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Warwick’s Travis Williams keys a Raider stand that secures the win
by Jim McGrath, recruit757
NEWPORT NEWS — A final minute goal line stand by Warwick secured a squeaker of a victory, as the Raiders held on to defeat Menchville 21-14.
A 28-yard punt return by Shemar Butts, coupled with a personal foul penalty against Warwick gave the Monarchs the ball with first-and-goal on the Raider 9. Three negative runs wrapped around another Raider penalty (they had 18 in the game) set up a final play with fourth down and goal from the 16.
Butts thought that he had Luke Wells open in the corner of the end zone, but at the last second, Warwick’s Travis Williams reached in and broke up the pass.
Williams, who is also among the Peninsula District leaders in interceptions with five this season, summed up his thoughts about the final play.
“I was guarding Luke Wells on the short side of the field, and the quarterback was sacked (on the previous play). Luke transferred to the wide side of the field, and I noticed it as soon as they broke the huddle. I ran to his side of the field and told our other defensive back to go to the other side, so I could guard Luke. He ran the wheel route, and it was a great pass. He had the ball in his hands. I made a play on the ball before he could get his feet down.”
With the win, Warwick, a team that has finished 2-8 for the past two seasons, is now 3-3, with a game against 2-4 Denbigh next weekend. A win against the Patriots would give the Raiders four wins and almost surely secure a playoff spot in the 5A mix.
But Warwick Coach Corey Hairston is not ready to talk about the potential post-season games, and broke into his best Jim Mora Sr. mode when asked about it.
“Right now, we’ve got to focus on Denbigh. I appreciate the fact that (we are mentioned) with playoff aspirations; however, there’s some things we must tighten up on before we can talk about playoffs.”
Without specifically mentioning it, Hairston could have a cause for concern with the unusually high number of penalties caused by the Raiders. Warwick was flagged 18 times for 161 yards, with the final penalty, a personal foul on Butts’ punt return, moving the ball all the way from the 32 to the 9, as the penalty moved the ball 15 yards from the point of the infraction.
Warwick was the first team to put points on the board as Dayvon Meade, who entered the game with 57 yards on 27 carries, broke away on the first play of the Raiders’ second drive for a 71-yard scamper down the left sideline. Meade finished the game with 89 rushing yards on seven carries.
As the second quarter got underway, a Menchville fumble was recovered by Warwick at the Patriot 30. After an offsides penalty by Warwick moved the ball back to the 35, quarterback Tzion Lucas found Deandre Livingston open 20 yards downfield and lofted a floater that caught Livingston in stride. The senior receiver did the rest of the work, galloping the final 15 yards for a 35-yard score to give the “visitors” a 14-0 edge after Connor Murphy’s extra point.
Menchville (0-6) found the end zone midway through the second quarter as Butts found speedy receiver Marquis Rhodes open down the left sideline for a 32-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked and Warwick held on to a 14-6 lead.
Kicking was a problem for Menchville all game, as all three of their kicks (the other two were 41 and 42-yard field goal attempts) were blocked when they failed to clear the height of the offensive and defensive lines.
On the ensuing possession after Rhodes touchdown, the Lucas-to-Livingston combination struck again, and this time Livingston caught a short pass in the left flat, caught a block, sidestepped another defender, and outsprinted the Monarch defense to the end zone for an 81-yard touchdown. Another Murphy conversion kick made the score 21-6, which held up until halftime.
Menchville made another charge on their first possession of the second half, taking advantage of a fumble recovery by Chanz Dixon at the Warwick 23 to set up a second-and-goal at the 14. Butts connected again with Rhodes, with the result being a 14-yard score. Corey Hairston’s conversion run closed the gap to 21-14.
The fourth quarter was quiet as the teams punted back to each other on five straight possessions, with the fifth setting up Butts’ punt return to initiate the game’s final drive.
On the passing side, both Lucas and Butts threw for a pair of scores to a single receiver. Lucas’ final numbers were interesting, as the two TD passes were his only completions of the game, and the senior finished with a line of 2 for 11 for 116 yards and 2 TD’s, as well as Dixon’s interception. Lucas now has eight touchdown passes on the year, pushing him toward the top of the Peninsula District passing leaders.
Menchville also suffered some penalty problems of their own, drawing 10 flags for 50 yards. Next week, the Monarchs will host Gloucester, who started the season with a 3-1 spurt, but has since lost their last two games to even their record at 3-3.
– Jim McGrath
MENCHVILLE 0, 6, 8, 0 — 14
WARWICK 7, 14, 0, 0 — 21
1st Quarter
W – Meade 71 run (Murphy kick)
2nd Quarter
W – Livingston 35 pass from Lucas (Murphy kick)
M – Rhodes 32 pass from Butts (kick blocked)
W – Livingston 81 pass from Lucas (Murphy kick)
3rd Quarter
M – Rhodes 14 pass (Hairston run)
Mench War
First downs; 12, 7
Rushes-yards; 53-97, 22-137
Passing yards; 52, 116
Comp-att-int; 3-7-0, 2-11-1
Penalties-yards; 10-50, 18-161
Punts-avg.; 4-27, 4-30
Fumbles-lost; 2-1, 1-1
Individual statistics:
RUSHING: Menchville: Corey Hairston 23-65, Shemar Butts 20-17, Muzik Towns 4-9, Korrelle Brown 1-5, Chanz Dixon 5-1. Team 53 for 97. Warwick: Dayvon Meade 7-89, TD, Travis Williams 3-18, Deandre Livingston 2-16, Elijah Anderson 2-10, Tzion Lucas 6-3, Isaiah Cotton 2-1. Team 22 for 137.
PASSING: Menchville: Butts 3-7, 52 yds., 2 TD, Lucas 2-11, 116 yds., 2 TD, INT
RECEIVING: Menchville: Marquis Rhodes 2-46, 2 TD, Towns 1-6. Warwick: Livingston 2-116, 2 TD.
TOTAL YARDS: Menchville: 213,Warwick: 253.
INTERCEPTIONS: Menchville: S. Butts
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