Kapri Doucet is enjoying the most successful season of his high school football career at Bruton, but he remains envious of the 2009 plaque hanging in his school’s athletics hallway of the last Panthers’ team to reach a state-tournament game.
That team, led by former quarterback Jackson Neve and running back Lorenzo Taliaferro, advanced all the way to the Division 3 championship before suffering a loss in the final seconds on a missed field goal attempt that would have sent the game to overtime.
Doucet, a 6-1, 185-pound two-way standout at running back and linebacker who will play at James Madison University next year, is not yet satisfied after leading Bruton (8-3) to its first playoff appearance in three seasons and first postseason victory since that 2009 season when Doucet was an eighth-grader at Queens Lake Middle School. He firmly believes this year’s group has the potential to return to a state final, but assures neither he nor his teammates are getting ahead of themselves.
Still two wins away from securing a berth in the state semifinals, the Panthers, who missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons, must first travel to play Riverheads (10-1) in the second round of the 2A East Region playoffs Friday. Doucet says the task is a tall one – literally – but says his Panthers are up to the challenge.
“I believe we can win a state championship,” Doucet said bluntly after a “really good” practice Wednesday. “We still have a lot of work in front of us, but I know we want it bad enough, so if we take care of ourselves and do the things that have gotten us thus far, I like our chances.”
As for Friday’s second-round playoff opponent: “They’re big,” Doucet said of a Riverheads team that has won three state titles since 2000. “But we’re undersized against a lot of teams; it’s been that way for years. But we’re usually pretty fast and athletic and have found ways to make up for it.”
Doucet isn’t kidding about the size of the Panthers’ opponents; Riverheads features a pair of imposing offensive linemen in 6-foot-4, 325-pound Michael Herndon and 6-1, 203-pound Randy Armstrong who block well for standout running backs Cole Smiley and Ben Agnor. Smiley and Agnor were both voted to the all-Shenandoah District first team and have combined for more than 2,300 yards on the ground this season.
Doucet said the Firebirds look just as big on tape, too, as most of the aforementioned players are two-way standouts.
“They don’t do anything we haven’t seen,” Doucet said. “They run a Wing-T [on offense] and try to pound it on the ground. They’re good, but we’ve played some good teams and believe we’ll win if we follow our assignments and just limit our mistakes we’ll be fine.”
For Bruton to be successful, Doucet, who’s been the Panthers’ catalyst on both sides of the ball this season, knows much of the weight rests on his shoulders.
In addition to leading Bruton in most every offensive category except passing — he’s rushed for more than 1,150 yards and was among the top five in receptions and receiving yards in the Bay Rivers District season — Doucet, who previously drew Division I interest as a shut-down defensive back, has also played a fine season at linebacker and leads the team in tackles.
An effort similar to last weeks, when Doucet rushed for nearly 150 yards and four touchdowns and the defense as a unit held Nandua under 150 yards of total offense in a 48-10 victory in both team’s playoff opener, wouldn’t hurt the Panthers’ chances, either.
“I don’t put too much pressure on myself because then I start over-thinking, but I know my coaches and teammates expect a lot out of me and feed off my energy,” Doucet said. “We have a lot of guys that can get it done, we’re going to need [quarterback] Bilal [Wallace] to do his thing and Elijah [Rice] has been running the ball well. … We’re hungry and we’re not satisfied yet.”
2A East Region Playoffs
What: No. 4 Riverheads (10-1) vs. No. 5 Bruton (8-3)
When: 7 p.m., Friday, November 22
Where: Riverheads High School (Staunton)
