Blue Ridge quarterback Camden Brewer has some serious weapons around him.
“We only got here about three weeks as a team and it has really been just that everyone bought in and worked hard to get that connection down,” Brewer said. “That stuff doesn’t happen overnight.”
Maybe not overnight but three weeks definitely seemed to be enough. On Saturday, the Barons’ offense was absolutely clicking in a 50-13 blowout win over Hargrave, Blue Ridge’s first victory of the season.
Brewer threw for 313 yards and six touchdowns on just 10-for-15 passing.
Three Blue Ridge receivers — Jackson Lindsey, Robby Matos and Diarmind Stewart — went for more than 100 yards each, with Matos hauling in three scores on 107 yards receiving to lead the way. Lindsay had three catches for 103 yards and a touchdown and Stewart nabbed four catches for 103 yards and two scores.
“Kudos to them coming out with me, working hard before and after practice,” Brewer said. “It’s all about them.”
The big plays stacked up quickly, with Stewart putting Blue Ridge up 7-0 on a 20-yard catch and Matos making it 14-7 with a catch and run where he climbed the ladder to haul it in before finishing off the rest of 36 yards.
“I told my quarterback I’m going to go get it, put it up,” Matos said. “He put it in a good place, it was a really good ball, I just did what I’m supposed to do.”
Lindsey raced in a few minutes later for a 55-yard touchdown. Brewer then scored on a quarterback sneak with 7:33 to play in the second quarter. Then he added his fourth passing touchdown when he hit Robby Matos for a 31-yard touchdown.
Blue Ridge picked up where it left off in the third quarter with Brewer finding Stewart for a 50-yard score and shortly thereafter he tossed his sixth touchdown pass of the day to Matos, who scored from 40 yards out.
With Tanner Rocha picking up 97 yards on the ground and Logan Rhodes rushing for another 70 yards, the Barons exploded for 495 yards of total offense as a team.
“I think the big difference was the offensive line got in there, put their hands in the dirt, moved people off the spots and that was big time,” Matos said. “Gave our quarterback time to make decisions.”
The Barons defense was equally impressive against a Hargrave team that got blown out by STAB a week ago. The Barons held Hargrave to just 166 yards of total offense and didn’t allow a single third or fourth down conversion the entire game with the Tigers going a combined 0-for-9 on those chances. Matos broke up a pair of passes and Matt Niznik had an interception and made a team-high four solo stops including two for a loss. Rhoades had two tackles for a loss as well.
Overall it was a solid leap from week one when the Barons fell on the road to Nansemond Suffolk Academy. That experience helped spark Saturday’s explosion.
“It was good to be able to see what we could fix from week one,” Brewer said. “What we did good that we can make great, what we did bad and how we can make it good.”
If the Barons keep following that formula every week, they’ve got the potential to have a special season in St. George. They’ll travel to Fishburne this Saturday.
