Powhatan races to victory

POWHATAN -- Vance Hendren turned the corner, saw some daylight and lit out for the goal line.

Hendren's Powhatan football team held a three-point lead over visiting Tabb of Yorktown in the semifinals of the Region I, Division 4 playoffs last night.

The play started at the Powhatan 22 with a little more than six minutes remaining in the game.

"All I know is I saw that opening and ran as hard as I can," Hendren said. "I thought I was out like three times. When I saw that I was past 21 [Tabb defender Corey Patrick], I knew it was going to happen."

Hendren broke four tackles along the way, cut back at the 20-yard line and crossed the goal line with the clinching touchdown in the Indians' 27-17 victory.

Powhatan, the three-time defending region champion, is back in the title game and will play at Chancellor next Saturday. The Indians have won 10 games in a row since an opening loss to Louisa.

"We were definitely in good shape. We had an opportunity to make a stop, get the ball back and score a touchdown," Tabb coach Matt Lawson said. "It's happened to us all year long, giving up a big play like that."

The Tigers (8-3) were in the region playoffs for the first time since 1993. After falling behind 6-0 on Sean Minor's 33-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw, Tabb's Nick Henderson kicked a 21-yard field goal and Patrick scored on a 2-yard run to put the Tigers up 10-6. An interception by Patrick set up the drive.

The Indians came right back behind Minor, a junior who was the Powhatan show until Hendren's big run. Minor ran the ball 13 times for 104 yards and three touchdowns. The second came with 33 seconds left in the first half and gave Powhatan the lead for good.

Minor was just as effective rolling out and passing. He connected on 8 of 12 passes for 118 yards. The interception didn't faze him.

"I knew I had to make it up to the team and take care of what I had to do. I like the rollout pass, because I'm a dual threat," Minor said. "If the cornerback comes up for run support, I can dump it over his head or I can keep it."

Hendren finished with 106 yards rushing. Shawn Henderson contributed 60 and freshman Landon Bradley came in at the end and added 63 yards as the Indians rushed for 333 yards.

Defensively, the Indians struggled in the first half stopping Patrick and Chris Parham.

"[We] were not making plays. It's not like they were surprising us," Powhatan coach Jim Woodson said. "We were not performing. We were back on our heels instead of being aggressive and coming after them. We played one half of football. We need to get prepared at this stage of the game to play the whole football game like we played the second half."

P -- Minor 33 run (kick blocked)

T -- Henderson 21 FG

T -- Patrick 2 run (Henderson kick)

P -- Minor 3 run (Moore kick)

P -- Minor 1 run (Moore kick)

T -- Parham 16 run (Henderson kick)

P -- Hendren 78 run (Moore kick)

RUSHING

Tabb: Patrick 16 carries, 73 yards; Parham 14-58; Case 1-minus 8 Powhatan: Hendren 7-106; Minor 13-104; Henderson 16-60; Bradley 7-63
PASSING

Tabb: Case 7 completions 16 attempts 109 yards 1 interception Powhatan: Minor 8-12-118-1
RECEIVING

Tabb: Patrick 3 catches 48 yards; Wilson 2-26; Parham 1-20; Shurott 1-12 Powhatan: Ingram 4-80; Gordan 2-25; Hendren 2-13