Stories

Blue Ridge finds a way

Once the dust had settled, Blue Ridge’s players didn’t know how to react. Some celebrated, others dropped to a knee, exhausted and overwhelmed. It was the wildest 15 minutes of football that Blue Ridge had been a part of this year, and it followed 33 minutes that the Barons would just as soon forget.

The VISAA semifinal game between Blue Ridge and defending state champion Atlantic Shores featured one big play after another. But in the end, the Barons were able to mount not one, but two crazy comebacks and advance past the Seahawks, 32-30 in the game’s final minute on a 38-yard touchdown pass from senior Speedy McCauley to fellow senior A.J. Williams.

“This corps of seniors was the group of guys I was first dealing with when I came here two years ago,” said Blue Ridge coach Del Smith. “We’ve been talking about a state championship for two years now. And we haven’t just been talking about it. We’ve been trying to do the things you need to do to get that. Now, I think for those seniors, they realize that it’s a possibility. It’s reality.”

For two and a half quarters, the Barons took it on the chin. When Blue Ridge wasn’t punting, it was turning the ball over. Defensively, the Barons couldn’t finish their tackles. All in all, it amounted to a 23-point deficit midway through the third frame. But once the Barons put their first points on the board with a long drive capped by a 6-yard scoring strike from McCauley to Khalif Dandy, the Barons started to show some fight.

The Blue Ridge defense forced a punt on the following Atlantic Shores drive. It was at that moment when a Blue Ridge senior, running back David Coe, who spent the last month hobbled with a leg injury, asked for his chance to make a play.

“I had to ask for it,” Coe said. “Coach said we weren’t in a running situation but I told him to let me have it just once. ‘Honest to God, I just need it once.’ I saw a hole and I hit it. I caught a cramp midway through the run but wasn’t ever going to give up.”

Coe was granted his wish and did not let his coach down. The shifty back took a handoff from McCauley and broke to his left for a 45-yard scoring run that injected life into the Blue Ridge sidelines and stands.

“The big run by Coe is what sparked everything I think,” Smith said. “From there our guys started running harder, blocking better, tackling — it just kind of steamrolled them — and it was exactly what had to happen to give us enough time to get (a comeback) done.”

The Barons were still down by two scores, but with momentum on their sides, those two scores came quicker than anybody could imagine. Facing third and long at midfield, the Seahawks decided to drop back and pass the ball down field, but junior defensive back Cameron Anderson intercepted Caleb Bailey’s pass and took it 70 yards for the score to cut the lead to three points.

“I was just looking at the quarterback’s eyes,” Anderson said of the defensive call. “The receiver went to him and cut back out. (Bailey) threw it and I just jumped on the ball.”

On the ensuing kickoff, the Barons’ special team unit forced a fumble and the kicker, Williams, was able to scoop up the ball and take it back 35 yards for a touchdown to put his team up by three points with 8:34 to play in the game.

For the next six minutes, it was a stalemate. But with the clock slowly ticking away, the Seahawks were able to drive into Blue Ridge territory. With just under two minutes, the Seahawks reclaimed their lead when Anthony Williams broke a pair of tackles on a short pass from Bailey and took it 37 yards into the endzone.

Down by four, the Barons faced third and long with less a minute to play at the Shores’ 42-yard line. After working the middle of the field, McCauley finally went to the outside to A.J. Williams and the two seniors hooked up for a 38-yard touchdown bomb that gave them a 2-point lead.

“When the ball was up I was just saying ‘God, please let me catch this,” Williams said. “I caught it and kind of went to tears even though the game wasn’t over. It took such a long way to get here. It’s just hard for me right now.”

Still needing one more play to wrap up the victory, Williams put the nail in the coffin when he intercepted Bailey in the game’s last seconds. The Barons were able to take a knee and seal the win.

“I got rocked,” Williams said of the interception. “I knew I was going to hit, but I had to make the play.”

The Barons await their opponent, either Nansemond-Suffolk or Portsmouth Christian, in the VISAA championship, which will be held at Blue Ridge on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Comments

comments