Blog LIVE Game Blog - Region 2A Semis: #4 King William (6-5) at #1 Poquoson (8-3)

[matthew328826]

Greetings from Poquoson Middle School, where the top-seeded Bull Islanders with a record of 8-3 overall play host to the No. 4 seed King William Cavaliers (6-5) in a re-match of last year's Region 2A Championship here in the semifinals.

This game kicked off about 25 minute after it was scheduled to due to the King William bus getting stuck behind a traffic accident on their way here.

We are underway and you can follow updates here + on our Twitter 'X' feed @hatfieldsports

 

[matthew328826]

It will be King William football to start at their own 19 with 11:58 to go in the opening period

After picking up a first down on 3rd & 1 with their running game able to gain 10 yards on their first three attempts, the King William offense stalls. A 10-yard holding penalty on the Cavaliers helps the Poquoson defense alone with good hitting from Jason Kell, Ryan Burke and Chase Bullard to get off the field on third and long.

Following the King William punt, the Poquoson offense gets decent field position at their own 49 with 9:04 to go in the opening period. But the Islanders go 3 & out as junior James Stewart makes a terrific open field tackle for a loss on a sweep play, then breaks up a third down pass.

King William's second offensive series will begin at their own 24 with 7:29 to go in the opening period.

 

[matthew328826]

Another 3 & out for the King William offense, which has gone 0 for 3 on its pass plays. Another penalty, this one being a five-yard false start after a gain of one on first down, did not help matters for Scott Moore's Cavaliers. It put them in 2nd & 14, and that's where Chase Bullard and Carter Jones combined to make a stop for a minimal gain on the run game.

I'll be curious to see if Elliott Duty gets Baker Green, the speedster headed to Eastern Kentucky for track, going here on this second drive that starts at their own 39 with 5:47 to go in the first quarter.

 

[matthew328826]

An excellent, fundamentally sound drive for Poquoson that saw them run it nine times with a 20-yard pass play by Eli Tyndall (baseball standout) finding Ryan Burke on a waggle play to move the sticks after a five-yard penalty backed them up to face 1st & 15. They mixed it up nicely with Baker Green, Khaleo Smith and Cody Little.

A touchback forces King William to start at their own 20 with 59 seconds left in the opening stanza.

 

[matthew328826]

Pretty quick moving opening period considering the late start we got here...

 

[matthew328826]

Good drive working for King William here early in the second quarter as they extend it on a 3rd & 3 when James Stewart is able to bounce a run outside to midfield. The Poquoson defense got hooked inside.

On the next third down - a 3rd & 3 from the Poquoson 43 - the Islanders make a big stop defensively with Cody Little coming downhill to keep Caron Washington from gaining forward progress. But King William will keep the offense on the field.

However, it's another huge play from the Poquoson defense. Little and Cody Jones combine to sack QB Trenton Stallings with 8:41 to go in the first half, so Poquoson takes over at their own 49, leading this one 7-0.

 

[matthew328826]

Starting at their own 49, Poquoson hands it off to Baker Green twice and he gets a total of six yards to make it 3rd & 4 from the King William 45. This time it's James Stewart making another splendid tackle, this one for a loss of yardage as Khaleo Smith loses about four. It appeared
to be an attacking 5-4 type of look defensively for King William.

Josh Mitchell booms a 48-yard punt and it forces King William to start at their own 6 with 6:30 left in the second quarter. The Cavaliers run it five straight times, most of which came between the tackles, and convert a 3rd & 2 with the aforementioned Stewart on the ground. However, a holding penalty wipes away a first down run, and on 3rd & 14 from their own 14, the Cavs are unable to get their first pass completion of the night.

Poquoson has nice field position here with 2:47 to go in the second period at the King William 47.

 

[matthew328826]

After a 3-yard run with Khaleo Smith, Poquoson decides to go to the air with QB Eli Tyndall and it is intercepted at the King William 22-yard line by Nicholas Medlin, who has been known to generate takeaways in the past. Medlin returns it to their own 30 with 1:50 till half-time.

But the Cavs are unable to capitalize on the turnover with little time showing as they go 3 & out. That included QB Trenton Stallings being sacked on second down by Christian Leonard. Stallings nearly got a completion down the sideline to Medlin, who happened to make a stellar catch out of bounds.

Following the King William punt, it'll be Poquoson with the ball at their own 49 with 30 seconds to go until half-time. Decent chance the Islanders take a knee and run the clock out if they don't get positive yardage on this first down play.

 

[matthew328826]

Baker Green rips off a 13-yard run to the King William 38. The blocking up front has been solid, even in spite of the injury to Grady Insley a couple weeks back. Poquoson burns its first time-out with 24 seconds to go in the half.

Another run by Green, this one for three yards, gets them closer to field goal range at the 35. Surprisingly, the Islanders let about a precious 10 seconds come off the clock before burning their second time-out with 8 seconds left in the half.

A halfback pass with Cam Stowers is intercepted by Nicholas Medlin in the end zone.

King William gets a run of 18 yards by James Stewart to bring us to half-time.

 

[matthew328826]

Right now the 9-time Virginia Honor Band from Poquoson High School is performing.

We'll have some numbers at the break here shortly... stay tuned!

