THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300728
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
LENGTH: 79 lines
VIRGINIA BEACH - With a 20-13 season-opening victory over Great Bridge Thursday, the Kellam football team overcame both its opponent and, in many ways, itself.
Entering the game with a 1-29 record under coach Chris Worst, the Knights had to defeat the stigma of losing as much as anything. And a never-say-die Wildcats team made that extremely tough.
``I have to give a lot of credit to Great Bridge, they never gave up,'' Worst said. ``But we didn't ever give up either. That's what I'm proud about.''
Kellam muddled through 85 yards in penalties and five fumbles - in which three were recovered by Great Bridge - and almost blew a 20-7 halftime lead.
Towards the end of the game, it appeared neither team wanted to win, as both committed several drive-killing turnovers. The final one came with the Wildcats on the move with 2:33 left to play. But with 19 seconds left, Kellam's Cortney Dailey intercepted a Chris Duda pass to Chemonz Olds on the Kellam 35 and ran it back to the Great Bridge 14 - where Kellam killed the clock on one down.
Olds and Duda had teamed up on a 24-yard touchdown completion with 5:20 left in the third to close the gap to 20-13.
Kellam had taken its lead on a 5-yard run by quarterback Brandon DeGraff, a 29-yard toss from DeGraaf to Jonathan Temple and an 11-yard touchdown throw from Jason McCartney to Omar Hinto on a faked field goal with 1.6 seconds left in the second quarter.
Great Bridge opened the scoring when Johnny Hall went in from the 5 early in the first.
West Virginia senior transfer Erick Pryor of Kellam was the game's leading rusher with 126 yards on 21 carries.
LEE TOLLIVER Nansemond-Suffolk flattens Windsor 25-0
VIRGINIA BEACH - Running back Leroy Ellsworth took a pitch 59 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown to break a 7-7 tie and propel Cox to a 21-7 victory over Granby Thursday night in the season opener for both schools.
The scoring play was part of a huge second half for Ellsworth, who ran for 116 yards on 11 carries in the final 24 minutes after getting just 14 yards on four carries in the first half.
Cox got off to a great start when Shawn Gibbs took the opening kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown. Granby answered with a six-play, 68-yard drive which culminated when quarterback Dexter Reid connected with D.J. Alexander for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
The Comets appeared set to take the lead late in the third quarter, as they marched from their own 29 to the Cox 20. But a motion penalty on fourth and inches stalled their momentum, and a subsequent fourth-and-five pass fell incomplete.
After Ellsworth broke the 7-7 tie, the Falcons capped the scoring on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Ashkon Razavi to Latane Meade with 1:04 remaining.
- REPORTED BY
CHARLIE BAUMGARTNER Nansemond-Suffolk flattens Windsor 25-0
SUFFOLK - Domination is the best and only way to describe Nansemond-Suffolk Academy's 25-0 victory over Windsor Thursday evening.
The Saints ran over Windsor with a balanced ground attack and then stymied the Dukes offense en route to the season-opening victory at Art Jones Stadium.
Senior Sidney Hazelwood had only one carry in the first half but finished with 14 carries for 58 yards.
Hazelwood's performance was appreciated but not needed by the Saints. Sophomore running back Warren Carroll gave N-SA all the offense it needed on two runs. On third-and-2 from Windsor's 45-yard line, Carroll went ahead, turned right and then raced down the sideline for a touchdown to put the Saints ahead 6-0 midway through the second quarter.
On a third down play in the fourth quarter Carroll broke through the line of scrimmage and raced 92 yards with 6:54 left in the game to score N-SA's final touchdown of the night. Carroll, who only had one second-half carry, finished with 136 yards on five carries.
The Saints defense held Windsor to 51 total yards and just four first downs.
JAMES C. BLACK by CNB