The final score didn’t do justice to how well Ivanna Eudora Kean High School played in its very first tackle football game of the season, falling Friday to territorial defending champs Charlotte Amalie High School, 52-32.
The game got moved to the CAHS field because the grounds at Lionel Roberts Stadium are still saturated from Hurricane Otto’s rains. Even so, the field turned out to be a fantastic venue, bringing the spectators closer together as they cheered for their hometown teams.
The game started with Cursim Hansen returning the kickoff for CAHS, but a big hit from Kean’s Peron Trotman jarred the ball loose and was recovered by Patrick Fordrasse to give the Devil Rays great field position. The CAHS defense held the Devil Rays to a three and out. But CAHS was whistled for roughing the kicker on the punt, giving the Rays a second chance at points.
But a few plays later, Kean’s quarterback Jolly Joseph dropped back and took a shot in the end zone, but instead found CAHS’ Brandon Wadsworth, who intercepted the ball and brought it back to about the 12-yard line. Both teams went back and forth without scoring until later in the first quarter. Chickenhawks’ quarterback Shaquille Richardson hooked up with Hansen around mid-field who took it to the house for a score. Shaquille Petersen ran the extra-point try up the middle to give CAHS the early 8-0 lead.
The Devil Rays took no time to respond – Running back Maleek Leonard took the ensuing kickoff was taken about 90 yards for the score. Leonard caught the ball on the ten, and a few steps later, the entire CAHS team was chasing him down the field. Leonard also got the two point conversion, knotting the score at 8.
In the second quarter, CAHS drove the ball down to the 25-yard line when Richardson tried to hit Petersen in the back of the end zone, but instead found Kean’s Joseph, who brought the interception back to about the 20 yard line. Later in the next possession, Joseph hooked up with Hansen again, this time for a 40-yard pass that Hansen took the rest of the way for the score. The two point conversion was no good, and Kean now led 14-8.
CAHS drove down the field, trying to score before the half, when Omar Hernandez got the handoff and went up the middle but fumbled the ball, and Kean’s Deshawn Christian recovered at around CAHS’ 43-yard line. The very next play, a quarterback keeper by Joseph, took them all the way down to the one yard line. One play later, Joseph ran it in for the score. While the two point conversion failed, Kean now had the 20-8 lead.
A five-yard run by CAHS’ Elisha Arnold, followed by a two-point conversion then made the score 20-16. Both teams would score again by the end of the half, with Kean carrying the 26-22 lead, shocking everyone, including the CAHS coach, who was seen really laying into his players during the halftime speech.
"I threatened a lot and cursed a lot and I tried to intimidate a little bit and it seem to work," CAHS head Coach Francisco Jarvis said of the talk. "We made some personnel changes as well and I think all those things added in our favor later on."
In the second half, the Hawks were like a new team, swarming on defense and finding big plays on offense. They outscored their rivals 30-6 in the second half on their way to the 52-32 victory.
"Our team needed this game — we needed to come back down to earth after the game in St. Croix," said CAHS head coach Francisco Jarvis, referencing the Chickenhawks’ recent 62-0 trouncing of the St. Croix Private Schools team. "I’m not making excuses for their performance. Eudora Kean played one of the best coached games I have seen in my 12-year career. Their coaching staff did an unbelievable job and I take my hats off to them. But we gave up too many points, too many yards on the ground, so we still have a lot of work left to do."
