Chargers#8217; Chapman sees a downside to a big lead

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Although Isle of Wight Academy came off with an easy 41-3 win over Brunswick Academy Friday, IWA head coach Dale Chapman was uneasy about having to play his second team half the game (because of the

tough upcoming schedule against Fuqua and Broadwater) and at the same time uneasy that he had to play his starters.

“We didn’t want to crush everybody’s (Brunswick’s) spirit, but it was looking that way,” he said about lifting his starters in the second and fourth quarters when the score was 35-0 at the half. “I am happy with the effort from my two’s. All in all, I think that’s the best we can do going onto the toughest part of our schedule.”

Chapman winced when starting quarterback Rusty Brake came out of a pile with a slight limp.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, Rusty is one of the focal points of our offense,” he said. “I was just holding my breath the whole game to make sure none of my starters had something happen to them.”

Chapman lost his second string quarterback, Daniel Brown, to a broken ankle in the Kenston Forest game two weeks ago.

Chapman said he was happy with the play of third string QB Zack Lamb.

“He came in and did a god job. He threw a pass and had a completion. He ran the offense pretty well. We were pretty vanilla with him, but it was the first time he ever took snaps,” he said.

The end of the IWA-BA game was kind of unusual. Brunswick moved the ball down to the IWA eight against the Chargers second-string defense with under a minute to play on the running clock.

Chapman quickly put the first-stringers back in to stop the scoring attempt. They stayed in for one play and the second string went back in. Eventually, BA called time out with seven seconds left and kicked a field goal, despite being down 41-0.

Brunswick Academy head coach Dennis Moore was not at the game due to illness.

– Tabb beat Smithfield 42-36 Friday night, dropping the Packers to 2-2 on the season.

– Tidewater Academy remained winless after a 42-7 loss to Fuqua School on Friday.

– Nansemond-Suffolk Academy has shown steady improvement since a week one loss to Windsor. Saints head coach Monroe Wells said after Friday night’s win over Bishop Sullivan Catholic that the Saints offensive line “has just pounded people the last two weeks.”

Franklin native Dana Hunting had a 52-yard run in NSA’s victory. “I had good blocks that opened up holes for me, and I just went through them,” Hunting said.

JEFFREY J. Zeigler is a contributing writer to The Tidewater News. His sports column appears weekly. His e-mail address is jzeiglerhotmail.com.