Saint James broke open a close
game with several key interceptions and a blocked punt and the
Trojan defense again bent some, but rarely broke, as the home
team defeated the visiting Beulah Bobcats 42 - 14.
Beulah won the opening game toss but deferred the first
possession to Saint James. A fine kickoff return by Alex
Whisenhunt was negated by a quick three and out. Wilson
Carter connected on his longest career punt, a 57 yarder, which
only netted 37 because of a non-fortuitous bounce into the
endzone. Beulah returned the favor with their own three
and out, and Saint James began its second possession at their
own 38. Consecutive runs by Whisenhunt and Brock Woodham
moved the ball into Beulah territory at the 42. However,
three consecutive incomplete passes led to fourth down.
Punter Wilson Carter took his time and found a well-covered
Andrew Sadie on the end of a well-thrown pass for a 20 yard gain
and a converted fourth down. A roughing the punter passer
penalty added another 11 yards to the end of the play and
continued the drive. Austin Gavin was called on - for a 10
yard run followed by a 1 yard dive for the first score of the
game. Jan Wachowitz converted the first of his six extra
points and Saint James had a 7 - 0 lead midway through the first
quarter.
Beulah connected on a 22 yard pass to start their next drive
(pardon the occasional lack of names, but the light colored
numbers on white jerseys made it extremely difficult to
determine players from press box level), but the Bobcats could
not convert another first down. After a punt, the Trojans
were again forced into a three and out in a game which was
notably defensive oriented early. Beulah started at their
own 35 near the end of the first quarter and finally sustained a
drive of 12 plays, overcoming a holding penalty with a pass down
to the Trojan 13. Four plays later, on fourth down from
the 9, Bobcat workhorse Dashawn Jones caught a pass in the
middle of the endzone from Kaleb Abney for a touchdown.
The extra point was converted, and the score was tied at 7 early
in the second quarter.
After a squib kickoff was fielded at the 25 yard line, Saint
James quickly responded with a 75 yard drive of their own.
A 20 yard run by Gavin and an 11 yard run by Cosner Harrison
moved the ball into Bobcat territory. A block in the back
penalty slowed the drive, but Drew Fett connected with Bennett
Blankenship on a 17 yard pass down to the Beulah 10, and on the
next play Gavin powered in for a 10 yard run - his second
touchdown of the game - and the extra point gave Saint James a 7
point lead once more at 14 - 7 with 4 minutes remaining until
halftime. It would not be their last score of the half.
A well-covered kickoff pinned the Bobcats back at their 15 yard
line. They did convert one first down, but a chop block
penalty was followed by an interception by Jonathan
Harris. He returned the ball to the Beulah 35, but a block
in the back cut 10 yards off of the return. No
problem. Fett completed a pass to Whisenhunt on first
down, and a penalty before the next play pushed the ball to the
Beulah 29. After an incomplete pass, Fett tossed a
beautiful pass on a post route to Gavin who caught the ball in
the back center of the endzone for a touchdown. The extra
point gave the Trojans a 21 - 7 lead with only 80 seconds
remaining in the half. Again, it would not be their last
score of the half.
Saint James used its timeouts after a personal foul penalty cost
the Bobcats valuable yardage. On fourth down, the punt
block team was called upon and five Trojans teamed up to block
the kick. The kick was recovered by Whisenhunt at the 12
yard line and he carried into the endzone for the third
touchdown in less than four minutes game time. Wachowitz's
kick gave the Trojans a much more comfortable lead at 28 - 7
going into halftime.
Beulah was held to a three and out despite their best kickoff
return of the evening, and the Trojans scored yet another
touchdown six plays later. Four consecutive Gavin runs
moved the ball to the Bobcat 39. Whisenhunt caught a pass
for 11 yards on the next play, and then Brock Woodham received a
handoff up the middle and was virtually untouched as he scooted
28 yards into the endzone. The extra point boosted the
Saint James lead to 35 - 7.
Beulah made headway on their following drive, as far as the
Trojan 16, but Turner Davis intercepted a pass and returned it
to the 21. Saint James grinded out a drive of 13 plays
which took nearly 6 minutes off the third and early fourth
quarter clocks. Gavin was rewarded with his fourth
touchdown of the night, which tied a career high set earlier in
the year against Straughn. Wachowitz's sixth consecutive
extra point gave the Trojans their 42nd point and many of the
starters got the final 9 plus minutes on the bench. The
Bobcats did respond quickly with a touchdown two plays into
their next drive, as Quay Moreland (we think) took a handoff up
the middle into the secondary and raced away from pursuers for a
68 yard touchdown. The extra point resulted in the final
score of the evening, 42 - 14. The teams merely traded
possessions twice to exhaust the clock, and the Trojans had
rebounded from a previous week's setback as they looked forward
to Homecoming 2019 the following week.
SIDELINE STATISTICS - GAME SEVEN
SAINT
JAMES RUSHING 41
attempts 265 yards
4 TDs (6.46
yards per carry)
3
Gavin
22 / 148 (3 TDs) 44
Woodham
7 / 62 (1 TD) 4
Whisenhunt
4 / 20
8 Fett
1 / 14
23 Craft
2 / 11
5 Harrison
4 / 10
27 Sadie
1 / 0
PASSING
5 completions 11 attempts 88 yards 0
INTs 1 TD
8
Fett
4 - 10 - 0 68 yards (1 TD)
18
Carter
1 - 1 - 0 20 yards
RECEIVING
3
Gavin
1 / 29
(TD)
4
Whisenhunt 2 /
22
27
Sadie
1 / 20
21
Blankenship
1 / 17
TOTAL
YARDS: 353
KICKS: XP 6 / 6
FG 0 / 0
2
POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS: 7
(56,54,45,51,53,53,50)
PUNTS: 2 (57,49)
KO RETURNS: 3 (30,0,24)
PUNT RETURNS: 3
(2,12TD,0fc)
FIRST
DOWNS: 19 (14 rushing, 5 passing)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS: 4 / 9
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS: 1 / 2
FUMBLES: 2, lost
0
TURNOVER
MARGIN: + 2
INTERCEPTION RETURNS: 2 (7,6)
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 14
ACCEPTED PENALTIES: 6 / 45 yards
TIME
OF POSSESSION: 23:16
BEULAH
RUSHING 33
attempts 213 yards 1 TD (6.45 yards per
carry)
PASSING
9 completions 17 attempts 2 INTs 108
yards 1 TD
TOTAL
YARDS: 321
KICKS: XP 2 / 2
FG 0 / 0
2 POINT
CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS:
3 (46,35,44)
PUNTS: 5 (40,35,bk-16,36,22)
KO
RETURNS: 7 (14,9,9,12,29,8,14)
PUNT RETURNS: 1 (0fc)
FIRST
DOWNS: 13 (6 rushing, 7 passing)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS: 3 / 8
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS: 1 / 1
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 0
FUMBLES:
1, lost 0
ACCEPTED
PENALTIES: 7 / 66 yards
TIME OF
POSSESSION: 24:44
SAINT JAMES 42, Beulah 14 