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

Virginia Peninsula Game of Week #8 - Bethel Levels Record at 4-4 with 35-16 Win Over Menchville

HAMPTON – The Bethel Bruins overcame a slew of penalties in the second half to defeat

Menchville 35-16 in front of a Homecoming crowd at Darling Stadium.

The Bruins jumped to a 21-3 halftime lead on the strength of their defense, which held the Monarchs to 36 total yards in the first half. The Bruins capitalized on an early special teams boost, as Jonathan Saunders blocked a Menchville punt in the end zone and scooped up the ball for the Bruins first touchdown.

Bethel traveled 60 yards on nine plays with their next possession, culminating the drive with a Janaz Jordan 4-yard score to open the second quarter. Later in the quarter, Mondo Walker picked off a Shemar Butts pass and returned the ball 33 yards for Bethel’s third touchdown.

Menchville kicker Isaiah Hudson closed the first half with a 47-yard field goal.

The Monarchs scored touchdowns on successive possessions early in the fourth quarter to close the lead to 28-16. After a Chanz Dixon touchdown, a trio of unsportsmanlike penalties by Bethel set the ensuing kickoff at the Bruin 12, where the onside kick failed to travel ten yards and stopped at the 4. But a Bethel fumble on their first play gave Menchville the ball back, and Nick Webster scored from the 1 on the third play.

Dwayne Hudson, who earlier scored on a 27-yard fake punt return run, intercepted a pass and traveled 99 yards for the game’s deciding score.

MENCHVILLE   0, 3, 0, 13 -- 16

BETHEL              7, 14, 7, 7  -  35

1^st Quarter

B – Saunders blocked punt, recovered in end zone (Vassilakopoulos kick)

2^nd Quarter

B – Jordan 4 run (Vassilakopoulos kick)

B – M. Walker 33 int return (Vassilakopoulos kick)

M – Howard 47 FG

3^rd Quarter

B – Hudson 27 run (Vassilakopoulos kick)

4^th Quarter

M – Dixon 4 run (run failed)

M – Webster 1 run (Howard kick)

B – Hudson 99 int return (Vassilakopoulos kick)

Mench  Beth 

First downs;    14, 9

Rushes-yards;  39-178, 29-130

Passing yards;  29, 38

Comp-att-int;   4-12-2, 3-9-2

Penalties-yards; 9-90, 12-125

Punts-avg;      6-30.5, 4-39

Fumbles-lost;   2-0, 2-1

Virginia Peninsula Game of Week #7: York Earns First Win; Topples Bruton 40-21

Ramsay Hayyat (#2) is still sitting
out after a concussion two weeks ago.
Cole Edwards threw for 236 yards
and 4 TD's in his place against
winless Bruton on Friday

YORK 40, BRUTON 21

YORK – Adam Lytle caught three receiving touchdowns from Cole Edwards to lead York to its first victory of the season 40-21 in front of a Homecoming crowd at Bailey Field.

Lytle finished the game with five catches for 220 yards, as the Falcons built up a 27-7 lead after three quarters.

Bruton clawed back into the game, scoring two early fourth quarter touchdowns to close the Falcon lead to 27-21. But Lytle’s third touchdown, a 45-yarder, and Josh Martiniez’s 39-yard scoring romp down the right sideline iced the game for York.

The opening minutes were slow paced, as both offenses struggled to move the football. However, with 2:40 left in the first quarter, York quarterback Cole Edwards, from his 9-yard line, dropped back to pass, eluded two tacklers at the front of the end zone and lofted a 35-yard pass that was caught on the left sideline by Lytle, who outran the Bruton defense to the end zone for a 91-yard touchdown.

A Bruton fumble, recovered by Noah Pascarella at the Panther 19, set up York’s next touchdown on their first play, as Edwards lofted a pass over the middle to Falcon tight end Mason Torrence who leapt for the catch and score with 3:08 left in the half. Bruton frantically drove the length of the field on their ensuing possession, covering 68 yards on nine plays. However, their 33-yard field goal attempt with one second remaining sailed wide and York took the 14-0 lead into the locker room.

York (1-5) finished with 393 total yards, while Bruton’s Greg Dockery, who replaced a shaken-up Adam McMillion at quarterback, completed 15 of 31 passes fro 170 yards. His counterpart, Edwards was 7 of 10 for 236 yards and four touchdowns.

The loss kept Bruton winless at 0-6.

