Students, friends, and alumni packed the bleachers and crowded the fences Friday night at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, where Charlotte Amalie High School’s homecoming celebration couldn’t quite overcome a 20-14 defeat to the unbeaten Rays.
Homecoming king Rey’almo Dunlop, a 10th-grader, was crowned before the game. His mother, Cinique Marie Bonelli Stout, a Charlotte Amalie alumna, watched her son navigate new territory.
Dunlop laughed in disbelief at being named homecoming king, “It’s an honor but scary.” He noted that he would not have taken the risk if not for his mother’s encouragement.
“He’s getting to meet a lot of new people since his reign,” Stout said. “And I love that the experience is helping him come out of his shell.”
The crowd stayed on the edge of their seats through four quarters of back-and-forth football that saw the lead change hands three times before Kean pulled away with a touchdown late in the second quarter. Charlotte Amalie threatened in the fourth but came up short on two drives, the last ending with an interception.
Quarterback James Boschulte III gave the Hawks an early lead with a rushing touchdown, and the crowd erupted. Kean’s Giwinsley Joseph answered with a 3-yard score late in the first to tie it 8-8. Chrislord Bernard’s 10-yard touchdown run put the Rays ahead 14-8 early in the second quarter, but Hawks receiver Tyler Clark evened the score midway through the period.
Sikhoy Fahie’s 28-yard touchdown run near the end of the half gave the Rays a 20-14 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The CAHS band and auxiliary team kept the stands lively as the tension rose, and cheerleaders from both sides brought their best routines to a halftime cheer-off.
Boschulte threw for approximately 150 yards but was intercepted twice, including a fourth-quarter pick in the red zone by Rays linebacker Jonathan Bertrand and a game-ending interception by Davidson Verdant Jr.
“We have to get over the hump and beat Eudora Kean,” Charlotte Amalie head coach Ryan Thomas said. “We’ll see them again in the championship, and it’ll be an even better game.”
The loss leaves Charlotte Amalie at 2-2 heading into the second half of the season, while Kean remains undefeated.
