by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
Mills Godwin’s special teams helped the Eagles pull out a squeaker 8-7 to spoil John Marshall’s homecoming Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles (2-2 Colonial, 3-4) led 3-0 early in the second quarter on a Jonathan O’Neal 28-yard field goal.
John Marshall, coming off of a 27-21 upset of Patrick Henry in Ashland, responded with a 33-yard TD pass from A.J. Harris to Quantae Cooley. Jayem took a 7-3 lead into the break.
It would be cut in half as Godwin swallowed JM punter Ernest Brown in the end zone for a safety.
“It’s a game of three phases,” Eagles coach Will Kitchen said. “The kicking game, offense and defense. We won two of them. We won the kicking game and we won the defensive side. Offensively, we did enough to survive.”
Following the safety, Godwin’s drive was stalled on a fumble at John Marshall’s 17-yard line.
But JM’s offense moved nowhere, fumbling a snap that Godwin recovered at JM’s 8-yard line.
The Eagles moved three yards before O’Neal booted a 22-yard field goal to give Godwin the final margin.
The Justices tried to answer with around four minutes to go as Harris hit Maurice Johnson for a 47-yard pass down to Godwin’s 45.
Harris connected with Randall Braxton for 15 after that, then hit Cooley for five yards as time trickled to a minute left.
But on a desperation fourth down safety Eric Eanes intercepted the pass to end the contest.
Godwin defensive linemen Garrett Brinegar (two sacks, several tackles for loss) and linebacker David Caravati (sack, fumble recovery) were special defensively for the Eagles.
“We’ve been talking all year about getting a quality win,” Kitchen said. “We started off slowly. We felt like if we can get some momentum, we get some confidence and begin to test some people that remain on the schedule.”
Mills Godwin 0 3 2 3 – 8
J. Marshall 0 7 0 0 – 7
MG – FG O’Neal 28
JM – Cooley 33 pass from Harris (Morrow kick)
MG – Safety
MG – FG O’Neal 22
Mills Godwin – Derek Whitaker 5 carries, 10 yards (left with injury early in third quarter), Kevin Wood 11-25, Tyler Graham 1-4, Jonathan Gordon 3-0, Adam Blankinship 4-(21); John Marshall – Frank Bullock 15-29, Charles Shelton 3-9, Joshua Wallace 3-(7), Harris 5-(35)
Mills Godwin – Blankinship 7 completions, 13 attempts, 1 interception, 102 yards; John Marshall – Harris 6-15-2-105
Mills Godwin – Blake Forlines 4 receptions, 34 yards, Tyler Lane 1-29, Graham 1-20, Whitaker 1-11; John Marshall – Cooley 2-38, Johnson 1-47, Braxton 1-15, Shelton 1-3, Akeem Brown 1-2
Processing your request, Please wait....
