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Adjustments Made: Blue Ridge pulls away from STAB in second half

Photo by Bart Isley

Something just wasn’t clicking for Blue Ridge in the first half against St. Anne’s-Belfield. The Barons were up five points on the Saints but they were missing a rhythm offensively while the defense was giving up some monster plays including an 89-yard catch and run by STAB’s Chance Mallory.

 

“STAB put out a great defense, they were gameplanning for us knowing we had players out – they were stacking the box and it was working in the first half,” said Barons’ running back Malachi Terrell.

 

The defense clamped down though and Terrell made sure the script was different in the third quarter and Blue Ridge rolled 53-25 in a must-win game for the Barons’ playoff hopes. 

 

After a kick return set the Saints up for an early third quarter touchdown, Terrell ripped off runs of 64 and 57-yard runs over the left side of the line to take the lead and extend it. 

 

“We knew we could get him going, we just needed to make some tweaks,” said Blue Ridge coach Clint Alexander.

 

Terrell finished with 218 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, averaging 12.8 yards per touch. He was decisive and explosive in the second half, which made a huge difference for the Barons.

 

“He’s just a really talented player and when you give him space he’s gone, he can just shift gears and you can’t catch him,” said Blue Ridge defensive lineman and fullback Cedric Jungmann. “His balance is crazy, you can’t really tackle him.”

 

After those back-to-back Terrell scores, Kamren Martin hauled in his second long touchdown catch of the game when he raced in from 61 yards out. 

 

After another Terrell touchdown to close out the third, the Barons were up 46-19 a nearly complete reversal of STAB’s one-point edge after that early third quarter touchdown from Cortlandt Reidenouer. The Barons’ defense was lights out after that one, holding STAB scoreless until there were just 33 seconds left on the clock. 

 

“We talked about shutting down the short passes and watching out for the big threats,” said Jungmann, a 6-foot-5 junior from Germany. “We just stuffed the line a little more and got more pressure.”

 

While he did a solid job of creating pressure and setting the edge on defense, Jungman also got in on the offensive action with a short touchdown run in the first quarter and a catch on a pop pass late in the first half. The catch was redemption after he dropped an easy one for a potential score in the first quarter.

 

“We talked at the beginning of the year about keeping your head up, don’t get too in the moment so I gave myself 10 seconds to be sad about that play and then I was like I’m going to get the next one,” Jungmann said. “It was actually a tough catch but I got it, with a broken finger.”

 

The return of previously injured Carson Hoewe also helped the Barons who were moving a lot of pieces around because of some injuries and had just four receivers even active. Martin was the standout of that group as the junior hauled in five catches for 139 yards and two scores from quarterback Cam Brewer. Martin’s 48 yard touchdown catch early in the second quarter helped take the top off the STAB defense. 

 

“They showed some guts putting everyone in the box thinking we couldn’t beat them deep and I think we loosened them up on that play,” Alexander said. 

 

Brewer finished 12-for-24 with 175 yards and three touchdowns while also playing a huge role on the back end of the Blue Ridge defense at safety. The Barons’ offense racked up 549 total yards on the night.

 

STAB quarterback Ethan Horner threw the ball 52 times and picked up 319 yards through the air, highlighted by Mallory’s 89-yard jaunt and a late fourth quarter one-handed snag by Austin Williford right in front of the Barons’ bench. But three turnovers and key down down struggles (3-for-15 on third and 1-for-5 on fourth for the night) hampered the Saints’ bid to knock off the Barons.

 

Blue Ridge (4-3) get a huge opportunity to boost their playoff resume Saturday when they host VISAA Division I Fork Union (1-7). STAB (1-6) will close out the season with a pair of home games against tough opponents in Flint Hill and Nansemond Suffolk Academy.   

 

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