A week ago, the North Stafford High School football team erupted for 49 points in a Region 6B championship win over Woodbridge.
Frigid temperatures and the absence of star athlete Kenaz Sullivan necessitated a slightly different approach for the Wolverines in Saturday afternoon’s Class 6 state semifinal matchup with visiting West Springfield. But in the end, they had just the right recipe for success.
Alon Lester and Antwan Barnes both scored first-half touchdowns to get North’s offense going, and the Wolverines’ defense suffocated the Spartans for much of the game in a 19-7 victory that often didn’t seem that close.
North (11-3) will face defending state champion Oscar Smith (12-1) for the title at James Madison University’’s Bridgeforth Stadium next Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The Tigers held off a late Madison rally for a 34-28 win in Saturday’s other state semifinal contest.
The Wolverines have never won a state championship. Their only other appearance in the title game came in 2004, when they lost 35-27 to Meadowbrook.
“We’ve been looking forward to this all season,” Lester said. “And we’ve been working for it a lot longer than that. … We’re glad to be here.”
Just as he did in the regional championship against Woodbridge, Lester spearheaded North’s running game on Saturday. He rushed for 124 yards on 18 carries against a West Springfield defense that entered the day allowing just 84 rushing yards per outing.
Lester’s two biggest runs were extremely pivotal. The first was an 18-yard scoring scamper that put the Wolverines up 7-0 with 7:35 left in the first half. The second was a 60-yard jaunt on a fourth-and-1 play early in the fourth quarter, and it set up Kayden Bowens’ 1-yard touchdown run two plays later, which provided the final margin.
Lester even had a hand in Bowens’ score, taking the snap out of a wildcat formation and pitching the ball to him on an option play.
Lester said he and his teammates were determined to get things right after being held scoreless in the first period for the second game in a row.
“We just had to get our burners on,” he said. “We knew we couldn’t continue to play like that, and that we needed to score and that would get us rolling.”
Lester was right. On North’s next possession following his score, Barnes hauled in a 65-yard touchdown pass from Chase Sullivan to extend the Wolverines’ lead to 13-0 with 3:07 to go before halftime.
For the second week in a row, Barnes made a highlight-reel play for a score. This time, he adjusted his go route and came back to a ball that was slightly under-thrown, outmaneuvering a pair of Spartan defenders to make the catch at the West Springfield 30-yard-line before outracing both of them down the left sideline to the end zone.
“See ball, get ball,” said Barnes, who had 86 yards receiving on four catches. “I see the ball, I’m going to go attack it full speed. Then I had to make the two [defenders] miss and go for six.”
Held to just 45 yards of total offense and two first downs in the first half, the Spartans (11-3) got a shot in the arm after recovering a muffed punt at the North 27 late in the third quarter. Running back Dillan “Boobie” Wickham picked up two first downs to move the ball to the 1, and quarterback Scott Lewis plunged over the goal line on third down to pull West Springfield within 13-7 with 55 seconds remaining in the frame.
After Bowens’ touchdown made it 19-7, the Spartans drove from their own 7 to the Wolverines’ 13. Lewis had a pair of big completions to Jevon Austin covering 33 and 35 yards, as well as a 15-yarder to Evan Shorter on fourth-and-15. But the drive stalled on downs after a pair of incompletions.
Shorter had a 20-yard reception on West Springfield’s final possession, moving the ball to the North 28. However, Lewis was sacked for a 12-yard loss two plays later, and the drive ended on downs following an incompletion two plays after that.
Lewis finished 12-of-25 passing for 139 yards. Austin had four catches for 75 yards, and Shorter recorded five receptions for 48 yards.
In total, the Spartans managed just 176 yards of offense. Wickham, a first-team all-Region 6C performer who entered the contest with 1,584 yards rushing, was held to just 57 yards by the Wolverines.
“Our [defense] is the strength of our team,” North head coach Marquez Hall said. “We’re gonna sell out to stop the run, and once we take care of that, everything else will take care of itself.”
Now, in a season where the Wolverines have overcome three one-possession losses in the regular season and the loss of Sullivan to a broken left femur in the regional title game, their greatest test undoubtedly lies ahead in juggernaut Oscar Smith. Not only are the Tigers the defending state champions, but they’ve now advanced to the championship game an astonishing 11 times since 2008. They’ll be seeking their sixth title when they face North next weekend.
“They’re defending state champs, they’ve got a good program, they’ve got good players, and we’re up for the task,” Hall said. “The game is played on the football field, so we’re gonna prepare for them and we’re gonna be ready to go.”
