Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s football team could not quite make its fourth-quarter comeback stick against host Fredericksburg Christian High School.

The Saints trailed for most of the game Friday afternoon in sweltering Fredericksburg, but a touchdown with 8:22 left gave them their first lead of the game, 22-16.

“We got the lead and defensively, we just kept giving up a big play for the first down,” NSA coach Lew Johnston said. “We needed to make a stop on their last drive, and we gave their quarterback too much time to throw, and they got a receiver open in the end zone.”

Darius Carter’s 20-yard touchdown pass to RJ Thornton enabled the Eagles to leave with a 23-22 victory.

“We came down the field and had two shots at the end zone and couldn’t come up with anything. Couldn’t have gotten much closer,” Johnston said, later adding Fredericksburg was “obviously the best opponent we’ve seen in three games.”

The Saints could not get on track offensively in the first half. Johnston said his team had not faced much competition up front so far this season, until the Eagles on Friday.

“They were a little more physical than I think we gave them credit for,” he said.

This meant senior fullback David Gough had difficulty making headway inside, ending up with only 65 yards on 18 carries for an uncharacteristically low yards-per-carry average of 3.61.

But Nansemond-Suffolk found success on the outside, particularly with senior running back Addison Peak. The Eagles’ James Plourde scored on an eight-yard touchdown run, but Peak responded later in the first quarter with a 74-yard scoring romp.

The two-point conversion attempt was not successful, leaving the Saints behind 7-6.

Carter completed a four-yard touchdown pass to Jon Hall to make it 13-6 going into halftime. Fredericksburg scored first in the third quarter off a 42-yard field goal by Matt Schools, but Johnston explained why the second half went better for his team overall.

“We got after them better on defense,” he said. Meanwhile, the offense benefited as he said “we got some good field position a couple of times and finally broke a couple plays.”

NSA junior quarterback Noah Serianni made a 20-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Jack Johnson, and Gough ran in the two-point conversion to close the gap to 16-14 with 8:49 left in the third quarter.

Gough finally got some running room to score the go-ahead touchdown with 8:22 to go in the fourth, and Peak ran in the two-point conversion.

“We came out in the second half and pretty much dominated them until they got that drive at the end,” Johnston said.

Peak ended up being NSA’s biggest gainer on offense, accounting for 175 of the Saints’ 257 yards from scrimmage. Serianni struggled passing the ball, going 4-for-14 for 84 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Johnston said the NSA offense produced two big plays that were called back due to penalties.

“Noah (Giles) took a swing pass and went about 80 yards, and they called holding,” he said, negating would have made for an early 6-0 lead.

The coach also said that the heat was a factor.

“It was about 98 out here. I think under the circumstances we played hard,” he said. “The heat just wears you down.”

Unfortunately, the Saints did not emerge from the game without injuries. Jack Johnson hurt his knee, which Johnston said could be serious. He also said Giles looked like he tweaked his knee again.

Nansemond-Suffolk (2-1) visits Virginia Episcopal School next Saturday with the kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m.