It wasn’t elation. It wasn’t excitement. It wasn’t joy.
Try relief.
When St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Stephone Coleman leapt on a fumble off Covenant’s shotgun snap in the endzone to cut short a furious Covenant rally and seal a 34-21 victory, the Saints seemed to finally take a deep breath.
“I’d definitely say a sense of relief,” said STAB coach John Blake. “I told (Covenant coach Rich Little) we haven’t gotten a break all year and we got a break.”
Despite 130 yards in penalties and five turnovers — four lost fumbles and an interception — St. Anne’s managed, behind a pair of 100-yard days by Willie McGhee and Aaron Clark, to pull out the victory. STAB leapt out to a 28-0 lead with a red-hot third quarter, but just when it appeared Covenant was done, the Eagles found their stride.
Working predominantly out of the Eagles’ Wildcat set, Chris Shifflett began moving the ball nearly at will as STAB struggled to get to the edges and hem in the speedy, sturdy back. Shifflett busted a 27-yard touchdown out of the formation early in the fourth, then swung to the outside again less than two minutes later for a 19-yard sprint that closed the gap to 28-14.He finished with 107 yards on 18 carries.
“We’ve got a lot of tall athletic young men that look like baseball and lacrosse players and what we need to do for those guys is to give them space to actually be athletic,” Little said. “(The Wildcat) was just us trying to put our kids in good situations to be successful.”
After Shifflett’s two touchdowns, Covenant recovered the ensuing onsides kick, and on first down Sam Dale ripped off a 39-yard run on an end around that put Covenant within a touchdown.
On the next kickoff, Covenant pinned STAB on the four-yard line and on first down Covenant dropped Clark for a three-yard loss. Things looked bad — and that’s when Blake made a gutsy, unorthodox call.
“I’ve never called sweep from the endzone before,” Blake said. “But if they have everybody in the middle you might as well. If you’re going to get a safety, you might as well get it over there.”
Willie McGhee took that pitch in the endzone and sprinted down the sideline, freed by a Brandford Rogers block. McGhee sped into Covenant territory but an illegal block call brought the ball back to STAB’s 30. It didn’t matter though — the Saints were free. From there STAB put together a methodical, clock-eating drive, alternating between Clark and McGhee. The offensive line’s effort on the drive keyed the attack as both running backs ran through huge holes on the march.
“We had the intensity that we haven’t had in a couple of games and we were focused — we haven’t been focused in awhile,” said STAB senior Matt Sewell, the team’s lone returning starter on the offensive line at the beginning of the year. “(With our backs) we don’t have to stay on our blocks long and they’re gone.”
The drive ended with a fumble at the three-yardline recovered by Covenant’s Alex Payne that gave the Eagles a glimmer of hope, but Coleman pounced on the ball in the endzone on first down.
The Saints’ secondary held Covenant quarterback Lee Coppock, the area’s passing leader, to just 89 yards through the air, pressuring the junior almost constantly. Besides the success Covenant had out of the Wildcat in the second half, STAB also bottled up the run game with 10 tackles for a loss as a team. Michael Battle led the way with 8.5 tackles including five for a loss.
STAB quarterback Jacob Rainey threw for 217 and a touchdown yards on 7-for-19 passing. He found Joseph Stuart for an 88-yard toss and a 32-yard catch.
