VIRGINIA BEACH
Isle of Wight Academy rushed for more than 300 yards on Friday night, but could not overcome three lost fumbles in a 36-26 loss to Atlantic Shores at The Virginia Beach Sportsplex.

Despite the turnovers, the Chargers found themselves trailing by only two points in the waning minutes of the contest when running back Alec Edwards burst through the line for a two-yard touchdown. The conversion attempt by quarterback Bryce Casey intended for receiver Curtis Waters was tipped away at the line, forcing Isle of Wight to make a decision on the ensuing kickoff. The Chargers chose to kick it deep, but Seahawks quarterback Ryan Chamberlain hit receiver Jordan Cannady for an 88-yard touchdown to seal the deal.

“It was a situation where it was back and forth, we just had a few more mistakes than they did,” said Isle of Wight head coach Dale Chapman. “It wasn’t a typical 80-yard touchdown, either. They hit him on a bubble screen and we blew tackles and he scored. It was just a lot of small things like that [that hurt us].”

Trailing by ten, Isle of Wight could only manage one first down before turning the ball over on downs. The Seahawks ran the clock from there.

In the loss, Edwards led Isle of Wight with 105 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Casey was 11-for-21 for 157 yards and one touchdown. Atlantic Shores running back Brandon Hall was the game’s leading rusher with 122 yards on 17 carries. He also added a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown to tie the game early in the second quarter. Cannady, the receiver, caught six passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

Two of the aforementioned turnovers came on the first two series of the game, but Isle of Wight took a brief lead at the end of the first quarter. A nine-play drive, capped off by Will Morningstar’s three-yard run at the end of the first quarter, put the Chargers ahead 6-0.

Hall’s kick return and rushing touchdown gave the Seahawks the lead with little more than six minutes left in the first half, but Isle of Wight answered with a seven-play scoring drive to knot the game at 12 heading into halftime.

“We had two big plays against us,” Chapman said. “We had a four- to five-minute scoring drive and we started to gain the momentum, then they run the kickoff back. We’re the type of team that doesn’t allow special team scores.

Atlantic Shores’ Chamberlain opened the third quarter with a 17-yard touchdown run to give the Seahawks a lead they would not relinquish, as the Chargers’ next three drives ended in two punts and another fumble, respectively.

“All in all, we played okay,” Chapman said. “We just had some breakdowns that cost us the game.”

Isle of Wight, which falls to 0-1 with the season-opening defeat, will open its home slate against Portsmouth Christian on Friday at 7 p.m.