Virginia Peninsula Game of Week #9 - Heritage Raises Record to 7-1 With Close Win Over Kecoughtan

HERITAGE 28, KECOUGHTAN 20

HAMPTON – Roy Johnson III ran for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns to boost Heritage past Kecoughtan 28-20 at Darling Stadium.

With the win, Heritage (7-1, 6-1 Peninsula) maintained a share of second place in the Peninsula District with Woodside. The two teams will play each other next Friday night at Todd Stadium.

“We made a lot of mistakes today, and Kecoughtan put us into some adverse situations,” said Hurricane coach George Massenburg. Thinking ahead to the two final regular season games against the Wolverines, and then Phoebus on November 4^th, Massenburg added, “We will have to work on our blocking schemes and need better tackling.”

Heritage, behind quarterback Darius Price, in his third week filling in for injured Jeremiah Boyd, had success moving the ball as the Canes gained 316 yards, with Price completing 8 of 17 passes for 135 yards. According to Massenburg, Boyd is healthy again and will start next week against Woodside.

After Heritage failed to gain a first down on their first possession, the Warriors started out strong. Alternating quarterbacks, they kept the Hurricane defense off-guard while cobbling together a nine-play, 70-yard drive, which was capped by Jonathan Melvin, who took the shotgun snap, and snaked through the Heritage defense for a 10-yard score.

The Hurricanes reacted quickly. A 21-yard pass from Price to Amonyae Watson moved the ball to the Warrior 18, and was enhanced by a personal foul penalty on Kecoughtan, which moved the ball inside the 10-yard line. From there, Heritage pounded four running plays into the Kecoughtan defensive line, with the fourth, a two-yard smash by Johnson finding the end zone. Khari Greene’s extra point tied the score at seven.

Kecoughtan (2-7, 2-6 Peninsula) started having trouble moving the ball, gaining only six yards on their next two drives. But they caught a break on special teams as a Warrior punt sailed over the Heritage returner’s head, but was touched by the Canes and recovered by the Warriors on the Heritage 3. On the first play from scrimmage, Melvin banged across the goal line for his second score.

Heritage regained the ball with just less than two minutes left in the half, and Price quickly went to work. A 10-yard run by Timothy Payne was followed with a 31-yard pass to Watson, who ran the ball down to the Warrior 14. Two Johnson runs gained eight yards and set up a six-yard slant pass form Price to Craig Long to narrow the Warrior lead to 14-13. However, the extra point was blocked and Kecoughtan took the single point edge into halftime.

Another Johnson touchdown, from three yards, gave Heritage its first lead early in the third quarter. Later in the third, Price found Payne for a 17-yard touchdown reception.

HERITAGE             7, 6, 13, 2  -- 28

KECOUGHTAN      7, 7, 0, 6  -- 20

1^st Quarter

K – Melvin 10 run (Robinson kick)

H – R. Johnson 2 run (Greene kick)

2^nd Quarter

K – Melvin 3 run (Robinson kick)

H – Long 6 pass from Price (kick failed)

3^rd Quarter

H – R. Johnson 3 run (Greene kick)

H – Payne 17 pass from Price (kick failed)

4^th Quarter

H – Safety (snap goes through end zone)

        Her   Kec 

First downs;     12, 11

Rushes-yards;  38-181, 36-128

Passing yards;  135, 75

Comp-att-int;   8-17-0, 7-12-1

Penalties-yards; 7-45, 7-49

Punts-avg.;    2-10, 4-29

Fumbles-lost;   1-1, 1-0