Fork Union’s Elijah Hawks and Alex Williams got together briefly before breaking the huddle on 3rd down in triple overtime with Collegiate. The senior receiver and junior quarterback came to an agreement.
“I knew that they were going to double team me,” Hawks said. “I talked to my quarterback, said if they double team, I’m going to flex out.”
And that’s exactly what the Cougars defense threw at the Blue Devils. So right on cue, Hawks broke off his route to his far right where Williams floated a pass into the endzone that with the touchdown, Fork Union defeated Collegiate 55-52 in triple overtime to pick up its first win over the program since 2015.
“Oh man, that kind of game will get your nerves going,” said FUMA coach Mark Shuman. “I told them they’re gonna give me a heart attack at just 27 years old, but I loved how hard they just kept fighting, how they kept competing. We need to learn how to better close out games, how to do it earlier, but the best thing about these seniors is that no matter how its going, they don’t quit.”
The two squads traded early touchdowns with V’Jon Hampton scoring on a 3-yard run after a 45-yard catch from Hawks set the Blue Devils up in the redzone and then Collegiate answering with 54-yard touchdown sprint from Donald Adams early in the second quarter. But after that, it didn’t appear as though overtime would be in the cards until late in the fourth as Fork Union built a solid lead only to watch it evaporate after a huge surge from Collegiate.
Fork Union went into the half up comfortably after an 82-yard bomb from Williams to senior receiver Montigo Moss and then an interception from Nasir Edmond set up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Hawks. Then Edmond struck again with an interception in the endzone to save a touchdown.
“I knew coming in that coming off a hamstring injury, they were going to come out and test me,” Edmond said. “Throughout the week we studied a lot of film and knew that they were going to try and get the ball to (Trey Boll) all game. I tried to stay solid to my coverage, trust my defensive line to get pressure and on that second interception I just happened to be there to make a play.”
That turnover set the table for Hawks’ second touchdown pass of the day, this one from 25-yards out, made it 28-7 for the Blue Devils with 3:16 left in the third.
“We just tried to take advantage of their weaknesses, what they were showing us,” Williams said. “They were in cover two to start, then into cover four and then cloud so I was just trying to take what I could get and our guys went out there and made plays.”
And from their the Cougars erupted to score 28 of the next 35 points to push things into overtime.
The Cougars made it a two score game early in the fourth when Trey Boll hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Owen Fallon with 11:46 remaining. After a fumbled handoff by Fork Union, the Collegiate offense put together a methodical drive and capped it with a 6-yard pass and catch from Fallon to Boll to make it 28-21.
FUMA answered immediately when Moss took a short screen pass from Williams and raced it 75-yards for the score but not before throwing in a pair of stiff arms right before the goalline to get in.
“When you have a great player like Montigo you have to find a way to get the ball in his hands,” Shuman said. “He made a great play there, broke that screen wide open and got us just a little bit of momentum back that we needed.”
Needing two scores in just under six minutes, the Cougars got their first when Adam turned a screen pass in a 36-yard touchdown with 3:37 to go. Then Collegiate elected to show an onside side but kick it relatively deep and chase. It worked and the Cougars took advantage of the short field and cashed in a 1-yard run from John Ballowe.
The Blue Devils flirted with disaster late when the Cougars defense came up with an interception with just a few seconds to play. However, a 40-yard field goal attempt for the win in regulation went awry when the FUMA special teams unit came up with a tackle on the holder after a botched snap.
That sent things into overtime where both teams had their chances to win. Collegiate’s Ballowe scored on 4th and goal from the one yard line on its first OT possession. Fork Union came up with a 4th and goal pass and catch from Williams to Hawks from three yards out to send it to double overtime.
With the Blue Devils getting the ball first, they cashed in on a 1-yard keeper from Williams. After a sack to start the drive, the Cougars responded with a 15-yard touchdown from Fallon to Boll to force a third overtime.
Collegiate took the opening possession to start the final overtime period and it was there that the Blue Devils defense came up clutch to keep the visitors out of the endzone and force a 22-yard field goal as the Cougars elected not to go for the touchdown on fourth and goal from the five. Needing just a touchdown to win, the Blue Devils got just that on third down when Hawks and Williams came up with their fifth touchdown connection to give the Class of 2020 its first win over Collegiate.
“A win like that, it’s a special moment for this team, this brotherhood,” Shuman said. “It just feels awesome and I’m so proud of our guys.”
It was a must win for the Blue Devils’ playoff hopes. After a win over third ranked Trinity Episcopal and now a victory over fourth ranked Collegiate, FUMA can try and sneak its way from fifth place as of last week’s VISAA Division 1 poll into the top four with a pair of wins over John Paul the Great and Woodberry Forest in the next two weeks. If the Blue Devils pull it off, it would put them into the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
“We knew had to get this game to get into the playoffs,” Hawks said. “We knew this would be a tough test.”
