By Craig Brown
It always feels good when you defeat one of your closest rivals and Friday night at Warrior Field the Warriors did just that by defeating the Williamsburg Academy Stallions 28-0. The two teams have had some heated battles over the years with some offensive battles producing over 100 points and some close defensive battles with few touchdowns scored.
Possibly the real dislike these two teams have for each other began several years back when the Warriors were in a rebuilding stage and the Stallions were fielding a team that would go on to win the state championship that year. The Stallions were beating up on the Warriors and were leading by six touchdowns but refused to take out their starting lineup and with less than a minute left in the game were still throwing passes and trying to run up the score to further humiliate the Warriors.
Since that game the Warriors have had a 3-1 win advantage over the Stallions.
The two coaches who started this heated rivalry have long departed and the game although intense is more civilized now.
The Warriors got on the scoreboard with 5:57 left in the first quarter with Diaz Alexander crossing the goal line from 21 yards out. Gage Bazemore added the point after kick to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead.
On the Warriors’ next possession Demontez Alford broke several tackles on his way to a 57-yard touchdown run. Bazemore’s point after kick increased the Warrior lead to 14-0 with 24 seconds left in the first quarter with the quarter ending with this score.
In the second quarter Alford would again cross the goal line, this time from 11 yards out. Bazemore’s kick wasgood, upping the Warrior lead to 21-0 with 7:11 left in the second quarter. The first half would end with this score.
The third quarter was a defensive battle with neither team finding the end zone.
Midway in the fourth quarter the Warriors put together a long drive that ended with Alexander crossing the goal from one yard out. Bazemore made it four for four with his extra point kick to give the Warriors the 28-0 lead with 6:56 left in the game.
The Stallion coaches ask the clock be run without stoppage for the remainder of play as the game was lost and they had some injured players.
Defensive Coach, Phillip Price stated that he was pleased with the shutout and commented that the game plan was the same as it has been all season but sometimes the players attitude as was in this game is better.
Head Coach Christian Wolfe stated that he was pleased with the teams overall play and added that we will need to give it our best efforts next week as we face our number one rival Pee Dee Academy.
On offense for the Warriors, Diaz Alexander had 98 yards rushing on 14 carries with two touchdowns and was 5 of 11 passing for 87 yards, Demontez Alford had 175 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns, Garrett Collins caught a pass for 31 yards and added nine yards rushing, John Rourke caught two passes for 27 yards, Jackson Wolfe caught a pass for 25 yards and Daniel Camp added nine yards rushing.
Gage Bazemore was four for four in point after kicks.
On defense Azeon Brown had 11 tackles, six assists; John Rourke had seven tackles, eight assists; Garrett Collins had seven tackles, two assists; Hamilton Hodges had five tackles, four assists; Jared Ivey had three tackles, four assists; Caleb Boykin had three tackles, three assists; Ian Patterson and Evan Paul had three tackles, two assists each; Samuel Coleman had two tackles, three assists; Corbin Wethington and Gage Hunt had two tackles with one assist each; Jackson Wolfe, Mason Bailey, and Barnes Causey added a tackle each; Ereck Eck had seven tackle assists, and Demontez Alford added a tackle assists.
The Warriors will travel to Mullins Friday night for a 7:30 game with their arch rival Pee Dee Academy.
