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The Hanover and Monacan varsity football teams traded rain for cold as they took the field three days late for their Central Region Division 5 semifinal game. In a game postponed from Nov. 14 to Nov. 17, the Hawks found the heat they were looking for as a speedy defense combined with a potent offensive attack to push the team one step closer to a repeat of last year’s regional title. A 10-point first-quarter and a 213-yard effort by quarterback Josh Wells made the difference for the Hawks in a 24-14 win over the Chiefs.

“Gutsy, tough, determined, it shows all his true characteristics,” Hanover head coach Joshua Just said of Wells. “Man, we’re proud of him. He threw some great balls out there.”

Hanover scored twice in the opening four minutes of the game for the margin. The Hawks opted to receive the opening kickoff and Kenny Fryman brought the ball into Monacan territory with a run to the 44-yard line. A pass by Wells, a penalty and a run brought the Hawks to the seven-yard line, but a stiff red-zone defense played in part by Monacan’s Tilghman Goldsborough and LaDontis Holland to stop a running attempt and good coverage on a passing attempt forced a field goal try. Rachel Moore got the Hawks on the board first with a 23-yard boot with 9:03 remaining in the first quarter.

Hanover got a second chance on the ensuing kickoff as the Hawks recovered a fumble on the Monacan 37-yard line. Fryman ran for three yards to get things started. Wells zipped a 31-yard pass to Fryman and capped the drive with a hand off to Chris Lee for the score. Moore added the extra point for a 10-0 lead.
Monacan got on the board late in the quarter. The Chiefs strung together a 61-yard drive behind the running game of J.C. Wiggins, who finished with a 27-yard run for the score. David Caras added the extra point to pull the team within three.

The Hawks went up 17-7 before halftime, but momentum seemed to swing toward the Chiefs as they headed into the locker rooms. In the Hawks’ final series of the half, the team marched downfield to the Monacan 17-yard line, but an illegal block followed by an encroachment call pushed Hanover back to midfield. Monacan’s Garett Patterson picked off a long pass on the 20-yard line and returned the ball to midfield with time running out.

The ball came back to Monacan to start the second half and the Chiefs capitalized with a 62-yard drive highlighted by a 12-yard scramble by QB Logan Staib and a 37-yard run by Wiggins. Staib floated a perfect pass to Kevork Ozbalik in the back of the end zone for the score, and Caras added the extra point to put Monacan within three at 17-14.

“We just talked about we need to get our run game going,” Monacan head coach Danny Parsons said. “We established that and then it just seemed like … we [couldn’t] establish it after that, couldn’t keep it going, and that hurt us tonight. We just couldn’t establish any runs and that speaks to their defense. They’re a great defense, they’re well coached, they’re not out of position, they’re aggressive.”

Hanover’s defense would get the final say as the team brought blitz after blitz, hurrying the Monacan offense and forcing four three-and-out’s the rest of the way.

“It was a team win on the defensive side of the ball,” Just said. “The whole [defensive] line stepped up, but we’re only allowed to blitz like that and be a little creative when the secondary covers like they’re supposed to.”

The Hawks put up the final points of the game with 1:35 left in the third quarter on a series of running plays that utilized three different runners. Wells capped the drive with a bullet to Ross Scarborough for a 33-yard scoring pass. Moore added the extra point.

Wiggins led Monacan with 15 carries for 86 yards and two catches for 23 yards. Staib added six completions for 51 yards. The Chiefs wrap up their season at 7-4 and look to return a solid core of players for next year.

Leading the Hawks were Wells, Deane Cheatham with 72 rushing yards, and 52 receiving yards, Lee with 54 rushing yards, Fryman with 44 rushing yards, Scarborough with 65 receiving yards and Karlton Davis with 45 receiving yards. Hanover moves on to Saturday’s Central Region final against Dinwiddie. The Generals were 38-7 winners over Douglas Freeman in the other Division 5 semifinal Monday night.

“We’re not defending anything,” Just said. “It’s not about last year. This is another chance to win another title, and we’re going to try to take full advantage of that.”

And the short rest between games is not going to be an issue according to the coach.

“We can’t wait. We’d play tomorrow if we could. It’s an exciting game to play against someone like Dinwiddie. We’ve never seen an offense like this. We’re real excited. We felt we played pretty good defense here, we felt we played pretty good offense here. Our special teams has been our best unit all year long, so we feel we match up well with Dinwiddie,” Just said.

Sara Page is sports editor for the Midlothian Exchange.