GATE CITY - The roadside sign on the main thoroughfare into Gate City read, "Welcome to the Gates of Hell."
For a while Saturday afternoon, the Brookville football team found Legion Field at Gate City High School a haven of bliss as the Bees rolled up a 21-0 second quarter lead over the Blue Devils.

However, the Bees had to withstand a hellish second half which featured two crucial lost fumbles and a barrage of Gate City pass completions before things turned heavenly.

Brookville defensive back Billy McDaniel intercepted a pass by Gate City quarterback Shawn Hutchins at the Bees' 20-yard line on the last play of the game to preserve a 21-14 win over the Blue Devils in the Group AA state Division 3 semifinal game before a partisan crowd of 4,500.

"I wanted that interception and I knew the game was over," said the 6-foot junior McDaniel moments of the Bees started celebrating. "That was enough excitement for one day and now we have a job to do next week."
Brookville (10-3), which finished third in the Seminole District behind Amherst and Jefferson Forest, will face John Handley (12-1) for the state championship Saturday at 7 p.m. at James Madison University. Handley defeated Southampton 59-13 in the other Division 3 semifinal game Saturday.

"This has to be your greatest thrill….to come into southwest Virginia and beat a team with this tradition that rarely loses at home (151-23-1 since 1966)," Brookville coach Bobby Johnson told his squad in a brief post-game meeting. "You held your composure and now we're playing for the state championship."

The seniors on the Gate City team (12-1) were freshmen three years ago when Brookville beat the Blue Devils 13-12 at Stinger Stadium to move to the state title game where the Bees lost to James Monroe 7-0 on sloppy field at Spotsylvania.

The Blue Devils' emphasis seemed to be pay back based on all the signs around Legion Field, one of which read, "Revenge is sweeter than honey."

However, the Bees weren't intimated and were thinking repeat. And for a while in the second quarter, Johnson's crew could be excused for anticipating a blowout.

"We had them confused (on defense) and on their heels," said Johnson.

Brookville, leading 21-0 with 3:30 left before intermission, had a golden opportunity to take a 28-0 lead after defensive back Steven Kee picked off a Hutchins pass and returned it 14 yards to the Gate City 21.
However, the Bees' all-Seminole District runner Dejon Kennedy (1,303 yards, 21 TDs) lost a fumble after getting to the Devils' 6-yard line.

Gate City, which had been held to four yards rushing on 12 carries by the Brookville defense, appeared to draw new life and converted the turnover into much needed momentum.

Eschewing the run, Hutchins, a 6-4, 200 pound junior, led the Blue Devils on a nine-play, 94-yard drive that was culminated when Hutchins found fullback Jeremy Keller for a 44-yard catch and run touchdown with 35 seconds left before halftime.

"We played great defense all day but on that play they were able to sneak the fullback behind us," said Johnson. "Instead of us being up 28-0, they score and that gave them new life. I knew then it would be a dogfight. They're too good a team and they're not going to lay down."

The Gate City fans had little to cheer about until that point as the Bees consistently raked up big chunks of yardage. Fullback Matt Burch, on a draw play, sprinted 67 yards to the Gate City 5 on the Bees second possession.

On third and goal, sophomore quarterback Scott Nixon found 6-3 Martellus Braxton in the corner of the end zone for a 7-0 lead (after Chris Cumberland's kick) less than four minutes into the game.

On Brookville's fourth possession, Nixon directed the Bees on a 59-yard scoring drive with Kennedy (26 carries, 108 yards) going untouched up the middle for a 33-yard TD and a 14-0 lead with 9:35 left in the half.
Nixon's only other pass of the day was a 58-yard catch and run by Braxton to the Devils' 5-yard line with 4:50 left in the half. Kennedy finished off the six-play 66-yard drive with a 3-yard burst up the middle for a 21-0 lead.
Brookville, which rolled up 242 total yards the first half (Gate City had 107), did little offensively the second half (66 total yards, all on the ground). One reason was fumbles by Kennedy (who had three) and Russell Lomax and another was that Hutchins was keeping the pressure on the Bees' defense with his passing.

The Bees' defense came up with several big plays to stave off the Devils. Led by Tarik Ghriri, Burch, Jeff Torrence, and Braxton, Brookville stopped Gate City at the Bees' 40 and late in the third quarter Braxton had an interception at his own 9-yard line. He returned it 59 yards to set up a 31-yard Cumberland field goal try which was blocked.

Brookville's defense stopped Hutchins and Co. at the Bees' 19 with nine minutes left but moments later, Lomax had the ball stripped from his grasp by Hutchins who ran 29 yards with the fumble to get Gate City within 21-14 with 5:55 left.

Levar Anthony and Jeff Torrence broke up a fourth-down Hutchins pass at the Brookville 25 with 3:15 left before McDaniel sealed the win with his interception.

The scoreboard clock here was broken and time was kept on the field. It seemed to the Bees that the last three minutes took forever and even Johnson admitted that it would have been a big help to have had the time on the scoreboard instead of having it announced periodically. "I didn't want to give them another play," said Johnson who admitted to be a bit jittery playing on the road in a close game with no scoreboard clock.

Braxton, wiping away the sweat on a clear 45-degree afternoon, said, "The coaching staff has stressed all along staying together and we weren't going to lose. "We felt like we had the victory but Gate City played hard."
Ghriri, the 6-2, 295 pound two-way lineman, said it was no surprise that the Devils came out passing in the second half (9-for-25 for 90 yards) in view of the fact that they were behind and had had no success running.

"We just told the secondary not to get beat deep….we didn't want to give up anything big," he said. "Our defense has put it all together in the second half of the season."

Gate City coach Nick Colobro, whose Blue Devils beat Jefferson Forest 15-14 here in the semifinals two years ago, said Brookville's two big fullbacks and two big tackles presented a lot of problems for his team. "They had good size at the right spots and also we didn't adjust to their sets in the first half. They just executed great and they made some big plays."