Stories

St. Anne’s drops Blue Ridge

St. Anne’s-Belfield only had one thing to play for when they made the trip up to Blue Ridge on Friday afternoon. With the Division I playoffs out of reach, the Saints had their sights set solely on earning local bragging rights over their long time rival and winning the Old Dominion Football Conference.

“Since I’ve been at STAB and even before that, this had been a great rivalry,” said Saint’s coach John Blake. “These two schools have been playing football since STAB started football.”

Behind their defense that forced five turnovers and a strong performance from their rushing attack, St. Anne’s was able to walk out of St. George with a 30-7 victory and finish the year on a strong note.

“This is weird for us,” Blake said. “It’s the first time in 12 years that we haven’t made the playoffs, but I’m proud of our kids. You know that’s a tough feeling for kids to realize that (this game) is it and they did a great job with that today.”

Running backs Aaron Clark and Willie McGhee were able to put the Saints on the scoreboard early in the game. STAB rode Clark down the field on two of their first three possessions and McGhee capped both drives with touchdowns, one on an 8-yard run, and the other on a 26-yard reception from Jacob Rainey. The Saints ran the ball for nearly all of the first half, and were able to catch the Blue Ridge secondary napping early in the third quarter when Joseph Stuart caught a 38-yard pass from Rainey to put his team up 21-0.

Conversely, the Barons struggled to hold on to the ball when they had posession, fumbling twice and throwing three interceptions. Three of those turnovers took place over a six-minute span between the first and second quarters. The Barons watched the STAB lead grow to as many as 27 points by the beginning of the fourth quarter before they were able to reach the end zone. With just under eight minutes to play, Andre Roberts hauled in a 30-yard pass from Speedy McCauley, but after STAB added a field goal to make it a four possession game again, it dashed any hopes of a Blue Ridge comeback.

“At the end of the day we did not play well or inspired,” said Blue Ridge coach Del Smith. “But fortunately we still have something to play for. You win three games in a row and start riding high, and that’s what we were doing. I think this game humbled us a little bit, showed us that we’re beatable and hopefully we’ll take that and turn it into some positive momentum for the playoffs.”

In his last game in a Saints uniform, Clark performed well. The senior carried the ball 34 times and was able to pile up 154 yards. When McGhee got banged up, the burden of moving the offense forward fell almost solely on Clark, and the North Carolina native consistently broke through tackle after tackle to move the chains.

“It felt great,” Clark said. “The line did an excellent job of blocking and the coaches called a great game. We just played really hard. We practiced really hard all week and we’re happy that it paid off.”

St. Anne’s ends it season.

Blue Ridge awaits their opponent for this week’s opening round of the VISAA playoffs.

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