Perry Henry and the South Charleston defense stuck it to Brooke early, and the impression lasted long enough to take home another championship.
Henry scored a pair of lightning-like touchdowns before the game was five minutes old Saturday afternoon and the Black Eagles rode the momentum - and a bruising defense - all the way to a 28-7 victory over Brooke for their second straight Class AAA title in front of an estimated 7,500 fans at snowy Wheeling Island Stadium.
Second-seeded South Charleston (13-1), in winning for a 10th straight time and for the 29th time in its last 30 games, becomes just the sixth repeat champion in AAA since the state was split into three classes in 1958.
Henry returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown on the game's third play from scrimmage, and added scoring receptions of 86 yards in the first quarter and 45 yards in the second quarter. The 86-yarder set a Class AAA Super Six record and he was selected as his team's MVP in a media vote.
Top-seeded Brooke (13-1), playing in its first title game since 1992, could never recover.
"Any time you're playing the championship game,'' said SC coach John Messinger, "whoever gets momentum, you're going to have to chase them from behind the whole game. It happened last night [in Bluefield's AA win over Wayne], and it happened again today.''
SC seized momentum just 81 seconds into the game.
Brooke quarterback Cotey Wallace, considered a leading candidate for the Kennedy Award as the state's top player, dropped back to throw on third-and-4 from his own 30 on the game's first possession. Nothing was open early, so Wallace started rolling to his left and was torpedoed by SC's Wayne Wurster just as he lofted the ball downfield. Henry leaped to pick off the pass at the Bruins 44-yard line and brought it back all the way for a TD.
"We had to score first,'' Wurster said, "and the interception at the beginning set the tempo for the game. I think we did scare them a little bit. Usually [Wallace] throws jump balls to his receivers, and we didn't see that all game. I think that set the tempo for the game, and they had to run the ball.''
Wallace seldom threw deep after that first play, and finished with only 89 yards passing, completing 10-of-19 throws. He came into the game with just over 2,000 yards and 25 TDs through the air.
"That gave us the spark we needed,'' said SC quarterback Tyler Harris, who threw for 199 yards and two TDs and ran for a third score. "We said, 'We can repeat. We can do this again.' We have faith in each other. That was the start to our success. That was phenomenal. Words can't explain how I feel right now.''
After forcing Brooke to punt on its next possession, SC struck on offense to double its lead.
On second down from his own 16, Harris dumped the ball to Henry in the left flat on a bubble screen. Henry followed his blockers to about the 35 and did a spin move through tacklers and stumbled into the arms of Blake Brooks, his lead blocker, who helped keep Henry upright. Henry then galloped down the sideline until a pair of Brooke defenders had the angle on him near the 15. He put another spin move on Wallace and legged out the remaining few steps for a score and a 12-0 lead.
"It feels good,'' Henry said. "But it wasn't only me. The offensive line blocked for me, the other wide receivers even blocked for me. I just ran off of their hits and their blocks, and they set up my run for me.''
Brooke got its only TD on the first play of the second quarter after Harris was caught from behind on a quarterback scramble and fumbled at his own 25. Michael Koscevic stripped the ball out of his hands and Kyle Wales recovered for the Bruins, leading to Ryan Lazear's 8-yard scoring run that made it 14-7.
The Black Eagles matched that score on their next possession.
With Lazear and other Bruin defenders creeping up to the line of scrimmage on third-and-9 at the Brooke 45, Harris fired a quick slant over the middle to Henry, who immediately broke into the clear for his third TD of the game and a 21-7 edge it took into halftime.
Brooke had a chance to get back into it before the half ended, embarking on a 15-play drive that reached the SC 6 for a first down. However, two Wallace runs went nowhere and a short toss to Ian Morris was blown up for a 7-yard loss by SC's Walter Obey. On fourth down from the 12, Wallace tried the middle on a draw but gained only 3 yards.
"I think maybe they underestimated our team speed a little bit,'' Messinger said. "They knew we could run a little bit and do some things from the skill positions, but we've got some linemen up front that can really, really move. It played out the way we hoped it would play out, but it definitely could've been the other way.''
SC's defense continued its domination in the second half. Brooke's first four possessions produced just one first down, 39 net yards and four punts. By that time, SC had increased its lead to 28-7.
The Bruins moved 40 yards on their final drive but that, too, ended in an interception, this one by Moe Makhene on a ball tipped by Obey. Brooke finished the game with just 211 total yards.
"The harder we tried to get out of it, the more mistakes we made,'' said Tom Bruney, Brooke's first-year coach. "It just goes back to what we talk about all the time - the best team doesn't always win in 48 minutes. It's the one that makes the least mistakes. And we made a lot of mistakes today.''
SC got its final touchdown on a 47-yard run by Harris with 3:54 left in the third quarter. He turned the right corner on a sweep and got a clearing block from receiver Tevin Spurlock on Wallace at the sideline.
Wallace was selected as Brooke's MVP. Like Harris, he was also his team's leading rusher from the quarterback position with 77 yards on 25 carries.
Henry only had one catch in the second half for 8 yards, but it was enough to pick up a first down on fourth-and-5. He finished with three receptions for 139 yards.
Defensive end Austin Vickers and linebacker Napoleon Gregory led the Black Eagles defense with 13 and 10 total tackles, respectively.
