by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
At 1-2, Hermitage went into playoff mode.
In a ridiculously tough Division 6, the Panthers knew the Colonial District title was the only key to get to the playoffs.
Six straight wins later, including Friday night’s pivotal 14-7 victory
over Deep Run, has Hermitage sitting pretty with one contest remaining,
a visit from Patrick Henry.
“In Division 6 you have to win each game,” Hermitage coach Patrick Kane said referring to Hermitage’s playoff mode for the past six weeks. “So that’s nothing different.
“In Division 6 you have to win your district, so we take each game very seriously.”
Serious was Kane’s thought of quarterback Michael Johnson‘s ankle injury. At halftime, he didn’t know how much the senior could go.
He found out how much with the game knotted at 7 with 1:17 remaining.
After Deep Run, ranked second in the latest DigitalSports Top 10, missed a potential game-winning field goal, Johnson’s ankle looked better than new.
He ran 14 yards for a first down. No. 7 Hermitage hurried to the line and Johnson raced 50 yards up the gut as Antone Exum saved a TD – for just one play.
“He’s a fast, strong kid,” Deep Run coach Greg Kendall said of
Johnson, who ran for 125 yards on 18 totes. “He’s a very dynamic
player. He was hard to contain. We did a pretty good job most of the
night. I wish we had gotten him on that last one that got them down
there in field position.”
That’s when Johnson handed off to Easton Gordon (15 carries, 101
yards, two TDs). He bolted around the left end and beat Deep Run to the
pylon, shocking most of the capacity crowd, exciting the rest.
It was an unbelievable development in such a defensive battle.
One of the stars was Hermitage sophomore linebacker Curtis Grant.
The physical phenom racked up 22 tackles helping contain Deep Run’s potent trio of Exum (16 carries, 77 yards, TD), Jordan Love (13 carries, 49 yards) and Dallas Simmons (10 carries, 45 yards).
Hermitage’s running game was bottled up in a similar fashion in a
scoreless first half. Then Gordon busted a 30-yard TD run on
Hermitage’s first possession of the second half.
Stephen Reynolds‘ extra-point made it 7-0. Deep Run responded converting two fourth downs before Exum hit Parker Tuck for 16 yards on third down.
Then Exum scored from four yards out, setting up Cody Harless‘ tying extra point and Johnson and Gordon’s heroics.
Hermitage 0 0 7 7 – 14
Deep Run 0 0 0 7 – 7
H – Gordon 30 run (Reynolds kick)
DR – Exum 4 run (Harless kick)
H – Gordon 15 run (Reynolds kick)
Hermitage – Johnson 18 carries, 125 yards, Gordon 15-101; Deep Run – Exum 16-77, Love 13-49, Simmons 10-45
Hermitage – Johnson 2 completions, 5 attempts, 1 interception, 19 yards; Deep Run – Exum 4-15-1-32; ChrCopeland 1-1-0-(2)
Hermitage – Mandela Stephens 1 reception, 12 yards, Theron Norman 1-6; Deep Run – Tuck 2-23, Love 1-5, Copeland 1-4, Exum 1-(2)
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