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Randolph-Henry High School’s (R-H) varsity football team was competitive Friday night against visiting Prince Edward County High School, and the Statesmen rallied after the Eagles had a big quarter, but ultimately Prince Edward left with a 54-30 victory, dropping R-H to 0-3 on the season.

Statesmen Head Coach Zach Orlando took a few moments in his post-game interview to share what he told his players after the game, first noting that he loves them.

“I’m going to continue coming back and coming to work and fighting hard and doing that kind of stuff until somebody tells me to stop, and I expect them to do the same thing,” he said. “And every week so far, they have responded. They’ve responded and come back on Monday and shown us that they still want to be part of this team, and they still want to play.

“We have a pattern, and I don’t know how to break the pattern,” he continued. “The pattern is that we play really good football for two or three quarters, and then we have one major, blow-up quarter, and tonight it was the third quarter.”

The Eagles led 20-14 at halftime, and as the fourth quarter neared, they were up 40-14.

“And it’s not on the defense,” Orlando said. “Offensively, we’re fumbling the ball, we’re getting stopped on third-and-out. We’re putting the defense on (their own) 20-yard line.”

There were still highlights for Statesmen fans to appreciate, however. After falling behind 46-14, the Statesmen rallied to make it 46-30.

Helping fuel the brief rally was junior Tyshaundre Walton, who led his team with 20 carries for 130 yards, and he also scored a touchdown.

R-H visits Nottoway on Friday at 7 p.m.