Warriors Tame Bruins, Edwards Leads Falcons
Athony Dorsey commands the huddle on the go ahead drive late in the fourth quarter. Kecoughtan would take the lead 16-14...
Photo By: David Ludi / GamedayMagazine
Rijo Walker plays cornberback against rival Kecoughtan on Friday night at Darling Stadium. Walker will be playing his college ball next year at UVA...
Photo By: David Ludi / GamedayMagazine
Ben Edwards tributes a lot of his success to the hard work he puts in on the practice field. The Falcon star stays after practice to run routes with his receivers...
FRIDAY NIGHT GAMES
Presented by Advanced Restoration
HAMPTON, VA- It was a perfect football Friday night for these two Hampton rivals to kickoff their 2009 season. A big crowd came out to Darling Stadium to watch these to schools square off for early bragging rights in the Peninsula district.
Both teams started off sloppy with an early Bethel fumble and Kecoughtan going three and out. The first big play happened with just four minutes left in the first quarter as Kecoughtan's Anthony Dorsey pitched the ball to Adrian Pope for a 22-yard gain.
Then a few plays later Dorsey hit Devontae Williams for a 10-yard gain moving the ball to the Bruins 6-yard line. Then on 2nd and goal Dorsey rolled out to his left, decided to keep it himself and dove past the goal line for a touchdown.
Bethel got the ball right back and senior quarterback Rashad Manley didn't take long to move the chains. Manley hit Stephen Clark for a big gain, and then senior running back Isiah Gibson did the rest. First, taking a handoff from Manley to the 12-yard line and on the next play ran behind his big line into the end zone to tie the game at 7-7.
End of First
Kecoughtan went three and out, Kyle Lawrence punted the ball 39-yards, making the Bruins start on their own 35. Then Kecoughtan's linebacker tackled Gibson for a 4-yard loss and then sacked Manley forcing the Bruins to face a 4th and 20.
Dorsey then ran a 12 yard run and then pitched the ball to Melkim Reeves for another 14-yard gain. Then Kecoughtan started going backwards. Dorsey fumbled the ball losing 17 yards and then threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage losing another 7 yards.
Then after exchanging punts for basically the whole second quarter, Dorsey went to work again moving the ball to Bethels 29-yard line, even converting on a 4th and 4. Then Kecoughtan tried a 47-yard field goal with under a minute to go in the half, but was blocked by Bruin Chris Copeland.
Halftime
Coach Tidwell didn't panic at halfway and believed in his quarterback. "I didn't tell them anything I didn't tell them at the beginning of the game, I felt that we were the better team and we got to come out and execute."
The Warriors got the ball to start the second half, but running back Aaron Matthews was then striped by Deshaun Thomas, giving the Bruins the ball back in deep Kecoughtan territory.
Bethel set up a perfect screen pass for Gibson as he ran the ball all the way down to the 19-yard line of the Warriors. Rijo Walker took a handoff and would have scored a touchdown but Bethel was caught holding, bringing the ball back to the 25- yard line. A few plays later Manley found receiver Derrick Thomas wide open in the middle of the field, getting a first down at the 4-yard line, and on the next play Gibson barreled his way in the end zone making the score 14-7 in favor of Bethel.
On the next drive Dorsey decided to take over both running and passing, moving the ball to the 12-yard line of Bethel. Lawrence then attemped a 31-yard field goal, but missed it wide right.
On the very next play Kecoughtan got a break as the center for the Bruins hiked the ball over the head of Manley resulting in a safety for the Warriors, cutting the deficit to 14-9. The Warriors bench look liked it gained a step and Dorsey agreed. "The safety really turned the momentum around, that really gave us confidence, from there on we just knew what we had to do to bring it home."
After a short kickoff, Dorsey then had two huge runs to move the ball 17-yard line. Senior receiver Jace DePriest then made an outstanding catch just shy of the goal line, bringing up 4th down. Dorsey then rushed in for a touchdown on a quarterback keeper giving Kecoughtan the lead once again 16-14.
End of Third
Dorsey wasn't the only number 5 mobile quarterback playing in this game; Bethels Manley ran 40 yards over the next two plays. Rijo Walker, who signed with the University of Virginia, caught a 6-yard pass bring up a crucial 4th and 4 from the Warriors 18-yard line with under six minutes left. Kecoughtan brought the blitz and Manley missed his guy, giving the ball back to Kecoughtan.
Manley did his best John Elway impression by first hitting Clark for a 15-yard gain, but on the next play Dorsey intercepted the 4th down pass and returned it 40-yards to Bethels 36-yard line to clinch the victory.
FINAL SCORE: Kecoughtan 16 Bethel 14
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
Presented By Danny's Glass
Coach Tidwell's team needed this game to start the season. "Right out of the gate playing a district game and a team like Bethel, I mean it's huge, it's a good way to start off. We got Lake Taylor next week and we couldn't afford to possibly start out 0-2. Now we got a chance to build on that next week and it's huge."
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Presented By Lendys
Anthony Dorsey - Senior Quarterback
Dorsey had 3 touchdowns and an interception in the victory over Bethel.
