Kent Henry’s first completion gave him the career Central Virginia Passing record. A nice play, but not the one he or anyone in Crozet left thinking about much. It was the last Western play that truly mattered.
As it happens, Henry gave Western Albemarle the lead late in the fourth quarter on a big fourth down conversion. Yet, were it not for a tackle made by Tre Banks on Powhatan running back Linwood Jackson, the Warriors hopes for a share of the Jefferson District title would and solid playoff positioning could have been dashed. Banks and the rest of the defense passed the test in the final minute of play, and thanks to four total touchdowns from Henry, Western was able to withstand an impressive rushing output from Powhatan, 37-36.
“It was a blur,” said Western Albemarle coach Ed Redmond. “The offense showed great poise. We had the big fourth down play that came down from the press box, a brilliant play with a naked bootleg for Kent, but one that we hadn’t practiced. The booth thought it would work and we came out, lined up and ran it off an inside zone play. It was there. I have to credit the assistant coaches for the call and then the defense for coming up with the plays there at the end.”
With less than four minutes to go, the Warriors trailed by six as the Indians surged behind the power of running back Logan Allen and the speed of Linwood Jackson. Facing fourth and two, Henry took a bootleg for a first down, but broke through multiple tackles to go 44 yards for the go ahead score.
“We came to the sidelines and I guess coach Redmond got help from the booth on a play that we’ve never run, so we kind of just made it up and went with it,” Henry said. “It ended up giving us the result we wanted.”
Of course, there were still just over three minutes to play. The Warriors saw the Indians race back down field with a long run from Jackson setting up a first down with more than a minute to go at the Western 28 yard line. Were it not for Banks pursuit of Jackson, there’s little question the outcome would have been different. But with the clock ticking the Indians were forced to go to the air, and it was there that the Warriors were able to force two incompletion and get a sack from its defense. With 24 seconds left on fourth down, the second Powhatan incompletion ended the game as the Warriors were able to take a knee to end the wild night.
The Indians came out of the gate ready, and a 62-yard touchdown run from Allen gave Powhatan a 7-0 lead early in the first. Not even 90 seconds later, Western answered back with a 55-yard run from Henry to even the game up. The Warriors grabbed a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter with a long drive capped by a 4-yard run from Oliver Herndon. Not to be outdone, Powhatan evened the game back up with a 75-yard from Jackson three plays later.
Western looked to have established control midway through the second, first taking the lead on a 7-yard TD pass from Henry to Chase Stokes. An interception from Hearn in the endzone helped negate the Indians next drive. But the Warriors’ margin was absolved in the last minutes of the second when Chance Morris came away with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown, evening the game at 21-21 going into the half.
Western settled for a field goal early in the third quarter only to have Powhatan take the lead on its ensuing drive, a long march on Allen’s legwork which ended with the Indians bruiser punching in an 8-yard run.
The Warriors took a 30-28 lead early in the fourth quarter after converting twice on fourth down and finishing with an 8-yard strike from Henry to Banks. A failed point after only help to set up the crazy finish. The Indians took back the lead at 36-30 thanks to another long drive behind Allen and Jackson, this time with the latter scoring on a 15-yard run. The Indians also came up with the 2-point conversion to help their causes.
It was then that Western saw Henry make one more big play with his 44-yard touchdown scramble and its defense come up with the one stop it had to.
“It’s tough to be completely honest, we feel terrible,” said Powhatan coach Jim Woodson. “We had a lot of people that played a great ball game. It’s hard because we did a great job but Western’s got a great offensive team. They just made one more play than we did. That play (Henry) made, we had four guys ready to make a play and he got by them. He’s a heck of a ball player.”
On the night, Henry went 15-30 for 192 yards to pass Blue Ridge’s Chad Byers for the career passing mark set back in 2008. Henry also finished with 161 yards on the ground on 13 attempts. Stokes caught 10 passes for 124 yards.
“It’s nice to have,” Henry said of the CVa passing record. “But I’d rather have that state championship ring at the end of the season. So we’re working towards that.”
For Powhatan, Allen took the brunt of the work load, toting the ball 28 times for 155 yards. Jackson added 147 yards on 11 carries. Morris, in addition to his interception, had seven receptions for 132 yards.
The Indians, who have already locked up a playoff spot in the Division 4A South, travel to Charlottesville on Friday at 7:30 p.m. to play a team fighting for a spot in the 4A North.
The Warriors finish up with Fluvanna County at home on Friday, also at 7:30 p.m and sit in a three way tie with Monticello and Albemarle for the JD championship.
