2023 -
GAME 2
@ Handley 55, Saint James 27
STJ
0 7
13 7
27
HAN 7
14 27
7
55
September 1, 2023 Wright Field, Roanoke. Game
Condtions: Overcast, occasional drizzle, cool,
breezy Game Temperature: 74
Wind: E 5 - 15
Handley rushed for over 340 yards and a key 96 yard touchdown
interception return denied a potential Trojan tying score as
the Tigers defeated Saint James 55 - 27.
SCORING
SUMMARY
HAN (1) 6:42 Goss 1
run
(Bozeman kick)
0 - 7
HAN (2) 8:57 Kyles 3
run
(Bozeman kick) 0 - 14
STJ (2) 6:44
Holloway 20 pass from
Jackson
(Huff kick) 7 - 14
HAN (2) 2:26 Lee 96
interception
return
(Bozeman kick) 7 - 21
HAN (3) 9:16 Goss 3
run
(Bozeman kick) 7 - 28
HAN (3) 4:31 Goss 55
run
(Bozeman kick) 7 - 35
STJ (3) 3:49 T.
Offord 36 pass from
Jackson
(kick failed)
13 - 35
HAN (3) 2:16 Askew 1
run
(Bozeman kick) 13 - 42
STJ (3) 0:04 T.
Offord 28 pass from
Jackson
(Huff kick) 20 - 42
HAN (3) 0:00 Goss 49
run
(kick failed) 20 - 48
STJ (4) 9:37
Holloway 10 pass from
Jackson
(Huff kick) 27 - 48
HAN (4) 5:39 Daniel 16
run
(Bozeman kick) 27 - 55
On a night where just a week ago temperatures had
hovered above 100 degrees, this night was a complete
turnaround. Rain throughout the day led to overcast
skies and short showers before and during the game and a
nice east breeze was occasionally brisk across Wright
Field. Saint James won the opening coin toss and
took the first possession. Three rushing plays netted
eight yards (unfortunately that would be more than half of
the evening's total), and on fourth down from their own 38
the Trojans decided to gamble. Cole Anderson was
stopped at the line of scrimmage and the Tigers gained
instant field position. Handley overcame a block in
the back penalty on a long carry, but workhorse Elijah Goss
had several double digit carries in the drive and he was
rewarded with a carry for the final yard and a touchdown to
start the game. Landon Bozeman kicked the extra point,
and Handley was up 7 - 0 midway through the first quarter.
Saint James was boosted by a fine Clint Houser kickoff
return and a 19 yard pass reception from K.J. Jackson, but
Jackson was sacked on another fourth down attempt from the
Handley 34. Afterwards, the teams traded "3 and outs"
and it appeared this game might turn into a defensive
struggle as the first quarter ended with a 7 - 0
score. "Not so fast!" The Tigers rotated primary
rushers on almost every drive, and now it was Cordarius
Lee's turn to lead the way on the first drive of the second
quarter. An 11 yard run advanced the ball to the
Trojan 19, and two plays later Nehemiah Askew caught a 19
pass giving Handley first down at the Trojan 2. It
took three plays, but quarterback Cannon Kyles barrelled in
from the 3 to give the Tigers their second score and a 14 -
0 lead.
Houser returned the ensuing kickoff to the Trojan 47, and
then made a beautiful catch on third down for a 31 yard
catch and run to the Handley 20. On the next play,
Jackson sought and found Ziggy Holloway, who wrestled the
ball away from a defender just inside the endzone for a 20
yard touchdown reception and Jake Huff's kick finally gave
the Saint James fans something to cheer about as the lead
was cut to 14 - 7.
Handley stalled on the next drive thanks in part to a pair
of holding penalties. On a deep pass attempt by Kyles,
Holloway intercepted for the Trojans, but the play was
negated by offsetting penalties - including a dubious
roughing the passer call. However, like Saint James on
the opening drive, the Tigers attempted to convert a fourth
down in their own territory and Goss was stuffed for a rare
loss at the 34 yard line. On the first play, Holloway
made an even more impressive catch on a 30 yard pass across
the field to the far sidelines and the Trojans were at the
Handley 4 yard line with a great chance to tie the
game. Jackson carried for a yard on first down.
