Blog LIVE Blog of Class 3 State Championship: Heritage-Lynchburg 24, Phoebus 20 - FINAL

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Greetings from Arthur L. Williams Stadium. We are underway in the VHSL Class 3 Football State Championship with Heritage-Lynchburg (13-1) and Phoebus (13-1).

We'll have updates here and via Twitter @ hatfieldsports all day long...

 

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A great start for Brad Bradley's Pioneers. However, Phoebus could have them facing 4th down in a second as the Pioneers are looking at 3rd & 4 from the 24-yard line of Heritage.

 

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A great stand by the Phoebus defense and Coach Jermy Blunt may try to keep the momentum going by being aggressive with the passing game and QB Chris Daniels. Remember, Daniels was 10 of 11 for over 200 yards passing last week against Culpeper in the State Semis. Watch #4 Barry Hargraves, who has 16 touchdown receptions this year, five in the playoffs alone.

 

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Phoebus is looking at 3rd & 9 from their own 35 with 8:09 to go in the first period after picking up a first down of 12 yards with QB Chris Daniels to Latrelle Smith.

A terrific catch and great concentration by Barry Hargraves, who is stopped by Liberty commit Chris Megginson. Hargraves moves the chains with that 13-yard reception, to their own 48. He showed on that one why he was the Peninsula District Offensive Player of the Year.

 

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The Phantoms have a nice drive going here for their first possession as a 7-yard run from Anthony Turner gives Phoebus the ball at the Heritage 44 , facing 3rd & 2. This time, his run outside appears stopped, until a 2nd effort moves him forward and a flag is thrown.

Officials call aiding the runner.

 

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Jeremy Blunt decided to unleash Latrelle Smith on offense today and it's working wonders. Chris Daniels has been putting the ball on the money - both over the middle and deep - carrying over his performance from last week's State Semis.

 

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Facing 2nd & 7 from their own 37 on their second possession of the day, Heritage-Lynchburg QB Jabari Blake puts the ball on the money to WR Hasani Rivera along the Phoebus sideline and he gets 6 yards. Then on 3rd & 1, it's Blake on the keeper to move the chains.

On 1st & 10 from his own 48 - Blake doesn't force the issue and does a nice job of checking down to Brian Trent and he rewards him by advancing all the way to the 34-yard line of Phoebus before Corey Wilson knocks him out of bounds following the gain of 18.

 

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A penalty on Heritage pushes them back, facing 1st & 20 from the Phoebus 44. No need to panic says Coach Brad Bradley as they hand the ball off to K.J. Vaughn, who shows nice cut-back ability with a run worth 10 yards to the Phantoms 34 as we tick near 2 minutes left in this opening stanza.

It's a quarterback keeper with Jabari Blake and he's unable to break through for a long gain as that Phoebus defense is there to sniff him out with linebacker Domonic Edwards. A couple plays before, it was Austin Gilliam knifing through and dragging down a Pioneers player for a minimal gain. Here comes a key 3rd & 7, where the Pioneers look to be passing.

Nope.

Blake fooled me and the Phoebus defense, keeping it on the read option and escaping a couple of would be tacklers for a 31-yard touchdown.

 

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That caps a 6-play, 66-yard drive that took 3:50 off the clock. A big shout out to our public address announcer - the great Bill Nettles (who also has been the P.A. man for pretty much all of our VirginiaPreps Basketball Classics). His information relaying out what just happened is a big help to us on the Blog and for the fans in the stadium that might miss something or want to know who made the play.

From our high up view in the pressbox, some of the numbers tend to look the same on certain plays and angles, too.

This one folks figures to go right down to the wire. Our three prognosticators all had the outcome being by 7 points or less with two of us taking Heritage and one picking Phoebus.

 

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Phoebus begins its second possession, at their own 11-yard line. The Phantoms move up to their own 24 after a penalty, then it's Barry Hargraves on a jet sweep for 5 yards with Kyron Thomas tackling him.

We've reached the end of 1 period of action...

 

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Some 1st Quarter Stats courtesy of the fine media relations folks here at Liberty University...

 

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Another outstanding catch from Barry Hargraves - who has been doing it all postseason long for Phoebus - this time worth 30 yards on 3rd & 2 from their own 42.

I'm a bit surprised Chris Megginson, the Liberty commit playing on his future college field, is playing so far off, about 10 yards from Hargraves, when the ball snaps. The Pioneers might want to consider some defensive adjustments and use press coverage against both him and Latrelle Smith as the Phantoms already have more than 100 yards passing.

