Saturday football: Norcom 20, Hampton 14

HAMPTON

Not this time.

Norcom avenged a one-point loss to Hampton earlier this season with a 20-14 victory Saturday at Darling Stadium in an Eastern Region Division 5 semifinal.

Chavelle Atkins scored the winning touchdown on a 3-yard run with 7:00 left in the fourth quarter for the Greyhounds’ first lead of the game.

Norcom (10-2) then secured the win when Breyhon Wallace intercepted a Hampton pass to Dallas Cogdell and took over at the Hampton 26 with 2:39 left.

“We’ve  been in this situation coming from behind, but I thought we played hard for four quarters," said Norcom coach Larry Archie, whose team scored the game's final two touchdowns.

Norcom now faces Phoebus, a 20-17 winner over Lake Taylor, for the Division 5 region title at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday at Darling Stadium.

Hampton (9-3) had beaten Norcom 14-13 earlier this year and also won a region playoff game last year.

“This is a new decade," Norcom quarterback Da'Quan Saunders said. "I told them that every play is our season. We had to get the monkey off our back.”

The Crabbers had one last chance, taking over at their own 28-yard line with 1:39 left. They had come back in the game earlier this season with two minutes remaining.

Hampton drove to the Norcom 33 but failed to get the first down with 19 seconds left.

The Greyhounds started with great field position on six of their seven first-half possessions but still found themselves down 14-0 until DaQuan Saunders hit Justin Sullivan from the 15 after starting on the Crabbers’ 39 early in the second quarter.

Norcom then got a huge break when a Hampton player muffed Wallace’s punt and Antone Styles pounced on it a the Crabbers’ 4.

Atkins punched it in from the 5 three plays later.

Hampton was getting breaks right from the opening possession.

Christopher Flood picked up Atkins’ fumble on Norcom’s third play of the game and dashed 30 yards to set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Marshawn Williams with 9:32 left in the first quarter.

Hampton went up 14-0 in the first on a quick 80-yard touchdown throw from Jeremy Eubanks to Deon Newsome, who broke away from Rashid Sutton at about the Norcom 35 and waltzed into the end zone.

Things slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, as neither team could mount a drive or score.

Norcom 20, Hampton 14

Norcom 0 13 0 7 — 20

Hampton 14 0 0 0 — 14

H—Williams 4 run (Staib kick)

H—Newsome 80 pass from Eubanks (Staib kick)

N—Sullivan 15 pass from Sanders (Wilson kick)

N—Atkins 5 run (kick failed)

N—Atkins 5 run (Wilson kick)

Norcom Hampton

First downs 13 8

Rushes-yards 34-111 23-44

Passing yards 185 166

Passing 14-36-1 9-20-1

Punts-avg. yards 3-40 4-30

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 9-70 8-54

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com

NOTE: An earlier version of this story - and Saturday's Pilot - incorrectly state that the Division 5 championship game will be played at Harbor Park. The Norcom-Phoebus game will be played at Darling Stadium.