TeeJay is now up 37-0 over Amelia with 9:48 remaining in the second quarter! Go Vikings!
#vikingupdate #wearerps

Army commit Nelson Layne is having some moments with his legs tonight, but shortly after his 15-yard scramble moves the sticks on 3rd & 7, the Maury defense rises up to make another play. It's Leslie Hines with the sack and it's now 2nd & 22 from their own 15 for the Springers with 1:17 to go in the half.

Maury burns another time-out after LB Isaiah 'Ike' Simmons bites down on the run and limits Daeron Ferguson to a minimal gain.

The Commodores want to get the ball back and score again, which they have a serious chance to do with 1:12 till the break and leading this one 21-0. It has been a dominant showing tonight from the reigning Class 5 State Champs on both sides of the ball.

Maury is on the move again after Highland Springs commits its second turnover of the night, this one on a fumble inside the Maury 30. Looks like LB Dylan Goad came away with the pigskin.

The Commodores waste no time going back to the air as they hit LeBron Bond for a 25-yard pass over the middle, plus the Springers get called for a 15-yard personal foul on the play to put them even closer to paydirt.

After a couple of penalties, Maury leaves the offense out there on the field on 4th & 7 from the Springers 9 with three minutes to go in the first half. Au'Tori Newkirk buys time in the pocket, steps up to avoid the rush and completes to LeBron Bond, but he's out of bounds in the back of the end zone.

So the Springers take over at their own 9 with 2:48 to go in the first half.

In some ways, you'd ordinarily be surprised that Dyrri McCain didn't try the fild goal to make the margin a 24-point lead. However, the Commodores are that confident in their offense being able to convert in that situation and get 6 points. Also, as someone in the pressbox said, they're wanting to make a statement tonight.

GW-0 Graham-17 8:02 2nd Q. #8 for Graham catches the ball and takes it 80 yards to the house. GWs DB jumped the pass and missed the pick 6 by an inch. Once he missed it was 8 and open field.

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Maury has brought some of the '757' swag to the '804' and what a brilliant play call, fantastic deep ball and easy catch to make the quick-strike come to fruition,

Dyrri McCain has this Maury offense humming with the buttons he's pushing very similar to Oscar Smith of years past under Rich Morgan. Whenever the Tigers got a big stop or takeaway, they would try to further demoralize the opponent with the kill-shot.

That was an early blow that the Springers may not be able to recover from.

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Will Dyrri McCain of Maury take a shot here after the stop by his defense? You know it's coming...

GW-0 Graham-10 11:00 2nd Q #1 Lilly takes it in from 45 yards out. Keeper off the left side.

CRF4Dan said:

I don't even see rain anywhere in the forecast till about Sunday. I did see Varina Athletics updated the time on Twitter, I'll be there for sure... you can count on it. I haven't seen either team this season yet so anxious to get a look at both.

Click to expand...

but t has been looking like it all afternoon.

Highland Springs has moved into Maury territory, based on the hard running of QB Nelson Layne, who moves the pile on 4th & 1 from their own 48. Layne actually picked up 11 on a nifty scramble the play before on 3rd & 12.

Eric Byrd, who broke off a long TD in last year's meeting, rumbles forward for 17 yards on the longest play from scrimmage on the night for the Springers. The bad news is that he comes off in some pain (looks to be holding his shoulder). The means more of the shiftier / speed back in Daeron Ferguson checks in for him.

Ferguson can't slip out of a tackle from LB Dylan Goad on 3rd & 7 from the Maury 28. Highland Springs leaves the offense on the field, understandably, before 4th & 4 from the Commodores 25 as we tick under 7 minutes to go in this fast moving first half.

@BoKnowsSports is the ugliness a result of Varina's predictability on offense or Hermitage defense. This Varina team has the athletes to be successful, but appear to be easily defended. Just curious on your take.

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At what point will we see the Springers go to the air? Well, after South Carolina commit Kendall Daniels makes a tackle for loss on QB Nelson Layne, it's probably coming on 3rd & 12.

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That's a big game-changer right there as Leslie Hines, who quietly was one of the most productive defensive players on Maury's defense during their unbeaten 2023 season, causes the turnover. Ari Watford, who usually wears #0 and is #66 tonight, scoops it up and runs in for the touchdown.

Watford is making a routine of recovering fumbles as he had one in last year's matchup and also came up with one last week vs. Wise.

The Springers move the sticks behind Eric Byrd on a 5-yard run on 3rd & 5 up to their own 39. Loren Johnson isn't going to change up his game-plan just based off of two scores.

Highland Springs is trying to come out with a ball-control attack, running the ball through the A gap with Eric Byrd and they're having mixed results thus far. Byrd did get an 8-yard run on 3rd & 4.

They run it to the outside with QB Nelson Layne, the Army commit, on a keeper and it gains 5 on 3rd & 7. The Springers line up to go for it on 4th & 2 from their own 26, not so much with the intention to go for it, but to try to make Maury jump offsides. It works. Fresh set of downs off the hard count.

That small mission was accomplished. Now can they get the bigger one and finish this drive off with points?

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That caps an 11-play, 80-yard drive that took 3:53 off the clock with the Commodores converting a fourth down. Nice job by Au'Tori Newkirk, who is 4 of 6 for 58 yards with each completion going to a different receiver - LeBron Bond, Jaiden Avery, Eli Moss and the TD to Damon McDaniel Jr. (Western Branch transfer).

Varina 12 Herm 3 at half. Ugly game.

Out of an empty formation, Maury leaves the offense on the field for 4th & 7 from the Highland Springs 37. QB Au'Tori Newkirk steps up in the pocket and takes off for a gain of 15. Just smart awareness there.

Not a good sight here for Highland Springs as senior LB Josiah Martinez, who has a couple of tackles including one for loss, is helped off the field with 8:42 to go in the first period. Maury is facing 2nd & 10 from the Springers 22 and they've shown pretty good tempo.

We won't say who, but it appears an individual threw up on the field, so we have an official's time-out after they clean up the vomit (I bet you didn't have THAT one on the bingo card for the blog tonight!).

Highland Springs boots it into the end zone for a touchback.

Good drive going for Maury as they convert a 3rd & 6 with QB Au'Tori Newkirk finding Jaiden Avery for a 24-yard completion to their own 48.

Catches by LeBron Bond and Elijah Moss, totaling 12 yards, help get Maury into Highland Springs territory. Newkirk's first pass falls incomplete on 2nd & 7. Now it's a key 3rd & 7 from the Springers 37 with 9:13 to go in this first quarter.

Oh hey, guess who's here tonight? A couple of former NFL players with in-state connections to UVA and Virginia Tech...

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We're ready for kick-off as it'll be Highland Springs sending it off to Maury first to start this game.

Been looking forward to this one all week!

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Wyche to Anderson again. This time from 30 yards out. 2 PT attempt no good.

Varina 12 Herm 3 2:35 left in 1st half.

After a successful fake punt by Varina, they come back on the next play to throw a 60+ yard bomb for TD. Kaleb Wyche to Myles Anderson.
PAT no good.

Varina 6 Herm 3 6:50 left in 1st half.

End of 1st.

Herm 3 Varina 0