Woodberry Forest was declared as the winners of the high school football game against St. Michael in Virginia on Friday night. There were still 84 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when the officials called for an early stoppage due to a violent hit to the head that required the quarterback to leave the field on a stretcher.
It was a controversial decision that stemmed from a controversial no-call.
The Virginia high school football referees decided not to throw a flag on the game-winning tackle. Chaos ensued.
Woodberry Forest defeated St. Michael by one point.
Woodberry Forest High School is a prestigious private, all-boys all-boarding college-preparatory school located in Madison County, Virginia. It enrolls approximately 400 students in Grades 9-12.
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School is a private, co-ed day school located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It enrolls less than 100 students in Grades 9-12.
Both high school football programs compete in Division 1 of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The Warriors are members of the Battlefield Athletic Conference in the Northern Region. The Tigers are members of the Virginia Prep League.
Woodberry Forest traveled to St. Michael on Friday. Both programs rank in the top-25 in the state. Their campuses are located approximately 35/40 miles apart. It was a massive game in terms of postseason seeding.
In the end, it was the Tigers who proved victorious. They defeated the Warriors by a final score of 21-20 in the final game of the regular season.
The Virginia high school football game ended early.
The final score does not reflect what happened in the final one minute and 30 seconds of the fourth quarter. It was intense.
St. Michael had the ball on offense with approximately 90 seconds remaining. The Warriors had 4th-and-goal from inside the five-yard-line. Junior quarterback Will Baze had just entered the game to replace starting quarterback Aiden Fulton, who suffered an injury earlier in the drive. He decided to keep the ball on a read-option.
Woodberry Forest’s defense swarmed into the backfield to bring him down for a loss of about five yards around the 10-yard-line. The Tigers seemingly won the game with a crucial goal-line stand.
However, they tackled Baze high. It appeared as though the defender grabbed him by the facemask and threw him to the ground.
As Woodberry Forest celebrated the win, Baze writhed on the ground in visible pain. Medical professionals attended to the injured quarterback. They removed his jersey and shoulder pads to help with his air flow. He was stretchered off of the field and received medical attention in the on-site ambulance.
Meanwhile, St. Michael coaches yelled at the officials. They thought the Tigers should’ve been flagged for a facemask and/or unsportsmanlike conduct on the tackle that stopped Baze short of the goal line. Here is how it looked on the field:
This is the play that set everything off last night between St. Michael & Woodberry Forest
— Alex Murphy (@AlexMurphyJour) November 7, 2026
I tried to slow it down and zoom in from my angle, but this was the 4th & goal stop w/ 1:24 left to play @FLSVarsity pic.twitter.com/rvvSv0NDcd
Warriors head coach Hugh Brown spoke with The Free Lance-Star after the game about what happened.
“He pulled the ball and got tackled high. It looked like his helmet literally turned around.”
Brown did not get a chance to argue with the officials because it was not his priority in that moment.
“[Baze] got hit in the throat. He couldn’t breathe […] Frustrations from a lot of people just boiled over, but my only concern was Will I told people to get off the field. My concern was his health, and it looked to me like he was not breathing. The emphasis needed to be on Will.”
That did not stop his coaching staff from doing so. Multiple parents made their way onto the sideline to join in on the argument or to remove their kids from the altercation. The officials ejected a Woodberry Forest coach for his comments. Even the Spotsylania County Sheriff’s Office arrived to the scene.
The Virginia high school football officiating crew ultimately decided to call the game early. It ended 21-20 in favor of St. Michael with one minute and 24 seconds remaining on the clock.