If Isle of Wight Academy’s Rusty Brake isn’t the MVP of the Virginia Commonwealth Conference, then they shouldn’t give out the award. Brake ran for four touchdowns and passed for another in the Chargers’ 34-7 win over Blessed Sacrament Huguenot last Friday night.

Between running the ball and passing, Brake was responsible for 95 percent of the IWA offense in the first half. Through the air, Brake was 6-for-8 for 164 yards on the evening.

“Rusty is a good athlete. He’s a big quarterback who can run. That makes it tough on a defensive coordinator,” said Dale Chapman, IWA head coach. “He sees the field well and he’s deceptively fast.”

Although Brake dominated the first half, IWA spread the offense out in the second half. With running back J.D. Honeycutt out of the game with an ankle injury, Chapman went to Heath Price (29 yards on five carries) and Ryan Quesinberry (16 yards on six carries).

“We’re all about team,” Chapman said. “If his (Brake’s) number was called tonight, it might not be his number next week. I think we have enough skill guys that you just can’t key on one guy.”

Brake also ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in a shortened stint in a blowout the week earlier against Tidewater Academy.

Plus, Rusty Brake is his given name, not a nickname.

During the preseason while discussing his players, Chapman said: “Rusty Brake. What a cool name.”

– The statistics from the Windsor-Sussex Central game from Friday night are amazing. The Dukes won the game 58-38 in what can only be described as a track meet. The teams combined for 894 yards of offense and scored 64 points in the third quarter. Windsor alone had 44 points in the third quarter.

What is more amazing is that Sussex Central beat Windsor 54-8 last year and the Dukes looked like they were playing in slow motion against a speedy Sussex team.

– Southampton dumped New Kent 12-10 on Saturday for their second Bay Rivers District win of the season.

– The style Franklin employed in Saturday’s 49-12 win over Charles City was “our way of playing football,” Parker said. Part of that “way” includes playing solid defense.

The defense stepped up in the opening minutes of the game when Derrick Thompson intercepted Charles City early in the first quarter, returning the ball to the 14-yard line.

Isaiah Hudson scored from there for Franklin’s first score.

“For years,” Parker said, “we’ve been known for our defense.”

Defense was something worked on during the week of practice, trying to get “that swagger back” after two straight losses.

Saturday’s win moved Franklin to a 1-1 record in the Tri-Rivers District, behind Windsor (2-0) and Surry (1-0), which beat Franklin in the first district game.

Still, Franklin is slightly ahead of Windsor in the rating points system employed by the Virginia High School League. Although they’ll be challenging for a playoff spot in different regions, those two teams finish the season against each other, which could be a game to determine a playoff spot.

“To be honest, I don’t even look at it each week,” Parker said of the rating standings. “We don’t get caught up in stats or numbers.”

Instead, Parker said his team’s outlook is to “take each week at a time.”

This week, that would be Nandua at home at 7

p.m. It is Senior Night.

The Broncos have two remaining district games on the schedule, at Sussex and the finale at Windsor.

Tonight might be Senior Night, but the Broncos are a young team, playing just a handful of seniors.

“They’ve matured a lot,” since the start of the season, Parker said of his underclassmen. “They have grown.”

Last Friday’s Homecoming game was postponed because a threat of heavy rain, with a chance of lightning and thunder. Saturday’s game was played under a bright sun with mild temperatures.

n Chowan University football dropped a 56-14 game to North Greenville University on Saturday. North Greenville had 635 yards of total offense.

– The Windsor High School volleyball team has run its record to 16-2, 6-0 in the Tri-Rivers District, and faced Franklin at home on Thursday in the regular season finale for both teams.

Jeffrey Zeigler is a sports correspondent. His e-mail address is

j.zeigler@hotmail.com