BRUTON     0, 0, 7, 14 -- 21

YORK          7, 7, 13, 13 -- 40

1^st Quarter

Y – A. Lytle 91 pass from Edwards (Meade kick)

2^nd Quarter

Y – Torrence 19 pass from Edwards (Meade kick)

3^rd Quarter

Y – Norman 17 run (Meade kick)

B – Dockery 7 run (Malik kick)

Y – A. Lytle 31 pass from Edwards (kick failed)

4^th Quarter

B – Uvodich 17 pass from Dockery (Malik kick)

B – Dockery 1 run (Malik kick)

Y – A. Lytle 45 pass from Edwards (kick failed)

Y – Martiniez 39 run (Meade kick)

       Brut  York 

First downs;     13, 13

Rushes-yards;  27-121, 39-157

Passing yards;  170, 236

Comp-att-int;   15-32-2, 7-10-0

Penalties-yards; 9-85, 6-50

Punts-avg.;      7-25, 2-42

Fumbles-lost;   2-1, 3-2

Ft. Monroe's Adaptive Sports Day Draws Inspiration and Olympic Gold

Gold medalist in the Rio Paralympic
Games, Nicky Nieves played
middle blocker for the US team.

In the spirit of promoting adaptive sport and physical activity awareness, the Hampton Athletics Division sponsored an Adaptive Sports Day on Saturday at the Fort Monroe Community Center.

Co-sponsored by the Community Center and the Sitting Volleyball Warriors, Adaptive Sports Day served as a free event that allowed participants to enhance their own experiences with sports such as power soccer, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.

Linda Gomez, who along with Andy Pai, coach the Sitting Volleyball team and Special Operations Wounded Warrior teams, has been instrumental in bringing the movement to Hampton Roads. Gomez brings 28 years of volleyball coaching experience from youth to the college levels in her native Florida. Last year, she came to visit Ft. Monroe as a tourist and came to a life changing decision.

“I was teaching at a university (in Florida) and coaching men’s volleyball, I had been a coach with USA Volleyball for a while, and with the University I was traveling to the Warrior Games and I happened to come to this area last fall. (Fort Monroe) looked like a great place to bring our program. It’s now a national park. So I resigned in April as a professor and volleyball coach and started this program here.”

While the program has its foundations with the military, through research, she found ways to expand the program.

“Our objective was to bring awareness to the military, to the adaptive community as to what is available. It’s branching out to special populations and people with unique abilities.” Through her own efforts, she has merged with programs such as Power Soccer and Virginia Beach Adapted Water Sports, among others.

There is a constant, added Gomez.

“They start out in a team, and then got wounded, and then they weren’t part of the team, they felt.” Her service, she feels is “my way to serve my country in a different way.”

There were many shining personal examples of the program’s success in attendance on Saturday. Nicky Nieves, a gold medal athlete with the US Paralympic Volleyball team, was on hand to give demonstrations of sitting volleyball to the dozens of youths and adults on hand for the five-hour program. Her own introduction to the sport was unusual.

“I was playing (volleyball) at Queens College in New York, and there was a recruiter who came and talked to our (athletic director) and said I should try it. At first I was a little hesitant because I was scared, and it was completely brand new to me, but I stuck at it, and I’m glad I did.”

Nieves had her gold medal from Rio on display, and she spoke of her experience at the Games.

“We were there for 16 days, and played from the 7^th through 17^th.” The team’s schedule was rugged, with six games, starting with Iran, followed by Rwanda, Brazil and China before reaching the semifinals, and then the gold medal round. Nieves as thrilled that the Games were covered on a world stage through NBC Sports.

“It’s the world’s biggest stage; it’s where it really matters, and everybody gets to see all of the hard work you put in,” said Nieves, who played middle blocker for the gold medal squad.

Army Staff Sergeant Carlton Duncan and SFC Michael D. Smith were also representing the Warrior Care and Transition Command, which is headquartered in Arlington, VA. Duncan was wounded in Iraq and sees his new position as part of the transitional role for affected veterans.

“We work with active duty and veterans, and newly retired vets. I use adaptive sports, such as cycling, BMX bikes, which helped me when I was recovering at Ft. Bragg. That’s what led me to the job where I’m at now.” Duncan sees his role as a way that the military is able to connect with the community.

Smith’s injury was non-combat related. In 2011, he was involved in a gruesome motorcycle accident.

“I had come back from deployment, and I was riding my motorcycle. A driver that was texting and driving ran into me from behind. (The impact) threw me over the guardrail and a car ran over my arm and severed it right there on the spot. I was conscious for the whole thing.”

Smith holds the distinction of being the only Army soldier ever to remain on active duty after losing a limb above the elbow. “I’m the first and only “above the elbow” amputee in the history of the military.”

Speaking of his injury, Smith feels it was a blessing in disguise.

“I truly believe that God put this on me for a reason. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me in my entire life.” Smith has excelled as a Paralympic athlete and keeps busy between his own training and the requirements of his position. But he never hesitates to attend an event like Saturday’s.

“I come as often as the Army lets us,” adding that sometimes he has to hold his twice-a-day workouts at 5:30 AM and 10 PM.

As he watched the guests try out the different adaptive sports with varying degrees of success, Smith shared the philosophy that he tells his new clients.

“You have been knocked down, but you’re not out.”