Maury goes to 10-0 with another shutout
Granby’s Senior Night at Powhatan Field on Friday immediately became a Maury celebration.
Scoring on three of their first four offensive plays, the top-ranked Commodores (10-0) finished a perfect regular season with a 62-0 rout of the rival Comets (7-3).
If nothing else, Granby can say it held the victory margin to about nine points fewer than Maury’s Eastern District norm this season. Commodores coach Dyrri McCain, whose team stacked notable non-league victories against squads from outside the region before district play, deflected talk about the regular season.
“It doesn’t matter about the 80 points a game that people want to keep talking about,” he said. “It doesn’t matter about beating Wise, beating Highland Springs, beating Dinwiddie. None of that matters anymore. I think we are starting to get healthy and play our best ball when we need to. The guys know what is at stake. We know the next phase, next week, is when it counts, and that’s what we really want.”
Au’Tori Newkirk began Maury’s first possession by throwing a short pass that LeBron Bond turned into a 75-yard touchdown. After an interception, Damari Palmer ran 15 yards for a score.
Maury soon got the ball back and needed just two plays to score on Newkirk’s 58-yard pass to Elijah Moss. After Andrew McClung’s third PAT, it was 21-0 with 6:34 left in the first quarter.
The rout continued with two TD runs by Newkirk, plus his 30-yard touchdown pass to Josh Powell and a 3-yard TD run by Leon Clark. John Morris substituted for McClung on kicks after the latter walked off the field with an apparent injury.
Perhaps the night’s most eye-popping statistic: Disruptive Maury defender Mar’Quaveon Morris caused two fumbles that were returned for touchdowns — his 15-yarder and Leslie Hines’ 10-yarder.
Newkirk threw for 231 yards, including 144 in the first quarter, despite being intercepted twice by Granby’s Eamon Cuffee. Even including Cuffee’s 40-yard catch in the first quarter, the Comets finished with 38 total yards — 57 passing and minus-19 rushing on 28 carries.
Maury likely will be the top seed in Class 5 Region B, the bracket in which Granby will be in the middle of the pack.
— Reported by Charlie Baumgardner
Indian River in control
Kekoa Benavente ran for two touchdowns, and No. 10 Indian River leaned on its defense and ball control to complete the regular season with a 22-7 victory at Grassfield.
The loss likely ended the playoff hopes of the Grizzlies (3-7), who began the weekend one spot below the cut in Class 6 Region A. Indian River (7-3) likely will have a first-round home game in Class 5 Region A.
The Braves went ahead with a 15-play, 98-yard drive. Grassfield forced a fourth-and-11, but Tyler Allison connected with Anthony Morris on a post route for a 27-yard touchdown. Kamil Mason’s run for two points gave the Braves an 8-0 lead.
After Gordon Hyson ended the Grizzlies’ next possession with an interception, Indian River capped a five-play drive on Benavente’s 2-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 advantage.
Grassfield’s touchdown, a 1-yard run by Landen Curles, cut the deficit to 14-7 with three minutes left in the third quarter. But the Braves regained command, clinching the victory as Benavente carried 11 times on a 16-play, 91-yard drive; he finished with a 3-yard TD run with 1:10 left.
Allison was 14 for 23 for 129 yards, Benavente had 83 yards on 16 rushes and teammate Malachi Hinton had 42 yards on 10 carries.
#757Teamz MVP
Maury’s defense finished the season with a bang. The Commodores limited Granby to minus-19 yards rushing and 38 total yards. In addition, Maury earned its fifth straight shutout and has only allowed 27 points in Eastern District play this season.
Storylines
King’s Fork makes history: The No. 4 Bulldogs completed their first undefeated regular season in school history, but it wasn’t easy in a 41-35 victory over Hickory.
The Bulldogs (10-0) raced to a 28-7 lead at halftime and led 41-14 with 16.3 seconds left in the third quarter.
Hickory’s Owen Kelly took over, throwing two touchdown passes and scrambling for another to pull the Hawks within 41-35 with 2:52 left.
Hickory had a final shot when King’s Fork quarterback D’Andre Artis-Boone threw a screen pass to Keontae Bumpers. A Hawks defender just missed intercepting the ball with an open field in front of him. Bumpers made the catch for 18 yards.
Warhill makes history of its own: Liam Francisque threw for more than 180 yards, surpassing 2,000 for the season, as the No. 6 Lions routed Jamestown 84-0 to finish the regular season 10-0 and win the Bay Rivers District title outright for the first time.
The Lions lost star running back Jaedyn McAdoo for the playoffs as he broke his collarbone early in the first quarter. Warhill goes into the Class 4 Region A playoffs as the No. 2 seed.
Phoebus makes it seven straight: The No. 2 Phantoms clinched the outright Peninsula District title with a 77-0 victory over Denbigh.
It was Phoebus’ seventh consecutive district title and assures the Phantoms of the top seed in the Class 4 Region A playoffs.
Keyonte Gray returned a fumble for a touchdown, the second time he’s done that this season.
Extra points
Daniel Mitchell passed for 200 yards and three touchdowns during Churchland’s 51-20 victory over Manor. Aveyon Jordan had five receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns, and Terrence Lamb had two interceptions for the Truckers.
Parker Coddington threw three touchdown passes by halftime and Luke Shinofield had three touchdowns by halftime as No. 15 Norfolk Academy defeated Norfolk Christian 42-22, winning the TCIS championship and closing the regular season at 8-2. The Bulldogs hope for a bid to the four-team VISAA Division I playoffs.
Atlantic Shores dominated Portsmouth Christian 48-6, leading 41-0 at halftime. Micah Lance was 20 of 31 for 332 yards and five touchdowns in the first half. Chris Higgins had three TD receptions and Joshua Sibley added two. Jack Weaver rushed for 2- and 5-yard touchdowns.
New Kent finished its season with a 10-0 win at Bruton in a Bay Rivers District game. The Trojans (2-8) took a first-quarter lead on a field goal, then stretched it to 10 points in the second quarter on Bubby Christian’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Reedy. Despite the loss, Bruton (5-5) moves on to the Class 2 Region A playoffs.
Grafton won the Charlie Hovis Trophy for the first time since 2016, completing a three-game sweep of York County opponents with a 45-0 win over York. Luke Bryant passed for 220 yards and three touchdowns for the Clippers (6-4).
Norcom scored two touchdowns in the second half and defeated Booker T. Washington 12-2.
Hunter Barnes led a big first quarter as Deep Creek defeated Lakeland 44-0. With the Hornets leading 7-0, Barnes scored three straight touchdowns, giving the Hornets a 24-0 lead.