As time expired on the Maury Commodores reign as State Champions, the Springers came off the field yelling "we back." Indeed it does appear the Springers are back, but nothing will be complete until after next week and another date with the Stone Bridge Bulldogs, who handled William Fleming 46-13 in its State Semifinal. Highland Springs pitched a shutout of 13-0 in Saturday afternoon's Class 5 State Semifinal at Powhatan Field in Norfolk.

This game was a defensive battle, but with a change in weather so too blew in a change in momentum. Both teams offenses strength lies in the run game but against their respective defenses there was very little room for either to attack like we are accustomed to seeing. Neither passing game was really working either until shortly before the half.

In our preview for this one, we highlighted the team that wins would be the defense that bends, but does not break. The Springers defense bent at times, yet a shutout speaks for itself... they did not break. The Springer offense, however, a bit more balanced than that of the Commodores was able to hurt the Maury defense with some big plays.

Big plays that ended the shutout, and big plays that built on the Springers lead in the third quarter. As the Springers began to ride the wave of momentum that seemed to pick up much like the wind and the rain in the second half, so too did emotions and frustration on the Maury side of the field as the game progressed.

Misunderstanding on an interception in the end zone that Maury felt was a Springer stepping on a Commodores player was nothing more than legs getting tangled between two players. That led to a series of chippy plays and series in which the Springers and Commodores clashed several times to the point that coaches and refs were on the field to calm the growing tension.

The Springers defense continued to shut out the Commodores as Maury never was able to mount any serious threat. As a result, the Maury was blanked for the first time since 2015 (when Liberty Christian beat them 49-0), and their reign as Champions ended.

When rhe game was over, in addition to the Springers yelling "we back," there were fist bumps, high fives, hugs, plus a team congregation along the fence facing their band... a band making their first appearance this season as the Springers celebrated another big win, yet realizing there is still unfinished business.

The first quarter favored Maury with the Commodore defense allowing the Springers just 14 yards of offense and forcing two 3 & outs. Maury on the other hand had early success on offense albeit with nothing to show for. Ahmarian Grainger had success passing but the minute the Commodores went with the run with the ball in the hands of Demonte Dunlap, the offense was halted... stuffed to put it accurately.

The Springer defense was relentless as the Commodore offense in this first quarter as Kelvin Gilliam, Jr. recorded his first sack of the game in this first series and forced a turnover on downs.

Maury's next offensive possession saw the Commodores hit with back-to-back delay of game penalties with the Commodores recovering but only coming away with 3 yards of offense.

The second quarter began much like the first with the Maury offense making plays. The combo of Ahmarian Grainger & Demonte Dunlap with the run and pass moved the ball out to midfield but the success was short lived as Da'quan Giles intercepted a Grainger pass to end the Commodore run.

The Commodores continued their defensive dominance in the beginning of the second quarter with another 3 & out from the Springers. In fact the two teams took turns forcing a 3 & out.

The game began to take a turn on the Springers fourth possession of the game. With the Springers backed up to their own 12 Jordan Jackson was fed the ball on 6 of the first 7 play calls which saw the Springers get a first down for the first time on this day. The Springers facing fourth down went for it with QB Juwan Dent scrambling towards the Springers sideline trucking the entire way and would have had another first down had he not been tripped falling a yard short. The Springers came away with 32 yards and a bit of confidence on this drive.

While the Springers offense warmed up, the Springers defense was red hot forcing two Maury 3 & outs which sandwiched the first score of the half.

The Springers offense looked like it might take a step back after an incomplete pass and Dent was hit for loss of 1. On the next play, however, Dent hit Michael Hodge along he Springer sideline for a 31-yard pass. In some ways that proved to be the biggest play of the game for the Springers.

With the ball at midfield, Dent went airborne again hitting Latrell Sutton in motion and going to the distance for a 50-yard touchdown. Just like that the Springers were on the board and leading the defending state champions.

On the Springers last possession of the half the Springers covered 42 yards with Sutton the target again in the passing game. The Springers had found something on offense and was carrying a lot of momentum into the second half despite an interception at the end.

