Fishburne trailed 14-0 at the half and 20-7 after three quarters, but the Caissons made a game of it in the fourth quarter before falling to North Cross, 27-21, in the Virginia Independent Schools state football semifinals.
A pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs by sophomore tailback Robert Smith, a 49-yarder on a fourth-and-three play with 11:50 to go, and a 14-yarder with 3:40 to go, brought the Caissons (8-1) to within a score. The FMS defense then came up big, forcing a Max Revercomb incomplete pass on a third-and-eight at midfield to force a Raider punt with 2:08 left.
Fishburne (8-1) had the ball and a chance to win, but a holding penalty on a second-down run pushed the Caissons back, and Jordan Lowery intercepted a Hunter Couchot pass at the North Cross 40 with 51 seconds left to seal the deal.
North Cross jumped out on top with 3:30 left in the first quarter on a 17-yard TD pass from Revercomb to Lowery. A Ryan Dent 3-yard touchdown run at the 2:56 mark of the second quarter made it 14-0 North Cross at the half.
Fishburne got back into it on a 1-yard run by Couchot at the 7:32 mark of the third quarter that had been set up by a 75-yard run by Couchot earlier in the drive.
Revercomb connected with Dent on a 7-yard touchdown pass with 4:29 to go to push the lead to 20-7.
North Cross was driving to add to the lead later in the third when Antwon Brown intercepted a Revercomb pass to stop that drive and reverse momentum back into the Caissons’ direction.
The loss brings to an end the most successful season in FMS school history. The last time Fishburne had started 8-0 in football was 1913.
More online at www.Fishburne.org.
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