Stallions Fall 20-10 To Phoebus in State Football Championship

11-game win streak ended Saturday in the Virginia High School League AAA Division 5 state final at the University of Virginia’s Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The Stallions fell 20-10 to Hampton's Phoebus High School.

The Stallions, who were in striking distance of capturing their first football state title, began the season with three straight losses.

“After starting the season off 0-3, to be able to come back and get to the state championship game is an amazing achievement,” said Stallions head coach Gerry Pannoni following the loss. “They certainly earned every bit of getting here.”

The Game

The Phantoms scored a field goal and a touchdown in the first quarter, and it looked like they might run away with it. The Stallions trimmed their deficit to seven points and left halftime at 10-3.  

In the third quarter, South County running back Peter Basnight scored the Stallions' only touchdown with a two-yard run. The teams were tied 10-10 until, with six minutes left in the third quarter, Phoebus quarterback Eric Enderson threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Romond Deloatch. 

The Fourth Quarter 

The Stallions entered the final quarter trailing by seven points, a familiar position for a team that strung together several difficult victories this season.

Stallion punter Michael Ferguson sent a 52-yard yard kick sailing to the Phoebus 36 yard line, placing the onus on the South County defense to force one final turnover and give his offense the chance to tie the game.

Six plays later, Stallion defensive back Ryan Taylor rammed his helmet into Phoebus running back Tony Pittman’s arm, jarring the ball lose and sending it tumbling to the turf. Linebacker Oren Burks pounced on the loose ball and the South County offense took over at its own 20 yard line.

After running back Peter Basnight squeezed through the Phoebus secondary line for a 43-yard gain, the Stallions were forced to punt. One play later, Phoebus' Enderson connected with wide receiver Romond Deloatch on a 56-yard pass which brought the ball down to the South County 24 yard line.

Phoebus moved the ball five yards to South County’s 19 yard line during the drive before facing 4^th down and 5. Kicker Dylan Kremp’s field goal attempt fell short after Devin Vandyke exploded through and appeared to get a finger on the ball. Referees conferred and decided that Vandyke had grazed the kicker’s foot and not the ball, flagging the player for a roughing the kicker penalty. Krimp kicked a 20-yard field goal a few plays later to put Phoebus up 20-10 with two minutes left in the game.

“I thought on the roughing the kicker that we touched the ball,” said Pannoni.

With less than a minute remaining on the clock, quarterback Shane Foley dropped back and heaved a pass downfield for his receiver. The pass was intercepted by Phoebus defensive back Tyler Adams, ending the Stallions’ dreams of capturing its first state title. The interception was Foley’s third of the game.

Phoebus’s offense took the field and ran the final seconds off of the game clock. Stallion players hugged and consoled as the final seconds ticked off the Scott Stadium scoreboard. Post-game, each South County player was acknowledged by name and received a state runner-up medal.

“It’s been amazing. You can go down our roster and compare it to the teams we’ve played and you’ll find no explanation of why we’ve won the games we did,” said Andrew Rector, who rushed for 81 yards.

South County’s impenetrable run defense held Pittman to a 2.4 yard per carry average on 28 attempts but gave up 148 yards and two touchdowns to Deloatch. Basnight led South County in rushing with 110 yards as the Stallions totaled 271 of offense.

“The first few games were kind of tough...as the season started to progress, I had a good feeling that we were a state championship team,” said Vandyke.

“I had a great feeling that we could get to UVA’s stadium to play this title game if we believed in ourselves, which we did throughout the season.”