The "Wall's" Peninsula Game of the Week #1 - Hampton High Finishes Regular Season Undefeated With 43-6 Thrashing of Churchland

Interesting pair of games for the "Wall" last weekend. Last Friday, I covered Hampton High's game - on Saturday it was Hampton University. They both won big. Here's the Crabber game:

HAMPTON – Quarterback Jovonn Quillen ran for three touchdowns to lead the Crabbers to a 43-6 thrashing of Churchland at Darling Stadium.

With the win, Hampton (10-0) finished the regular season undefeated and cemented their #1 seed in the upcoming 5A South playoffs, which will begin next weekend.

An interception by Hampton’s Juanya Majette set up the first Crabber touchdown, an eight-yard keeper by Quillen. The conversion pass to Trequan Smith was successful and Hampton enjoyed an early 8-0 edge.

After an unsuccessful Churchland drive, a short punt gave Hampton good field position, and they took over on the Trucker 40. From there, it took only four plays for the Crabbers to gain their second TD, an eight-yard run from Demetrius Strickland.

Hampton’s next drive stalled, but they quickly recovered with lineman Tyrique Coleman grabbing a tipped pass out of the air for Hampton’s second interception. The ensuing field goal attempt was no good, but Hampton drove 90 yards on seven plays with their next drive, culminating with a 32-yard blast up the middle by Smith, who, to avoid a tackle, high stepped into the end zone.

Rashaud Taylor picked off Churchland’s Corey Gause for the Crabber’s third interception of the half, and Quillen struck again, scoring on a three-yard charge through the middle, on the final play of the first half.

Churchland had a chance to score on its opening possession of the second half, but fumbled at the Hampton 10-yard line. They would not come close again until late in the fourth quarter when Gause hit Michael Huff with a flare pass and Huff rumbled 39 yards to the touchdown.

Hampton immediately struck back, gaining 65 yards on three plays – a 30-yard pass to Burnell Pulley III, a 15-yard run by Smith, and the capper, a 20-yard run by Strickland, who took Quillen’s pitch down the left sideline for the score.

The Crabbers gained 380 yards of total offense and rushed for 266 yards on 33 carries. Quillen led the Crabbers with 102 yards on 16 rushes.

The win was the 461^st for Coach Mike Smith – fourth all-time among high school coaches.

CHURCHLAND –   0, 0, 0, 6 - 6

HAMPTON  -      15, 12, 10, 6 – 43

First quarter

H – Quillen 8 run (T. Smith pass)

H – Strickland 8 run (Valenzuela kick)

Second quarter

H – T. Smith 32 run (kick failed)

H – Quillen 3 run (run failed)

Third quarter

H – Safety – Edwards tackled in end zone

H – Quillen 17 run (Strickland run)

Fourth quarter

C – Huff 37 pass (pass failed)

H – Strickland 20 run (run failed)

       

      Church  Hamp

First downs;    9, 16

Rushes-yards;  29-51, 33-266

Passing yards;   160, 114

Comp-att-int;   12-23-3, 5-11-0

Penalties-yards; 12-82, 5-33

Punts-avg;      2-30, 2-46

Fumbles-lost;   3-2, 0-0

Grafton Volleyball Reaches Conference 18 Finals With Win Over Lafayette; Will Meet Jamestown in Final

In related news, Jamestown did defeat Grafton to win the Conference 18 final over Grafton last night, but both teams will be in the 4A South region tournament, which will begin next week.

YORK – With a 4A South regional berth on the line, the Grafton girls volleyball team survived a pesky challenge from Lafayette for the first two sets, then rolled through the third set to sweep the Rams 25-22, 25-20, 25-14.

With the win, the second seeded Clippers (21-4) will travel to top seeded Jamestown (18-3) on Thursday for the Conference 18 final. Jamestown swept Smithfield on Wednesday to earn their place in the conference final. Last week, Grafton defeated the Eagles 25-21, 25-23, 25-15.

