Blue Ridge’s clash with Nansemond-Suffolk Academy didn’t start particularly well for the Barons.
A fumbled snap and a quick touchdown pass from NSA’s Robby Tew to Erek Smith put Blue Ridge in a hole.
In the past, the Barons may have started to come apart at that point. But with players who’ve been through it before and are ready to lead like Nazir Hopson, Blue Ridge was unshaken.
“We’ve just got to keep our heads up and keep our mouthpiece in our mouth and we’ll be fine,” Hopson said.
They were obviously fine Saturday. After that initial hiccup, it was all Barons as they built a three-touchdown lead before the half and exploded in the fourth to roll 57-14 over the Saints.
“We had some adversity and we could’ve easily folded,” said Blue Ridge coach Tim Thomas. “They kept it in perspective, you’ve just got to rise up and face it. They still came through. They’re getting hungry.”
Justin Armwood did the heavy lifting for the offense in the first half, rushing for three touchdowns, twice from 42 yards and then again from 22 out before he connected with Jamison Harrison for one through the air from 31 yards out. Armwood piled up 232 yards on the ground and threw for another 53 on the day. He was particularly dangerous off the zone read, keeping several times for big gains as the NSA defense collapsed on Harrison.
“He’s just a super runner, he’s a good athlete so you take advantage of that,” Thomas said. “That’s what our offense is geared around.”
Blue Ridge (3-2) piled up nearly 500 yards of total offense with 360 of it coming on the ground, and meanwhile the Barons’ defense ratcheted up the pressure and shut down the Saints, allowing just a single score after the initial 6-point tally. Jahlil Puryear was instrumental in that performance and he pointed out that the offense’s potency challenges the defense to take care of business and get off the field.
“I don’t think it frees us up, I think it puts more pressure on us to keep the offense going,” Puryear said.
In the fourth quarter, NSA’s mistakes compounded into bigger problems for the Saints as they fumbled a pair of kickoffs and Blue Ridge marched in for easy scores with a short field each time. Then on one of the stranger plays of the afternoon, Hopson was holding for an extra point and got cleaned out by an NSA defense who came streaking in to try and block the kick and smashed into Hopson with an ejection coming after the obvious penalty.
It mattered little though as Harrison, Xavier Kane, Puryear and Tariq Gough all scored second half rushing touchdowns while Kane operated at quarterback most of that half. He threw for 53 yards and streaked in from 32 yards out for his rushing score.
The Barons move on now to their annual rivalry game with St. Anne’s-Belfield while NSA travels to take on Norfolk Academy.
