JV Football vs. Virginia Episcopal School

Hargrave 16 – VES 14

JV FOOTBALL TEAM GETS MUCH NEEDED WIN!

The JV Football Tigers had their first home game of the season Thursday night. In front of a crowd that consisted of many parents, cadets, faculty, and locals, the tigers decided to put on a show. They really came together to work as a team. Everyone did their job and the result was a much needed, well earned, victory. In fact, it was the JV’s first victory in almost 3 seasons. Even after losing to the Bishops of VES in their first game of the season, the tigers came out and played their best game to date. Many players were in tears after the win, proving how dedicated this team really is.

Hargrave opened up the game with a kickoff return by Dev Bailey that went out across the 50 yard line. The first offensive play of the game went to Bailey, who had another huge gain thanks to great blocking by the offensive line. One play later the tigers found themselves in the redzone and ready to score. This time Clay Carver got the call and found the endzone for 6 points. The 2 point conversion, a give to Bailey, was a success, making the score 8-0. The line, which included Alex Freeman, Daniel Adamson, Kevin Weir, Robert Boise, and Charles Corpening had superior play all night, opening up holes and allowing all the running backs to put up awesome stats. Xavier Corpening and Trey Kirkland split time at the tight end position and Josh Nauman came off the bench to add to the offensive line’s success. Phillip Schwartz and Chris Ivery-Olds split time at quarterback and both had outstanding performances. Stanley Jones, Zak Kramer, Jonathan Hardin, Darrell McDowell, and Steven Hancock saw time at the receiver position where they had to block as well as run their respective pass routes.

From the minute the defense took the field, they meant business. Everyone who stepped on the field knew their responsibility and performed to the best of their ability. The spread offense run by VES caused some early substitutions for the tigers, and turned the 5-3 defense into a 5-1 with Clay Carver being the lone linebacker most of the night. The defensive line was anchored down by Kevin Weir (who had to be double teamed all night), Charles Corpening (1 Sack), Ryan Harper (2 TFL), Robert Boise (2 TFL), and Xavier Corpening (1 Sack). They all played the run very well and got plenty of pressure on the VES quarterback. By playing 4 receivers, VES forced the outside linebackers to split out and cover the pass, something they do not typically have to do. Jonathan Lee, Xavier Corpening, Trey Kirkland, and Dev Bailey all split time at outside linebacker and did a terrific job covering the VES receivers on their pass routes. The defensive backfield was tested by the pass all night. Assisting with superior coverage was Jonathan Hardin, Reeves Hollar (2 INT), Chris Ivery-Olds (INT), Darrell McDowell, and Michael Princivil. The defense stiffened up for numerous stops on 3rd and 4th down, putting the tiger offense back on the field.

The defense did give up one score in the first half, but played hard to deny the bishops on their 2 point conversion, which proved to be crucial later in the game. The score at the half was Hargrave 8 – VES 6.

In the second half, both teams battled back and forth, unable to find the endzone. Reeves Hollar helped the team gain field position with a booming punt that took a great bounce and resulted in a 54 yard gain. In the 4th quarter, Hargrave drove all the way down the field, but stalled inside the 10 and turned the ball over on downs. VES had a long way to go and a short time to do it. However, with 36 second left on the game clock, VES found their way into the endzone for a score. Their 2 point conversion was also good, making the score Hargrave 8 – VES 14. The tigers were not about to give up. Reeves Hollar took the ensuing kickoff out to midfield where the tigers had 31 seconds and 3 timeouts to find the endzone. The first play, a half-back pass, fell incomplete. The second play was a toss to Reeves Hollar, who turned around and threw the ball back to a wide open Chris Ivery. Ivery sprinted down the sidelines to the 10 yard line. Timeout 1 was called to stop the clock. The next play, a give up the middle, was stopped just shy of the goaline. Timeout 2 was called. On the next play the offense overwhelmingly decided to put their faith in the offensive line. Reeves Hollar got the call up the middle and pushed his way into the endzone to tie the score at 14. Timeout 3 was called to set up the 2 point conversion. On the final offensive play of the game, Chris Ivery faked a handoff up the middle and kept the ball around the end on the quarterback boot. He fought off several tacklers and made his way into the endzone one last time to put Hargrave on top 16 – 14. With 2.9 seconds left on the clock, Dylan Phillips put his last kickoff down to the 5 yard line, where Hargrave made the stop after several Cal-Stanford tosses by VES in hopes of keeping the play alive.

Overall, the tigers came together and played their best game of the season. Everyone, both on the field and the sideline, kept a positive attitude and cheered the team to victory. I cannot even begin to explain how proud the coaches were after the game.

A special thanks goes out to all of the parents, cadets, faculty, and local spectators who came out to cheer on our team. The parents graciously provided the players with a meal afterwards that was large enough to feed an army. The tigers final game of the season will be at home next Thursday (10-18-07) against the Bulldogs of LCA. Thank you for your continued support throughout the season!

Hargrave Military Academy logo.