NEWPORT NEWS — Hampton rebounded nicely from its first loss to beat Denbigh 49-13 Thursday night in their Peninsula District game at Todd Stadium.
The Crabbers (4-1, 4-1 district), ranked 13th in the 757Teamz Top 15, have scored at least 40 points in each of their four victories. They were held far below that in a penalty-plagued 47-13 loss at Glen Allen six days earlier, but returned to form early in running away from the Patriots (2-4, 2-4).
“We made a few mistakes, but I thought we played well and I’m pleased with the effort,” Crabbers coach Woodrow Wilson said.
Quarterback Marcus Chapman (119 yards passing, one touchdown, two TD runs) and running back Sidney Johnson (146 yards rushing, one TD) began their big nights on the Crabbers’ 10-play, 85-yard opening touchdown drive. Johnson ran five times for 53 yards on the drive, while Chapman completed passes of 7 and 13 yards and ran 2 yards for a touchdown to give the Crabbers the lead for good.
Gene Jones Jr.’s punt block gave the Crabbers the ball at the Patriots’ 28 for their second possession. Chapman’s 21-yard pass to Abraham Taft set up a 1-yard run by Casey Lassiter — missing against Glen Allen with an ankle injury — to make it 14-0.
Chapman scrambled out of pressure nicely on the Crabbers’ next series and found Johnson for 28 yards along the sideline. Sticking with the theme, he passed to running back Lassiter for 22 yards and a touchdown to increase the margin to 21-0.
For all of the Crabbers’ dominance, Denbigh’s Jyran Evans had the play of the game, a one-handed reception on a 54-yard pass from Kevin Parker. That set up Evans’ 5-yard reception from Parker for a Denbigh touchdown that sliced the Crabbers’ lead to 21-7 at halftime.
Quarzel Frazier disabused the Patriots of any comeback idea by returning the second-half kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown. The Crabbers scored their next three touchdowns on the ground: Johnson for 20 yards, Chapman for 2 yards and Des’Tin Jones for 46 yards as the Crabbers finished with 264 yards rushing and 383 yards total.
“We ran the ball well and the line blocked pretty well,” Wilson said. “I’m very pleased with that aspect of the game.”
Denbigh’s Parker finished with 182 yards passing and two touchdowns, but completed only 8 of 25 passes as the Crabbers displayed improved secondary play after eight pass-interference penalties against Glen Allen.
“We covered a lot better tonight,” Wilson said. “We gave up two big plays, but that boy (Evans) made an outstanding play.
“Overall our defense played well.”
