By James J. Lidington

Special to the News-Herald

Isle of Wight Academy’s football team dominated visiting Hampton Roads Academy 35-0 in a contentious contest Friday at Hooper Field.

The game ended with 8:44 left in the third quarter when HRA senior quarterback Chris Leavey was thrown to the ground and left the game with an apparent injury. With no one to take his place, the Navigators — who arrived with 20 players, only 14 of whom were dressed out, and who had lost another player to injury during the game — forfeited and found their way to their bus.

IWA avenged a 34-18 loss last year to HRA, which figured prominently in the injury-riddled Chargers’ elimination from state playoff consideration.

Friday, the Chargers rushed for 153 yards and were led by senior tailback Alec Edwards’ 90 yards on seven carries. Senior quarterback Bryce Casey was an efficient 2-for-7 for 81 yards passing.

Isle of Wight’s defense continued its stingy ways, holding the Navigators to -3 yards rushing. Leavey was just 3-for-8 passing for 18 yards and two interceptions, both hauled in by IWA junior defensive back James Ricks.

In the opening quarter, Hampton Roads Academy ran four plays — losing one yard — and punted.

Then the Chargers opened the scoring on junior running back Donald King’s rambling 65-yard punt return with 8:50 remaining in the first quarter. HRA’s offense sputtered again, setting the stage for a six-play, 50-yard IWA scoring drive, capped by senior wide receiver Curtis Waters’ three-yard scoring run.

Edwards scored with 8:46 left in the second quarter and the ensuing extra point made it 21-0. But that opened the flood gates. Ricks’ first interception set up a 39-yard scoring run by King on first down. The Navigators sputtered on their ensuing possession, setting up senior running back Will Morningstar’s 12-yard run — also on first down — which, along with the extra point, made it 35-0 with 3:59 left before the half.

Edwards has scored 100 points this season and is ranked No. 6 in scoring among Virginia schools reporting statistics to MaxPreps.com. King is in a four-way tie for seventh with 98 points.

The Chargers and Navigators combined for 21 penalties for 223 yards, of which IWA had 160.

Isle of Wight (8-1) now exclusively holds the No. 1 ranking in Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division IV after being tied with Roanoke Catholic High School the week prior.

The Chargers are idle next Friday, the last week of the regular season. Pairings for the four-team state tournament will be announced Nov. 9, with games to be played the following weekend.