive stalled.

After Varina failed to convert a fourth down the Wildcats against were on offense but again, the turnover bug struck when the ball was fumbled and this time it was Jalen Murphy with the recovery for the Blue Devils.

At the Deep Run 34 it only took two plays for the Blue Devils to punch the end zone again when sophomore running back Taemon Brown punched it in on a 26-yard sprint. Just like that Varina's lead had grown to 21-0 following the PAT.

Amari Baylor was Bo Kite's worst enemy on this night... in the third quarter Baylor got to Kite for a sack... early in the fourth quarter Baylor picked off Kite, the third turnover of the night for the Wildcats.

Just like previously, the Blue Devils were able to take advantage of the turnover by working the ball down the field and ultimately scoring again with a 7-yard run from Taemon Brown.

Deep Run was able to end the shutout with 2:37 left in the game when Bo Kite and Ronique Capers hooked up for a 31-yard touchdown pass.

Varina got the ball back and did just enough to run out the clock and secure their third win of the season as they improve to 3-1. Deep Run suffers their first regular season loss since 2018 if you can believe that.

Jalen Murphy was a man possessed on defense last night menacing the Wildcats all night long. Jalen had 9.5 tackles against a Wildcat offense that did not score until the fourth quarter. Jalen also had a fumble recovery in the third quarter that ultimately led to third touchdown of the night for the Blue Devils.

On the offensive side of the ball I'm going to give a nod to Taemon Brown who scored twice for the Blue Devils. A compliment in the run game to that of Jailin Walker, the sophomore running back gave us a glimpse of what is to come for the Blue Devils with 72 yards on the ground on 10 carries.

Varina has outscored their opponents 104-16 this season and at 3-1 have only Douglas Freeman(2-2) and Highland Springs(3-0) left on the schedule. The Blue Devils are on a bye next week.

Deep Run suffers their first regular season loss since 2018 when they fell to Glen Allen. The Wildcats have two big challenges ahead with Highland Springs & Hermitage back-to-back who are a combined 6-0 on the season.