After three lopsided victories to open the 2023 season, Blue Ridge hit a familiar speed bump on Friday afternoon as North Cross rolled in to St. George and handed the Barons their first loss by a 24-15 margin.
“For two weeks, they’ve been hearing about how we never beat North Cross,” said Blue Ridge coach Clint Alexander, in his second year helming the rebuild of a program that has not beaten their VISAA Division II foe from Roanoke since 2017. “We’ve got a lot of young guys, and the sideline energy got down in the second half. But we’ll get back to work and maybe we’ll see them (North Cross) again.”
The Raiders hung around as the Barons maintained a one-score lead through three quarters and took control at the line of scrimmage in the fourth.
“We passed enough to make them play us honest and our running backs took over in the second half,” said North Cross coach Shannon Taylor, as his squad nearly-doubled their 83 first-half rushing yards with 174 over the final 24 minutes of action. “We feel good about our offensive line. We’re young with three new starters from last year, but we’ve got a Pitt commit (Moritz Schmoranzer) on the line who’s really helping us.”
While the Raiders’ offense put together two long scoring drives in the fourth quarter, the defense held Blue Ridge to 21 net yards and no points on their two series.
“We were hoping to get them a little bit more tired than we did,” said Alexander. “When they get leaning on you, that’s a pretty big lean. They’re big dudes.”
Senior running back Kam Johnson, no slight presence himself at 5’11” 200, proved increasingly-difficult to stop as he amassed 172 yards on 20 rushes, including 108 on his final nine carries of the afternoon. After he rumbled 17 yards to convert a third-and-8, fellow senior Jerel Rhodes broke out for a 30-yard touchdown to give the North Cross their first lead at 21-15 with 7:53 remaining.
After the Barons’ next possession ended when North Cross sophomore Jaziel Hart pulled down an interception near midfield, the Raiders quickly moved into the red zone with a 52-yard rumble from Johnson. Blue Ridge held firm at the goal line, but Daniel Skoog’s 24-yard field goal virtually iced the game by opening a two-score margin with just 3:54 left.
In contrast to the ball control demonstrated by North Cross down the stretch, the game got started with Blue Ridge spending much of the first and early-second quarters on offense in Raiders’ territory. Yet, the Barons only had an 8-0 lead on the scoreboard. On the first drive, a pass deflected off a Blue Ridge receiver’s hands and senior North Cross safety Xavier Mitchell made the interception. The next series reached the red zone but as Malachi Terrell rushed inside the 10 to convert a fourth-and-1, a holding penalty forced a 40-yard field goal attempt against the wind that came up short.
Noah Anderson and Paul Kloberdanz shared quarterback duties on the Barons’ third possession, which began at the North Cross 40 and stretched eight plays before Kloberdanz hit D’Myo Hunter for a 27-yard touchdown. Anderson added the two-point conversion by rising up as the holder and passing to tight end Leonardo Figueroa.
Blue Ridge had a prime opportunity to extend its lead early in the second after forcing a fumble after a completed pass on the Raiders’ next drive. But the Barons fumbled it right back after a late pitch on an option play near midfield.
“We wanted to get off to a fast start, but we had a couple turnovers that killed offensive momentum,” said Alexander. “We had a couple breakdowns in protection, and they’re big enough that if you miss somebody, you’re going to pay for it, and we unfortunately did.”
North Cross then put together its first good drive of the game, mixing passes from junior quarterback Brock Miles and runs by Johnson and Tristan Lange, who also took snaps at quarterback. However, after reaching first-and-goal at the 5, the Barons came up with four stops and a turnover-on-downs. Blue Ridge’s offense could not flip field position, and so after a quick three-and-out, the Raiders’ offense was back starting in plus territory. They needed five snaps and an offsides penalty to cover 47 yards, capped by a 4-yard touchdown run from Johnson to cut the Barons’ lead to 8-7 heading in to the break.
Blue Ridge received to start the second half and increased its lead thanks to a special teams turnover, with Taliq Montgomery recovering a Raider punt return fumble. Eight plays later, Hunter cruised in from five yards out of wildcat formation on fourth-and-goal. But the Barons’ momentum was short-lived, as Jaziel Hart returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards to the house, pulling North Cross right back within one at 15-14 at the 8:04 mark in the third.
“I knew he was kicking it to me by the way he was lining up and they had tested everybody else,” said Hart. “I’ve been telling coach to put me back there. I saw the hole, hit it, one cut, and had to finish.”
It was also a moment of redemption for Hart, who was in coverage on Blue Ridge’s first-quarter touchdown pass.
“He gave up one early in the game, but he said he was going to get it back,” Taylor said.
Terrell finished with 53 yards on 14 carries for Blue Ridge. Darius Stafford led the Barons with 64 yards on eight rushes, and Hunter added 41 on eight attempts. Their three quarterbacks combined for 72 yards through the air, completing 8-of-22 attempts.
North Cross (4-2) hosts Fredericksburg Christian (5-0) next Friday in a big Division II showdown. Blue Ridge (3-1) will look to bounce back as it welcomes St. Anne’s (4-1) on Saturday afternoon.
