Poquoson made the big plays late, a touchdown followed by defensive stop in the red zone, to defeat previously unbeaten Armstrong 19-14 in the Class 2 Region A championship game Friday on the Wildcats’ home field in Richmond.
The region title is the fourth consecutive for the Islanders (12-1) and moves them into a Class 2 state semifinal rematch against Strasburg, a 45-25 winner over Stuarts Draft in the Class B region championship game. Strasburg beat Poquoson 14-13 in the state semifinals a year ago.
The Islanders took a 19-14 lead at Armstrong on a 1-yard touchdown run by Cody Little (25 carries, 116 yards, two touchdowns) with 3 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. That capped a 15-play, 74-yard drive for the Islanders, who had fallen behind 14-13 with 11:42 to play in the fourth quarter on a 50-yard touchdown pass by the Wildcats’ Anthony Hansom on fourth-and-8.
“That last drive we just grinded and grinded and fought for every yard,” Poquoson coach Elliott Duty said. “They weren’t going to quit.”
After the Islanders snatched the lead back on Little’s touchdown run, Hansom completed fourth-down passes of 6 and 20 yards to continue a last-ditch Armstrong drive that reached the Poquoson 9-yard line. But, on fourth-and-2, Brayden Agnese and Nate Quiroz flushed Hansom from the pocket and into a harried incompletion with 14 seconds left to give the Islanders the victory.
“Their kid (Hansom) threw the ball well, but we put pressure on him, made him move and got him off of his stride,” Duty said.
While all but one yard of Armstrong’s 280 yards was via the pass, 271 of Poquoson’s 300 yards came on the ground.
The Islanders recovered a fumble on the first series of the game at the Wildcats’ 41 and needed just two plays to score. Dom Galacgac’s 30-yard touchdown run up the middle gave the Islanders a 7-0 lead.
Armstrong scored on the first play after the ensuing kickoff as Hansom threw 62 yards to Zion Williams for a TD to tie the game at 7. That was the only big play of the first half for the Wildcats, who otherwise nickel-and-dimed the Islanders with a steady diet of screens and short passes at the line of scrimmage.
The tact netted the Wildcats 176 yards passing in the first half, but no more points. The Islanders retook the lead with a 12-play touchdown drive, 11 of those plays on the ground.
Little-used Islanders quarterback Keegan Webb made a nice throw on fourth-and-6 at the Wildcats 20 for a 19-yard gain to Austin Conley. Little ran to paydirt from the 1 a play later and the Islanders led 13-7 with 7:24 left in the first half.
The Islanders halted Armstrong at the Poquoson 6 late in the half and led at intermission.
