varsity.roanoke.com

BEALETON, Va. -- With four minutes left in the third quarter of Saturday's Northwest Region Division 5 playoff game, William Fleming finally had good reason to smile.

After trailing for all of a penalty-ridden first half, the Colonels stormed back with three unanswered touchdowns to take a 2817 lead and appeared on their way to advancing to next week's regional semifinals.

But an unlikely hero emerged for Brooke Point in the final stages of the game and helped fuel an emotional 44-35 comeback victory by the Black-Hawks.

Sophomore quarterback Zach Deutel, pressed into action when regular quarterback Gary Pisall broke his collarbone on Brooke Point's first possession, showed the poise of a veteran in the closing minutes with two scoring passes and the Black-Hawks staged a major rally to pull out the win.

"We hadn't shown a lot of resiliency this year," Brook Point coach Jeff Berry said. "But we talked Friday about what this game meant. We came out and played loose."

Next up for the Black-Hawks is a semifinal date at either North Stafford or Massaponax next week in the Division 5 semifinals.

Fleming closed its season at 74 and kept Colonels coach Rob Senseney winless in three meetings with Brooke Point.

"We challenged our kids at halftime and they responded," Senseney said. "It was a toe-to-toe fight in the second half."

Pisall completed 9 of 10 passes in the Black-Hawks' opening drive that ended in a 1-yard scoring run by Kelvin Bediako.

They increased the margin to 177 at intermission on a 41-yard flea-flicker pass from Jordan Stone to E.L. Smiling and a 36-yard field goal by Josh West.

But Colonels quarterback Devin Dean's 69-yard touchdown return of the opening kickoff of the second half sparked Fleming, which eventually took a 2817 lead with 4:38 left in the third quarter.

Dean finished with 101 yards passing and 94 rushing.

"We needed a big play at the start of the second half," Dean said. "We have nothing to be ashamed of today. We left it all on the field."

With their defense picking up the pace, the Colonels looked like a different team in the second half.

But Deutel, who threw for 131 yards, engineered two scoring drives, and tailback Arturo Brown chipped in two touchdown runs in the final 12 minutes to put Brooke Point back in front.

Devin Richardson's 34-yard interception return of Deutel's pass gave Fleming its 11-point led at the end of the third quarter, but the turnover turned out to be a rallying point for the Black-Hawks.

"I was nervous when I got out there, especially after that pick," Deutel said. "But I had to get my head back in the game and lead us to victory."

William Fleming 0 7 21 7 -- 35

Brooke Point 7 10 7 20--44

BP -- Bediako 1 run (West kick)

BP -- Smiling 41 pass from Stone (West kick)

BP -- FG J. West 36

WF -- Hagins 1 run (Ane kick)

WF -- Dean 69 kickoff return (Ane kick)

WF -- Cofer 24 run (Ane kick)

WF -- Richardson 34 int. return (Ane kick)

BP -- Smithson 14 pass from Deutel (West kick)

BP -- Brown 30 run (West kick)

WF -- Dean 49 run (Ane kick).

BP -- Goodman 2 pass from Deutel (kick failed)

BP -- Brown 4 run (West kick)

WF BP

First downs 18 17

Yards rushing 205 99

Passes C-A-I 94 236

Yards passing 10-12-1 25-34-1

Penalties-yards 10-73 8-5

Fumbles-lost 3-1 0-0

Punts-average 2-23 4-41

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- BP, Brown 12-69, Redd 3-26, Deutel 6-2, Bediako 3-2. William Fleming, Dean 26-101, Hagins 14-66, Cofer 1-24, Glenn 4-11, Hardy 3-7, Schangler 1-(minus-4).

PASSING -- BP, Deutel 15-23-1-131, Pisall 9-10-0-64, Stone 1-1-0-41. William Fleming, Dean 10-12-1-94.

RECEIVING -- BP, Smiling 6-105, Alex Goodman 8-29, Figueroa 5-54, Smithson 3-39, Brown 3-19. William Fleming, Redd 5-40, Richardson 2-22, Beane 1-17, Barber 1-13, Henderson 1-2.