Devils edge Saints

By Liz Keller

Published: September 5, 2008

When his players talked, Fork Union coach Micky Sullivan listened. And it paid off when it mattered most.

The Blue Devils, trailing St. Anne’s-Belfield by a field goal with two minutes left in the game used their effective ground game to rally for the win in thrilling fashion.

Fork Union’s Louis Litkett found the end zone from two yards out with 11 seconds remaining to give the visitors the 32-29 win on a soggy night.

The drive was highlighted by an electrifying 39-yard run from Litkett, and when the Blue Devils were faced with fourth down and six on the 14 yard line, they went to Litkett again, who moved the ball to the three yard line. Fork Union’s offensive line worked hard all night to pave the way for Litkett, a 5-foot-10,

166-pounder who led all ball carriers with 208 yards on 25 carries.

“Those five big guys - [Russell] Bodine, [Skyler] Allen, [Jason] Komey, [Mark] Shuman and [Ryan] Sims - said, ‘give him the ball, we’ll score.’ Well, we gave him the ball and we scored,” said Sullivan. “We had fourth down and we could have gone for the field goal, and they said, ‘coach, run the ball. Every once and a while, you’ve got to let the kids play. And they played, and they did what they had to do.”

The STAB offense - both its running and passing game - was also successful. Howie Long went 15 for 25 for 187 yards passing, hitting seven different receivers on the night. Junior running back Aaron Clark was also impressive, rushing for 179 yards on 21 carries.

But the Saints were hampered by penalties - including one with less than 30 seconds to play for too many men on the field - and a few costly turnovers. The momentum-changer came as the third quarter began. STAB fumbled on the kickoff, and FUMA recovered on the 21-yard line to set up the score - a 17-yard dash from Litkett.

“We did pretty much everything we wanted to do [on offense],” said STAB coach John Blake. “We made a couple of big mistakes, we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times near the goal line. Some special teams plays hurt us. But they’re fixable things and we can get better.”

The Saints (0-2) took a 29-26 lead with 7:06 to play on a 1-yard keeper from Long. It seemed like the home team would hold on after forcing FUMA to go three-and-out on its next series. But STAB’s final drive stalled, and the Blue Devils made the most out of their final opportunity.

“It was one of those games, that’s a game you sit down and watch and go, ‘man, that’s a pretty good game,’” Sullivan said. “That’s the one that gets your adrenaline pumping and gets you wanting to keep doing this stuff.”