 

[matthew328826]

Stats at the Half:

Poquoson 7:
Baker Green - 8Car. 39Yds; 3 Tackles
Ryan Burke - 1Rec. 20Yds.
Khaleo Smith - 5Car. 16Yds.
Cody Little - 4Car. 11Yds.
Eli Tyndall - 1-3 for 20Yds. 0-1 TD/Int. ratio
Nathan Quiroz - 9 Tackles (3 Solo)

Islanders - 21 plays for 86 total yards (1-4 for 20 yards, 2 interceptions; 17 rushes for 66 yards); 2 turnovers; 1 penalty for 5 yards


King William 0:
James Stewart - 9Car. 64Yds; 3 Solo Tackles, 2 TFL, PBU
Marty Braxton - 3Car. 10Yds.
Nicholas Medlin - 2 Solo Tackles, 2 INT's

Cavaliers - (0-6 for 0 yards passing; 20 rushes for 81 yards); 0 turnovers; 3 penalties for 25 yards

 

[matthew328826]

Poquoson begins with the football at their own 27 with 11:54 to go in the third quarter. Baker Green gets a 6-yard run, followed by a 15-yard personal foul penalty on King William. That, along with another superb catch of 19 yards by Ryan Burke from QB Eli Tyndall, puts the Bull Islanders in Cavaliers territory.

They convert a 3rd & 6 with a 12-yard pass play from Tyndall to Jason Kell. From there, the Islanders get chunks with Khaleo Smith, Baker Green and Cody Little. In fact, it's a gain of 2 by Little on 3rd & Goal that puts them at the 1.

The Bull Islanders try to burn a time-out with 4:31 to go in period from the King William 1, but get hit with aan illegal procedure penalty.

 

[matthew328826]

What a lengthy drive by Poquoson to begin the third quarter. They got timely completions in the passing game, and with their ground attack, they mixed it up nicely with outside runs to keep the defense honest when they weren't trying to use the power game up the gut.

Impressive considering they are missing one of their best blockers in Grady Insley as well as Mason McGavran (who we believe is out due to being sick).

Knig William has it at their own 20 with 4:03 left in the third quarter after a touchback on the kickoff.

 

[matthew328826]

James Stewart is closing in on 100 yards on the ground - with 13 attempts for 85 yards - and Trenton Stallings is starting to get more involved in the run game on QB keepers.

King William completes its first pass of the night early in the fourth period as Stallings finds Corey Cosby for 8 yards down to the Poquoson 22 to set up 2nd & 2. They've converted a couple of third downs on this drive tonight.

 

[matthew328826]

What a tremendous effort by the Poquoson defense, especially the linebackers, when it looke dlike they were getting gashed at will by James Stewart and the King William ground game.

Poquoson takes over at their own 11 with 7:44, thinking they can ice this one with a couple of first down runs.

 

[matthew328826]

Baker Green gets two big first down runs for Poquoson - the first a burst of 21 yards on a 3rd & 5 misdirection play from their own 16 and the next one being a 13-yard gainer on 3rd & 6 from their own 41.

However, the King William defense comes up with their third takeaway of the night when it looked like the run play was stopped...

 

[matthew328826]

King William tries an onside kick that goes out of bounds. So Poquoson takes over, leading by eight points, with 2:21 left at the 50.

The Cavaliers have all three time-outs and will look use them here to preserve enough time to get the football back.

 

[matthew328826]

Poquoson runs for five yards with Cody Little and King William burns its first time-out with 2:16 to go.

The King William defense has contained the trap, buck sweep and even jet sweep runs by the Poquoson offense. Where they've had trouble is keeping Baker Green bottled up with his speed when he slips out of a tackle and gets to the second level.

Carter Hamilton is in on a tackle of Khaleo Smith of a minimal gain and now it's 3rd & 7. Baker Green gets just three and King William will get the ball back with 2:04 to go, with no time-outs remaining.

Poquoson tries to draw King William offsides on 4th & 4 from the 44, but will take the delay of game penalty to back up five yards and punt it away.

 

[matthew328826]

Here we go...

 

[matthew328826]

Trenton Stallings has a receiver wide open in the flat area, but is unable to connect with him. That makes it 2nd & 10 and hte Cavaliers go back to the air, where Baker Green makes a nice pass breakup on the pass intended for Caron Washington down the near sideline close to midfield.

On 3rd & 10, it's a hook-and-ladder play as they complete it to Caron Washington, who laterals it to James Stewart. Together, they gain 16 yards to move the chains. The next play, it's a screen pass broken up by Poquoson defender Nathan Quiroz, who by my count has 14 total tackles (5 solo) tonight. He's really playing his guts out.

 

[matthew328826]

A 9-yard completion to Caron Washington moves the sticks for King William on 3rd & 6. However, an illeghal procedure penalty backs them up 5. On 1st & 15 from their own 41, it's a pass broken up by Jayson Kell to end the game.

Poquoson advances to next week's Region 2A Football Championship.

 

[matthew328826]

More to come later...

 

[matthew328826]

Video Interview with Poquoson's Baker Green & Chase Bullard



Poquoson seniors Baker Green and Chase Bullard chat after their team's 14-6 win over King William in the Region 2A semifinals on Friday, November 17, 2023.

Green, Bullard and the Islanders have recovered from a 1-2 start to the season to get to 9-3 overall. They're in the Region 2A Finals for a second consecutive year, where they will host third-seeded Amelia County, a winner over Southampton.