Two weeks ago, Lee-Davis put a scare in No. 2 ranked Hanover but could not close the deal. On Friday, the Confederates found redemption, once again showcasing a strong defensive effort to hold No. 6 Highland Springs to a single touchdown and walk away with a 12-7 win. It was Lee-Davis’ (2-2 Capital, 3-4) first victory over the Springers (1-2, 5-2) since 2002.

  “I love defense,” said Lee-Davis head coach Zac Hayden. “I love football; and everybody says, ‘Are you a defense or offense coach?’ and I say, ‘Well, I’ll coach whatever, but, I really like when they play good defense.”

  Strong defense and clock management was the C-feds’ game plan. “We just wanted to keep the ball away from them as much as possible; run the football; play good defense,” Hayden said. “I’m just extremely happy that with all the injuries and such we’ve been through this year that we could pull a winner.”

  Despite plenty of action, there was nothing but zeros on the scoreboard until less than a minute remained in the first half. 

  Starting at their own 28, the C-Feds, moved down field on eight plays, capped by an Emmit Atkins 2-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation.

  The drive left only 43 seconds on the clock before halftime, but the Springers only needed 34 seconds to answer.

  On a drive that started at his own 34, quarterback D.J. Johnson connected with Willie Stubblefield for 44 yards. He then found Antoine Wilkerson in the right corner of the end zone for the final 13. 

  Oscar Portillo’s kick was good to make it 7-6 and suddenly the C-feds found themselves in the exact situation as a week early against Hanover.

  Lee-Davis went three and out on their first drive of the second half and the Springers reached first and ten on the C-fed 15 before they ran into a stone wall.

  Lee-Davis senior defensive lineman Wes Tuck sacked Johnson deep in the backfield to make it third and 30.  Brandon Robinson liked the idea so much he did the same for another 8-yard loss to keep the Springers out of scoring position. 

  “He’s a good football player,” Hayden said of Robinson. “He does a good job for us.  He’s one of our better defenders; he’s one of our team leaders, and he stepped up when he needed to.”

  Lee-Davis grabbed the lead three minutes into the fourth quarter.

  Junior quarterback Israel Vaughan moved the chains twice with a couple of bruising runs. Atkins then blasted his way through traffic to pick up another 22 and make it first and goal on the 9-yard line. 

  Vaughan then carried a couple of defenders with him into the endzone to give Lee-Davis a 12-7 lead after a failed two-point conversion.

  The Springers appeared as if they would once again answer, driving to the Lee-Davis 37 and looking at third and one. But Highland Springs was called for holding as the C-feds got a sack, leaving a difficult decision for Hayden. He could accept the penalty to put the Springers at third and 11 from the 47 or decline it and hope his defense held them at fourth and short from the 42.

  “I was a little nervous declining that penalty on fourth and five,” Hayden said. “But we’ve got a lot of good seniors, especially our up front kids, and they just stepped up and made a good play.”

  In this case it was Tuck and Tyler Moody that pounced on Thompson, sacking him for a 4-yard loss.

  Still, the game was not over and the Springers got a break when they recovered a Vaughan fumble on the Lee-Davis 20; but once again the C-Fed D stood tall. Their short three and out drive closed with Johnson seeing stars after getting hammered by a Calvin Davis sack.

  “They gave us an opportunity with the fumble,” said Highland Springs head coach Loren Johnson. “We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity; so congrats; my hat’s off to them.  They did a good job.”

  Lee-Davis managed to eat the clock in nine plays leaving less than 10 seconds for the Springers to retaliate. 

  Johnson valiantly tried to make use of what was left but saw the lights go out once more when Davis found him in the backfield again as the last seconds ticked off.

  “[Our defense] blew them back, so the quarterback had to stutter-step,” Davis said. “So, when he stutter-stepped I just came and hit him.” 

  “He’s another one [of our better defenders],” Hayden said of Davis. “He’s a senior.  He’s put all this hard work into this program.  He deserves this win.  These kids deserve this.”

  “It’s been 10 years,” Davis said. “We just wanted it.  We just wanted to end on a good note.”

  Suffering the second loss of the season, both to Hanover County teams, the Springers’ Wilkerson was somber. “I felt like in a way we beat ourselves, as far as running the ball correctly; doing the right things,” he said. “Lee-Davis is a good team.  I won’t say they surprised us; because I feel they did good. It was just a good football game. We just gotta play harder. It’s just that when it came down to the wire, we let them hang around too long.”

  This Friday night Lee-Davis will look for a second big win when the Confederates host Henrico, which is coming off its own milestone upset of No. 7 Varina.
 
Highland Springs .........0 7 0 0 — 7
Lee-Davis…...................0 6 0 6 —12
L-D—Atkins 2 run (kick blocked)
HS — Wilkerson 13 pass from Johnson (Portillo kick)
L-D—Vaughan 9 run (run failed)

RUSHING: Highland Springs — Young 15 carries, 118 yards, Thompson 5-35, Wilkerson 9-29, Carter 1-3, Johnson 5-minus 35. Lee-Davis —Atkins 11-68, Vaughan 8-31, Wyatt 13-3.

PASSING: Highland Springs — Johnson 10 completions, 15 attempts, 0 interceptions, 102 yards. Lee-Davis—Vaughan 6-12-0-113.

RECEIVING: Highland Springs — Stubblefield 4 receptions, 64 yards, Wilkerson 3-30, Young 1-10, Carter 2-minus 2. Lee-Davis — Stone 3-82, Eaton 1-13, Reynolds 1-11, Atkins 1-7.