BY TAFT COGHILL JR. / THE FREE LANCE-STAR
A defensive touchdown sealed a thrilling win for the Massaponax football team on a night when offensive fireworks were on display throughout.
Trajan Anderson’s 15-yard interception return with 1:22 remaining capped the Panthers’ wild 51–42 victory over visiting Colonial Forge on Friday night.
Eagles’ senior quarterback Jamal Brown was under heavy pressure from Massaponax defensive lineman Conlan Beaver, and Anderson was the beneficiary.
“He was rolling out when Conlan was pressuring him and I just rolled to the quarterback,” Anderson said. “He just threw up a duck and I just came up on it.”
The victory was the fourth straight to open the season for the Panthers (4–0). Colonial Forge (1–3) suffered its second straight shootout loss. The Eagles dropped a 56–41 contest at Hermitage last Friday.
After the game, Eagles head coach Bill Brown told Massaponax coach Eric Ludden how impressed he is that the Panthers lost more than 20 seniors from last season’s 12–1 team and haven’t experienced any drop-off.
“The kids, they’re turning out to be a pretty resilient bunch,” Ludden said. “I didn’t anticipate that with a lot of new guys this year.”
Ludden did anticipate running the triple-option offense, the staple of Massaponax’s success over the years.
And the trio of quarterback Joey Benden, fullback Bo Fields and running back C.J. Lewis are operating it to near perfection.
Fields rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns against the Eagles, while Benden contributed 120 rushing yards and four total touchdowns (three rushing, one passing). Lewis added 83 total yards (66 rushing, 17 receiving).
It was Fields’ 64-yard touchdown burst with the first-half clock expiring that gave the Panthers a 30–20 lead at intermission.
“That was the best feeling in the world,” Fields said of the jaw-dropping play.
Fields and Ludden said they’ve never experienced a run like that to end the half as the Panthers were seemingly set to run out the clock.
But Benden called an audible and the Eagles were left out of position.
“We ran two different defenses at one time,” Brown said. “The fullback went in the A gap and we had zero people in the A gap because half of our defense ran a slant one way and the other half ran the slant the opposite way and they ran right up the middle.”
It was another frustrating sequence for Brown, who knew his team had a rough schedule in its first four games but didn’t envision three losses.
Brown said he believes his defense is better than the unit that has surrendered 107 points in back-to-back defeats, so he’s more flustered by miscues like the roughing the punter penalty that kept a Massaponax drive alive and the snap over the punter’s head that set up another Panthers’ score.
“Some of our special teams play is poor,” Brown said. “That’s what’s happening to us game after game. I’m more concerned about those kinds of things than I am our record.”
The Eagles did get 155 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Brown. Senior running back Remone Miller added 108 yards on the ground and three scores.
“That was just a very tough offensive team to stop,” Ludden said. “I can’t believe they’re a 1–3 team because they’re not a 1–3 team. They’ve got a lot of weapons and we made certain plays when we had to.”
The Panthers went ahead 44–27 with 9:53 left in the game on Benden’s 1-yard touchdown run. But the Eagles scored the next 15 points on two touchdown runs by Miller to cut their deficit to 44–42 with 4:14 remaining.
The Eagles forced a Massaponax punt and took over at their own 15-yard line with 2:05 remaining and a chance to complete a comeback.
Anderson said he sensed the Panthers needed a big play to seal the win because Colonial Forge seemed to be able to score at will.
He and Beaver delivered.
“It’s just a surreal feeling,” Anderson said. “The defense stepped up. Basically it wasn’t even me. It was the d-line that got the pressure and I just made the play.”
Massaponax visits Franklin County next Friday. Colonial Forge hosts Patrick Henry–Roanoke.
| Colonial Forge | 7 | 13 | 7 | 15 | 42 |
| Massaponax | 3 | 27 | 7 | 14 | 51 |
First Quarter
Ma-J. Hildebrand 27-yard field goal
CF-J. Brown 13-yard run (J. Redding kick)
Second Quarter
Ma-B. Fields 34-yard run (J. Hildebrand kick)
CF-R. Miller 3-yard run (kick failed)
Ma-J. Benden 64-yard run (J. Hildebrand kick)
Ma-J. Benden 8-yard run (kick failed)
CF-J. Miller 25-yard pass from J. Brown (J. Redding kick)
Ma-B. Fields 64-yard run (J. Hildebrand kick)
Third Quarter
CF-J. Brown 1-yard run (J. Redding kick)
Ma-T. Medina 13-yard pass from J. Benden (J. Hildebrand kick)
Fourth Quarter
Ma-J. Benden 1-yard run (J. Hildebrand kick)
CF-R. Miller 3-yard run (J. Brown 2-pt run)
CF-R. Miller 6-yard run (J. Redding kick)
Ma-T. Anderson 15-yard interception (J. Hildebrand kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
| | CF | Ma |
| First downs | 18 | 18 |
| Rushing yardage | 53-287 | 47-353 |
| Passing yardage | 95 | 30 |
| Passes | 5-13-3 | 3-6-1 |
| Punts-Avg. | 1-34 | 1-34 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 4-2 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-22 | 5-20 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Massaponax—Bo Fields 15-165, 2TD; Joey Benden 17-120, 3TD; C.J. Lewis 13-66; Marcus Mudd 1-7; Trey Watkins 1-(-5). Colonial Forge—Jamal Brown 23-155, 2TD; Remone Miller 19-108, 3TD; Justin Brown 3-27; Joe’l Miller 3-26; Rohand Martin 2-4; Gary Jennings 2-(-2); Team team 1-(-31).
Passing: Massaponax—Joey Benden 3-6-1 30, TD. Colonial Forge—Jamal Brown 5-13-3 95, TD.
Receiving: Massaponax—C.J. Lewis 2-17; Tristen Medina 1-13, TD. Colonial Forge—Joe’l Miller 2-34, TD; Gary Jennings 1-23; Remone Miller 1-14.
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
tcoghill@freelancestar.com
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