The Springers came out of the half receiving the opening kickoff and a huge return to the Maury 27. The Springers were clearly picking up where they left off. After the Springers were assessed a penalty the Springers Juwan Dent went airborne again and found his man in Latrell Sutton once more for another Springer touchdown. This time around the PAT was good and the Springers now led 13-0.

The Springer defense continued to take care of business against Maury allowing them a first down but that would be as far as they would get. On the Commodores second possession of the half in two plays the defending champions garnered 15 yards but then the defense locked itt down with a Da'quan Giles tackle on Demonte Dunlap and Payton Jackson coming up with a sack on Ahamarian Grainger.

Things nearly got out of control in a series of events that led to tempers and emotions flaring.

The Springers were once again moving the ball when Juwan Dent fumbled the ball, recovered butt not before losing 5 yards. Faced with a 4th & 13, Dent went airborne but the pass was intercepted in the end zone by Dajon Evans.

Evans down in the endzone following the interception, the Springer receiver was trying to step over Evans as Evans was trying to get up, legs tangled and Evans misinterpreted as the did the Commodore players, sidelines and fans as the Springer trying to step on Evans, especially given with the entanglement Evans was injured. Words were exchanged, shoving took place.

Over the next series of plays the two teams would continue to go at it, on the field and on the Maury sidelines at one point. The coaches for both teams and the refs quickly go in front of the situation before it could escalate.

The Maury defense shutdown a hot Springer offense before the curtain closed on the third quarter.

Highland Springs looked like they would be adding to their lead with their first possession of the fourth quarter. The Springers benefitted from a personal foul call against Maury that moved them up to the 20 of the Commodores. From there, Jordan Jackson did the rest with a 20-yard touchdown run. However, the touchdown did not stand due to an illegal procedure call against the Springers. In this same series, Juwan Dent would fumble, recover the miscue, but not before losing a ton of yards to put the Springers in a 3rd & 27 bind.

Latrell Sutton came up big again with an 11-yard catch. Things went awry from here as the Springers looked to be lining up for a field goal try, though a miscommunication between the players and the coach caused Coach Johnson to throw his headset on the ground in frustration as the Springers had to burn a timeout. Now instead of a field goal attempt the, Springers went for it on fourth down and would come up short.

The Springers final drive of the day went for 30 yards with the combo of Jordan Jackson, Juwan Dent, Jamareeh Jones and Michael Hodge all finding some space to run against a tough Maury defense.

The toughest defense on this day, however, would be that of the Springers, who forced Maury to two 3 & outs in the final quarter of the contest. Between these two possessions, the Commodores came away with just 7 yards of offense.

On the Commodores second possession, defensive end Rashaud Pernell made a sack on Ahmarian Grainger.

Maury's final drive was their most productive of the quarter. From their own 5 Ahmarian Grainger found Demonte Dunlap for a pickup of 18 yards. After Kelvin Gilliam got to Grainger for another sack, Dunlap bailed out the Commodores with a 14-yard catch. This drive featured a heavy dose of Dunlap. Despite the moves and the yards, time would expire on two incompletions from Grainger.

Another date with Stone Bridge, who Highland Springs has defeated on three occasions before in the State Finals, awaits.

Got to give it up to Latrell Sutton on offense for the Springers. Latrell came through with big catches when his Springers needed him to the most. Three receptions, 98 yards and 2 touchdowns... simply numbers that are hard to argue with him being chosen the contest's MVP.

As for the defense... where do you even begin? So many were pivotal to holding the Commodores to just 163 yards of offense. Jabari Parker, Kelvin Gilliam, Jr., Da'quan Giles and Davon Edwards all had multiple tackles against the Commodores. Kelvin Gilliam came up with two sacks as did his teammate at defensive end, Rashaud Pernell and fellow d-lineman Payton Jackson. Da'quan Giles also had an interception. So many on defense made contributions that I am going to give it up to the whole defensive unit.

The Springers have not allowed a score in the playoffs yet.

In their last four games, the Springers have outscored their opponents 104-7 with 3 shutouts in the last 4 games.

5 shutouts for the Springers is the most for the program since their 6 in 2018.

13 points is the fewest points for the Springers since playing Oscar Smith on September 7th, 2019.

The Springers have now outscored Maury in 3 meetings 117-36 and this marks their first shutout against the Commodores.