All of the local high school football teams played well last Friday night. I was very impressed with the Southampton Academy running attack, which I had heard good things about.

The Raiders ran the ball 59 times for 487 yards.

That equals over 8 yards per carry.

SA had 16 carries for more than 10 yards.

John Hinkle led the SA rushing attack with 162 yards on 13 carries. Hinkle is not a speedster, but at 5 feet 11 inches tall and 225 pounds he is tough to bring down.

One particular run in the first quarter, Hinkle took a handoff up the middle and plowed into the line for what looked like a short gain.

Somehow, Hinkle emerged on the other side and began running into the open field. A Hampton Roads Academy defender caught up with him, but Hinkle stiff armed the man and went 61 yards for the touchdown.

Dale Chapman, Isle of Wight Academy head coach, has said that the Virginia Commonwealth Conference is greatly improved this year.

“That’s what we looked at this season, everyone was better than last year. A lot of teams from last year had underclassmen,” Chapman said.

“Southampton Academy is very well improved and they have good size. Kenston Forest is much improved. All those things equal out to almost every game we play this year is tough. We have not had a cupcake game all year. We knew that coming in.”

Despite leading at halftime 20-14, Chowan University allowed 21 third-quarter points and Virginia Union downed the Hawks 45-27 in a CIAA football contest Saturday.

Chowan dropped to 0-5. The Hawks had just 13 yards rushing and accumulated 10 penalties for 112 yards.

Southampton graduate Eric Benton caught three passes for 21 yards for Chowan.

The Chowan University men’s soccer team broke a 35-game losing streak with a 5-0 win over Lincoln University at the “Just for Kicks Classic” soccer tournament in Murfreesboro Saturday. Five different Hawks scored goals in the win.

Drey Chrysostomou, a dynamo soccer player from Southampton Academy, has been playing for the Virginia Rush U-15/16 team in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy League.

He has played in all five of the team’s games. The team, 1-4, is based out of Virginia Beach and plays in the South Conference Atlantic Division against teams from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

How about those Redskins?