On second down, a "wheel" route was intended for Wils
Johnson. At the start of the play he was open, but the
snap was mishandled and went into the air. Jackson
recovered the ball but with rushers pressing he tried to get
the ball to Johnson. The ball was underthrown, and Lee
intercepted the pass at the 4 yard line and he and several
teammates zoomed down the far sidelines for a 96 yard
interception return for a touchdown, the longest ever
against Saint James, in an absolute back-breaker which was
undoubtedly the turning point in the game. Bozeman's
kick turned what looked to be a 14 - 14 tie into a 21 - 7
Handley lead which held up at halftime.
In a frenetic third quarter, six touchdowns were
scored. Unfortunately, four of them were for the
opponents. On the opening drive of the second half,
Goss and Lee each rushed, but it was a 45 yard pass from
Kyles to Askew which racked up most of the yardage.
From the five yard line, Goss rushed for 2 and then 3 yards
and Handley was suddenly up 28 - 7. On the first
Trojan drive of the second half, Cole Anderson, who was
pretty much shut down in the running game as was the entire
team, hauled in an 18 yard pass to take the ball into
Handley territory at the 40. An intentional grounding
penalty on the next play stalled the drive andled to a punt
- nicely boomed by Braxton Berrey inside the Tiger 10.
Handley punted from their own 12, but the Trojans turned the
ball over on downs again from the Handley 45. On first
down, Goss found a gaping hole up the middle and vaulted 55
yards for what would be the first of 5 touchdowns in 4½
minutes of game time. The Bozeman extra point gave
Handley what seemed to be a very comfortable lead of 35 - 7.
From then on, the running game which was ineffective was
basically shelved. Saint James scored on a 3 play 76
yard drive. Holloway hauled in a 40 yard pass
reception, the longest such by any Trojan in the game, and
on the next play Tabor Offord was wide open down the middle
of the field for a 36 yard touchdown pass and the Trojan
fans again had something to cheer about. The extra
point was missed, so the score was now 35 - 13.
A failed onside kick attempt gave Handley great field
position at their own 48. Askew ran for 14 yards on
first down and 15 yards was tacked on for a late hit out of
bounds. Askew ran for 16 on the next play, and from
the Trojan 7 three more consecutive runs by Askew, the final
one from just outside the goal line, gave the four touchdown
lead back to Handley with still 2 minutes remaining in the
third quarter at 42 - 13.
Holloway was the recipient of the next kickoff and returned
it to the Trojan 33. Jackson completed several short
passes, and a defensive pass interference penalty (saving a
touchdown) put the ball on the Handley 28. On the next
play, Jackson duplicated the call which earlier was the 30
yard pass to Holloway before what would have been the tying
touchdown. This time, Offord leaped into the air and
make a miraculous catch with a defender draped upon him for
a 28 yard touchdown with 3.9 seconds remaining in the third
quarter. The extra point cut the lead to 42 - 20 and
there was still hope in the Trojan camp. With only
four seconds left in the quarter, you would think scoring
would have been complete. Nope. Another onside
kick attempt failed, going out of bounds, and Handley had
first down at the Trojan 49. An incomplete pass cut
the clock to 1.1 seconds, and a handoff to Goss perhaps
intended to run out the quarter turned into a 49 yard break
some tackles and outrun the defenders to the endzone.
The extra point failed, the only such of the night for the
Tigers, but a wild and long-timewise third period finally
ended with Handley holding a 48 - 21 lead. So much for
a defensive struggle.
