William Fleming uses the pass to best GW

The springbok fur sat unattended on George Washington’s cold metal bench, lightly flapping in the wind long after the players left the field.

A team assistant helping clean the stadium picked up the fur, clutching GW’s symbol of motivation — the athletic springbok loves to run and jump and play, simply because it loves being a springbok, so the story goes — in one hand while holding a trash can in the other.

The bleak scene summed up the earlier atmosphere, which was punctuated by a sparse, largely lifeless homecoming crowd.

A.J. Johnson caught five passes for 172 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half, as GW struggled in a 20-17 loss to William Fleming in Western Valley District action on a wind-whipped Saturday afternoon in Danville. The Eagles are winless at J.T. Christopher Stadium this season, with one home game remaining.

“I expected them to cover me,” Johnson said after catching touchdown passes of 37, 26 and 70 yards, all in the second quarter. He was also wide open on numerous plays where the ball was thrown just out of reach. “I know they have film on all the good — all our players. I was just surprised. I was like, ‘Damn, y’all just left the middle of the field open for me to go down.’”

Virginia Tech recruit David Wilson and Tahron Goods each scored a touchdown and rushed 16 times for 117 yards, but Wilson was largely held in check after breaking off a 93-yard touchdown run to provide the Eagles with an early 7-0 lead. He managed just 24 yards on his other 15 carries.

“I’ll be honest with you — it took me a quarter to stop holding my breath every time they handed it to him. He’s just one of those type of kids,” Fleming coach Rob Senseney said. “We didn’t think we were going to contain Wilson, honestly.”

While the Colonels found a surprising level of success defensively, GW (3-4, 1-1) didn’t help its cause by twice turning the ball over on botched handoffs in the first half. Both turnovers led to touchdowns.

Jamel Ferrell starred defensively for the Eagles, snagging two of Fleming (6-1, 2-0) quarterback Aaron Brown’s three interceptions. The first led to GW’s initial score and the second was in the end zone in the fourth quarter, helping to keep GW in the game.

The Eagles’ third interception, while trailing 20-17 with five minutes remaining, was a critical mistake.

Richard Ferrell absentmindedly intercepted Brown at the GW 7-yard line on a long fourth down play from the GW 32, rather than batting down the ball. Many Eagles celebrated, but with GW needing only to move into field goal range to tie the game, the 25-yard loss in field position was disastrous.

The Eagles managed to move 48 yards — just crossing into Fleming territory — before quarterback Tim Moore was sacked on third and fourth downs to end the Eagles’ hope of a comeback. The sophomore signal-caller was shaken up after being blindsided by unblocked Fleming senior Deonta Foster on GW’s final play.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to shake your head and say, ‘Look man, kids are going to be kids,’” GW coach Dan Newell said, addressing his team’s final, costly interception. “The sad part about it is … things like that just seem to happen to us this year in crucial moments. I don’t know how to explain that. We’ve got some coaching to do, ain’t no question.”

Several years ago, GW’s fortunate bounces and the tendency to make smart plays in the clutch launched the story of the springbok. This year, the Eagles are witnessing the exact opposite.