Crimson Wave Rolls Over Colonials
By DAVID BREIDENBACH, Correspondent
Oct 2, 2012, 17:17
Colonial Heights senior Deonte Jenkins (right) tries to stiffarm Petersburg sophomore Khalid Morris in a Central District game on Friday. The Crimson Wave won 18-9 (photo by David Breidenbach).
COL. HEIGHTS — If the Colonial Heights High School football team is going to get a victory this year, it will have to do something it hasn’t done in a few years: win a Central District game.
After dropping three non-district contests — two in which they had the lead — the Colonials suffered another come-from-behind loss on Friday, this time to visiting Petersburg.
The Crimson Wave scored 12 second-half points and turned a 9-6 deficit into an 18-9 victory for their second win of the season.
Petersburg quarterback Levi Jones led the comeback by scoring on a one-yard dive in the third quarter and finding Quadree Walker on 27-yard bomb to make it a two-score affair with little time to play.
“We really didn’t come out well,” said Petersburg coach Joshua Wallace. “We weren’t playing our game and we kind of faltered in the first half. We told them in the second half that we’ve got to start executing, we need to run the ball and do what we do. And they took that to heart.”
Markice Street opened the scoring with a six-yard run in the first quarter. Petersburg got the ball when a Colonials’ drive died on fourth and one from the 10-yard line.
The Colonials gave up a five-yard run to James Dugger followed by a 20-yard run to Street. Petersburg continued to move the ball and worked its way down to the Colonials’ 28-yard line.
That’s when Street took the handoff and bolted 28 yards to open the scoring with 15 seconds left in the quarter.
The Colonials blocked the extra point attempt to keep the score at 6-0. Kevin Loftus nearly scored on the ensuing kickoff, but he was ruled out of bounds at the Petersburg 13. The Colonials could do nothing to advance the ball, and quarterback Brian Gwaltney was picked off trying to hit Quainshawn Owens on a fade route in the right corner.
The Crimson Wave ran the ball three times, but could not gain any ground. Opting to punt, the snap went over the punter’s head and out of the end zone for a safety, making the score 6-2.
Colonial Heights fought back on their next series.
The Colonials had a third and five at the Petersburg 14 with eight minutes left in the half. Gwaltney got Petersburg to jump offsides on a hard count, giving the Colonials a prime opportunity to score with first and goal from the nine-yard line.
After a Colonials rushing attempt netted no yards, Petersburg’s defensive line flushed Gwaltney, who was sacked for a 14-yard loss.
Gwaltney made up for it on the next play, a quarterback draw, during which he broke several tackles and was shoved out of bounds at the one-yard line. On fourth and goal from the one, the Colonials opted to run it in. The attempt was stopped just short of the goal line and Petersburg took over on downs.
But the home team would soon get another chance.
Dugger took the initial Petersburg handoff, but nearly lost a fumble after gaining two yards. On second and nine, the Colonials stopped Dugger for a two-yard loss. On third and 11, Jones’ pass attempt hit the ground, bringing up another Petersburg punt out of the end zone.
Colonial Heights started the subsequent drive at the Petersburg 38-yard line. Gwaltney opened things up, hitting Deonte Jenkins with a four-yard pass to the left, and following that with a seven-yard completion to Owens on the right side for a first down.
Hunter Mitchell then gained five to take the ball to the 25-yard line, but lost three on the next play.
Gwaltney had plenty of time as he dropped back for a pass on third and eight. He found Jenkins open on a post pattern up the middle. Jenkins hauled in the pass to give the Colonials an 8-6 lead. Seconds later Paul Baik, kicking in place of injured Kyle Gaskin, connected to push the score to 9-6.
The second half was all Petersburg as Jones ran for a one-yard touchdown and connected with Walker for 27 yards to give the visitors a two-score advantage with less than five minutes to play.
“We let it slip away,” said Colonial Heights coach Remus James. “If we scored the ball when we had our chances and made them continue to play uphill, I feel we would have won. We’ve got to finish the job. We were inside the 20 twice and no points — we can’t have that.
“The bright spot is, we got down there. We’re growing. I keep telling the guys and telling the guys, and you can see that they believe.”
