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Fort Defiance's Ashton Dove tries to break free of a Stonewall Jackson defender.(Photo: Patrick Hite/The News Leader)

FORT DEFIANCE - Dan Rolfe had been saying it since August. He had a strange schedule to begin the season.

The Fort Defiance football coach wasn't thrilled to have an open week on the very first Friday of the VHSL football season. Then, when the Indians did take the field, they were on the road two straight weeks.

Fort split those games, losing a one-point heartbreaker to Liberty Bedford before beating Waynesboro.

And, finally, on Friday night, 20 days into September, Fort got to play at home. Only it came on a day when students were out of school. So Friday was anything but a typical game day.

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Maybe that showed early in Friday's game. A couple of minutesinto the second quarter, Fort was tied 6-6 with Stonewall Jackson, a team that had lost 40-straight games coming into Friday night andhad been outscored 100-8 in its first two games of the season. It wasn't supposed to be that close that late into the game.

"I think the day off school kind of slowed us down," said Fort Defiance senior Aaron Wright. "We weren't mentally prepared. We talked about mental toughness in the locker room. And in the second half we stuck to what we knew, played together and kind of just did business."

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Fort only led 14-6 at halftime after Austin Monroe found Addison Knicely for a 14-yard touchdown pass with five minutes left in the half. Dalton Ream got into the end zone for two points and an eight-point Fort lead.

The second half was all Fort Defiance though. Jeff East scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground, Monroe hit Ashton Dove for another score. Monroe, Knicely and East all added two-point conversions. Throw in a safety and you get a 40-6 Fort Defiance win.

More: Fort Defiance's Austin Monroe discusses Indians win Friday night

The message at halftime was "execute." Rolfe told the players that Stonewall didn't do one thing in the first half for which they hadn't prepared. They just needed to shake off the sluggishness and play the way they are capable of playing.

Early, two big pass plays got Stonewall on the scoreboard. One was along the sideline and put the Generals into Fort territory. The second was a touchdown.

"Truthfully, those were breakdowns in coverage," Rolfe said.

It's breakdowns like those that keep Fort Defiance from taking that next step on defense, from good to very good. It's also those breakdowns that can be costly.

"In a game that's close, for instance the Liberty Bedford game, those are the plays that dictate the outcome of the game," Rolfe said. "So we've got to make sure that we clean that up."

Fort will have to clean those up before next Friday when they're home against a very talented Rockbridge County team. Rockbridge beat Christiansburg 41-19 Friday to improve to 3-1.

Wright said the attitude of the players in the locker room is good, but they're not satisfied after two big wins.

"We want more," the senior said. "We want playoffs, we want to win next week. Big game. We just want more."

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Fort Defiance wants more after two big wins - Staunton News Leader