Warwick Raiders Sports

Johnson Staying Put

In the Peninsula District Football forum on HRVarsity.com, there is an interesting thread titled "Whats [sic] new with recruiting?".  It appears that the original poster was asking about athletes getting recruited for colleges, but the talk has turned to the recruiting of athletes by other high schools and athletes transferring from one school to another for more exposure, a chance to win a state title, etc.  For example, if you believe in the validity of Facebook as a source, Hampton RB Kavon Bellamy is heading over to Ireland Street next year.  Maybe he is, maybe he isn't.  Either way, I'll wait until someone/something other than Facebook is quoted as the source.

What's this have to do with Warwick football, you ask?  Well, according to some posters, standout running back Cardon Johnson is also going to Phoebus next year.  Other posters said they've heard nothing to that effect.  After reading these posts, I wanted to stop the rumor.  I contacted head football coach Juan Jackson and asked if there was any truth to it.  Jackson had a clear response: "No."

UPDATE: Cardon's father says his son will be at Warwick next season and in 2012.

Daily Press All-Stars for Fall Sports

Congrats to the Warwick athletes who have been named to the Daily Press All-Stars teams for the fall sports season.

-Desmond Fogg, Boys XC, 2nd team

-Mary Topp, Girls Volleyball, 2nd team

-Cardon Johnson, Football, 2nd team running back

W&M #1!

William & Mary is now ranked #1 in FCS football with 2 games remaining in the regular season!  The latest rankings are here and Melinda Waldrop's story for the Daily Press can be found here.  Congratulations to Warwick graduate and current W&M cornerback B.W. Webb for being a member of the #1 team in the country!

Playoffs!

It wasn't the prettiest win ever, but the Raiders (6-4, 6-3) did enough to defeat Kecoughtan 15-7 and advance to the Division 5 playoffs.  Their reward?  A Friday night date with Phoebus at Darling Stadium. 

Warwick's offense had trouble moving the ball against a stingy Kecoughtan defense that only gave up 161 yards of offense.  1000-yard rusher Cardon Johnson rushed 22 times, but only gained 55 yards.  The Raiders' offense apparently gave everything they had on their first play, a 66-yard touchdown pass from Donnell Staton to Chenalo Lewis.  Kecoughtan blocked the extra point attempt and then returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.  John Griggs kicked 3 field goals (1 in the 3rd quarter, 2 in the 4th) to put the Raiders ahead for good.  Dave Johnson's story has more details.

In good news, the Raiders look to be clicking on defense, as they did not allow an offense touchdown in the game and piled up 7 sacks.  Eric Poindexter picked off yet another pass, although today's came on a 4th down play and resulted in worse field position for the Raiders.  The kicking game is looking good and heads-up special teams play on a muffed punt resulted in a big 1st down for Warwick.

In bad news, the running game that Warwick had for much of the season was basically stopped this afternoon.  The Raiders were down a few players in the first half due to S.A.T. testing, but couldn't move the ball well in the 2nd half either.  Donnell Staton was 3 for 14 with one interception coming on an extremely ill-advised pass heaved down the field where there were no Warwick players nearby.  The Raiders' kick coverage was shaky at best, and Phoebus' Tyree Lee could have a field day on returns Friday night if that problem isn't fixed.

All in all, this was a hard fought win for a Warwick team that had the toughest part of its season at the beginning and started 1-4.  The Raiders showed a ton of heart and went 5-0 in their final 5 games to earn the 8th and final playoff berth in the Eastern Region's Division 5.  The running game has to get going again and Staton has to be wiser with his passes for the Raiders to stand a chance against Phoebus on Friday night.

11/05 Update

I've been slow with posting this week, but here goes:

-Raiders football beat Bethel 47-28 on Saturday to move one win away from a playoff berth.  Dave Johnson's story has the details, but Cardon Johnson broke 1000 yards on the season by rushing for 3 touchdowns and 220 yards.  Eric Poindexter and Albert Webb each had two interceptions; one of Poindexter's was an 80-yard pick-6.

Cardon Johnson

The Daily Press' Dave Johnson did a nice article on Cardon Johnson today that can be found here.

