2011 -
GAME 4
SAINT JAMES 31,
Ashford 30 (OT) 
ASH
6
0 12
6 | 6
30
STJ
0 10
0 14 | 7
31
SCORING
SUMMARY:
ASH (1) 5:00 L. Williams 3
run
(kick failed)
0 - 6
STJ (2) 7:51 Newton 40
FG
3 - 6
STJ (2) 5:04 Jabour 33 pass
from
Duncan
(Meadows kick) 10 - 6
ASH (3) 8:23 L. Williams 81
run
(pass
failed) 10 - 12
ASH (3) 1:29 D. Williams 9
run
(run failed) 10 - 18
STJ (4) 10:35 Litchfield 34 pass
from Duncan
(run failed) 16 - 18
ASH (4) 3:29 Snell 4
run
(kick failed)
16 - 24
STJ (4) 1:07 Jabour 24 pass
from
Duncan
(Duncan run) 24 - 24
ASH (OT 1) L. Williams 1
run
(run failed) 24 - 30
STJ (OT 1) Duncan 10
run
(Newton kick) 31 - 30
September 16, 2011.
Carlisle Field Game Conditions: Partly /
mostly cloudy, breezy Game Temperature:
74 Wind ENE 10 - 15
Saint James converted several amazing plays en route to a C.J.
Duncan touchdown pass and two point conversion run with 67 seconds
remaining in regulation to tie up what seemed to be a sure Yellow
Jacket victory. Duncan was the star of overtime as well as
he sacked the Ashford quarterback on their overtime touchdown two
point conversion attempt and scored himself on the first Trojan
overtime play, leading up to Riley Newton's extra point kick to
win an unbelievably thrilling ballgame as Saint James upset the
visiting Ashford Jackets 31 - 30.
Ashford used exactly the first seven minutes of the game to score
first. After an endzone kickoff, Ladarion Williams began his
workhorse night for the Jackets. By the end of the night he
had three touchdowns and 197 yards rushing on 20 carries. He
split up the duties on the first drive with Devonta Williams,
Kayon Wilson, and quarterback Octavius Snell, who combined for 180
rushing yards themselves in the game. Snell's keeper of 23
yards was the longest rush on the initial drive, but it was
Ladarion from 3 yards out who scored the initial touchdown.
Ashford's inability to convert extra points would indeed prove
fatal, as the first extra point kick attempt was shanked wide
left, but the Jackets were up 6 - 0 midway through the opening
quarter.
The Trojans drove as close as the Jacket 33, using up most of the
remaining first quarter time, before a fourth down sack turned the
ball back over to Ashford. A costly block in the back
penalty slowed the Jackets, and Saint James downed a short punt at
the Ashford 48. Duncan picked up 31 yards on his longest
carry of the evening, but several plays later the drive
stalled. With a breeze behind his back, Riley Newton drilled
a 40 yard field goal which probably didn't need the assist from
the moving air, and Saint James had cut the lead in half midway
through the second quarter in a very quickly moving game.
After an endzone kickoff, Ashford benefited from Saint James
having 12 men on the field several plays later on a punt attempt,
and then opted to try for the first down with less than a yard to
go. They succeeded, but on the next play a fumbled snap was
recovered by Saint James at the Jacket 28. After an illegal
procedure penalty, Duncan threaded a pass very neatly to Jake
Jabour who caught it just entering the endzone for a touchdown,
almost duplicating a touchdown pass he had caught two weeks prior
against Straughn. Austin Meadows did the honors with the
extra point, and the Trojans had their first lead of the evening
at 10 - 6.
Saint James was planning on almost three scores back to back as
Ashford fumbled on the first play following another endzone
kickoff. Three plays netted no yards, but Ashford encroached
on fourth down moving the ball to the Jacket 16. From there,
Newton tried another field goal, but it was barely tipped by an
onrushing defender and came up just short and maybe just a bit
wide anyway. The Jackets drove down the field in an attempt
to retake the lead before halftime, and very nearly
succeeded. A 24 yard run by Devonta Williams after a
quarterback sack gave Ashford first down as the Trojan 35.
Snell's 15 yard keeper on the next play and his 7 yard pass
completion to Gavin Duncan moved the ball to the Trojan 13.
After downing the ball to stop the clock and an incomplete pass,
Ashford had fourth down from the 13. Snell fired a pass to
the far sideline which was caught past the goal line, but the
receiver was judged out of bounds negating the touchdown.
