New Kent stopped at goal line on final drive, Grafton escapes with 9-6 win

New Kent defensive lineman Ryan Bacelar (58) wraps up Grafton quarterback X’zavieon Hendricks during a scramble in the first half.

Robb Johnson photo

Friday night’s battle between two winless teams meant that the outcome could swing momentum in either a positive or negative direction. But for the homestanding New Kent Trojans, heartbreak continued on the gridiron proved to send them in a direction that they didn’t want to face so soon in the season.

Grafton’s Clippers scratched their way to a 9-6 victory over the Trojans, resulting in the hosts still searching for their first win on the season.

Both teams struggled to find some sort of offensive continuity in the first half. It wouldn’t be until 2:15 remaining until the halftime intermission when the visitors changed the number on the scoreboard. X’zavieon Hendricks threw a delayed screen pass to teammate Jaden Brown. From there, Brown followed a convoy of blockers as he raced 35 yards for a score. The two-point conversion failed, but Grafton grabbed a 6-0 lead, a margin that would remain through the break.

New Kent’s opportunities in the third quarter squandered by the wayside on several occasions. After pinning the visitors deep into their own territory, a personal foul by the Trojans bailed the Clippers out. Another Hendricks to Brown screen pass went good for 35 yards, eventually leading to Caleb Heretick punching in a field goal at the end of the drive and pushing Grafton’s lead up to 9-0.

New Kent continued to be stumped by Grafton’s defense until they finally received a break. Trojan signal-caller Stephen Stazenski rolled out to the right side of his line, getting around the edge and scoring on a 40-yard run. The conversion failed, but New Kent now trailed by three (9-6) with just over five minutes remaining.

The positive momentum continued for the hosts, as on the next series, a mishandled snap by Grafton resulted in New Kent’s Ryan Bacelar making the recovery with 3:32 showing on the clock.

New Kent began to march down the field, with running back Chase Wiles scampering 18 yards down to the one-yard line.

But the one-yard line would be as far as the hosts would get. On first down, New Kent failed to break the plane of the goal-line. On second down, a false start pushed the ball back five yards. New Kent failed the gain any yards on second down. On third down, a run play resulted in the ball getting back down to the two-yard line. New Kent called a timeout to set up a play with less than 30 seconds remaining.

On fourth down, Wiles took the handoff and looked for a gap to find the end zone. But instead of finding a score, he found the arms of Clippers’ defenders who stood him up, resulting in a change of possession. Grafton kneeled to run out the remaining 16 seconds of the clock to clinch the win.

The Trojans remain winless, posting a record of 0-3.