The Middlesex High School (MHS) Charger varsity football team lost to the Northumberland High School Indians, 46-14, in the first round of the Region A playoffs on Friday night at Heathsville.
Defensively, the Chargers could not stop the Indians running or passing but what kept MHS in the game for a while was penalties on the Indians. Northumberland had two touchdowns called back in the first half due to penalties. The Indians rushed for 267 yards and passed for 176 yards on MHS’s defense.
The Chargers did show some offensive juice as MHS’s first touchdown came with 36 seconds left in the first quarter when MHS quarterback Cash Steel hit Davonte Griffin with a pass at the 10-yard line and Griffin carried two Northumberland defenders on his back into the end zone. The score was 6-6 at that point.
Middlesex’s other touchdown came in the second quarter on a 20-yard run by Jakub Bowen and a successful 2-point conversion by Griffin. Bowen was the leading rusher for MHS with 69 yards on 10 carries. Bowen had one reception for 5 yards for a total of 74 yards of offense.
Griffin had a total of 123 all-purpose yards as the MHS junior rushed for 21 yards, had three catches for 53 yards, 15 yards on kick-off returns and 34 yards on punt returns. Steel completed four passes for 61 yards.
On defense, JaMar Hammond intercepted a pass to stall a Northumberland drive. Bowen also picked off an Indian pass to stop a drive and was the top tackler for the game with 10 tackles, six solos and four assists.
Hammond had seven tackles, four solos, three assists; Donovan Jones, six tackles, three solos and three assists; Travis Archer, five tackles, four solos, one assist; Griffin, five tackles, three solos, two assists; Vincent Santos, five tackles, three solos and two assists; Dereon Cooke, four tackles, three solos, one assist; and Jordan Fuller, four tackles, two solos and two assists.
The loss to Northumberland ends the Charger 2025-2026 football season with a 5-6 overall win-loss record and atop of the Tidewater District league standings, with a 3-1 district record.
