LIVE Blog - Bayside (5-3) at Kellam (4-4)

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Greetings from a rainy Kellam High School in Virginia Beach as the Knights (4-4) play host to the Bayside Marlins (5-3) in a game that has playoff implications for Region 6A.

Fortunately with this heavy rain, Kellam has artificial turf for this game to be played on tonight on Homecoming in front of less than 100 people. There was no national anthem and Homecoming was held inside the gymnasium.

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Kellam goes 3 and out with 3 run plays. Bayside safety Devin Hicks and LB Tyion Pollard had two of the stops.

Kellam punts it away on 4th & 3 from their own 19 and Bayside doesn't return it, so they'll begin at the Knights 46-yard line with 10:12 to go in the opening period.

 

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Khamran Laborn - younger brother of former Ocean Lakes, Cox and Bishop Sullivan standout Khalan Laborn (who went to Florida State) - is off to a great start in this one as the junior already has 46 yards on the ground. He's a weapon ordinarily in the passing game as a receiver, second on the team to Malik Johnson in their main categories in fact.

 

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Braxton Hayes with a 32-yard kickoff return for Kellam as the Knights begin at their own 38-yard line.

The drive starts to get some yardage and on 4th & 1 the Knights convert. Apologies fans, I can't tell for sure who gets it because the yellow numerals on the dark jerseys of Kellam are incredible hard to read. Bayside's red numerals on the white jerseys are much easier to see.

On 3rd & 11, Kellam QB Owen Mitchell is sacked by Aiden Pick.

Knights punt it out of bounds for 20 yards - from the their 40 to the Bayside 40.

Bayside starts its second series with 5:35 left in the opening stanza at their own 40-yard line and up 7-0.

 

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Naquez Saunders gained about 7 yards on the 1st & 10 run before he was hit and coughed up the pigskin. Solid hit by the Knights, creating a turnover.

So Kellam will begin its third series at their own 35-yard line with 4:01 to play in the opening period.

 

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Kellam is going to its ground and pound offense. They had a nice buck sweep play moments ago and also hit Bayside on a screen that QB Owen Mitchell completed to Joe Burris for 17 yards.

Folks, it's raining sideways here. These conditions are awful and I'm really honest that they are playing tonight and didn't reschedule for Saturday or Monday (and that is even with a fantastic artificial turf here at Kellam).

 

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Kellam goes for it on 4th & 3 from the Bayside 15-yard line early in the 2nd quarter. They get stopped. I couldn't quite tell with the windows fogged up who had the stop, but on the plays before there were solid hits from Naquez Saunders and Tyion Pollard from their safety and linebacker spots, respectively.

 

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Bayside is in the midst of a nice drive as they've mixed up the pass and run really well with Tajae Pollard at QB finding his weapons of Nick Young, Malik Johnson, Dajon Bowman and Khamran Laborn.

Decision time for Coach Jon White, facing 4th & Goal from the Kellam 11 with 3 minutes to go in the half.

 

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Coach White had confidence in the kicker Luna, who last week booted through the game-winner in OT on Saturday - also in the rain - against Salem.

 

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A mysterious fumble with Kellam on the move, following a big 17-yard run from QB Owen Mitchell. It appeared to be a penalty on the Knights, then the refs huddle and award the ball to Bayside. I'll have to see that one later on film.

 

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Johnson came into tonight with 27 receptions for 415 yards and 3TD's. Coach White and his OC Jaquan Glover (who played QB at Bayside after former NFL player and Florida State standout E.J. Manuel graduated) wanted to seize full control before the half and that might've been the back-breaker for the host Knights.

 

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And yes, even though I'm in the pressbox, I'm still soaked from making the walk from the bathroom to the box 10 minutes before kick-off. No joke.

 

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Some numbers to go through....

Bayside 17:
Tajae Pollard - 7-9 for 119Yds. 1-0TD/Int. ratio; 2Car. 31Yds.
Khamran Laborn - 5Car. 47Yds. TD; 2Rec. 5Yds.
Dajon Bowman - 3Car. 22Yds.
Malik Johnson - 2Rec. 89Yds. TD
Nick Young - 2Rec. 15Yds.
Naquez Saunders - 5 Tackles (4 Solo)
Devin Hicks & Thurland White - 4 Tackles each

Marlins - 21 plays for 223 total yards (7-9 for 119 yards passing; 12 rushes for 104 yards); 2 penalties for 10 yards; 1 turnover on a lost fumble


