Merner Field was the setting for today's Class 3 State Semifinal game between the Hopewell Blue Devils and the James Monroe Yellow Jackets. Despite it being the third straight appearance for the Blue Devils in the state semifinals, it was their first time hosting since 2002!

You might recall that 2002 against Stafford was played in snow and it did not go the way of Blue Devils. Today's outcome was much different however.

For today the red hot Blue Devils literally ran away with the victory behind a strong running game and another strong defensive outing which has been the signature of the Blue Devils since the playoffs began.

Here is what you missed if you could not be there for this one...

The Hopewell Blue Devils won the coin toss before the game and elected to defer to the second half. That meant the Yellow Jackets would have the ball on offense to start the game and early on it looked as though the Yellow Jackets might give the Blue Devils a fight.

On the very first play of the game, Zakk Davis delivered a 47-yard pass to Chris Reaves-Williams. It could not have been a better start for the Yellow Jackets but the Blue Devils defense clamped down after that big play.

The Yellow Jackets drove to the 22 and were called for a delay of game which pushed them back 5 yards and forced James Monroe to go for a field goal. The Miguel Hernandez field goal failed and the Blue Devils dodged a bullet.

For James Monroe it was the beginning of a troublesome first quarter...

James Monroe on their second saw Reaves-Williams catch the ball, drop it, manage to pick it up and still advance it 8 yards. A promising drive came to a halt on 2nd & 10 from the 38 when the snap went awry and they lost 17 yards! On the next play Greg Cuffey broke up a pass.

James Monroe's next possession was a 3 & out and on the possession after that, a pass on third down was tipped but not auled in and instead, TreVeyon Henderson intercepted the ball and nearly returned it for a touchdown but AJ Johnson of James Monroe prevented that with a stop.

While James Monroe was having a bad first quarter, the opposite was the case for the Blue Devils.

Hopewell scored on three of their four possessions of the first quarter. Ronnie Walker was behind two of those touchdowns with 69 yards in the first quarter alone!

Greg Cuffey was not far behind Walker with 51 yards in the first quarter and some pass plays as well but the bulk of the success came in the ground game.

The Blue Devils played a nearly flawless first quarter... Emphasis on nearly.

The Blue Devils with excellent field position after the TreVeyon Henderson interception had the ball at the 11 yard line. Overcoming a penalty, the Blue Devils reached the 5 of James Monroe with a fourth touchdown seemingly in hand but what was not in the Blue Devils hand was the ball which was fumbled and recovered by the Yellow Jackets.

As the second quarter began the Yellow Jackets had the ball after that turnover by Hopewell to end the first quarter.

AJ Johnson had two big runs totaling 33 yards on this drive but the Devils defense continued to play hard. Zakk Davis was sacked for a loss and Dre Thomas had a big stop on third down bringing AJ Johnson to a halt. That kept the Yellow Jackets from extending this possession.

The Yellow Jackets finally ended Hopewell's shutout with big plays... Davis hit Reaves-Williams with a huge 33-yard pass on the first play and a few moments late the Yellow Jackets were faced with a 4th & 4 at the 14. AJ Johnson ran the ball, got the first and on the very next play Davis hit Brandon Woolridge with a pass to the endzone.

The Yellow Jackets had a bit of momentum going and adding to that was Robert Briggs fumble that Chris Carter was able to recover. However it did not last for long. Kavion Cox got to Davis with the sack and AJ Johnson coughed up the ball and it was fumbled out of bounds but not without 8 yards picked up in the process.

The very next play the Yellow Jackets were not so lucky because Davis put it in the air and Sean Allen-Wood intercepted the pass and trucked 47 yards for the touchdown.

James Monroe would have the ball one more time before the end of the first half but the Yellow Jackets were held to three and out .

Things did not come as easy in the second quarter as they did in the first for Hopewell. For starters the Blue Devils had to overcome a penalty for an ineligible receiver down field. So instead of passing the ball the Blue Devils alternated runs between Ronnie Walker & Cuffey which culminated in Walker's third touchdown of the night.

Cuffey also had success through the air with passes to Kadarius Singleton and Sean Allen-Wood for a total of 30 yards on the second possession of the quarter but that also proved to be the drive in which Robert Briggs fumbled the ball only to have James Monroe recover.

