For two and a half quarters, St. Anne’s-Belfield hung tough against an older and more seasoned Fork Union squad. But as turnovers snowballed and field position kept tilting, a trio of Blue Devil running backs cashed in second-half touchdowns to ensure a happy bus ride home with a 48-7 win in the fall 2021 season opener.
“Our guys came to play on defense and it opened it up for the offense,” said FUMA coach Mark Shuman. “I felt like last year we spread ‘em out too early and got away from our physicality, so this season I wanted to set the tone.”
The rushing totals for both squads reflected the lopsided final scoreboard margin and the Blue Devils’ edge in the trenches, as FUMA picked up 219 yards and STAB finshed with -29 yards rushing.
“We’re playing a lot of young guys up front, and we just need more time to get them taught up,” said STAB coach John Blake. “We’re going to get better.”
Both teams had their own specific struggles.
STAB lost the turnover margin by seven (9-2). While three occurred on fourth-down plays, two (one fumble and one interception) of those were returned by FUMA for touchdowns. In addition to the nine official turnovers, the Saints also didn’t convert two fourth downs, including one at their own 25.
FUMA racked up 14 penalties for 135 yards, one of which (an illegal block) nullified a pick-six late in the first quarter. Two personal fouls aided STAB’s only scoring drive of the game.
“We have to be more disciplined,” said Shuman. “Obviously in the first half we had a lot of penalties (11 for 100 yards); call it rust, call it undisciplined, that’s on me, but I challenged our team to come out in the third quarter and try to put them away, and they responded.”
FUMA junior Caleb Davis scored the first points of the season with a 35-yard dash around the left side. He added another score on a 17-yard run following an interception as the Blue Devils pulled away in the third quarter.
“We’ve been working really hard over the summer, and when I got on that field, I just saw their weaknesses and executed,” said Davis, who finished with 91 yards on eight carries.
Sophomore Colin Reynolds also found paydirt twice. After Jackson Bolduc returned STAB’s opening-drive punt nearly 50 yards into the redzone, Reynolds broke a 7-yard run on fourth down to make it 14-0. His number wasn’t called again until late in the third quarter, when he accounted for 47 yards over three straight carries. His 20-yard score made it 41-7.
“I noticed that they couldn’t stop us in the run game, so I tried to take advantage of what they were giving us,” said Reynolds, who finished with 54 yards on four rushes.
“Credit our offensive line and Colin and Caleb,” Shuman said. “They make it easy on you when you’ve got great athletes.”
Senior Dominique Julius got in on the action in the fourth quarter. He carried three straight plays to cover 35 yards and found the endzone from six yards out to round out the scoring and set up a running game clock with 9:36 left.
With the ground game basically non-existent for the Saints, senior quarterback Nolan Bruton had to sling it around — 26 times in all. STAB targets grabbed seven for 127 yards, but the visitors in white uniforms caught four. Bruton did connect with sophomore Max Taylor for a 23-yard pickup down to the 1 yardline early in the second quarter; three plays later, sophomore running back Hudson Toll powered across the goal line to cut FUMA’s lead to 14-7.
Later in the second quarter, Bruton, who is also the Saints’ kicker, rolled out for a rugby-style punt that went awry. Austin Lenherr scooped the loose ball and scored from 11 yards out to extend the Blue Devils’ lead to 20-7.
That remained the score in the final seconds of the half as STAB tried to finish a six-minute drive. Bruton completed three key passes: first, a 15-yarder to junior tight end Matthew McKinney, which was enough to move the chains on fourth-and-30 thanks to a FUMA personal foul. Next, he connected with senior Jake Melvin for 14 yards to set up first-and-goal at the 2. After a penalty and sack, he found freshman Austin Williford for 19 yards down to the 1; however, with the clock ticking under 0:20 and no timeouts left, the Saints had to rush up and spike on third down. On the fifteenth and final play of the series, Bruton scrambled out to his right, but the Blue Devil pursuit won the race to the pylon, forcing him out of bounds with the ball shy of the goal line.
“We ran some counter stuff on them up front and put together five, six plays in a row and got it down there close, but just couldn’t capitalize,” said Blake.
Junior Henry Meulenberger took over at quarterback for three series in the third quarter, but after a 13-yard sideline completion to Braden White, FUMA ramped-up the pressure and forced a sack-fumble and two interceptions. After the fumble, the Blue Devils took over at the Saints’ 3 yardline, but STAB’s Mason Harry recovered a backfield exchange to deny points. Bolduc returned the ensuing interception 56 yards for six. Trey Holmes made the second interception for FUMA at the Saints’ 17 yardline, and Davis promptly ran in from there to make it 34-7 with four minutes left in the third.
For the Blue Devils, senior quarterback Kieran Meyer completed 3-of-11 passes for 24 yards, all in the first half. He also ran seven times for 19 yards.
For the Saints, Liam Mullins had three carries for 26 yards. McKinney rushed twice for 3 yards and caught two passes for 40.
STAB will look to bounce back next week against Hargrave Friday while Fork Union travels to take on St. Michael the Archangel Saturday.
