Saints pull away from Chargers for 26-6 win

Published 2:06 am Saturday, August 31, 2024

By Titus Mohler

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The showdown Friday night, Aug. 30, between Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and Isle of Wight Academy’s varsity football teams was close through three quarters, but the Saints were able to pull away in the fourth for a 26-6 victory amid the Chargers’ home opener.

“Hey, every win is a good win,” NSA Head Coach Michael Biehl said. “We’ve got a ton to clean up. We didn’t play the way we were capable of in the first half, but I’m proud of my guys coming back in the second half and showing what we are capable of on both sides. We have playmakers, we have a defense that can fly around and make plays, but now we’ve got to do it for four quarters, and that’s going to be the challenge moving forward.”

The game featured a significant number of penalties by both teams, including numerous delay-of-game infractions.

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IWA Head Coach Dale Chapman said the Chargers were limited by injuries entering the night.

“We were banged up coming into this game — starting running back with a broke thumb, and we weren’t 100%,” he said. “But for our guys to fight like they fought for four quarters and just at the very tail end of it (for NSA) to get the upper hand, huge credit to Mike and his team, but I thought our guys really fought hard.”

The Saints held a 6-0 lead at halftime after senior wide receiver Greer Barclay caught a pass from senior quarterback Vann Baggett and ran it in for a touchdown.

NSA got on the scoreboard again early in the second half to go up 13-0.

With 1:10 left in the third quarter, IWA senior tight end Grayson Brock battled a Saints defender in midair to come down with a touchdown pass in the end zone from senior quarterback Jason Chapman, making the score 13-6.

But near the beginning of the fourth quarter, Baggett connected with Barclay again for a 54-yard touchdown pass to give NSA a 19-6 advantage.

Then with 9:24 left in the fourth, Baggett completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Madden Gilliatt to help push the lead to 26-6.

Biehl highlighted some Saints standouts, affirming that Baggett finished the game with four touchdown passes. Then he directed some praise to his receivers.

“Greer Barclay — if that wasn’t a coming out party, I don’t know what was,” Biehl said. “He bailed us out a couple times, made some huge plays on both sides of the ball, but offensively, he was tough to deal with today. It was great. Madden Gilliatt had a really good game. 

“We’re trying to get Tres Williams involved because he’s got elite speed, we’ve just got to find different ways to be creative about getting him in space,” Biehl continued. “We have guys, we just have to be a little bit more consistent about how we go about our business.”

Chapman noted that a couple more Chargers joined the injury list after Friday night’s game, but he was looking ahead to the new week with an air of optimism.

“We’re going to regroup on Monday, see what we’ve got, try to do what we can do and keep on trucking along,” he said.

Isle of Wight Academy (0-2) visits Roanoke Catholic School (0-1) on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. 

Nansemond-Suffolk (1-1) has a bye next week and then returns to action Friday, Sept. 13, when it hosts Collegiate School at 7 p.m.

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