IWA-Broadwater was a dandy
Published 11:10 pm Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Isle of Wight Academy-Broadwater Academy game last Friday night was one of the best high school games I’ve seen in a while.
In the Sunday edition of The Tidewater News, IWA head coach Dale Chapman said he thought the game might have been over in the fourth quarter when the Chargers trailed 22-10. At that point Chapman walked down the sideline by himself and never got riled up. Perhaps his calm demeanor was an inspiration for his team to pull it out. The players did not panic, even with time running out.
The play that Heath Price made to give IWA a first down late in the game was just incredible. I have seen that in pro football and college football, but never in a high school game. Price took a pass from Daniel Brown, got a small head of steam, hurdled a defender attempting a tackle, and stayed on his feet to gain 17 yards. If Price was stopped before gaining the first down, we might be talking about Broadwater’s victory.
■ Isle of Wight Academy will likely remain No. 1 in the Virginia Independent Schools Division III football poll after beating Broadwater. Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot, which was ranked No. 2 in the poll last week, also won, but it beat a struggling Brunswick Academy team, which will not earn the Knights as many points.
Speaking of IWA-BSH, the two teams will meet on Oct. 17 in Powhatan. This game will probably determine who gets the top seed in the Division III playoffs. Blessed Sacrament is 7-0 and has thrown three shutouts. The Knights have given up just 65 points in seven games.
■ Colonial Beach, with its win over Franklin last Friday, is now the top seed in the Group A Region A Division 1 standings. Franklin drops to second. West Point and Northumberland round out the third and fourth place spots, respectively. In the Group A Region A Division 2 standings, Washington & Lee is the top seed followed by Essex, Windsor, and Lancaster and King William in a third-place tie.
■ Chowan University’s football program continues to struggle in its first season in the CIAA. The Hawks lost to Fayetteville State 60-21 on Saturday, and again the defense gave up 424 yards of offense. Chowan will host Livingstone College at 6 p.m. Saturday on homecoming weekend. It is the last home game of the season for the Hawks (1-5). Livingstone (3-3) beat Johnson C. Smith University 32-26 last Saturday.
■ OK, so the Detroit Lions are horrible. At least my Giants are undefeated.
■ Speaking of horrible, how about the Chicago Cubs? It happened again. Best record in the National League; quick exit from the playoffs. It’s amazing to me that the Cubs are the overwhelming fan favorites over the White Sox in Chicago. If you go all the way back to 1950, the White Sox have easily been the better franchise on the field. Yet, the Cubs are Chicago’s team. Guess you gotta be from Chicago.