Speaking about the possibility of a second straight win against Jamestown, Grafton coach Karissa Cumberbatch preferred to look toward the 4A South Region tournament next week.

“We’re hyped, but there’s no pressure tomorrow. We just have to play our game and take care of our side of the floor. Next week is what matters.”

The first set followed a pattern after the initial 14 points seesawed back and forth. With the score tied at seven, Grafton scored the next four points, and seemed to be gaining the momentum. But the Rams clawed back, not once, but on three separate occasions. Their last run narrowed a 20-16 Clipper margin to 22-all. But Grafton closed the door, scoring the set’s final three points, with Sophia Beaudoin providing the set-ending kill.

The second set was tight throughout. Lafayette relied on their heavy hitter Abby Orem, while Grafton countered with recent CNU-signee Rachel Blitt. Blitt delivered the key kills to keep the Clippers in the set. But with a tie at 17, Sam Heard took control, accounting for an ace and kill as part of a 4-0 Clipper surge that served as an impetus for Grafton to hold on and win Set 2.

The Grafton servers also performed well against Lafayette.

“We serve teams tough, and put balls away. Kaitlyn Young was particularly tough tonight, with lots of serving runs. She must have had at least three aces,” added Cumberbatch.

The third and final set was all Grafton. On one particular exchange, the Clippers first two hits of a return sent the ball sailing way backwards and over the back line. With a burst of speed, Haley Sutton ran ten feet behind the back line and with her back to the net, sent a powerful return back over her head and over the net, a shot which stunned the Rams and fell to the ground to give the Clippers a 9-3 lead which they would not relinquish.

Lafayette coach Lee Thornhill could only praise the team concept, while pointing out his two best players.

“We rely heavily on Abby (Orem) and Julia Howard. The Abby-Julia combination will cover a lot of deficiencies. But they couldn’t overcome the six players on the other side of the net tonight.”

Grafton def. Lafayette 25-22, 25-20, 25-14

Grafton (21-4): Sophia Beaudoin (6 kills, 19 digs), Rachel Blitt (11 kills, ace, 4 digs, 5 blocks), Haley Sutton (11 digs). Lafayette (12-10): Abby Orem (15 kills, 12 digs), Julia Howard (23 assists, 8 digs).

The "Wall's" Game of the Week #2 - Hampton Shuts Out Warwick 54-0 to Win Peninsula District

HAMPTON – Hampton, behind the power of 21 first downs and 472 yards of total offense, wrapped up the mythical Peninsula District title on Friday, shutting out the overmatched Warwick Raiders 54-0.

With the win, Hampton raised its record to 9-0, and with all of their games against Peninsula competition, claimed the best district record among the PD’s ten teams. The Crabbers have an opportunity to complete their first undefeated regular season since 2004 next week with a non-conference game against Churchland.

The victory also marked Coach Mike Smith’s 460^th career win, with all of his victories coming during his 45 seasons as the Hampton coach..

The Crabbers dominated on both sides of the ball. Trequan Smith, who scored four touchdowns in last week’s 56-0 win over Menchville, added three in the first half on Friday, scoring from 24, 34, and five yards. On defense, Hampton held Warwick to minus 10 yards in the first half and no first downs. For the game, Smith gained 121 yards on ten carries to lead the rushing attack, which gained 390 yards.

Jovonn Quillen threw a pair of touchdowns late in the second quarter. The first was a 32-yarder down the right sideline to a streaking Dazz Newsome. The second, which occurred on the final play of the first half, came on a 24-yard floater over the middle to Khamari Hunter.

Quillen finished the game having completed all six of his passes for 82 yards and sat out the second half, along with several of the other Hampton starters.

Demetrius Strickland also scored on a 10-yard run as Hampton led 42-0 at the half.

Kareem Williams and Keonte Stith added fourth quarter touchdowns for the Crabbers, who retained their #1 seed in the 5A South (East) rankings.

Warwick (2-7) was held to 18 total yards.

