This game was over before it started. Blue Streaks (6-4, 5-1) junior quarterback Kwentin Smiley would indeed suit up and play, after suffering a shoulder injury to his throwing arm in the second half against Spotswood. To make matters worse for Turner Ashby (2-8, 1-5), senior running back Marcus Robinson-Jenkins was back to his old self again on Thursday. The senior stud racked up 226 yards and averaged eleven yards a pop on the ground, to go along with three touchdowns.
Smiley got the scoring started in the first quarter with a 6-yard TD scamper, and the offense never looked back from there. After pinning the Knights at their one yard line after a fumble, the Streaks took advantage of it the very next play with a safety, making it 9-0 HHS. Nearly a minute later, the Streaks were back in the end zone with a 10-yard run by Marcus Robinson-Jenkins. Things started to settle down in the second quarter, as neither team scored. HHS was one yard away from making the score 23-0 right before halftime, but failed to convert a 4th-and-1 from the TA one yard line. Instead of handing the ball off or trying a sneak, Robinson-Jenkins took the handoff but then attempted a jump pass to sophomore Jazen Walker, and it fell incomplete.
The start of the second half was more of the same, Harrisonburg driving and then committing penalties that killed them, 60 yards worth, and TA not being able to get anything going. With 5:33 left in the third quarter after initially being bottled up at the line of scrimmage, Kwentin Smiley left everyone in the dust down the right sideline for his second score of the night, this time from 50 yards. This gave our bois a comfortable 23-point cushion. After the offenses traded possessions for a few minutes, all Smiley had to do was hand the rock off to Robinson-Jenkins as he took the sucker 65 yards to the house, with a huge hole to run through and blockers all the way down field. The score was now 30-0 Blue Streaks with :50 left in the third.
Our defense continued to play absolutely bananas, with people flying everywhere and getting three (I think) takeaways. The Knights continued to get one first down and the be forced to punt. TA’s MVP of the night was their punter, who saw lots of action. The fourth quarter saw a lot less scoring, but who else to cap it off than ole Marcus with a 30-yard reservation for six. The score stayed at 37-0 for the rest of the game. Smiley finished with 102 rushing yards of his own and 99 yards passing, with Junior?? Jaheim Anderson leading the way with 43 yards receiving.
The Streaks improved to 6-4 with the win, and the 4 seed in Region 5D. They will travel to Brookpoint next week for the first round of playoffs. As for TA, the word “playoffs” might as well be on Pluto.