Friday football: Great Bridge 28, Deep Creek 14

CHESAPEAKE

Deep Creek football games without Nathan T. Hardee.

It just didn’t seem quite right.

That’s how many Hornet fans felt Friday night as they made their way to Nathan T. Hardee Stadium to see Deep Creek take on Great Bridge in a Southeastern District match-up.

Hardee, who became the school’s principal in 1972, died last month. His self-inflicted passing sent shock waves throughout the Deep Creek community. But many fans knew they had to press forward.

“Something is definitely missing,” said former Deep Creek football coach David Cox, who coached the Hornets for 22 seasons, including 11 as a head coach. “But I had to be here. This is my first home game back. It’s the same place, but you just feel like something is missing.”

The Hornets gave the fans something to cheer about on this somber night, but came up short, losing to Great Bridge 28-14.

Deep Creek coach David Waddell knew it was going to be a tough night. He actually said last week’s season opener at Norcom was tougher personally, but he knew returning to Nathan T. Hardee Stadium would be difficult.

“The emotion wrapped up in this game at home with the stadium named after him and us wanting to give the family the game ball, it hurts,” he said. “But he would have been proud of these kids tonight. These kids played their hearts out.”

Trailing 7-0 in the second quarter, Deep Creek quarterback Kameron Stewart wanted to do everything he could to make sure the Hornets put up a fight.

He threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Willie Smith to help cut the deficit to 7-6 before the half. He then led the Hornets down- field in the third quarter with a 19-yard pass to Austin McNeal that set up Charles Arnold’s 2-yard touchdown run to give the Hornets their first lead of the season.

“He was on all of our minds,” Stewart said about Hardee. “And I just came out here and tried to keep the emotion off the field and tried to play my hardest for him. Playing at home means a lot. We’re definitely playing harder for him this season. Everything is for him this season, everything.”

Great Bridge battled back behind quarterback Brad Hudson. He threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Gould and followed that with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Marc Meier that seemed to take the air out of Deep Creek’s sails.

“They had us for a little bit and the crowd was really getting into it,” said Hudson, who completed 15 of 22 passes for 248 yards. “But I think we put it away in the second half.”

Despite the loss, the Hornets gave the fans something to cheer about, which was definitely needed after Hardee’s death.

Even David Noblin, who has been calling Deep Creek games for five years, said coming back to Hardee Stadium was difficult.

“He’s on our minds and in our hearts every day,” he said. “Everywhere we look, we see a piece of him. He always will be in our heart and will always be a part of Deep Creek. He will be truly missed by the community, he’s just reached and touched so many lives.”

Key stats: DC—Stewart 11-22-0-134 yards, 1 TD; GB—Gould 4-101 yards, 1 TD.

Larry Rubama, (757) 446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com