Special teams play by Atlee cannot outduel Lee-Davis "D"
Published: November 17, 2009
By JP Beauchamp .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
In a heated contest that cost both teams their starting QBs as the game progressed, the Raiders and the Confederates, both 5-4 for the season, collided.
In the end, it was Lee-Davis that took advantage of turnovers and maintained defensive consistency to spoil the Raiders’ Division 5 playoff hopes 43-21. In doing so the C-feds secured its first winning season in five years.
If a prize was to be given as a result of the clash of special teams, Atlee would have taken it home. The game began with a 90-yard Atlee kick-off return by junior Trevor Elie (who carried 143 yards for the evening) to put the Raiders on the scoreboard 15 seconds into the game.
“When you get that kick return right off the bat, that’s a good thing,” said Atlee head coach Roscoe Johnson.
Special teams also put up a 65-yard punt return by Josh Doggett to set up the Raider’s second score of the evening on an Elie 9-yard TD run. And although Atlee bookended this contest with Elie’s stellar TD performances, the Raiders’ offense could not put up enough consistency to fill the middle.
Despite the setback of Elie’s first kick-off return, the C-fed defense maintained their composure and mounted a stiff resistance that held the Raider offense to only 80 yards while forcing seven turnovers.
The C-feds closed down 12 of Atlee’s 14 possessions, including a drive that brought the Raiders to first and goal on the one-yard-line half-way into the third quarter.
The defense even put points up with Trefonz Bassette returning an interception 37 yards to score.
“The defense put together two amazing quarters of football,” said a satisfied Lee-Davis head coach Jason Meade. “I put them in some very bad spots with special teams. We didn’t cover the first two kicks very well. The first one led to a touchdown; we got a blocked punt that gave them a short field. And for them to give up realistically seven points on them on a short field, they played their tails off tonight. It was really nice to see how they responded to adversity.”
The C-fed offense also made certain to take advantage of their opportunities to score to gain the advantage. “Chance Stone had some big plays in the first half,” Meade said.
Stone pulled down three receptions for 61 yards and two TDs.
“I was impressed with his fight,” Meade said. “I was impressed with the way he went up and got the ball. We’ve always done a nice job, but when we’ve had injuries and we’ve had players not play and had somebody else step up, and they did that tonight. We needed a go-to man in the first half, and Chance Stone was able to give us that. Brandon Angus did a nice job; Phil Gardener threw the ball well; we got some protection. We had a little trouble getting the running game started in the first half, but we were on our passing game.”
On the ground, Emmit Atkins also put up some tremendous running plays where time after time, despite being caught in the backfield, he would turn negative yardage into positive.
“He is a very, very hard runner; and that’s very nice to see,” Meade said. “We’re glad we’ll get him back for another year.”
Lee-Davis quarterback Phillip Gardner was 7-of-18 for 134 yards, two TDs and one interception before being carried off the field as the result of an injury at the end of the first half.
Second string C-fed QB William Coalson, was still able to turn in two scoring drives for the evening, going 2-for-9 for 28 yards, two TDs and an interception.
“He stepped up and did a nice job,” Meade said. “He’s been a starting safety and a backup quarterback all year and was thrown into a second half in a game where, at half-time, it still could have gone either way with 24-14, a ten point margin. And William Coalson came in there and did a very nice job. He has strengths that Phil doesn’t have, and Phil has strengths that he doesn’t have. We were able to get that going in a couple of series and got a little bit of rhythm.”
Already playing without the services of senior quarterback Dylan Garthright, Atlee lost quarterback Drew Ferguson to injury midway through the third quarter.
For Atlee, the loss and failure to make the playoff was a matter of poor execution. “We had opportunities to do certain things and we didn’t execute,” Johnson said. “We missed dropped balls. What can I say…anything that could go wrong, it went wrong tonight. It was almost like a mountain of mistakes that kept piling on. I think a lot of it was lack of communication. We made mistakes that normally we wouldn’t make. I told them we’re going to have to play almost a perfect game. We can’t have turnovers.
“My hat goes off [to Lee-Davis],” Johnson said. ” We were 5-5. We didn’t do what needed to be done. Basically, we had to win and we didn’t do it. The good thing is that I’ve got everybody coming back…we’ve just got to get better.”
After a disappointing close losses to Varina and Hanover as well as a complete collapse at Highland Springs, Lee-Davis bounced back to finish the season strong. “These kids have a lot of want-to,” Meade said. “They wanted to win this game. They wanted to finish 6-4. They wanted to be successful.
“All year we’ve talked more about Lee-Davis than we have our opponents, and we won the last three games. I don’t know when the last time we put together a three-game winning stretch here and we did it tonight. We broke the season down into mini seasons. We went 1-2 and then we went 3-0, and that’s a nice way to finish going into the off season.”
Atlee————————————- 14 0 0 7 - 21
Lee-Davis————————————- 16 8 13 6 - 43
A - Elie 90 kickoff return (Dalton kick)
LD - Stone 70 pass from Gardner (Stallings pass from Angus)
LD - Stone 28 pass from Gardner (Angus run)
A - Elie 9 run (Dalton kick)
LD - Wyatt 1 run (Angus run)
LD - Angus 16 pass from Colson (run failed)
LD - Scott 12 pass from Colson (Castlebecchi kick)
LD - Bassette 37 interception return (kick failed)
A - Elie 3 run (Dalton kick)
Reader Comments
is there a photo gallery for the atlee and lee david football game?