 

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A big swing of momentum potentially here for Heritage if they can capitalize. The Phoebus defense is hanging tough as the Pioneers are now looking at 3rd & short 2 from their own 31 with under 8 minutes to play in this 2nd period.

 

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Jabari Blake is making his case for Class 3 State Offensive Player of the Year today. That turnover just completely turned this game around.

"Blake is as good as advertised so far," one of my media colleagues - Marty O'Brien of the Daily Press - just chimed in a couple seats down from me. Touche.

 

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Big-time hit by Jaleel Carthorne I do believe - a sophomore - as Phoebus has a 13-yard kickoff return that'll start them at their own 24 with 7:32 remaining in the 3rd period. It's important the Phantoms maintain their composure and now try not to get it all back necessarily in one play. They can use the run to set up the play-action passes. They don't want to abandon the run with Jaylen White and Anthony Turner out of I-Formation.

 

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Ticking near just 5 minutes to go in the 1st half, Phoebus trails Heritage of Lynchburg 14-7 and the Phantoms face 2nd & 8 from their own 37. Kyron Thomas comes over at the last second and breaks up a Chris Daniels pass.

Daniels is 4 of 7 for 101 yards with a TD and INT on the day. The Phantoms go to trips right on 3rd & 8 and his pass intended for Jaylen White is incomplete. Trae'sean Hall was hovering around Daniels on that one.

We see our first punt of the day as Davonte White kicks it away 38 yards. Heritage-Lynchburg begins at their own 24 and K.J. Vaughn gains about 5 or 6 yards. The running game is really taking over for Heritage with 182 yards on the ground to this point.

 

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Furthermore, the Pioneers have been clutch on the money downs ever since they got stopped on the opening possession on that 4th down in Phoebus territory - 4-of-5 on 3rd downs.

 

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Following a 6-yard run from Jabari Blake and 3-yard loss by K.J. Vaughn with Kimani Robinson making the stop behind the line of scrimmage, we see another key 3rd down conversion by Heritage. Blake hits Hasani Rivera for 8 yards on 3rd & 7 down to the 42-yard line of Phoebus as he's knocked out of bounds, but not before moving the chains.

We now tick under 2 minutes to go in the first half and the Pioneers give it to K.J. Vaughn between the tackles. We have an officials time-out for a measurement with 1:31 to go in the 2nd period.

 

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On 3rd & 1, Jabari Blake bulls forward behind his offensive line, an undersized, yet gritty group. From left to right, let's shout out senior Elijah Wilson, senior K.J. Burks, junior center Shante Giles, junior right guard Mike Williams and junior right tackle Spencer Goolsby for paving the way for the backs and their dual-threat QB.

Even when the o-line miss a block as they did up the middle on 1st & 10 from his own 29, Blake scrambles away and gets out of bounds for nearly 8 yards. His awareness in the pocket has improved greatly from two years ago at Northside and even last season.

 

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Senior weak-side linebacker Toray Newsome unloads on Heritage-Lynchburg QB Jabari Blake with 21 seconds before the half. It appears they would measure, but instead, the refs give him the first down after calling an official time-out. Very strange. The Pioneers get a fresh set of downs, looking at 1st & Goal from the Phoebus 6.

The clock has reset from 21 to 26 seconds in facy and Heritage has two time-outs at its disposal as well. The QB keeper with Blake is blown dead as the Phantoms burn their final time-out of the half.

 

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Jabari Blake runs it for a gain of 2 yards and is stopped at the 4 of Phoebus Domonic Edwards and Toray Newsome. Heritage uses its second time-out. As the players begin to trot back on the field, Phantoms junior FS Jaheim Valentine is being evaluated with what looks to be some type of leg injury.

An illegal procedure penalty backs Heritage up 5 yards, where Austin Gilliam sacks Jabari Blake for a loss of 7. Heritage uses its final time-out with 7 seconds remaining and on 3rd & Goal from the 16, look for Brad Bradley to bring out the field goal unit I'm guessing.

 

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That first sack of the game was a fairly significant one for Phoebus in that they'll get the ball to begin the 2nd half, and should the Phantoms put together a scoring drive that ends in a touchdown, they give themselves a shot for a comeback. If Heritage had punched it in for a touchdown to make the score 21-7 with 21 unanswered points, the confidence would be shaken a bit to say the least.

 

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Some half-time numbers here momentarily...

 

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VHSL Class 3 State Championship...

