JAMES CITY — Down by 15 points in the second quarter, it appeared that the Smithfield Packers had lost the opportunity to state their case to be counted among the top teams in the Bay Rivers District.
Their opponent, Warhill, had run for 167 yards and two touchdowns on their first two possessions and looked invincible in front of their home crowd at Wanner Stadium. Lions quarterback Carson Strickland had both touchdowns and 108 of the yards on the ground.
Smithfield coach Tracey Parker did a credible job explaining what happened next.
“We fought back, we fought back, and we fought back,” said Parker, just after his Packers returned a kickoff to near midfield and cruised the remaining 51 yards in 61 seconds to upend Warhill 32-29.
Warhill (2-2) moved ahead 29-24 with 2:12 remaining as Devon Price used his speed to sweep around the right side and outrun the entire Packers’ defense for a 53-yard touchdown.
But Smithfield was not finished. After returning the kickoff to near midfield, James Jones caught a 9-yard pass from Kyle Buggs. On the following play, Buggs (11 of 17, 196 yards, two TDs) found junior Kayden Pretlow over the middle for a crucial 28-yard gain. Two plays later, Buggs connected with Allex Rawlings for the winning score.
Rawlings had played sparingly up to that point.
“I tell our guys, don’t count your reps, make your reps count,” said Parker, whose team improved to 2-1.
The Packers passed for just 21 yards in the first half but collected 234 in a wild and woolly second half. “We saw some things that they were doing at halftime and executed some plays,” Parker said.
Warhill gained 318 yards on the ground, with Strickland (136) and Braden Terns (100) hitting the century mark.
The battle to be the top Bay Rivers team includes Lafayette and Poquoson. The Packers made the trip across the James River with hopes of lodging themselves into the No. 3 slot, or at least a piece of it.
The Lions’ ground mission started on their first possession as Warhill ran on 14 straight plays. Terns and Strickland shared the load, combining for 13 carries for 71 yards. An 18-yard scamper by scatback Noah Arokium broke the 1-2 rhythm, and the drive was capped with a 2-yard touchdown push by Strickland.
Keeping to their aggressive running style, the Lions elected to go for two, with Terns converting to give Warhill an 8-0 edge.
Smithfield countered with its running back Zyron Wells on the first possession. He carried the ball on the Packers’ first four plays for 34 yards, but the drive was scrubbed by a fumble recovered by Lions linebacker Reece Ferrell.
A 58-yard ramble down the left sideline by Strickland set the quarterback up to score from the 2 for a 15-0 lead.
Smithfield went to Wells for three more carries for 8 yards, but it was James Jones, on his first carry, who provided the visitors with a spark, galloping through the middle for a 35-yard score.
