THE SPORTS DESK
NW Region, Division 5 Football: Shegog, Wolverines flex their muscles
BY STEVE DeSHAZO
Many high school football players don’t accomplish as much in a four-year career as Anthony Shegog did in the fourth quarter Friday night.
Spurred by what he considered an erroneous penalty called against him, Shegog dominated the final 12 minutes as North Stafford rolled past visiting Brooke Point 41–14 in a Northwest Region, Division 5 semifinal.
The top-seeded Wolverines (10–1) will host Mountain View next Saturday at 2 p.m., seeking their second straight region title. And Shegog deserves much of the credit.
Late in the third period, he was flagged for offensive pass interference while catching a 30-yard toss from quarterback Jalen Sarratt. The call stopped a North Stafford drive—but motivated the normally mild-mannered Shegog.
“It made me mad,” he said, “and I took it out on Brooke Point.”
Boy, did he. On the first play of the fourth period, Shegog caught a pump-and-go 41-yard touchdown pass from Sarratt to push North Stafford’s lead to 27–7.
Three plays later, Shegog intercepted a Brooke Point pass, and on North Stafford’s second offensive snap, he rambled 56 yards for his third touchdown of the game. (He also caught a 12-yard scoring pass from Sarratt in the second quarter.)
Shegog later had an apparent 70-yard run shortened by an illegal-block penalty. But his fourth-period numbers included four carries for 112 yards, the TD catch and the interception.
“He’s pretty dangerous. He’s special,” North Stafford coach Joe Mangano said. “With Anthony, it depends on matchups. Some games he gets carries as a running back, sometimes we throw to him. I don’t want to kill him, because he’s really good on defense, too.”
Shegog helped the Wolverines pull away after the Black–Hawks (6–6) hung around for three quarters in search of their sixth straight win. Trailing 20–7 at the half, they played North Stafford evenly in the third quarter, but were pinned deep in their own territory by Joey Slye’s punts.
And a lost fumble by Johnathan Horsley (who ran for 127 yards) and two interceptions thrown by Alex Cox doomed them. Cox’s 34-yard second-quarter touchdown pass to Aaron Sanders was Brooke Point’s only score until Tyus White’s 76-yard catch against the Wolverines’ defensive reserves.
“They wore us down,” Brooke Point coach Jeff Berry said. “You can only play with fire for so long, and you’re gonna get burned. But I’m really proud of our guys. They kept coming to practice and made a hell of a run.”
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Brooke Point 0 7 0 7 — 14
North Stafford 6 14 0 21 — 41
First Quarter
NS-B. Ravenel 58-yard punt return (kick failed)
Second Quarter
NS-A. Shegog 12-yard pass from J. Sarratt (J. Slye kick)
NS-D. Parker 12-yard pass from J. Sarratt (J. Slye kick)
BP-A. Sanders 34-yard pass from A. Cox (M. Moreno kick)
Fourth Quarter
NS-A. Shegog 41-yard pass from J. Sarratt (J. Slye kick)
NS-A. Shegog 56-yard run (J. Slye kick)
NS-K. Dadzi 2-yard run (J. Slye kick)
BP-T. White 76-yard pass from A. Cox (M. Moreno kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
BP NS
First downs11 15
Rushing yardage31-104 38-261
Passing yardage185 114
Passes12-20-2 9-15-0
Punts-Avg.6-32.0 5-35.6
Fumbles-lost3-2 0-0
Penalties-yards2-15 6-63
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: North Stafford—Anthony Shegog 12-179, TD; Kwesi Dadzi 13-58, TD; Denzel Opoku 5-13; Jalen Sarratt 7-4; Cedrick Watkins 1-0. Brooke Point—Johnathan Horsley 29-127; Alex Cox 2-(-23).
Passing: North Stafford—Jalen Sarratt 9-15-0 114, 3TD. Brooke Point—Alex Cox 12-20-2 185, 2TD.
Receiving: North Stafford—Anthony Shegog 4-75, 2TD; Brandon Ravenel 3-20; Darnell Parker 1-12, TD; Kwesi Dadzi 1-7. Brooke Point—Tyus White 6-131, TD; Aaron Sanders 4-45, TD; Johnathan Horsley 2-9.
Steve DeShazo: 540/374-5443
sdeshazo@freelancestar.com
