THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9411300120
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 29 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Sports Editor's Notebook
SOURCE: Julie Goodrich
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
The ball hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, but could only have been a few seconds.
It spiraled into the end zone, tailing away from its intended target.
For Deep Creek, the season had come down to one impossible catch.
Impossible? Make that improbable.
When the ball left the fingertips of quarterback Arnie Powell, it was the last dying gasp of a team watching its undefeated season fall by the wayside. In Powell's mind, the pass was something of a prayer.
Make that a prayer answered.
In the end, Powell put the ball right on the numbers. OK, so those numbers happened to be about 3 feet off the ground on Dee Harrell's fully outstretched body.
For the Hornets, it couldn't have been prettier.
When Harrell landed in the right corner of the end zone, the ball popped loose and rolled meekly out of bounds. No catch? Hardly.
The referee's arms were raised to the sky before anyone on the Hampton sidelines had the chance to squawk.
Close the books. Deep Creek wins a thriller over the Crabbers, 48-42, in perhaps the greatest game in the school's history.
Deep Creek, meet the state semifinals. State, this is The Creek.
A word of warning to E.C. Glass, the Hornets' opponent on Saturday - don't turn your back, don't let your guard down, and never, ever, count Deep Creek out.
Sometimes when you're watching a sports event, whether at home or in the stands, the action is so breathtaking that you know it's something you'll remember and talk about for the rest of your life.
Such was the game between Deep Creek and Hampton, and there will probably never be another one quite like it.
This was the first game I had the chance to watch from the sidelines. Normally I'm up in the pressbox, where it's easier to spread out and compile stats as well as a running play-by-play.
But with a game of this magnitude, the paper sent two writers. I was assigned the sidebar, which is a feature that runs alongside the game story. Paul White would be doing the stats, which freed me to roam.
It's a totally different feeling. Obviously, the action is closer. The hits seem harder, especially when you hear and see, five feet away, helmet meeting helmet.
Or when you watch lineman Vernon Boone, a Hampton-seeking missile, tackle a runner with such force that you can actually hear the poor boy getting the air knocked out of him.
There's no way to describe all the big plays. Hampton would score, and Deep Creek would answer. The Crabbers' freshman phenom quarterback, Ronald Curry, would come up with a big play, and the Hornets would come back on the next possession and do the same.
Certain series do stand out, like the Deep Creek sandwich defensive backs Torrey Wilson and Harrell made out of receiver Noell Rainey in the second quarter. Rainey coughed up the ball to Harrell, and on the Hornets' first play from scrimmage, Harrell swept right and sprinted down the field for a 50-yard touchdown and a 14-7 Deep Creek lead.
In a bit of foreshadowing, the Hornets showed they were a quick-strike team at the end of the first half. Powell had just a minute to work with, but the sophomore needed just a few seconds, hitting Jason Waters with a perfect spiral over two Hampton defenders for a 59-yard touchdown pass to give Deep Creek a 21-20 lead at the break.
The third quarter was more of the same. The Hornets would score, Hampton would counter. The Crabbers, no strangers to big plays themselves, got a 61-yard touchdown pass on a Curry-to-Ahmad Hawkins connection.
If the game was a classic for the first three quarters, the fourth quarter was good enough to be bottled up and stored in a time capsule.
Deon Dyer had scored for Deep Creek to give the Hornets a 41-34 lead with a little over seven minutes left to play. I was running around trying to decide who to feature in the sidebar.
I asked Paul if he thought I should do Powell or Harrell (I had considered Dyer, who had three touchdowns, until I realized that Dyer was just being Dyer) if the score stood up.
Paul, who had seen Hampton's win over Booker T. Washington a week earlier, assured me that ``this won't stand up.''
There were a few times during the Crabbers drive that it looked like a 41-34 lead would stand up. But Curry, who will be an unholy terror when he's a senior, came up big again and again.
On third and seven, he rushed for seven yards. On third and 16, he runs for 15 yards to give Hampton a short fourth-down play.
Curry wasn't finished. After pitching out to Chris Ricks for an 8-yard gain on fourth and 5, Curry converted on third and 13 with a 14-yard pass to put Hampton on Deep Creek's 8.
On the next play, Wes Cochran came ever so close to sacking Curry for a 7-yard loss, but Curry found Rainey in the end zone for the touchdown that cut the Hornets' lead to 41-40.
A two-point conversion run by Ricks gave Hampton a 42-41 lead with 1:03 left to play.
But wait. One minute for Deep Creek to work with. Doesn't this sound familiar?
By the time Powell went into the huddle, the clock was down to 46 seconds.
Powell, who had been a capable if not spectacular quarterback during the season, was the man of the hour.
Deep Creek had to throw.
It sounds a bit trite to say that a guy who was 11-0 as a starter came of age in that moment. But if anyone had doubts about Powell before that drive, he destroyed them.
First it was a 22-yard completion to Waters, followed right up with a 23-yard strike to Harrell that put Deep Creek at the Hampton 16.
Powell was dropped for a sack, losing six yards. Then an incompletion.Third down and 16. Nine seconds left.
Nine seconds. Plenty of time for a field goal.
But it wasn't kicker Joe Verdi that took the field.
Powell took the snap and dropped back to pass. At 6-4, he could see Harrell running loose towards the end zone.
Before you knew it, Harrell was airborne, arms outstretched. The ball tagged him in the upper chest, and Harrell held on long enough to send Deep Creek to its first state semifinal.
Pandemonium. On the sidelines, and in the stands. On both sides. Players from both teams flung themselves to the ground - Hampton dejected, Deep Creek jubilant.
There were over 7,000 people who experienced that game. In 10 years, twice as many will claim to have been there.
It was one of those rare games that stays with you forever. We were privileged to be taken along for the ride. by CNB