Oct. 1, 2007 — Week three of the IAA tackle football league continued on St. Thomas Friday with a clash of the undefeated titans, as the Charlotte Amalie High School Chickenhawks went up against the Private School Arawak Warriors.
Both teams had a lot riding on a game that would put the winner on the fast track to this year's championship title. Even before the game started, fans in the stands were heckling referees about calls made during previous games, while each team's cheerleaders went back and forth pumping up the crowd.
The Arawaks got on the board first, with Jelani Foy running the ball up the middle from eight yards out for a touchdown. After receiving a penalty that backed them up five yards, the Arawaks scored the two-point conversion on a flare pass to wide receiver John David McDonald.
But a costly turnover deep in the Arawaks' own territory gave CAHS the ball and a chance to get on the board.
A few plays later, with CAHS on the Arawaks' three-yard line, the Chickenhawks handed off to running back Devin Pruitt, who ran eight yards for a touchdown. CAHS did not convert the two-point conversion, and trailed the Arawaks 8-6.
CAHS got the ball back with under two minutes left in the half. Two plays later — and with few seconds left on the clock — CAHS quarterback Brian Mills hooked up with wide receiver Julio Hodge for a 37-yard touchdown. The Chickenhawks again failed to convert on the two-point conversion, and at halftime, the score was 12-8.
Losing the lead seemed to shake the Arawaks' confidence. They did not score during the second half, as the team's offense had several drives deep in CAHS' territory that failed to come away with any points. CAHS put the final nail in the Arawaks' coffin in the fourth quarter, when Mills threw a deep pass in the end zone to wide-receiver Ricky Gumbs.
Unable to make the catch, the ball ricocheted off Gumbs' fingertips and landed in the arms of CAHS' Michael Hilaire, in the right place at the right time. He was tackled on the one-yard line, but the Chickenhawks subsequently scored on a quarterback sneak for the touchdown.
Once again, CAHS did not convert on the two-point conversion, making the score 18-8. The Arawaks had a few more possessions, but their offense was unable to make anything of it, as the CAHS running game proceeded to run out the clock. The Arawaks' only bright spot was running back Lonnell Gardiner, who ran for 158 yards in the losing effort.
After the game, Arawaks' head coach Francisco Jarvis spoke positively about his team's performance.
"It was one of those games that the ball just wasn't bouncing our way, literally," he said. "But I really don't feel bad about the loss, since we managed to move the ball up and down the entire game… it just went their way tonight, but that won't happen next time."
CAHS' head coach Robert Massey described the game as a battle that his team was able to "turn into a war."
"Before half-time, we scored a touchdown that put us ahead 12-8, and that put the fight back into my guys," he said. "But I told that that they would still have to come back in the third quarter and put another score on the board, because they [the Arawaks] were still in the game. We didn't convert on the touchdowns, though, and that hurt us."
Though Massey added that the team still has some improvements to make, he said that the Chickenhawks are hard to beat when they can "score and play some defense."
"Right now, we're going to look at our mistakes, correct them, and score more next time," he said.