WARWICK –   0, 0, 0, 0 - 0

HAMPTON  -  21, 21, 0, 12 -- 54   

First quarter

H – T. Smith 24 run (Aguilar kick)

H – T. Smith 34 run (Aguilar kick)

H – Strickland 10 run (Aguilar kick)

Second quarter

H – T. Smith 5 run (kick failed)

H – D. Newsome 32 pass from Quillen (Quillen run)

H – K. Hunter 24 pass from Quillen (Aguilar kick)

Fourth quarter

H – K. Williams 1 run (run failed)

H – Stith 36 run (run failed)

        

    Warw  Hamp

First downs;    2, 21

Rushes-yards;  17-13, 44-390

Passing yards;   5, 82

Comp-att-int;   1-9-2, 6-7-0

Penalties-yards; 3-28, 7-62

Punts-avg;     3-28, 0-0

Fumbles-lost;   2-1, 1-0

The "Wall's" Peninsula Game of the Week #1 - Bethel Thrashes Gloucester 56-7 to Finish Season On 6-2 Run

HAMPTON – The Bethel Bruins ended their regular season in decisive fashion, scoring 21 points in the game’s first eight minutes, then holding off Gloucester for a convincing 56-7 win.

The Bruins, who lost their first two contests to Indian River and Phoebus, finished the season on a 6-2 run and now have an opportunity to claim a fourth seed in the 5A South (Eastern) playoff seedings, if Norview loses one of its final two games. With a #4 seed, Bethel would host at least one playoff game at Darling Stadium.

After finding its offensive bearings last week in a 27-9 win against Denbigh, the Bruins quickly went to work against Gloucester. However, it was the defense that turned in the game’s first big play, with Jeremiah Owusu intercepting an Elijah Shaffer pass and returning it 34 yards for a touchdown. Lekendrell Lowther and DeAndre Gillis added rushing touchdowns to finish the first quarter.

Gillis (12 rushes, 168 yards, 2 TD’s) added a second running score early in the second half, before giving way to Keno Mitchell and Tyler Meredith. Mitchell contributed a fourth quarter touchdown to finish the scoring for the Bruins.

Terry Chisley added a nifty play for Bethel’s last score of the first half. From the Duke 16, Chisley scrambled to the right, and then back toward the left. As he neared the sideline, he saw Jeremiah Owusu momentarily open in the left corner of the end zone, but chose to wave the receiver back toward the middle of the field. With the Gloucester defense preparing for a pass, Chisley turned upfield and ran though the middle of the Duke defense for the touchdown.

Lowther, who filled in briefly at quarterback, found Marcus Pegues open for two passing touchdowns, a 26 and 33-yarder, on successive drives in the third quarter.

The Bethel defense held the Dukes to 51 total yards, and Gloucester completed only one of 14 passes, with three interceptions.

The Dukes lone score came after Gillis’ second touchdown as Brady Barefoot returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards.

Gloucester, hoping to earn its first non-losing season in 10 years, dropped to 3-6 with the loss.

GLOUCESTER –  0, 0, 7, 0 - 7

BETHEL -           21, 7, 21, 7 – 56

First quarter

B – Jeremiah Owusu 34 int. return (Vassilakopoulos kick)

B – Lowther 1 run (kick blocked)

B – Gillis 43 run (Hudson run)

Second quarter

B – Chisley 16 run (Vassilakopoulos kick)

Third quarter

B – Gillis 34 run (Vassilakopoulos kick)

G – Barefoot 96 kickoff return (Wright kick)

B – Pegues 26 pass from Lowther (Vassilakopoulos kick)

B – Pegues 33 pass from Lowther (Vassilakopoulos kick)

Fourth quarter

B – K. Mitchell 2 run (Vassilakopoulos kick)

    Glou   Bethel

First downs;    6, 15

Rushes-yards;  29-30, 38-330

Passing yards;   21, 85

Comp-att-int;   1-14-3, 3-9-0

Penalties-yards; 2-25, 6-72

Punts-avg;      7-31, 3-42

Fumbles-lost;   0-0, 1-1