First Quarter
Kecoughtan - Dorsey 6-yard TD run
Bethel - Gibson 12-yard TD run
Third Quarter
Bethel - Gibson 2-yard TD run
Kecoughtan - Safety, Bethel recovers fumble in end zone
Fourth Quarter
Kecoughtan - Dorsey 2-yard TD run
Warriors Statistics
First Downs: 15
Rushes: 50-195
Passing Yards: 68
Completions-Attempts-INTs: 7-10-0
Punts-average: 4-34.8
Penalties-yards: 15-91
Fumbles-lost: 6-1
Bruins Statistics
First downs: 10
Rushes-yards: 27-66
Passing yards: 77
Completions-Attempts-INTs: 8-20-3
Punts-average: 3-30
Penalties-yards: 3-15
Fumbles-lost: 2-1
Falcons Clip Eagles Wings
YORK, VA - The first game of the year for the Falcons will probably be the most exciting. Ben Edwards' 19-yard touchdown pass to J.R. Riddick with seven-tenths of a second left lifted York to a 51-48 victory against Greensville County Eagles. It was like a track meet of stars trading turns into the end zone. "The game was crazy, we couldn't stop them throwing and they couldn't stop us running," said coach Doug Pereira of York.
The Falcons were not familiar with the passing and speed of Greensville, led by all-Southside District selection quarterback David Sloane, who was 19 for 29 with 263 yards and three touchdowns.
"For me this was my worst nightmare. Being a defensive guy I have never given up more than 31 points before, but that's how good they were. When we took the lead late in the game I wasn't celebrating at all, I just stood there," Pereira said.
Ben Edwards had a game like he did last year against rival Tabb, rushing the ball on 21 carries for 267 yards and a total of 5 touchdowns. His coach sure loved the way the future Richmond star played.
"Ben was a human highlight film today running the ball; some of the moves he made were unreal."
When it didn't look so good for the Falcons, coach Pereira kept his defense motivated.
" I just told them that we have all three of our timeouts left and I knew our offense can score." He was right as the Falcons defense held.
The Eagles took a safety with 22 seconds left, and Edwards returned the free kick to the Eagles' 34-yard line with 15.3 to go.
On the first play from scrimmage, Edwards went deep for Riddick in the end zone, and a pass interference call gave the Falcons the ball at the 19 with 8.3 seconds to go and set up the game-winner.
"The plan was for Ben just to lob it up and there have Riddick go get the ball, the funny thing is the J.R. bumped his head hard on the ground the play before that so he was a woozy."
The rest is history as York capped of an incredible comeback, led by Mr. Edwards 51-48. York plays Tabb on the Sept 18 at Bailey Field.
FINAL SCORE : York 51, Greensville County 48
Greensville County - Price 19 yard pass from Sloan (Estes kick)
York - Edwards 16 run (Howell kick)
Greensville County - Miller 90 run (Estes kick)
Greensville County - Sloan 1 run (Estes kick)
York - Edwards 4 run (Howell kick)
York - Edwards 46 run (Howell kick)
Greensville County - Miller 20 pass from Sloan (Estes kick)
York - Edwards 3 run (Howell kick)
Greensville County - Miller 69 pass from Sloan (kick failed)
York - Ashby 3 run (Howell kick)
Greensville County - Sloan 1 run (Pass failed)
York - Edwards 6 run (Howell kick)
Greensville County - Miller 54 pass from Sloan (Sloan pass to Gillus)
York - Riddick 19 pass from Edwards
Green York
First downs 10 18
Rushes-yards 12-40 43-362
Passing yards 263 77
Comp.-att.-ints 19-29-0 5-16-2
Punts-avg. 4-30 2-33
Penalties-yards 14-105 5-40
Fumbles-lost 0-0 6-2
Chris Hall and Dinwiddie To Much For Islanders
One of the top junior quarterbacks in the country, Dinwiddies Chris Hall went 17 for 27 with 245 yards and 2 touchdowns, as Poquoson lost to Dinwiddie 36-7 on Friday night. The Islanders competed and stuck around in the first half, but the depth and talent for Dinwiddie began to take over. On a good note for the Islanders, Poquosons Chad Pinder, who is a star baseball player (committed to Virginia Tech) played in his first football game as an Islander and had 4 catches for 107 yards with a touchdown.
FINAL SCORE: Dinwiddie 36, Poquoson 7
Din - Gardner 20 pass from Hall (Lopez kick)
Din - Hall 60 run (Lopez kick)
Poq - Pinder 39 pass from L. Hill (Lutz kick)
Din - Belangia 30 interception return (Harvell pass from Hall)
Din - McDaniel 20 run (Lopez kick)
Din - Harvell 7 pass from Hall (Lopez kick) Poq Din
First downs 10 20
Rushes-yards 30-70 31-235
Passing yards 182 248
Comp.-att.-ints 11-23-3 17-27-1
Punts-avg. 4-29 3-29.3
Penalties-yards 1-5 6-51
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Tabb Tigers Get Pounded
Tabb turned the ball over 6 times, either fumbling or throwing interceptions and the Lancers took advantage scoring on all the opportunities the Tigers gave them.
FINAL SCORE: Amherst 66, Tabb 12
