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Blue Devils slip by St. Stephens
John M. Setzler Jr.
St. Stephens quarterback Tanner Miller (17) takes a pounding from Maiden's Hasan Hopper (20), Cody Beal (5), and Josh Friday (10) during the first half of Friday night's game.
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Published: November 1, 2008
HICKORY - Maiden High's Jordan Shade and turnovers haunted St. Stephens.
The Blue Devils used Shade's 165 yards rushing, two interceptions and a fumble recovery to win a Halloween thriller over the Indians 35-30 on Senior Night on Friday at St. Stephens.
The victory was the fourth in a row for the Blue Devils (5-5, 4-4 Catawba Valley Athletic 2A-3A Conference). They now have won 12 straight games at St. Stephens (6-4, 4-4) since 1982.
Shade carried 32 times and ran for touchdowns of 4, 3 and 7 yards. He was given the ball on 17 of the Blue Devils' 18 plays in their three second-half scoring drives.
"He's kind of been our 'go-to' guy," Maiden head coach Brian Brown said. "He's been running hard.
"During this winning streak he's just played possessed."
Maiden scored its first touchdown on a 63-yard interception return by freshman Matt Johnson. An interception by Nate Johnson and a fumble recovery by freshman Richard Kerkes led to the Blue Devils' last two scores.
"Turnovers were definitely big for us tonight," St. Stephens head coach Fred Whalen said, "and not in a good way."
St. Stephens outgained Maiden 415-256 as sophomore Tanner Miller completed 15-of-21 passes for 220 yards for the Indians. St. Stephens' Patrick Jenkins caught eight for 103 yards and gained 67 on nine rushes, while Antonio Sherrill scored on runs of 3, 2, 5 and 5 yards.
The Blue Devils lost only one turnover, a third-and-long interception by Antonio Jones late in the first quarter.
"That's kind of been our deal here lately – we haven't been turning the ball over," Brown said. "We've been winning the turnover battle.
"Early in the year we were losing the turnover battle."
Neither the Blue Devils nor Indians threatened to score in the first 14 minutes, then they exchanged a flurry of points in the final nine minutes and 43 seconds of the first half, which ended with the Indians ahead 17-14.
The teams traded the lead four times before Maiden took it for good in the fourth quarter.
Although the Blue Devils, outside of Shade, gained only 83 yards, they made some big plays. A 35-yard reception by Jacob Lineberger led to a 9-yard run by flanker Brian Huffman for their second touchdown and Wesley Killian made a 34-yard, fingertip catch in an 80-yard drive that gave them a 21-17 lead in the third quarter.
St. Stephens regained the lead, 24-21, on Sherrill's first 5-yard touchdown, with 1:35 to play in the third period.
"I was pleased with the effort of the team," Whalen said. "I thought the kids played hard the whole game."
Maiden drove 37 yards and 33 yards to score, after St. Stephens' second and third turnovers, to go in front 35-24 and Sherrill scored his fourth touchdown with 3:56 to go in the game.
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