Stats at the HALF:

Heritage-Lynchburg 17:
Jabari Blake - 3-4 for 32Yds; 17Car. 157Yds. 2TD's
K.J. Vaughn - 11Car. 74Yds.
Hasani Rivera - 2Rec. 14Yds; 3 Tackles (2 Solo)
Brian Trent - 1Rec. 18Yds.
Kaleb Adcock, Vonte Pannell, KJ Burks - 3 Tackles apiece

Pioneers - 32 plays for 263 total yards (28 rushes for 231 yards; 3-4 for 32 pass yards); 0 turnovers; 3 penalties for 23 yards; 7 of 8 on 3rd downs; 12:51 Time of Possession


Phoebus 7:
Chris Daniels - 4-8 for 101Yds. 1-1 TD/Int. ratio; 1Car. 5Yds.
Anthony Turner - 7Car. 28Yds.
Barry Hargraves - 2Rec. 44Yds; 2Car. 11Yds.
Latrelle Smith - 2Rec. 57Yds TD
Domonic Edwards & Trevon Hayes - 5 Tackles apiece

Phantoms - 22 plays for 145 total yards (14 rushes for 44 yards; 4-8 for 101 pass yards, 1 intercept); 1 turnover; 1 penalty for 1 yard; 2 of 5 on 3rd downs; 11:09 Time of Posssession

 

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Phoebus receives the 2nd half off kickoff and the Phantoms waste no time going right to work.

A 3-play, 81-yard scoring drive takes just 1:25 off the clock. The tone setter for that scoring drive was a 20-yard run from Anthony Turner to take the Phantoms from their own 19 to the 39.



A penalty on Phoebus was enforced on the kickoff. Trevon Hayes makes a big hit on the return for Phoebus, yet Heritage has respectable field position, at their own 47 at the 10:23 mark here of the 2nd quarter.

 

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Not Blake's best pass of the day as he didn't quite hit his receiver in stride and rhythm and the Phoebus fans are now on their feet. The Phantoms, instead of beginning near the 50, start at their own 29 due to a penalty on Baldwin's return.

Let's give the Phoebus defensive backfield credit. The past couple years they've replaced some valuable players on the back end that went on to the next level in Johnathan Gregory (Norfolk State), Damion Charity (ODU), Darrell Bryant and others. Yet, here they are continuing to churn out talented DB's. Smith is underrated in my eyes, and Baldwin already holds an offer from Rutgers out of the Big Ten.

 

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After a penalty from Phoebus, QB Chris Daniels hits John Tucker for a completion worth 10 yards. That brings up 3rd & 7 from their own 32 and the pass for Barry Hargraves is incomplete.

Covering on the play and tipping it was Kyron Thomas, who has been all over the place on defense today.

The punt for Phoebus is not that good - just 15 yards as Heritage begins at the 47-yard line of the Phantoms with 8:17 left in the 3rd period with a golden opportunity here to extend their 17-14 advantage.

 

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A holding penalty on Heritage really sends them backwards, to their own 43 as they face 2nd & 20. On the next two plays, the Pioneers get a 7-yard run from QB Jabari Blake and an incomplete intended for Chris Megginson, who has been relatively quiet today with 3 solo tackles on defense and no receptions offensively.

Heritage punts it away and Phoebus will begin at their own 13 instead of their own 23 following a penalty. The Phantoms trail 17-14 with 6:11 left in the 3rd quarter. Look for them to maybe take another deep shot, perhaps looking for Barry Hargraves or Latrelle Smith on a post over the middle.

 

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Phoebus hands it off to Jaylen White and he gains 5 yards, but not good news for the Phantoms as #54, starting sophomore offensive lineman Malik Hardy, hobbles off the field. The Phantoms came in a bit banged up on the o-line with starter Donovan Cooper sidelined because of injury.

On 3rd & 3, Phoebus QB Chris Daniels is dropped for a sack by Vonte Pannell - the All-State stud linebacker for Heritage - with star defensive lineman K.J. Burks right there in position as well.

 

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The punting woes continue for Phoebus as a 6-yard kick by Anthony Wallace is fielded at the 25-yard line by Heritage's Hasani Rivera, who loses 7 yards running backwards on the return. That play - any way you slice it - will not be on a Top Ten SportsCenter.

Heritage's Jabari Blake is nearly intercepted as Chris Megginson appeared open close to the end zone and waited too late to deliver, nearly getting picked by Phoebus junior DB Thailand Baldwin. The drive goes from not good to worse for the Pioneers as on 3rd down, protection breaks down and Blake is sacked. Sophomore Trevion Stevenson and junior Tyrell Daniels are there to bring Blake down for a loss of 8.

