By James J. Liddington

ISLE OF WIGHT
Hoping to avenge their only defeat in the last 12 months, Isle of Wight Academy again fell to Atlantic Shores Christian 38-19 here on Friday.

The Chargers’ 2015 loss to the Seahawks, 36-36, turned out to be the only smudge on their record in a season that saw them run the table on their way to a VISAA Div. IV championship.

Friday was a different story. Atlantic Shores rushed for 269 yards — 103 by quarterback Jon Sawyers —in trampling the Chargers, who ran for 129 yards.

Sawyers, a junior, also passed for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns, one rushing and one passing. His IWA counterpart Jordan Baines passed for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

The Chargers made a game of it in the first half. After a scoreless first quarter, the Chargers scored first on a 49-yard flea-flicker from wideout Damond Turner to KJ Jackson with 10:41 left before halftime. Shores answered immediately on a one-yard TD by David Stainback. An ensuing two-point conversion made it 8-7 Shores.

After IWA went four-and-out, a lengthy return and a facemask penalty against IWA on the resulting punt gave Shores the ball at the IWA 4. A play later, Sawyers ran it in and Stainback’s PAT made it 15-7.

Eight plays later, Baines found Zach Hinson for a 6-yard TD to bring the Chargers to within two points, 15-13. However, Shores ran off the next 23 points TD passes from Sawyers, a run by Chris Snipes, a safety against IWA’s punter another run by Jaylen Hobbs.

IWA is 0-1 and Shores 1-0 after the opener for both teams.

The next game will be on Friday, Sept. 2, at Portsmouth Christian School.