By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Huntington’s Raiders have consistently practiced deploying their “hands team” to defend onside kicks, and it paid off Thursday night.
They’ve also occasionally worked their Victory Formation, and it got put to use, although that was a bit bumpy.
So was Huntington’s first win of the season, 33-28 over Byrd, which is now 0-6 after its second straight last-minute district loss.
There were four lead changes and even more momentum shifts in the District 1-5A contest at Lee Hedges Stadium. It seemed settled with 1:40 left when senior Cayleb Armstrong recovered the Yellow Jackets’ botched reverse pitch at their own 11, and sophomore AJ Johnson roared in on the next snap for a 33-22 lead.
Looked like it was in the bag.
Johnson admitted he thought the Raiders had locked up the back-and-forth battle “probably a couple times,” especially at that point.
But Byrd didn’t wilt. Five snaps later, including a 40-yard Christian Maxie run, the Yellow Jackets got a 2-yard Collin Deere touchdown and the chance to try an onside kick with 44 seconds left.
Raiders’ second-team quarterback Darius Truvillion precisely timed his leap with the high bounce of Nash Alexander’s onside attempt, and cradled the ball to the turf to secure the outcome.
“I just put my life on the line for my team,” said Truvillion, a senior, who evaded any big licks by Byrd defenders as he tucked it away to secure a 1-1 district record, 1-5 overall, for the Raiders.
Huntington ran Victory Formation and drained Byrd’s remaining timeouts, although it wasn’t as smooth as it looked.
“We don’t spend a lot of time on it. It should be pretty understandable,” said winning coach John Simon. “But the whole line was asking ‘so what’s the play’ every time?”
“I’ll give us a B on that,” said sophomore quarterback Brylan Washington.
His 27-yard TD connection on a skinny post with junior Ja’Korion Spencer lifted the Raiders on top to stay with 3:08 remaining, capping a six-play, 83-yard drive into a 26-22 advantage. It was vindication for Spencer, who had dropped a shorter scoring strike a series earlier that would have given Huntington a double-digit lead with under seven minutes showing.
But the combination of dominant play up front on both sides of the ball, and Johnson’s explosive runs, gave the Raiders the winning edge.
“They were more physical than us,” said Byrd coach Stacy Ballew. “They’ve got some good, fast, tough football players. And (Johnson) 7’s good. He’s very, very good.”
He dashed and danced to 203 yards on 30 carries, including first-half touchdowns of 19 and 15 yards along with his difference-making late 11-yarder.
“Oh, without a question, he’s a national running back. He’s gonna be a guy,” said Simon, whose son James was one for Calvary and is now in his second year at Texas. “We kept him healthy through the first five games, but I told him he’s a big boy now. It’s time for us to get on his back and ride.”
“Trust me, this ain’t gonna be my best game,” said Johnson. “I’ve just got to be a dog, just do what my team needs me to do. I mean, it ain’t that much to it.”
Huntington clamped down on Byrd’s triple option running attack. The Jackets didn’t have a first down in the opening 15 minutes and the Jackets’ first two scores, for a 14-13 halftime lead, were rare passes (43 and 23 yards) by tiny (5-4, 114 pounds) quarterback-of-necessity Aden Fullwood, the fifth Jacket to take a varsity snap this season. Maxie only had 31 yards rushing at halftime, but his late 40-yard burst lifted him to his 10th-straight 100-yard total, 128 on 13 carries, leaving him 86 yards shy of the school career mark.
Senior linebacker Brayden Cummings, who delivered nine smashing stops with his 5-6, 165-pound frame, said the Raiders’ game plan was win the man-to-man battles. His huge (300-pound average) defensive front was dominant most of the night.
“Our strategy was to come down hard, make sure we closed out all those guys they have,” he said. “Coach told us, we’ve got a guy, not a gap. That’s how we got the W.”
After they had it secured, they just had to finish. They did, overcoming the confusion of the offensive line, which had Simon and Washington chuckling about the final 44 seconds and three snaps in Victory Formation.
“I guess that comes with us not spending time on it too often,” said the quarterback, “but we’ll be looking to stay in that formation for the next few weeks.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com