Saint James ran out the final play of the first half and preserved
their 10 - 6 lead.
The Trojans began moving the ball again to start the third
quarter. A nifty 46 yard catch and run by Frank Moody
advanced the ball down to the Trojan 33. However, a few
plays later, a Duncan pass was intercepted by the opposing
quarterback Snell, playing as a defensive back. Fortunately
he was on one knee as he caught the overthrown ball because it
appeared he could have easily run the interception back 81 yards
for a touchdown. It didn't matter. On the next play,
Ladarion Williams took a handoff up the middle, spun several times
eluding what appeared to be a number of sure Trojan tacklers, and
he burst into the secondary and could not be caught for an 81 yard
touchdown run and an abrupt momentum swing. The Jackets
attempted a two point conversion pass, and Snell was on the money
with the lob toss, but the wide open receiver could not hold on
thus negating the extra points. However, Ashford had
regained a two point lead at 12 - 10.
Not much positive happened for Saint James on their next drive,
until Wilson Adams' punt traveled all the way to the Jacket
11. Frighteningly, it appeared Kayon Wilson was going to
better Williams' effort on the very next play as he broke loose
and seemed to be headed for an 89 yard touchdown run.
However, last chance Jake Jabour grabbed hold desperately and
pulled down Wilson possibly by the horsecollar. Fifteen
yards were added to the long run and quickly Ashford was again in
Saint James territory. Snell's longest pass play of the
night to Devonta Williams was negated in part by a block in the
back penalty, but consecutive runs of 6, 5, 6, 7, 6, and 9
resembled the opening game drive, and Devonta Williams' 9 yard run
was into the endzone. Once again Ashford tried a two point
conversion but Ladarion was stuffed at the line of scrimmage,
keeping the game margin at one possession, 18 - 10.
After a rude awakening on the Saint James bench by some irate
coaches (putting it nicely), the Trojan offense responded.
Frank Moody had his longest carry of the night, an 18 yarder, and
Duncan completed a 21 yard pass to Haynes Litchfield on the
opening play of the fourth quarter. Despite a holding
penalty several plays later, another one may have been overlooked
on a play where Litchfield again was the target of a Duncan toss
and run, and 34 yards later Saint James was in the endzone.
The Trojans tried for two, but a late pitch went high and
backwards and the two point conversion failed, yet Saint James
trailed only 18 - 16 with nearly the entire fourth quarter
remaining.
Unfortunately, Saint James was kicking into the wind in the fourth
quarter, and the kickoff came up two yards short of the goal
line. Snell nearly went 98 yards on the return, but was
stopped primarily by the kicker Newton at the Trojan 31, a 67 yard
return nevertheless. Ashford picked up nine yards on three
plays, but the Trojan defense tightened up as they had not all
night and stuffed Ladarion Williams for a no gain, his only such
non-positive yardage effort of the evening, on fourth down.
However, three plays netted a minus three yards, and despite a
fine punt by Wilson Adams, it was returned by Snell from the
Jackets 45 to the Trojan 16. Six plays and an amazing 3:20
off the clock later, Snell scored on a keeper from four yards out
to put the lead at 24 - 16. An extra point would have made
the margin 9 with only 3½ minutes remaining, but the Trojan
pressure forced the kick to go almost straight up and land in the
endzone short of the crossbar, traveling that far thanks in most
part to the breeze. Ashford still was ahead 24 - 16 and time
was short.
More kicking problems plagued the Jackets as the ensuing kickoff
went out of bounds and Saint James took over on the 35 with no
time expiring. Adams caught an 18 yard pass on third down to
extend the drive, but a long catch by Litchfield was negated
because Duncan had just crossed the line of scrimmage on his
pass. However, Moody scrambled to get open and earned the
first down on the next play to the Ashford 37. After an
incomplete pass, a small sack, and a 3 yard run, the Trojans were
down to their last chance and called their final time out.
On fourth and 8 from the 35, Duncan niftily avoided pressure and
found Jake Jabour open for an 11 yard completion and drive
continuation. After a first down incompletion, Duncan looked
for Jabour again and nailed him on the far side of the endzone for
a great 24 yard touchdown combination. Ashford used their
last time out to plan a defense against an upcoming two point
conversion as the Trojans now trailed only 24 - 22. Most
everyone was looking for Duncan to roll out to one side or the
other and seek a receiver, but he took the ball down himself and
twisted untouched up the middle for the conversion and a vocal
eruption on the Saint James side of the field.
