Phoebus, Lafayette roll to region finals
Phoebus flattened rival Hampton for the second time this season, scoring on all of its possessions in a 56-8 rout Saturday at Darling Stadium to advance to the Class 4 Region A championship game.
The top-seeded Phantoms will play secondseeded Warhill at Darling Stadium for the region title in a clash of unbeatens.
Quarterbacks Adonis Stowers and Maurikus Banks, a freshman, combined to lead Phoebus’ offense to seven touchdowns.
Paul Stephen Davis, Stowers, Davion Roberts and Banks ran for TDs, and Keyontae Gray caught a pair of touchdown throws from Banks.
The Crabbers were driving on the game’s first possession before Calvin Chester fumbled. Phoebus’ Noah Jefferson picked up the ball and ran 65 yards for a touchdown, and Farriss Knight followed with the first of his eight PATs without a miss.
Hampton then achieved a rare touchdown drive against the Phoebus defense. Jamarrie Lumpkins scored from 46 yards, and a two-point conversion pass gave the Crabbers a brief 8-7 lead with 5 minutes, 55 seconds left in the first quarter — no doubt to the delight of legendary former coach Mike Smith, who was on the Hampton sidelines and walking with a cane.
One of the star running backs early in his tenure, Woodrow Wilson, completed his second year as the head coach.
But Hampton, which amassed 103 yards of offense in the first quarter, only had 9 after that. Lumpkins accounted for 90 of the 112 total.
Phoebus picked up 17 first downs and accumulated 328 yards rushing, and 151 passing.
Lafayette dusts Lake Taylor: Lafayette’s Rams (10-2) breezed past Lake Taylor 41-7 at Wanner Stadium in a Class 3 Region A semifinal. The Titans finished 6-6.
Nazeer Wolmart scored two touchdowns and Clark Canova kicked two field goals for Lafayette.
Elijah Washington’s 43-yard reception from Jamir “Sporty” Freeman produced Lake Taylor’s touchdown, a second-quarter play that reduced Lafayette’s
halftime lead to 10-7.
But the Rams owned the second half, starting with Breon Stokes’ 22-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Elijah Matthews’ 23-yard catch from Hayden Oleksy and Brayden Smalls’ 66-yard run provided more scores.
“We played incredibly good defense and took our shots offensively, made some plays and got on a roll,” Lafayette coach Andy Linn said.
The Rams return to Wanner Stadium for Saturday’s 1 p.m. region championship game against Heritage, with a state semifinal berth on the line.
“Heritage has won six games in a row, so they are obviously a good team,” Linn said. “The quarterback (Derrick Gurley Jr.) and wide receiver (Sterling Anderson) are very good.”