LYNCHBURG — Freshman quarterback Maurikus Banks wanted badly to give his Phoebus High teammate, senior wide receiver Keyontae Gray, a parting gift.
“I told him all week in practice, ‘My last pass to you needs to be a touchdown.'”
But that pass? The 86-yard touchdown strike to Gray with 1 second remaining that broke the tie and gave the Phantoms a 21-14 win over the Salem Spartans on Saturday in the Class 4 state championship game at Liberty University’s Williams Stadium?
Did Banks envision that?
“I didn’t think it would be that,” said Banks, who was 11-of-17 passing for 165 yards in just his third start since senior quarterback Adonis Stowers was sidelined with an ankle injury in the second round of the playoffs. “I knew a last touchdown pass in (Gray’s) last game would be memorable.”
Memorable? It is the most iconic and dramatic moment in Phoebus football history, highlighted now by 10 titles in the past 22 years.
Phoebus’ game-winning 86-yard touchdown won pass per NFHS Network feed. Phantoms won 21-14 over Salem in Class 3 state championship game. pic.twitter.com/kmz6buYQVW
— 757Teamz (@757teamz) December 9, 2023
This state crown is the Phantoms’ third consecutive and is the second in a row with a 15-0 record as their current winning streak swelled to 35 games. The previous two state championships came in Class 3, and this one makes the Phantoms — who won their first seven trophies in Class 5 — the first VHSL school ever to win football state titles in three classes.
Banks’ and Gray’s heroics followed Salem’s eight-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that tied the game at 14 with 58 seconds remaining. Jayveon Jones scored on a 2-yard run before Eli Taylor passed to Josiah Moyer for a two-point conversion.
Overtime seemed all but certain when Spartans linemen Wilson Rakes and Dontay Davis sacked Banks for a 6-yard loss to the Phoebus 14 on the play after the ensuing kickoff. The Phoebus offensive line of David Applewhite, Troy Solomona, Markus Hopson, Emery D’Urso and Jayden Hill rebounded to give airtight protection on the decisive play.
“Our offensive line is a special, special group and we believe they’re one of the best in the state,” Phoebus coach Jeremy Blunt said. “Watching them perform, you could see it in their eyes that they wanted a shot to end that game.”
They gave Banks the three or four seconds he needed, without a smidge of Salem pressure, to release the ball out of his left hand from the 6-yard line.
“I was just thinking we needed a play, get it to the playmakers in space and let them be great,” Banks said.
Gray had precious little space because Moyer was almost on his back. But Banks’ pass from almost 45 yards dropped over the leaping Gray’s shoulder and right into his hands.
Because Moyer had fallen, Gray was three yards ahead of everyone when he landed on his feet. His only concern was that fellow receiver Noah Jefferson needed to block the Spartans’ Jonathan Rogers, the only player with a chance to catch him. Rogers never came close as Gray trotted into the end zone a single second before time expired.
“That is a play I’ve dreamed about and the dream came true,” Gray said. “I never thought it would happen like that.”
The frenetic ending, beginning with Paul Stephen Davis’ 9-yard touchdown run with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter, was a vivid contrast to what had been a defensive slugfest. Davis’ score stretched the Phantoms’ lead from a point to 14-6 after Farriss Knight kicked the second of his three PATs.
The Phantoms began impressively enough offensively, driving 72 yards on 15 plays for a TD while chewing up 7:30 off the clock to start the game. Davion Roberts, who capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run to make it 7-0, gained much of the yardage on eight carries. But Banks gave a glimpse of things to come, converting two third downs with passes of 11 and 19 yards to Jefferson.
The Phoebus defense, which gave up only 30 points in the first 14 games, was stellar in the first half, allowing just 53 yards. But Banks was victimized once by a tipped pass, which Salem’s Chris Cole intercepted and returned 49 yards.
That set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Tennessee recruit Peyton Lewis on the final play of the first half. Wesley Cox’s point-after kick sailed wide right, and Phoebus led 7-6 at halftime.
Lewis, a speedster who ran for 373 yards and four touchdowns in the Spartans’ semifinal victory a week earlier, was held mostly in check. He netted just 84 yards on 27 carries.
That pleased the Phantoms’ defensive end duo of Maryland recruit Anthony Reddick (10 tackles) and Old Dominion recruit Taysean Stevenson — stellar on the D-line along with mates Nathaniel Anthony (12 tackles) and Hopson.
“I’m glad we went out with a bang,” Reddick said.
Stevenson added, “After my freshman year, when we lost to (eventual Class 3 state champ) Lafayette, it’s been my motivation to get the three-peat.”
Banks gets a state championship ring in his freshman season. How he, and Gray, accomplished it will live on in Phoebus football lore forever.
“It was a game-changing and a life-changing moment,” he said.