So after it looked like Heritage would be in prime scoring position - fielding the Phoebus punt at the Phantoms 25 - they are now punting it away on 4th & 15 from the 37-yard line of PHS.

We've hit a brutal stretch of this game offensively, and while it's ugly, the Phantoms don't mind that as it could help them rally to get to 8-0 in State Championship games.

 

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Phoebus hands it off to Anthony Turner for a gain of 4 and then he runs off tackle to the right for maybe about 3 yards with Kyron Thomas on the stop. That'll bring up 3rd & 3 from their own 23 for Phoebus with the clock stopped at 1:24 left in the 3rd period as a player for the Phantoms is down.

That play is Ibri Harrell, #50, another starting sophomore offensive lineman for the Phantoms. At some point, you wonder if the Heritage defensive front will capitalize on a potential sore spot in the trenches with a new face blocking.

The Phoebus pass on 3rd & 3 is incomplete. We have another punt coming for Phoebus - their 3rd of this 3rd period.

 

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Once again, Heritage has stellar field position, taking over at the Phoebus 41-yard line with 1:05 left in the third period. The lead for the Pioneers, well, it's a slim one at 17-14. As expected, this game is close heading into the fourth quarter. But Brad Bradley's crew knows they cannot letting these opportunities go by without putting more points on the board or it'll likely bite them.

Running wide is no easy task against this Phoebus defense and the read option give to K.J. Vaughn results in a loss of 4 with Corey Wilson immediately sniffing it out. On 2nd & 14 though, Jabari Blake fires one of his best passes of the day and it's a 15-yard completion to Liberty Flames commit Chris Megginson to move the chains. We might get one more play off before the 3rd quarter expires.

 

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Phoebus had a 102-22 advantage in total yards in that 3rd period.

 

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Good game.

 

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To begin the 4th quarter, it's Heritage running twice with QB Jabari Blake for a total of 7 yards to bring up 3rd & 3. Then it's tailback K.J. Vaughn rushing 22 yards down to the 1-yard line - nearly in the end zone - and he's over 100 yards of the day.

Then the Pioneers know to keep it in #5's hands for a touchdown.

 

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Barry Hargraves takes the ensuing kickoff and gets plenty of real estate, nearly breaking it to the house. It ends up being a 36-yard return as the Phantoms will start at their own 44. Credit Kristian Rivera for making the tackle, otherwise this game probably would be 24-20.

John Tucker - a 6-1, 190 pound senior wide receiver for Phoebus - comes up with a 7-yard reception from QB Chris Daniels. Tucker took a big lick from Kaleb Adcock, a 5-8, 158 pound junior DB that packs quite a punch for Heritage.

 

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On 3rd & 3 from their own 49, Phoebus QB Chris Daniels tries to escape the pressure, but it's Breandre Horsley - an under-the-radar sophomore for this Heritage defense - making the sack. That creates 4th & 16 and the Phantoms have to punt it away with time certainly not on their side in this one.

The punt will be down at the 37-yard line of Heritage, where the Pioneers take over leading 24-14 with 9:02 left to play.

 

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A delay of game penalty along with a couple of minimal gains on the ground and a rush where Jabari Blake lost a yard trying to go to the left side, with Josiah Silver meeting him right away, results in the Pioneers punting it back to Phoebus with a little over 7 minutes to play.

Phoebus starts at the Heritage 49 with 7:01 to go and an incomplete pass doesn't discourage them. That's because on the next play they go to the air with QB Chris Daniels avoiding the pressure and hitting defensive standout Thailand Baldwin for a gain of 15. Ticking under 6 minutes to play, it's Baldwin again for a catch of 8 yards.

On 2nd & 2 from the Heritage 26, Daniels throws a quick pass to Dalon Dixon on a stop route to move the chains. Dixon gains about 9 yards as the Phantoms are in the red zone for the first time today. Remember, they had TD passes for 45 yards and 62 yards earlier in the day.

 

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The Phoebus drives continues with Latrelle Smith picking up 9 yards on a reception, but then the 3rd sack of the day for the Heritage defense by my count occurs. Breandre Horsley and K.J;. Burks combine to bring down Daniels.

On 3rd & 6 from the 12-yard line, it's Daniels finding Kymari Gray - a freshman - for a touchdown pass. PAT forthcoming.