Blue Ridge was in need of a bounce back after falling to North Cross last week, and with rival St. Anne’s-Belfield heading up the mountain on alumni weekend, the Barons had to be ready.
They were ready.
“Last week we lost but we played really well but we’d been waiting on this game all week,” said Blue Ridge linebacker Eliyyjha Taylor.
It took almost two quarters, but late in the first half, Blue Ridge got rolling and left no doubt, reeling off 33-straight points to roll to a 52-18 victory over the Saints.
“I can’t even say heartbroken, we were devastated (after the North Cross loss),” said Blue Ridge coach Clint Alexander. “We watched the film and realized we left a lot of points on the board and hurt ourselves.”
Blue Ridge finished with 551 yards of total offense, with 400 of that coming on the ground as Terrell rushed for 192 yards and Darius Stafford rushed for 142, giving Blue Ridge a one-two punch on the ground that was hard for the Saints to slow down.
The decisive 33-0 stretch started with an 8-yard TD by Terrell, the bruiser of the tandem, with under three minutes left in the first half. Stafford tacked on a 20-yard score and Terrell sprinted in from 35 yards out to make it 32-10. Then Stafford scooted in again from 18 yards out after a long D’Myo Hunter punt return.
“Last year we didn’t have a lot of numbers but it helps with the offense because we have different people the defense has to key on,” said Blue Ridge running back Malachi Terrell. “The offensive line was doing a great job the whole game, they just kept going out there and doing their thing.”
Terrell averaged 17.5 yards per carry while Stafford posted an 11.8 yard per carry clip. That average helped Blue Ridge stay way ahead of the sticks as they only had to try and convert six third or fourth downs during the game. STAB, by comparison, faced 18 third and fourth down attempts.
“We worked really hard on getting our running game going this week, we changed some things up on the o-line but we have two really special guys, it’s just tough to stop,” Alexander said.
Meanwhile, the Barons’ defense ramped up the pressure on the Saints, attacking the offensive line from every angle with some intense pressure. Talik Montgomery had the lone forced turnover with a second half pick, but the Barons forced STAB to punt several times during that explosive stretch and held the Saints to 267 yards of offense. The Saints managed to hold a massive time of possession advantage, so Blue Ridge continuing to keep STAB out of the endzone despite long stretches on defense was particularly impressive.
“Defense is all about adjustments and they’re really good in the passing game, they get the ball to spots and it’s really hard to defend,” Alexander said. “We had to change some things up.”
Paul Kloberdanz was efficient at quarterback for the Barons, going 11-for-14 for 128 yards and a touchdown. Tristan Fitzpatrick hauled in the scoring toss while Kameron Martin had five catched for 63 yards to lead the Barons’ receivers.
STAB started solidly before the 33-0 run took them completely out of the game. Braden White hauled in a touchdown early in the second quarter and a field goal drive cut the Blue Ridge lead to just 12-10 late in the second quarter.
Freshman Cam Wiliford scored late for the Saints as the ground game got going for STAB in the closing minutes despite injuries piling up on the STAB sideline.
Blue Ridge (4-1) will look to keep things rolling when they head east to play Atlantic Shores on Friday night while STAB (4-2) will look to bounce back when the Saints host Catholic Friday at home.
