HAMPTON -- Monta Thomas accounted for five touchdowns and Hampton (13-0) eliminated England (13-1) 54-32 on Friday night to advance to the Class AA championship game.
"It was a great win," said Hampton Coach Wes Ables. "Nobody gave us a chance. Once again we proved everybody wrong."
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Hampton led 22-12 at halftime before Kevin Childs scored on a 14-yard run that gave the Bulldogs a 28-12 lead with 7:09 left in third quarter. Thomas made it 34-12 on a 37-yard run and pushed the advantage to 40-12 when he threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tre Murphy with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
England quarterback Brayden Brazeal threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Woods to trim the deficit to 42-18 late in the quarter.
Thomas ran 18 yards for a score early in the fourth before England countered with an 80-yard drive, capped by a 13-yard pass from Brazeal to Darrius Clarkson to make it 48-26 after Malik Coleman's two-point run.
Childs ended the Hampton scoring on a 20-yard run with 4:17 left in the game. Brazeal then threw 43 yards to Coleman on the game's final play to set the final margin.
"A great game, we had a great year," said England Coach Terry Farmer. "I didn't have them prepared. It was the coaches' fault, my fault."
Thomas gave the Bulldogs a quick 6-0 lead with 8:22 left in the first quarter on a 26-yard run. After England fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Thomas threw 9 yards to Emmanuel Hegler, then added the two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead.
Thomas returned a botched punt attempt 14 yards to give the Bulldogs a 22-0 lead with 4:26 left in the first quarter.
Brazeal found Clarkson to make it 22-6 with 6:45 left in the first half before the Lions went 89 yards in nine plays with Brazeal scoring from the 2 with 19 seconds remaining to make it 22-12.
Sports on 12/03/2016