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Go to home page BY JUSTIN RICE POWHATAN "We always fight to the end," Chancellor cornerback Tony Russell said. But as the final seconds ran off the clock and the Chargers scrambled to extend the game, no amount of fight from the Chancellor team could overcome an Indians defense that proved too tough for the Battlefield District champions. Powhatan ended the first half with a well-executed hook-and-lateral touchdown to take the lead, and took advantage of a Chancellor fumble early in the second half to grab control in a 34-18 win yesterday afternoon. The Indians (12-0) will host Broad Run next Saturday in the Group AA state semifinals. The first big punch from Powhatan came in the final minute of the first half. Just moments after Chancellor quarterback Micah Cunningham had given the Chargers a 12-7 lead on an 80-yard touchdown run, the Indians had the ball near midfield with 14 seconds before halftime. Powhatan quarterback Shawn Minor threw a quick hitter to Kurt Taylor, who immediately pitched the ball to Dustin Kingery. Kingery was running at full speed when he caught the pitch and was untouched on the 51-yard play. Still, the Chargers trailed by just one, and thought they were in good position. "I told the guys, 'Don't even worry about it,'" Chancellor coach Bob Oliver said. "A trick play's a trick play. Half the time, they work. Half the time, they don't. You don't practice to cover it, you just have to react. They executed it, and they're in the end zone. "But we're still right there." Just as Chancellor caught its breath from that big blow, the Indians struck again--this time mostly because of a Chargers miscue. Chancellor started the second half deep in its own territory because of a penalty on the half's opening kickoff. On third down, Powhatan blew through the Chancellor line and swarmed Cunningham, who fumbled the ball on the 2. Two plays later, the Indians had another touchdown and led 20-12. "It was a mistake, and they capitalized on it," Cunningham said. "They played good defense, and we couldn't do what we do." Again the Chargers picked themselves up off the mat. Two plays after his fumble, Cunningham hit Darius Dunn wide open on a seam route for a 53-yard touchdown, and the Indians' lead was cut to 20-18. "I thought we had them right where we wanted them when it was a one-point game at the half," Oliver said. "They're used to having 35- and 40-point leads at the half. I thought if we could get it into the fourth quarter tight, maybe we'd be in a little better condition." But instead Powhatan started chewing up larger and larger chunks of yardage. Minor led two drives--one late in the third quarter, and one in the fourth--to put Powhatan up 34-18. The quarterback finished 12-of-14 passing for 194 yards, and had a game-high 129 rushing yards on 16 carries. Cunningham, who has provided a huge portion of Chancellor's offense this year, wasn't able to match Minor. The Chargers junior had 120 yards on 22 carries, but 80 of those yards came on his first-half touchdown run. As a team, Chancellor had just 119 rushing yards. "They're big, and they're good football players," Chancellor offensive lineman Joel Elliott said. "They grow 'em big down here." The Chargers couldn't have written a better script for most of the first half. Chancellor's Drew Foley recovered a Powhatan fumble on the opening kickoff, and Chancellor grabbed a 6-0 lead on Cunningham's 25-yard touchdown pass to Darian Talley. Though the Chargers would lose that lead, Cunningham put the Chargers back on top with his 80-yard carry. He started off left tackle and made his way down the sideline, cutting back near the Indians' 40, with Dunn's block clearing the way to the end zone. But the 13-7 lead masked a first half when Chancellor struggled to move the ball. Outside of Talley's touchdown catch and Cunningham's long run, the Chargers managed just one first down. "They've got some guys that will just swat you around," Oliver said. "We said, 'OK, swat us around. Hopefully our skill personnel can execute enough to make up for what we lacked up there.'"
First Quarter Ch--D. Talley 25-yard pass from M. Cunningham (run failed). Second Quarter Pw--J. Ingram 5-yard pass from S. Minor (E. Moore kick). Ch--M. Cunningham 80-yard run (run failed). Pw--D. Kingery 51-yard pass from S. Minor (pass failed). Third Quarter Pw--R. Brown 1-yard run (E. Moore kick). Ch--D. Dunn 53-yard pass from M. Cunningham (pass failed). Pw--D. Berry 18-yard run (E. Moore kick). Fourth Quarter Pw--S. Minor 6-yard run (E. Moore kick). TEAMSTATISTICS
INDIVIDUALSTATISTICS Rushing: Chancellor--Micah Cunningham 22-120, TD; Jeff Sawyer 4-3; Aqiyl Randall 1-0; Darius Dunn 3-(-4). Powhatan--Shawn Minor 16-129, TD; Dion Berry 12-43, TD; Dustin Kingery 6-14; Raymond Brown 4-6, TD.Passing: Chancellor--Micah Cunningham 7-16-0 137, 2TDs; Darian Talley 0-1-1 0. Powhatan--Shawn Minor 12-14-1 194, 2TDs. Receiving: Chancellor--Darius Dunn 2-70, TD; Drew Foley 1-16; Jeff Sawyer 1-12; Darian Talley 3-3, TD. Powhatan--Josh Ingram 6-100, TD; Dustin Kingery 3-66, TD; Josh Morris 1-15; Dion Berry 2-13. Justin Rice: 540/368-5045 |
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