LORTON — The Hanover student section huddled together against the cold air, silently watching the South County Stallions line up in victory formation and take a knee. The seconds ticked off the clock, and then it was over.

South County jumped out to a big lead, then withstood the Hawks’ comeback attempt to defeat Hanover 38-22 Saturday night in the Division 5 state semifinals.

The Stallions will face Phoebus on Saturday in Charlottesville for the state championship.

After losing their first three games, the Stallions have won 11 in a row. Saturday night’s 16-point margin was the closest any team has come to knocking off South County in four playoff games.

By the end of the first half, Hanover trailed 24-0. The Stallions had dominated both sides of the ball, out-gaining the Hawks 178-64.

In the second half, Hanover finally got its offense in gear as L.J. Jones (53 rushing yards) scored three touchdowns.

“We knew our back was against the wall, and we had nothing to lose,” Hanover senior Xavier Crocker said. “We just threw as many punches as we could.”

But the Hawks never found a way to stop the Stallions’ resilient offense. Even if they were stopped on first down, and again on second down, they found a way to keep their feet moving. South County converted a stunning 10 of 16 third-down attempts.

In the second quarter, with a 14-0 lead, the Stallions opened up the playbook. On third and 13, Shane Foley completed a double reverse pass to Michael Ferguson for 22 yards. Three plays later, on third and 12, Jake Josephs took the handoff and threw it 11 yards to Ferguson for South County’s third touchdown of the night.

Ferguson finished with five catches for 87 yards and three scores. Foley completed 12 of 16 passes for 192 yards.

Foley injured his right knee late in the game, but Stallions coach Gerry Pannoni said he thinks Foley will be fine for the championship game.

And while South County accumulated 359 yards of total offense, Hanover made plenty of mistakes to help the Stallions along.

“That’s not typical for us,” Hanover coach Josh Just said. “We’re a pretty disciplined team. But they made us pay for our mistakes.”

Not only did Hanover fumble the ball three times, losing all three, but the Hawks were set back 100 yards by penalties.
Sam Rogers, who dislocated his right elbow seven weeks ago, finished with five catches for 107 yards. He missed two weeks then moved from quarterback to receiver upon his return. His backup, Andrew Knizner, completed 11 of 20 passes for 200 yards.

“We had a great year,” Crocker said. “Andrew Knizner did a great job. I’m so proud of him. We came together as a family.”

Eric Kolenich is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Hanover 0 0 14 8— 22
South County 7 17 7 7 — 38

SC — Ferguson 27 pass from Foley (Ferguson kick)
SC — Rector 22 run (Ferguson kick)
SC — Ferguson 11 pass from Josephs (Ferguson kick)
SC — FG Ferguson 28
H — Jones 10 run (Palmen kick)
SC — Ferguson 8 pass from Foley (Ferguson kick)
H — Jones 6 run (Palmen kick)
SC — Josephs 21 pass from Foley (Ferguson kick)
H — Jones 5 run (Jones run)

RUSHING
H — Jones 12-53, Rogers 1-0, Knizner 4-34. SC — Foley 9-29, Rector 12-31, Basnight 15-75, Hunt 3-(minus-4), Thomas 5-13, Hunter 9-28, Taylor 2-(minus-8), Symmes 2-(minus-4).

PASSING
H — Knizner 11-20-0 200. SC — Foley 12-16-0 192.

RECEIVING
H — Rogers 5-107, Peebles 4-49, Crocker 2-44. SC — Banight 3-44, Ferguson 5-87, Josephs 4-67, Williams 1-5.