By Richard Carrier
Contributing Writer

For the first 4 1/2 minutes of last Friday’s VIS Division 4 state championship game between Blessed Sacrament Huguenot and Greenbrier Christian, it appeared that the Knights were going to dominate their guests from Chesapeake.

Referring to scouting films, BSH coach Mike Henderson put his “hands team” on the field for the opening kickoff. The Gators’ onside kick dropped into the hands of 6-3 Ethan Sill and the senior tight end strode 52 yards down the right sideline to score. With only eight seconds gone, Justin Cary’s kick was good and the Knights already led 7-0.

After the BSH defense forced a Greenbrier punt, the Knights’ offense turned to its bread-and-butter: senior Nathaniel Settle running left behind classmates Augie Conte and T.J. Dobrucky. Settle slid through the hole, shouldered through two tackles, cut to his right and pulled away from the Gators secondary for a 61-yard touchdown run.

After a Greenbrier penalty on the extra-point, Henderson called for a two-point conversion and Jerome Robinson delivered. At the 7:34 mark of the first quarter, BSH led 15-0 and was well on the way to an unprecedented third consecutive state championship.

Perhaps.

“They are a very good team—in fact, the best all-around team we’ve played,” Henderson had said prior to the game. “Defensively, they are going to put nine in the box and dare you to throw it. So … we’ll see.”

After the Knights’ early success, Henderson’s words quickly became prophetic. The Gators shook off their slow start, loaded up at the line of scrimmage to control the powerful BSH running game and came within a foot of scoring the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

Two huge, late defensive plays and a gritty four-yard run by Settle on the final play of the game preserved an 18-14 win for Blessed Sacrament Huguenot, which kept the VIS Division 4 championship trophy in Powhatan for the third consecutive season.

Trailing 18-0 after Cary’s 30-yard field goal, which was set by Sam Drewicz’s interception and 33-yard return, Greenbrier began its comeback with less than three minutes left in the first half.

Starting from midfield, the Gators rode the strong right arm of Nick Jesse (11 for 25, 155 yards, 2 TDs) all the way to the BSH 9-yard line. Jesse lobbed the ball to a double-covered Bryce Myers in the back of the end zone, but as he battled for the ball with Drewicz and James Taylor, it deflected right to Greenbrier’s Josh Miller for a touchdown. Jesse added a two-point run and BSH led 18-8 at halftime.

Both teams opened the second half with three-and-outs. On the third series, the Gators took over at their 44. Jesse’s 27-yard keeper gave Greenbrier a first down at the BSH 22. From there, his high-arching pass allowed Myers to rise up over the BSH secondary and come down with six points in the left corner of the end zone. The two-point try failed, but with only 6:46 gone in the third quarter, the Knights’ lead had been shaved to four points and it was definitely “game on.”

Unable to run the ball against Greenbrier’s nine-man front, BSH went three-and-out on its next two possessions before the visiting Gators launched what looked like a state championship-winning drive.

Moving methodically downfield and aided by two major penalties, Greenbrier ultimately found itself with first-and-goal from the 7. T.J. Reynard started with a five-yard plunge up the gut. After the Knights jumped offsides, moving the Gators one yard closer to the go-ahead score, Jesse’s QB sneak was stopped inches short of the end zone.

Looking for explosiveness at the point of attack, BSH defensive coordinator Blake Derby inserted Robinson at nose tackle. The senior, who played defensive end at Goochland before transferring to BSH, had played exclusively in the secondary for the Knights.

“I’d never played nose tackle before,” Robinson said.

On third down, just as the ball was snapped, the BSH defensive line pushed Greenbrier’s center back into Jesse, who couldn’t handle the exchange. Settle dove on the loose ball, and with 8:17 left in the contest, the Knights owned the ball at their 4.
It might just as well have been posted in three-foot tall letters on the scoreboard, because to everyone watching, it was immediately obvious what BSH had planned.

“We were going to be who we are,” Henderson said.

“And do what we do,” added offensive line coach Brice Fritts added.

The Knights were going to run. And run behind Dobrucky and Conte.

Settle bulled out to the 10, then dragged three clutching tacklers for six more. Robinson tried the left side for two, then Settle cut off of Dobrucky for four more and another first down at the 30.

Settle burrowed behind Stephan Barham for five yards before a mishandled snap left QB Brian Clarke with a two-yard loss. Running much bigger than his size, Settle bulled out to the 37.

With 3:50 remaining, and facing a fourth and three, Coach Henderson considered punting but elected to go for the first down.

“I wanted to end the game right there,” he said.

Settle burrowed through three tacklers, but came up one yard short. Greenbrier had the ball and needed only 39 yards to take the lead.

With Drewicz and Sill defending, Jesse’s first-down pass fell incomplete. A bad snap cost the Gators three yards, then Jesse’s third-down pass got 10 yards back. On fourth and three, Reynard pinballed off two BSH tacklers before Evola finally drove him to the turf. The chains came out and the lead stick showed a gap of three inches between it and the nose of the ball.

But the Knights still had to run 2:14 off the clock. Once again, Henderson was going to trust his running game.

With Greenbrier’s defense packed in tightly to stop him, Settle ran left behind Conte and Dobrucky and picked up nine yards on three carries.

Only 10 seconds remained when Henderson called timeout and walked onto the field to discuss the final play with his offense. There was never a doubt in his mind what the Knights were going to do.

Running left yet again on the final carry of his high school football career, Settle grinded for four yards and a first down that sealed the victory. The clock expired and the home crowd roared as fireworks signalled the start of another state championship celebration.

“All I could think about was the 16 weeks of hard work,” Settle said. “We couldn’t stop. We just had to punch it out.”