HAMPTON, Va. (WTKR) — Facing fourth down at its own 22 yard-line with 3:40 left to play and trailing Warwick by three, Phoebus head coach Jeremy Blunt faced a critical decision.
Punt or go for it?
Blunt's initial choice was to kick it. Just before the snap, he changed his mind.
"I called a timeout and said, 'I'll go for it,'" he said. "Three minutes left, I only had two timeouts. I felt like we wouldn't get the ball back and they would have had the clock to run it down."
After the way Phoebus beat Salem for the 2023 Class 4 state championship, the head coach has learned that trusting his gut usually works out.
Maurikus Banks connected with Romeir Smith on a tipped ball for a 56-yard completion down to the Raiders 22. That led to a game-winning touchdown catch by Mhakyi Hill to help Phoebus knock off Warwick 27-17 and extend its winning streak to 44 games.
I think I can easily say that Phoebus-Warwick was the most insane final minutes of a high school game I've seen this year.
— Zach Staton (@ZStatonSports) November 2, 2024
Raiders got the lead with 4:38 to go, but the Phantoms had one more punch left in them.
Jeremy Blunt's group has won 44 games in a row. @WTKR3 @PhoebusHS1 pic.twitter.com/yOkXvZcNPp
"I trusted my offense. I trused my sophomore quarterback," Blunt said. "I trusted everyone in the playcalling booth to get together and make a play, and that's what we did."
"We're not really too nervous because we'd been here before," Banks said. "Last season, last play of the game won us the game and won us the state championship."
Before the gutsy drive, the two teams looked to be recreating their defensive slugfest from a year prior. Phoebus took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, but a kickoff return for touchdown by the visitors' Julio Carrecter got it to 14-7 before halftime.
Just one Warwick field goal in the third quarter trimmed the lead down to three going into the final period.
After trading defensive stances, the Raiders got the ball with six minutes to play. Facing their own fourth down at midfield, Saeed Williams Jr. unleashed a dart to Keon Batts and the senior receiver found enough daylight to race 53 yards to the endzone and give Warwick a 17-14 advantage with 4:38 to play.
The Phantoms could only get two yards out of the ensuing drive, setting up fourth-and-eight deep in their own territory.
That's when the magic happened.
"I knew it was being caught," Hill said. "I'm confident in Ro, we work at this everyday."
"I knew those guys were going to be ready," Blunt said. "I knew it was going to be one of those games that was going to test you physically and mentally, and that's what it did today."
The victory extends numerous streaks for Phoebus: 44 consecutive wins, 67 victories in a row against Peninsula District teams, and a ninth straight district crown.
"The goal stayed the same. Just win," Banks said. "This one happened just happened to be for the Peninsula championship and we executed, got it done."
It's the only loss on a tremendous regular season for Warwick, which heads into the playoffs 9-1. Only Phoebus has scored more than 14 points on the Raiders' vaunted defense.
Blunt's group gathers for one more game against Denbigh next Friday before their hunt for a fourth straight state title gets underway.
"It's a district championship game, but it's a championship game. That's how it's supposed to be," he said. "They played a gutsy game of football and they made us earn it and we had to go earn it at the end. It was a fun game, that's what it's all about."