Kellam 0:
Owen Mitchell - 2-3 for 25Yds; 6Car. 16Yds.
Joe Burris - 13Car. 39Yds; 1Rec. 17Yds.
Alex Swoope - 3Car. 17Yds.
Damien Mazil - 1Rec. 8Yds.
Will Butler - 5 Solo Tackles, Forced Fumble
Kemari Copeland - 4 Tackles (2 Solo)

Knights - 28 plays for 101 total yards (2-3 for 25 yards passing; 25 rushes for 76 yards); 0 penalties; 1 turnover on a lost fumble

 

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Kellam kicks off to begin the 2nd half. Bayside's Devin Hicks fair catches it at their own 39-yard line. The Knights need a stop, whereas the Marlins can deliver a knockout punch with a touchdown on this series.

 

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Just the break that Chris DeWitt and his Knights needed. Copeland is a real force on defense and his older brother Stephen was a standout for Kellam before going on to play football at Elon.

 

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Kellam picked up a first down on a Bayside penalty - a late hit out of bounds. However, the Marlins defense stiffens.

First it's a tough stop by LB Kevin Jenkins, a junior, and then it's Maleyk Staton with a tackle for loss. On 4th & 10 from the Marlins 28, the Knights go to the air and throw it towards the end zone, but it's incomplete.

Bayside takes over at their own 28 with 10:02 left in the third quarter after DB Naquez Saunders is checked out following a minor injury and looks to be okay (perhaps too wet?).

 

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Bayside gets the ball back and they look to run it between the tackles with Dajon Bowman, who picks up positive gains of 6, 3 and 8. The latest moved the chains on 3rd & 1. The drive fizzles when a low snap on 3rd & 7 from their own 48 forces Tajae Pollard to rush a throw, too high for WR Nick Young.

Malik Johnson punts it away 40 yards to the Kellam 12-yard line, where the Knights will begin with 6:54 left in the third period.

Kellam will probably find it hard to get anything going through the air as the rain has picked up considerably after stopping a little around half-time and the wind is whipping too.

 

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Kellam's run game is really being contained by the Bayside defensive front. On 4th & 1 from their own 21, they convert and that came after a pass in the flat to Joe Burris for 6 yards.

But on the next third down opportunity, Kellam's pass is incomplete. They won't go for it on 4th & 10 from their own 23 here with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter and trailing by 17. Don't blame Coach DeWitt one bit. They have to play field position and hope for a takeaway.

 

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Disaster for Kellam as the snap is not a good on their punt try on 4th & 10 from their own 23, forcing him to scramble. Bayside's Anthony Parker - back from an injury that kept him out earlier in the season - and Aiden Pick are there to bring him down for no gain.

Bayside has a chance to put this thing away, needing only 23 yards for a touchdown to increase their 17-0 lead late in the third period.

 

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Pounding away at the defense with Dajon Bowman, who now has 11 carries for 62 yards and a TD.

 

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Needing something to go right in a major way, Kellam gets it on 3rd & 8 from their own 40 with the double-handoff and Alex Swoope picks up 11 yards. The cross-buck is working a good deal with Swoope and Sawyer Payne. However, Bayside's defense is hitting well and not allowing the long gainer. So time is the biggest enemy for Kellam at this point.

 

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Get the ball in the hands of as many people as possible. That's the plan for Kellam and it worked out extremely well with the scoring chance created by the catch over the middle from Butler.

Kellam's onside kick is recovered by Bayside's Devin Hicks at midfield with 8:13 left. The Marlins have a chance to milk some clock and thwart any hopes of a comeback by the host Knights.

 

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Can Kellam keep the momentum going? Bayside's ball security issues have kept this from being more lopsided.

 

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That's the 5th turnover of the night. The ball is extremely slippery and Bayside is trying to get out of here without a collapse similar to the one they had a year ago against Green Run when they were one score away from a running clock win.

 

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A near pick-six by Kellam's Jalen Sloan on 3rd & 27. That came for Bayside after two straight plays of fumbles, which they were able to recover with QB Taje Pollard, who lost some yardage obviously on both plays. The Marlins will look to punt it away following a delay of game penalty on 4th & 32 from their own 19.

 

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Unreal. No words for that one folks. Bayside has some magic with them.

 

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A great way to finish that drive by Bayside with the ground attack. Bowman has 86 yards tonight and Laborn has mixed in 68.

 

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Bayside now has achieved 10 straight winning seasons and playoff appearances - the longest streak of any school currently in the Beach District