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Shake it Off: Blue Ridge starts slow but cruises past Atlantic Shores

Photo by Logan Riddick

Blue Ridge has certainly spent a lot of time on I-64 in Hampton Roads for the first two contests on its October schedule.

 

“I don’t know if it’s the tunnel traffic, but we got off to a slow start,” said Blue Ridge coach Jimmy Wills. “We also had that problem coming down last week.”

 

After coming to life with a 21-point second quarter, the Barons steamrolled to a 35-0 victory under the lights at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex on Friday night, thereby making their long ride home a lot more enjoyable than the shuttle back to Atlantic Shores campus for the Seahawks’ homecoming dance.

 

“Obviously the defense played really well [to] get a shutout against a quality opponent,” said Wills as Shores managed just 176 total yards on the night and lost four turnovers. “They’ve been putting up a lot of points lately — 30 on Christchurch last week.”

Both offenses struggled early as the first five series ended with punts after no first downs. Blue Ridge finally took the field with decent field position at its 35 and Wills and staff made some tweaks to their schemes.

 

“They showed us a few blitzes that gave us a little bit of trouble, but we were able to change some protections,” Wills said. “We did make a few adjustments in the run game; we started with a little bit of counter action and found some success with that. Then we got a few big passes that kind of opened up the run game.”

 

Senior quarter Kenyon Carter moved the chains for the first time with a 9-yard keeper on third-and-5, and then converted the next third down with a 16-yard completion to junior receiver Lance Gaskins. After another 20 yards via Carter runs, he pitched to senior tailback Keenan Brock on the option, who won a footrace to the left pylon to cap a 10-play, 65-yard drive that drained the last 5:27 of the opening quarter.

 

The Seahawks went three-and-out again, and Blue Ridge only needed two plays to double their lead. Gaskins took a jet sweep around the right edge, slipped a tackle, and cruised in for a 55-yard touchdown.

 

“I knew going in to the game we were going to run that play,” said Gaskins. “We ran it to perfection and I hit the outside hole.”

 

Shores finally picked up a first down on its ensuing series as senior Chase Larmon hit Jaden Lance for a 37-yard gain into the redzone on third-and-21; however, Larmon was dinged up on the next play, and the Seahawks’ drive fell apart as pass attempts by two other players fell incomplete on third and fourth downs.

 

The Barons took over and Carter promptly connected with Iceysis Lewis for a 61-yard catch-and-run. From there, the offense was so well in a groove that it was able to overcome 35 yards in penalties. Gaskins pulled down a Carter pass on third-and-39 for a gain of 39. After more flags pushed first-and-goal back to the 21, Carter hit Gaskins in the back of the endzone.

 

“There was no safety help on me, so it was easier to run my routes and get open,” said Gaskins, who finished with three receptions for 76 yards on top of his two runs for 60 yards.

 

A backfield blunder on the Seahawks’ next snap likely sealed their fate. Blue Ridge linebacker Andy Nwaoko fell on the mishandled snap at the 1 yardline, and Brock powered in from there to make it 28-0.

 

“That swung the whole ball game right there,” said Wills. “[Before the first touchdown] we shot ourselves in the foot with a couple of penalties. Next thing you know we’re back at the 40 and that’s tough to deal with, but our kids showed a lot of guts right there. Kenyon makes a couple of big throws, and Lance is a tremendous athlete to go up through double coverage and make a heck of a play on the ball. Defense gets the turnover, and I told the guys we had a real chance to make a statement. Keenan (Brock) asked for it and obviously he punched it in.”

 

The Barons’ defense came up big moments later to keep Shores off the board, as Larmon returned at quarterback and found Lance for a 37 yard gain before the secondary converged and forced a fumble. In the second half, the defense added an interception by Maliq Brown and another backfield fumble recovery.

 

Blue Ridge rounded out the scoring to setup a running clock early in the fourth quarter with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Carter to Lewis. For the game, Carter completed 9-of-15 passes for 222 yards, and ran 13 times for 34 yards. Lewis caught five for 138, while Brock led the ground attack with 88 yards on 12 carries.

 

Blue Ridge (6-1) returns home to host Roanoke Catholic next Saturday.

 

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