However, another kickoff was necessary with 67 seconds remaining
and kick returns had been some of the best second half offense for
the Jackets. Austin Meadows was brought in and he kicked the
ball high and short toward Snell. He was tackled at the 33,
and with no time outs remaining, the Jackets played it safe and
awaited overtime, a fate Saint James could only have hoped for
minutes earlier.
The Trojans won the key overtime coin toss and elected to play
defense first. Ashford chose to play with the wind headed
toward the south endzone. On first down, Ladarion Williams
tore off left end for an easy touchdown. However, two things
happened on that play. First, an interior lineman appeared
to have false started, but was not whistled down, which would have
prevented the play from taking place. Another lineman was
whistled for a holding penalty at the line of scrimmage on the
touchdown which really would have seemed to benefit the
Trojans. The Jackets were marched back to the 20 yard line
with a first and goal. Williams tried exactly the same play
on the next first down, and came up just about 2 feet short of
being rewarded with a 20 yard touchdown in overtime.
However, he did score on the next play and Ashford was up by
6. The Jackets suspected another kick attempt was futile, so
after their overtime timeout they opted for another two point
conversion. This time, though, Saint James snuck in Duncan
on defense and he blasted threw the line sacking Snell on what
seemed to be a very dubious passing call before he had a chance to
scope out any potential receiver. The conversion failed, and
it was the Trojans' turn to attack.
Saint James had not won an overtime game since 1995. Sixteen
years. Before some of the current players were even
born. After falling behind in the first overtime, it didn't
take long at all for Saint James to seal the deal. On what
appeared to be exactly the same play called as the previous two
point conversion, Duncan dropped back a step and then charged into
the line off right tackle. He went virtually untouched again
into the endzone, this time for the touchdown. Saint James
then used their overtime timeout to set up a potential game
winning extra point. Panic set in when the Trojans were
almost unable to get a lineman into position before the 25 second
clock ran out. Somehow they did, and after a slightly high
snap, Riley Newton kicked the biggest extra point of his Trojan
career for the thrilling 31 - 30 overtime victory. The
Trojans were now 2 - 1 in a region where some predictors had them
tagged as 0 - 3 by this stage. Yet the Trojans prevailed,
earning a week off region play and a chance to defeat Vaughn Road
rival Montgomery Academy in their 2011 Homecoming Game the
following week.
GAME FOUR SIDELINE STATISTICS
SAINT JAMES RUSHING 29
attempts 63 yards 1 TD (2.17 yards per carry)
5 Duncan 18
/ 48 (1 TD)
20
Moody 6
/ 15
36 Cherry
4 /
5
30
Jabour
1 / - 5
PASSING
11 completions 21 attempts 1 INT 228
yards 3 TDs (3 sacks of, - 14 yards)
5
Duncan 11 - 21 -
1 228 yards 3 TDs (3 sacks, - 14)
RECEIVING
27 Litchfield 3
/ 71 (1 TD) 30
Jabour 3 / 68 (2
TDs)
20 Moody 2 /
60
2
Adams 3
/ 29
TOTAL
YARDS: 291
KICKS:
XP 2 / 2
FG
1 / 2 (40 made, 32 missed)
2
POINT CONVERSIONS: 1 / 2
KICKOFFS:
5
(EZ,EZ,EZ,58,44)
KO RETURNS: 4 (22,10,17,8)
PUNTS: 2 (47,36)
PUNT RETURNS: 0
FIRST
DOWNS: 12 (3 rushing, 9 passing)
FUMBLES:
2, lost 0
TURNOVER
MARGIN: + 1
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 7
PENALTIES:
8 / 55 yards
TIME
OF POSSESSION: 19:56
ASHFORD RUSHING
53 attempts 377 yards 5 TDs (7.11 per
carry) (1 Ladarion Williams 20/197)
PASSING
3 completions 5 attempts 0 INTs 22
yards 0 TDs (2 sacks of, - 15 yards)
TOTAL
YARDS: 399
KICKS: XP 0 /
2
FG
0 / 0
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 3
KICKOFFS: 5 (48,44,39,34,OB)
PUNTS: 1 (23)
KO
RETURNS: 2 (67,17)
PUNT RETURNS: 1 (39)
INTERCEPTION
RETURNS: 1 (0)
FIRST
DOWNS: 17 (17 rushing)
FUMBLES:
5, lost 2
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: 6
PENALTIES:
8 / 57 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION:
28:04
RETURN
TO THE SAINT JAMES FOOTBALL 2011 HOMEPAGE