Gallery by Jen Lewis
Brief by Tom Bragg
Hurricane – Hurricane senior quarterback Noah Vellaithambi saved his best for last Friday in the first round of the West Virginia Class AAAA high school football playoffs.
Vellathambi, who was slowed by an ankle injury all evening, capped a 98-yard drive in the final minutes with a fourth down, 18-yard strike to Sha’lik Hampton with four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, then Seth Casto booted the extra point to break the tie and lift No. 7 Hurricane to a 14-13 win against No. 11 George Washington.
Hurricane (8-3) scored first on a Kylian Grace touchdown run in the first half, but GW (7-4) stormed back in the second half thanks to two Sai’Vyon Brown touchdown runs – the second coming after a Redskins’ turnover near midfield in the fourth quarter with the score tied 7-7. George Washington did, however, fail on its second extra point attempt to leave the door open.
The Patriots got the ball back and had an opportunity to extend the gap with the lead and the ball deep in Hurricane territory, but settled for a field goal attempt which was well short and downed by Hurricane at the 2-yard line to set up the game-winning drive for the Redskins.
Hurricane, which avoided losing at home in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season with the late heroics on Friday, advances to next week’s Class AAAA state quarterfinal round where it will take on the winner of Saturday’s game in the Eastern Panhandle between No. 14 Cabell Midland and No. 3 Jefferson.
