It doesn’t last long, but surviving it is critical.
Dominating that stretch? That’s even better.
“In a playoff game, if you can survive the first five minutes or get ahead? That’s huge,” said St. Anne’s-Belfield coach John Blake. “That’s really huge.”
With an onsides mortar kick recovery on the opening kickoff that led to a touchdown and a Blue Ridge fumble that led to another touchdowns, STAB jumped out to a big lead to start the VISAA Division II semifinals Friday night, a lead they’d never relinquish in a 55-29 marathon game that took nearly three hours to play. The win vaults STAB into the state title game where they’ll face the Trinity/Bishop Sullivan winner.
“They got a good jump on us,” said Blue Ridge coach Tim Thomas. “It kind of took us out of our game plan.”
The Saints capitalized on the onsides kick recovery to start the game when STAB quarterback Jalen Harrison scored from 10 yards out. Blue Ridge fumbled on their first offensive play after the ensuing kickoff and STAB wasted no time, with Harrison throwing a fade to Kareem Johnson down the sideline in the back corner of the end zone. Just five minutes and 17 seconds in, STAB was up 14-0.
“We hadn’t been throwing the ball the last couple of games, just trying to save up,” said STAB’s Johnson, who scored three different ways in the game, adding an interception return for a touchdown and a kick return for a score in the second half. “We have a special call for the fade on that one and we know it’s going to work.”
From there, things settled in for the rest of the half with a Tae Watts touchdown run getting Blue Ridge on the board while Javon Johnson got into a rhythm in his first action back from an injury. Johnson finished with 95 yards and a touchdown on 18 touches. His touchdown came with 2:35 left in the half and put STAB up 21-6 at the break.
The real action came in the flurry of a start to the second half as STAB’s Jalen Harrison hit Campbell Miller for a 55-yard touchdown on the first play of the third. Then Watts unleashed a big-time kick return on the ensuing boot to set up Malik Johnson for a 17-yard touchdown run. But just 13 seconds later, Kareem Johnson took the kickoff to the house with an 82-yard touchdown run and extended STAB’s lead to 35-12.
“We had some spurts where we’re moving the ball and we had some success but it’s really tough when you’re behind against a really good team like that,” Thomas said. “We just had to play catchup the entire time. The momentum never really swung in our direction.”
One of those brief segments that gave the Barons a quick lift before reversing itself was when STAB forced the Saints into a fourth down near midfield. With a little more than five minutes to play in the third quarter, STAB lined up to punt and faked it, with Miller finding a wide open Cameron Carr and Carr scored from 50 yards out to give the Barons a 42-12 lead.
“We did a lot of really good things tonight,” Blake said. “Eventhough we had some penalties that we’ll get cleaned up, some of our execution tonight was really great.”
Blue Ridge committed four total turnovers, too many to overcome. Blue Ridge quarterback Justin Armwood went 4 for 9 for 78 yards after coming off the bench when Malik Johnson started the game. Armwood also rushed for 39 yards and at times helped moved the offense. But for the most part, STAB’s defense held Blue Ridge in check, limiting the usually explosive Barons to just 201 total yards of offense. Miller had a big night for STAB with a touchdown catch, the touchdown throw on the fake punt and an interception.
Harrison finished with three touchdowns and 201 yards on 8-for-14 passing.
The Saints have qualified to play for a state title and will face Trinity or Bishop Sullivan next week. Those two squads face off tomorrow.