The Trojans followed up with an 8 play 69 yard drive for
their final score. After a pass interference penalty
to start the drive, Holloway and Evan Richardson each caught
13 yard passes. Houser caught a pass to the near
sidelines and was just tackled at the 5 yard line. A
penalty backed up the ball to the 10. On second down,
Jackson lifted a pass toward Houser in the corner of the
endzone. The pass fell incomplete, but more
significantly Houser fell awkwardly upon a defender and was
down in the endzone with an apparent serious injury.
An air cast was applied to the leg and after about an 8
minute delay, Houser, who had played a whale of a game on
both sides of the field, was carted off. This seemed
to take the air out of both sides of the field.
Jackson would toss a 10 yard touchdown pass to Holloway on
the next play and the score was 48 - 27.
Another onside kick attempt went out of bounds, but on first
down Lee fumbled and the ball was recovered by Paxton
Wingard - the first turnover recovery of the season for
Saint James. Unfortunately, Handley turned up the
pressure and forced three consecutive sacks of
Jackson. On fourth down, a punt snap was bobbled and
the Tigers earned great field position at the 32 yard
line. Lee ran for 14 yards on first down, and then the
relatively fresh legs of JaMarcus Daniel were called
upon. A 2 yard and a 16 yard run had the Tigers in the
endzone for an eighth and final time and the extra point led
to what would be the final score of 55 - 27. Both
teams substituted freely for the remaining drives of the
game which rapidly expired the time clock, and Saint James
would make the long two hour trip home to rest up, hopefully
heal, and begin practice for the first region game of the
season - a visit to Prattville Christian, a week away.
PRESS BOX STATISTICS - GAME TWO
SAINT
JAMES
RUSHING
24
attempts
14 yards
0
TDs
(< 1 yard
per carry)
21
Anderson
8 /
17
1
Jackson
12 /
6
30
Zukowski
1 / 3
15
Perry
1 /
2
7
Houser
1 / -
6
17
Berrey
1 / - 8
PASSING
17 completions 35 attempts 1 INT 320
yards 4 TDs
1
Jackson
17 - 34 - 1 320 yards 4 TDs
15
Perry
0 - 1 - 0
RECEIVING
6
Holloway
5 / 117 (2 TDs)
7
Houser
5 /
88
10
Offord
3 / 73 (2 TDs)
21 Anderson
2 / 15
4
Johnson
1 /
14
5 Richardson
1 / 13
TOTAL
YARDS: 334
KICKS: XP 3 / 4
FG 0 / 0
2
POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS: 5
(46,19,OB,OB,OB)
PUNTS: 4 (26,39,49,53)
KO RETURNS: 8 (4,19,35,15,14,18,17,31)
PUNT RETURNS: 1 (16)
FIRST
DOWNS: 17 (1 rushing, 13 passing, 3 penalty)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS: 7 / 14
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS: 0 / 3
FUMBLES: 2, lost 0
TURNOVER
MARGIN: 0
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 0
FUMBLE RETURNS: 1 (0)
ACCEPTED PENALTIES: 7 / 55 yards
TIME
OF POSSESSION: 23:12
HANDLEY
RUSHING
48 attempts 348 yards 7 TDs (7.25 yards per
carry - 22 Goss 17 / 184)
PASSING
5 completions 13 attempts 0 INTs 95
yards 0 TDs
TOTAL
YARDS: 443
KICKS: XP 7 / 8
FG 0 / 0
2 POINT
CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS: 9
(34,45,48,EZ,47,50,45,46,46) PUNTS: 3
(34,40,49)
KO
RETURNS: 2 (9,0)
PUNT RETURNS: 0
FIRST
DOWNS: 18 (14 rushing, 4 passing)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS: 5 / 11
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS: 1 / 2
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 7
INTERCEPTION RETURNS: 1 (96TD)
FUMBLES:
2, lost 1
ACCEPTED
PENALTIES: 8 / 75 yards
TIME OF
POSSESSION: 24:48
RETURN TO THE
SAINT JAMES 2023 FOOTBALL HOMEPAGE