Answered prayer highlight of Springers' domination of NOVA foe

It was a play, if not for the ages, then at least for the postseason highlight reel.

The Dashaun Chisem-to-Jonathan Carter Hail Mary pass as time expired in the first half of Highland Springs’ 28-7 victory over visiting South County on Thursday was more a momentum-sustainer and crowd-pleaser than a game-winner, but it was, nonetheless, spectacular and, without a doubt, uber-exciting.

Leading 14-0 after dominating the first two quarters on this cool, breezy evening punctuated by light, intermittent showers, the Springers (3-1) took possession at their 48 with 34.5 seconds remaining.

After five plays of working the clock and using their timeouts judiciously, they held forth on the Stallions’ 37, but a mere 2 seconds remained so the call from the sideline was obvious: let ‘er rip.

On the snap, Chisem dropped back, deftly sidestepped a would-be tackle and launched a well-tuned spiral deep into the end zone where Devlin Davis, Carter and the South County defenders were converging.

As the ball descended into the mosh pit, Davis managed to tip it as he was jostled, and, in an instant, it bounded into Carter’s outstretched hands. 

Then, with consummate poise, presence of mind, and athleticism, he kept his feet inbounds even though they landed literally inches from the back line and he was falling as they touched the turf.

“I saw my quarterback, he threw the ball, and I saw the ball in the air,” Carter said. “When I see ball, I’ve got to go get ball.

“I dragged my feet. I’m not going to lie. When I caught the ball, I thought I was out of bounds. At halftime, they showed me (on an iPad). I was in bounds.”

The TD pass to Carter was the third of three that Chisem delivered.

“It was a dream,” said Chisem, a 6-0, 180-pound junior who went 13 for 26 for 190 yards and rushed 11 times for 41 yards and a second-half TD.

“Just throw it up. Let the guys make a play on the ball. I was thinking, ‘My guy will come down with it and nobody else.’ We practice it. It’s either our guy or nobody.”

The Springers’ first TD, which ended a five-play, 84-yard drive, was a 24-yard connection from Chisem to Montell Richardson, who had found a wide-open spot in the middle of the secondary.

The first of Angel Alegria’s four extra points put the home team up 7-0 at 4:55 of the first quarter.

Highland Springs’ second score came at 6:50 of the second quarter when Chisem teamed with Jeremiah White (seven catches, 110 yards) for a 41-yard catch-and-run on the first play after the Springers took possession following a defensive stop.

“We threw a lot of hitches last week against Dinwiddie,” Chisem said. “I knew (the Stallions) would see that on film, so our quick game wouldn’t be there, so I knew we’d have a shot down the field.”

At 3:53 of the third quarter, Chisem delivered his guys’ fourth touchdown on a 15-yard run that concluded a 15-play, 77-yard drive that consumed 8:07 of clock time.

Following Marquise Bullock’s interception on the first play of the final quarter, the Springers launched a similar drive (with backup Isaiah Crews running the offense) that kept the Stallions’ defense on the field for another eight minutes.

“That (the long drives) solidify what we’re trying to do,” Springers coach Loren Johnson said. “We want to execute as well as we can and play at our level. When we do those things, we’ll be all right. 

“We have to compete and play well in everything that we do.”

The Springers amassed 330 yards (131 rushing, 199 passing) on 76 plays. Using an aggressive, relentless four-man front defense, they limited the Stallions from Fairfax County (2-1) to 129 yards (145 passing, minus 16 rushing) on 58 plays.

Eighty-one of the visitors’ yards (all through the air) came in the fourth quarter as South County scrambled to score, which it ultimately did when quarterback Dylan Miller and receiver Chaz Samuel teamed for a 7-yard TD pass 2:49 from the end.

“We’d watched a lot of film,” said Bullock, a 5-11, 190-pound senior strong safety. “They like to throw the hitch, so we just stepped up a little bit and forced them to throw the deep ball, but they couldn’t throw it.

“We practice hard every day, so this was nothing to us. We just get back and get them to the ground.”