Photo by Charlie Leffler
Hanover junior running back Deane Cheatham, carried the ball and the Hawks to victory with 157 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

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Cheatham’s 4 TDs help Hanover slip past Lee-Davis

A pouring rain did little to dampen the offensive fireworks between two teams desperately in need of a victory. But by the fourth quarter, it was Hanover High’s Deane Cheatham carrying the pile, and his team, to a 40-38 victory against visiting Lee-Davis.

Cheatham finished with four touchdowns and 209 allpurpose yards, doing his best to keep pace with Lee-Davis quarterback Phillip Gardner, who had four TDs along with 359 passing yards.

The junior running back saved his biggest carries for the fourth quarter. Most of the crowd had departed — even the band was long gone — but there was Cheatham pushing people around in short sleeves. He said that the long sleeves affected his ability to protect the ball but that he was aided by new cleats, which he picked up Thursday night in anticipation of a sloppy field.

With the victory, the Hawks moved to 3-3 after a rough start.

“We wanted to come out here and show people we could still play football,” Cheatham said.

The game opened with strong defensive play, as the Hawks’ Xavier Crocker intercepted a pass on the 1-yard line as the Confederates were about to score. Lee-Davis repaid the favor when Will Connerley broke up an option play and forced a fumble that led to the game’s first score.

After that, all was quiet on the offensive front until a 45-yard pass from Hanover’s Sam Rogers found Cheatham for a touchdown. Lee-Davis again had an answer, in the form of an 82-yard touchdown pass from Gardner to Justin Becker.

In the third quarter the offenses continued to have their way, with the teams scoring on four of their first five possessions.

The Hawks had the last two scores, with Cheatham crossing the goal line to push the team into the lead for the first time.

With the Hawks up by nine points late, Gardner led the Confederates on a touchdown drive. But they scored with 7 seconds left and were unable to collect the onside kick.

That left Lee-Davis at 3-3, with their losses against quality teams. It was Hanover that got to party, as the few dozen students who remained swarmed the field to celebrate with the team.

“This was a huge win,” Rogers said. “If we didn’t win this one, we weren’t going to the playoffs.”

Michael Phillips is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Lee-Davis…......................8 7 8 15 — 38
Hanover…....................... 0 7 20 13 — 40
L-D – Scott 1 run (Connerly pass from
Morris)
H – Cheatham 45 pass from Rogers
(Palmen kick)
L-D – Becker 82 pass from Gardner (Castelvecchi
kick)
H – Morris 36 run (conversion failed)
L-D – Connerley 33 pass from Gardner
(Angus run)
H – Rogers 1 run (Palmen kick)
H – Cheatham 12 run (Palmen kick)
L-D – Becker 76 pass from Gardner (Morris
run)
H – Cheatham 85 run (Palmen kick)
H – Cheatham 10 run (kick failed)
L-D – Angus 22 pass from Gardner (Castelvecchi
kick)
RUSHING
Lee-Davis — Walton 11-45, Wyatt 4-25,
Scott 4-20, Gardner 4-3. Hanover — Cheatham
15-157, Rogers 14-64, Morris 1-36, Lee
4-7, Crocker 1-0.
PASSING
Lee-Davis — Gardner 17-27-359. Hanover
—Rogers 6-9-90.
RECEIVING
Lee-Davis — Becker 8-219, Angus 4-76,
Connerley 2-52, Stone 1-3, Scott 1-5, Reynolds
1-9. Hanover — Weatherspoon 4-40,
Cheatham 1-45, Facison 1-5.