New Kent shocks Jamestown 28-27 on last second touchdown off blocked field goal

C.J. Reeders (7) blocks the field goal try by Jamestown's Carter Weissenfluh (13), setting up a 75-yard touchdown return by R.J. Morris and leading to New Kent's 28-27 victory.

Alan Chamberlain photos

New Kent’s C.J. Reeders blocked a Jamestown extra point placement following an Eagle touchdown just before halftime of Friday night’s football contest. Then with the host Eagles lined up for a field goal that would create an insurmountable 10-point margin with 28 seconds remaining, the freshman defensive back struck again.

Bursting through the middle of the Eagle offensive line, Reeders leaped to block a 40-yard field goal attempt off the toe of Jamestown kicker Carter Weissenfluh. Fellow defensive back R.J. Morris took over from there, scooping up the bouncing pigskin before racing 75 yards for a New Kent touchdown.

And the senior veteran wasn’t done. With his team now trailing by one, his number was called on the two-point conversion try. As blockers sealed off pursuing defenders and led the way on a sweep around the right side, Morris plunged into the end zone to give the Trojans a 28-27 triumph. Returning to the secondary, he picked off the Eagles’ last-ditch desperation pass as time ran out.

“Keep your head and stay motivated,” Morris said afterward, recalling his team’s thought process leading up to the field goal block.

“We said we’ve got to get this block to stop them. We can’t let them go out with a win,” he said.

As for Reeders, did the ease of penetrating a second time into the Eagle backfield come as a surprise?

“Not really,” he said. “I lined up over their guard and linebacker number 50 [Garrick Edwards] cleared the way for me. I got the one earlier by lining up in the same position.”

Afterward, Morris could not recall if he had blocking assistance on the way to the end zone or how many foes he had to sprint past on his TD scamper.

“It was all a blur,” he said. “I was just thinking I had to get to the end zone and I’ve got to score.”

The bizarre turn of events occurred just when Jamestown appeared to have a homecoming victory sealed away. With just over four minutes left, the Eagles stuffed a Mike Burt quarterback sneak on fourth down and one at the New Kent 40 yard line, seemingly ending the visitors’ final opportunity to at least pull even in the contest.

Inside of a minute to go, the Eagles faced fourth and seven at the Trojan 18 yard line. The hosts intentionally took a delay of game penalty before opting for the ill-fated field goal try instead of running more time off the clock on a fourth down play and handing the ball back to New Kent deep in Trojan territory.

Afterward, the huge Jamestown homecoming crowd, poised just moments before to erupt in celebration, sat in stunned silence.

“I told our guys it’s their homecoming and you’re going to get the game of the year from them,” said New Kent head coach Clark Harrell. “Hard fought emotional losses take a lot out of you, but hard fought emotional wins pump you up.”

The former, however, seemed in store for Harrell’s team at the start. The Trojans fumbled away the opening kickoff, setting up Jamestown’s first TD. Then thanks to a holding infraction, the Trojans ran out of downs in the red zone on their first series. Jamestown took advantage, driving the other way for an apparent two-touchdown lead late in the first quarter.

But a holding call nullified the Eagle score. On the next play, Reeders recovered an Eagle fumble, setting up a five-play, 60-yard scoring drive highlighted by Burt’s 36-yard gain on a quarterback keeper. Burt then burrowed into the end zone behind his line on a one-yard plunge to close the gap to 7-6.

Jamestown answered on a 21-yard screen pass from Hunter Brittain to Zach Pennycuff to extend the lead to 14-6. But back came the Trojans with a 13-play, 78-yard march, helped by an Eagle pass interference penalty on fourth down from the Eagle 36. Four plays later, Davion Barnes, who rushed for 208 yards on 28 carries, covered the final three yards. Morris ran for the conversion and 14-14 tie.

Just before the half, however, Brittain hooked up with Mark Lipscoumb on an eight-yard TD toss. Reeders’ block of the ensuing extra point would loom large in the end.

Jamestown extended its 20-14 halftime lead to 27-14 on the opening drive of the second half. New Kent responded with Lamont Brandon’s one-yard TD burst, capping a 59-yard drive in only six plays.

New Kent’s defense then prevented Jamestown from regaining a two TD advantage following a lost fumble at the Trojan 30. Needing just inches on a fourth down play from the 19, Brittain’s quarterback sneak resulted in a one-yard loss.

“Sometimes you get in games like this where nothing seems to go right,” Harrell said. “We made lots of mistakes, and we had to battle, battle, battle to come up with the win. I learned in my three years at Smithfield that there are no bad teams in the Bay Rivers District and the teams that play here at this stadium flat out play you hard.

“But I’ve also learned that to turn a program around you first have to get to where you’re hard to beat,” he said. “Then you have to steal one, and then you have to beat someone you’re not supposed to beat.”

Through their first five games, the Trojans have been competitive, winning one and losing the others by narrow margins. Tonight, they stole one to improve to 2-4.

“I think our players are buying into what we want to do,” Harrell said. “This is a good bunch of boys to coach, and they work extremely hard. You can’t coach ‘want to’ and we’ve got a lot of ‘want to’ on this team. I’ll go to battle with them every time. There’s an old saying that you’ve got to learn how to win, and there’s something to that.”

Blockers pave the way for New Kent’s R.J. Morris (4) to cut toward the end zone for the deciding two-point conversion.

New Kent running back Davion Barnes (3) bolts past Jamestown defenders for some of his 208 rushing yards.