Johnson points out that Johnson will become Warwick's first 1000-yard rusher since Lonnie Starks in 2002 if he gains 109 yards total in his last 2 games.  For the new-school Warwick fans out there, Lonnie was one of the best all-around athletes to ever come through Warwick.  Starks was a 6'6" high-jumper who only stood about 5'9".  Lonnie won the indoor and outdoor Peninsula District championship in the high jump his senior year and took 3rd at the VHSL AAA state indoor meet that year as well.  Lonnie also had a few 21+ feet long jumps to his credit.

Warwick 42, Denbigh 20

22 carries, 278 yards, 4TDs.  Not a bad night for sophomore running back Cardon Johnson.  On a brisk fall night at a fairly empty Todd Stadium, Johnson put on quite a show with his touchdown runs of 8, 9, 2, and 61 yards.  When Johnson had over 100 yards with 4 minutes left in the 1st quarter, the stage was set for a special night on the field.  Whenit was over, Warwick (4-4, 4-3 PD) had trounced Denbigh 44-20.  Johnson now has 12 touchdowns and 891 yards on the year.

10/16 Update

-Behind 12 saves by Robin Roston and 4 goals from Elizabeth Hubbard, Warwick's field hockey team beat Phoebus 5-1 on Friday, taking their record to 4-10, 2-5 PD.  The JV team earned a 2-0 victory.

-Members of the cross country teams competed in the Milestat.com Invitational in Richmond on Saturday.  Desmond Fogg led the Raiders with his 7th place finish in the Varsity B race.  Fogg ran 16:52 to match his best time of the year.  Javon Walker also had a great race, running 17:59. 

-The Raiders football team defeated Heritage in our homecoming game on a beautiful afternoon at Todd Stadium.   A 29-yard TD pass from Donnell Staton to Charles Davis put the Raiders up early.  28 points were scored in the 2nd quarter to put the Raiders ahead 35-0 at the half.  David Smith, who ran 2nd leg on the District-champion 4x800m relay team last outdoor track season, took a carry 79 yards from the score.  Staton then connected with Devon Asbury for a 15-yard touchdown pass.  Cardon Johnson scored his first of two touchdowns on a 23-yard run and Staton threw his third TD pass of the afternoon (a 62-yard pass to Eric Poindexter) to close out the half.  In the second half, Johnson went 1 yard for his second score.  The Raiders finished with 106 yards through the air and 264 yards on the ground on 31 carries.  Warwick moves to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the PD.  Next up is an "away" game against Denbigh on Friday night at Todd Stadium.

Warwick 35, Gloucester 21

Cardon Johnson had his best game of the season so far to lead the Raiders to a 35-21 victory over Gloucester on Friday night.  Aside from a TD pass from Donnell Staton to Eric Poindexter, Johnson accounted for all of the Raiders' scoring.  He had touchdown runs of 2, 5, and 15 yards to go with an 89-yard kickoff return to break a 14-14 tie early in the 4th quarter.  The Raiders move to 2-4, 2-3 PD with the victory.  Next up is the Homecoming game on Saturday at Todd Stadium against Heritage.  Kickoff is at 1:00pm.

Hampton 33, Warwick 0

It was a cool fall night for Raiders fans at Todd Stadium on Friday night.  Warwick (1-4, 1-3 PD) fell to Hampton 33-0.  Hampton junior RB/LB Kavon Bellamy had a huge night, scoring 3 touchdowns.  Bellamy started things off early in the 1st quarter, taking a handoff from David Watford and going 59 yards for the score.  Hampton had a 14-0 lead at the end of the 1st quarter with their second touchdown coming on a 15 yard run from junior RB Dallas Cogdell.  With 33 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, Bellamy intercepted a pass on his own 7 yard line and took it 93 yards the other way for a score.  Bellamy's last TD came on a 6 yard run in the 3rd quarter and Hampton closed out the scoring with a 3 yard run from junior RB TyQuan MacCutchen.  About the only thing wrong with Hampton on Friday night was their kicking game; the Crabbers missed 3 of 4 extra point attempts, only converting their last one.

Joshua Butler started at quarterback in place of senior Donnell Staton.  Butler had a rough first high school start, throwing 3 interceptions and losing a fumble.  He's an extremely athletic player though, and has a quickness that Warwick has lacked at the QB position in recent years.  The Raiders offense showed a few sparks with a few option formations and shuffle passes, but the only real drive ended in a 93-yard pick-6. 

Next up for the Raiders is an away game against Gloucester on Friday night.