Hopewell saw Sean Allen-Wood score on an interception and the Blue Devils got the ball back shortly before the half but they elected to run out the clock and head into the half up 34-7!

To open the second half Sean Allen-Wood returned the ball out to the 35... If not for him losing his balance on the run, he had just one man left to beat and he might have been gone. It was no matter however as the Blue Devils continued to tear up the field.

Overcoming a holding call Greg Cuffey broke multiple tackles for 15 yards before Jonathan Washington finally brought him down. The law firm of Walker, Briggs and Cox did the rest as the three combined for 53 yards with Kavion Cox scoring on a 5-yard run.

The Blue Devils briefly had the ball back when TreVeyon Henderson intercepted his second pass of the night but he fumbled it and James Monroe got the ball back.

When Hopewell did have the ball back on offense they were held without a score if you can believe that... Turning over the ball on downs after a 22-yard pass to Sean Allen-Wood and more of the same, run, run and more running. However Chris Carter & KJ Conway got to Ronnie Walker on a second down running setting the Blue Devils back 5 yards which proved tougher to overcome. A small win for the Yellow Jackets.

That small win was met with defeat moments later when Zyreon Jones-Walker intercepted a Davis pass and returned it for a touchdown making it 48-7 with 1:22 left in the third.

As for the Yellow Jackets... They survived that TreVeyon Henderson interception and got to the 15-yard line of Hopewell but could not get a much needed first down despite needing just 1 yard!

The next possession resulted in the Jones-Walker interception for a touchdown but they did have the ball as the game shifted from the third to fourth quarter.

As the fourth quarter got underway the Yellow Jackets had the ball but not for long. 2nd & 1 the Yellow Jackets fumbled the ball and Mark Williams of Hopwell was able to come up with the recovery.

At this point Daniel Grier was in at quarterback for the Blue Devils and it became about eating up clock and keeping everyone healthy. That was the goal but for a moment it looked like the Blue Devils might lose one of their playmakers when Robert Briggs was down on the field. However he was able to get up and walk off on his own.

That proved to be the final possession for Hopewell in this game.

James Monroe would get the ball back and would eat up a lot of clock of their own working the ball 72 yards down the field behind a heavy dose of AJ Johnson... 31 yards on this drive alone not including the 7 yard touchdown with seconds left in the game to make it a 48-14 game as opposed to 48-7.

Hopewell advances to a championship game for the first time since winning it all in Class 5 back in 2003!

The game plan was as it has been since the playoffs began... run, run and run again... then dominate on defense. It works!

James Monroe's defense seemed to be no match for this speedy, athletic group that is the Hopewell offense with a variety of playmakers running... Walker had the bulk but Cuffey, Cox, Briggs... It was a team effort and that is what they will need if they are to win it all.

For James Monroe, they can hold their heads high... After a rough season in which they entered the playoffs 4-6, they reached the state semifinals getting further than most would have thought entering the playoffs.

For James Monroe you can look no further than AJ Johnson. The senior running back had 125 yards on the ground and a touchdown late. The stats however do not tell the story of how much this young man fought to keep the Yellow Jackets season alive. So many runs with little to no gain but he never gave up and kept attacking a tough defense.

As for Hopewell... Where do you even begin? The defense was excellence as they have been for the duration of the playoffs and even during the regular season. The defense had four interceptions of the Yellow Jackets and two of them went for touchdowns!

However in a game where the Blue Devils piled on 5 touchdowns on offense, you have to look at that side of the ball and if you do that, you have to look at Greg Cuffey and Ronnie Walker.

This duo led the charge on offense with Cuffey having more yards but Walker more touchdowns. Together the two scored 4 of the 5 offensive touchdowns for the Blue Devils. Cuffey had 192 yards between running and passing with 102 yards on the ground. On the ground is where Walker was a monster with 122 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns.

Playmakers in the truest sense.

48 points scored by Hopewell is the most for the Blue Devils in the playoffs since scoring 63 against Culpeper last year.

48 points allowed by James Monroe is the most given up by the Yellow Jackets in the playoffs since giving up 46 in 2008.