Saints shut out in a home playoff loss
Published 12:04 am Saturday, November 10, 2018
The Saints football season came to an end after a 36-0 home loss to North Cross School Friday night.
In shocking fashion, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy was shut out for the first time this season. It was the fourth loss in a row for the Saints after they started their season 7-0.
“I am disappointed for our guys,” Coach Mike Biehl said. “We faced a lot of adversity. Probably the most we’ve faced in a game all year, which says a lot, because we have faced different things throughout the season.”
NSA had to fight various obstacles such as turnovers and injuries. Coming into the game, they were without star running back George Pettaway. During the game, starting quarterback Ian McAninley went down with a shoulder injury late in the first half. Ehron Knight took over as quarterback.
The Saints were down 14-0 at halftime.
The Saints were not able to execute as they had hoped in the second half. After a strong first half defensively, the Saints started to wear down in what Biehl described as a snowball effect of things that put the game out of reach for the Saints.
“Our kids put so much time, energy and effort into this, especially those seniors,” Biehl said. “To go out the way we did with things happening out of our control was disappointing. We are going to use this experience as a positive for us. But it hurts really bad for these guys who have done a lot for this program to know they won’t be on the field with us again.”
NSA came into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed.