NEWPORT NEWS – Quarterback Chase Emmert shook off a first-half injury to lead St. Anne’s-Belfield to a pair of second-half touchdown drives as the Saints avenged an earlier defeat by stopping Hampton Roads Academy 24-20 in high school football Friday night at Lester C. Grace Memorial Field.
Emmert was injured midway through the second quarter after HRA tied the score 8-8. He sat out the rest of the half and the Saints’ first two possessions of the second half. Returning after Jalen Norton’s 65-yard jaunt put HRA on top, Emmert engineered a 67-yard march, all of the yardage coming on the ground, and STAB (4-4) took a 16-14 lead.
HRA (4-5) came right back with a 58-yard drive, duplicating the Saints’ strategy by staying on the ground. Quarterback Kahleef Jimmison dragged tacklers into the end zone from the 5 as the Navigators scored with 46 seconds left in the third quarter. That put his team back on top, 20-16.
Starting from its 22, STAB used 7:08 of clock to tally the winning TD on Emmert’s 6-yard burst.
Both starting quarterbacks scrambled out of danger for TDs in the first half. First, Emmert escaped for a 25-yard score in the opening stanza. Then, it was a dazzling Houdini act by Jimmison for 47 yards midway through the second quarter, tying the count at 8.
HRA’s Jalen Norton led all ball-carriers, collecting 154 yards on 14 runs. Jimmison added 105 yards on 14 carries as the Navigators rushed for 273 yards.
STAB, which lost to HRA two weeks ago, 30-24, in Charlottesville, was paced by Amani Woods, who had 110 yards while toting the pigskin 21 times.
HRA, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, travels to Nansemond-Suffolk Academy to complete its season on Friday night.
Submitted by Alan Hirsch
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