By the time Hanover left the Lee-Davis’ football field on Friday night, the Hawks had pulled off a 21-6 victory over their cross-town rivals. But those not in attendance should not be fooled by the 15-point victory margin – the Hawks had quite a battle on their hands. The hard-luck Confederates had a lot of fight in them, and they gave Hanover every bit of it.

  Nevertheless, Hanover, ranked No. 2 in the Times-Dispatch poll, remained undefeated and on top of the Capital District standings with a 3-0 Capital, 6-0 overall record.

  Hanover was led by Deane Cheatham with 22 carries for 116 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Sam Rogers completed 6-of-9 passes for 65 yards and ran for 51 yards more. His counterpart, Israel Vaughan led Lee-Davis with nine completions in 18 attempts for 101 yards and two interceptions.

  Though injury-plagued, the Confederates (1-2, 2-4) proved from the start that they were not going to be pushovers, stopping Hanover on downs on the Hawks’ first two drives. Hanover managed to score on its third drive late in the second quarter, but those 7 points – from a 1-yard run by Cheatham and point-after by Matt Palmen – were all the Hawks could manage until the final minutes of the game.

  “We knew this was coming,” said Hanover coach Josh Just. “I wish I was shocked, but I’m not.”

  The critical difference may have been snapping woes on the part of Lee-Davis. A bad snap cost it an extra point when it had a chance to tie the game in the third quarter, and bad snaps led to fumbles and losses – though fortunately none for turnovers – that snuffed the life out of drives when the Confederates seemed ready to score.

  “They could have easily beat us,” Just said. “It’s not so much that we didn’t play well, it’s that they played extremely well.”

  The two teams were closely matched. Hanover had 12 first downs and 271 yards total offense. Lee-Davis had 13 first downs and 202 yards total offense. The main differences were in turnovers – the Confederates had two interceptions in the final four minutes of the game that doomed their comeback hopes – and lost yardage. The Hawks had two plays that lost nine yards on two plays, while the Confederates had eight plays that lost 46 yards.

  Having already defeated Highland Springs and Varina, Just said that Lee-Davis was the most physical team his Hawks had faced all year. The compliment was one that Confederate coach Zac Hayden appreciated. But he said his team was still disappointed with the loss.

  “They’re down,” Hayden said. “Anytime you lose, and you lose to a rival, and you lose the way we did – in a hard-fought game, just at the end we couldn’t finish it to win – it’s going to be hard on you. It’s the nature of the game.”

  The Confederates scored on the first drive of the third quarter on a 35-yard run by Emmit Atkins with 9:12 left, but the point-after attempt failed. Hanover failed to mount much of a response, and Lee-Davis kept a long drive going despite three fumbles. The third fumble, which led to a loss of 11 yards, kept the Confederates out of the end zone, and their 35-yard field goal attempt failed – but they downed the ball on the Hanover 1-yard line.

  The two teams traded scoreless drives until mid-way though the fourth quarter, when Hanover got back in sync on offense and drove 79 yards to score on a 1-yard run by Cheatham. Palmen’s extra point gave the Hawks a 14-6 lead with 4:24 left in the game.

  The Confederates were determined to respond, but on their next-to-last drive Vaughan was sacked on the first play, had a pass dropped on the second, and threw an interception to Shreve Rohle on the third.

  “I just knew we needed to make a good play,” said Rohle of his game-saving interception. “We just needed the ball, to get back and to score. So I just stepped up and saw the ball and picked it.”

  “We were just trying to make a play there at the end of the game,” Hayden said. “We had to make a play to score and try to win the game. We had to do that. Sometimes when you try to make a play, things happen.”

  Hanover scored again, covering the 40 yards to the goal line in about a minute and scoring on another 1-yard run by Cheatham.

  Despite a 21-6 deficit and 34 seconds remaining, Lee-Davis wasn’t ready to fold, but another interception – off a pass tipped by a Lee-Davis receiver and caught by Hanover’s Xavier Crocker – effectively ended the game.
 
  This week Hanover hosts Monacan while Lee-Davis plays host to Highland Springs.
 
Hanover……..........… 0 7 0 14—21
Lee-Davis…..........….. 0 0 6   0 —7
H – Cheatham 1 run (Palmen kick)
L-D – Atkins 35 run (kick failed)
H – Cheatham 1 run (Palmen kick)
H – Cheatham 1 run (Palmen kick)

RUSHING: Hanover – Rogers 15 carries 51 yards, MarBrooks 6-39, Cheatham 22-116. Lee-Davis – Atkins 8-60, Wyatt 16-49, Toliver 1-(minus 13), Eaton 2-24, Vaughan 2-(minus 19).

PASSING: Hanover – Rogers 6 completions 9 attempts 65 yards, 0 interceptions. Lee-Davis – Vaughan 9-18-101-2.

RECEIVING: Hanover – MarBrooks 2 receptions 9 yards, Moody 1-5, Mahmood 3-51. Lee-Davis – Stone 6-75, Atkins 1-9, Eaton 1-5, Reynolds 1-12.