VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Apprentice School defense stood tall Saturday afternoon and the offense lit up the scoreboard as the Builders won the 2024 Neptune Bowl with a 59-6 win over Atlantis.

The win marks the second time that the Neptune Bowl trophy will call Newport News home, joining the 2022 trophy where Apprentice beat Bridgewater, 38-28. The Builders finish the 2024 season with a 6-5 record.

After the teams traded punts early on, the Builders had an opportunity to take an early lead with excellent field position after a bad punt from the Atlanteans, The offense struggled to get their footing and a field goal was missed to keep the game scoreless until Apprentice got on the board with just under two minutes to go in the first quarter as Marty Braxton punched it in from seven yards out to take a 7-0 lead.

On the ensuing drive for Atlantis, Roshard Phipps read the screen pass on the first play of the drive perfectly to get an interception, returning the ball down to the 15-yard line, setting up Ty Taylor to punch it in from a yard out to double the Builder lead. Logan Eastman hit a field goal 10 minutes later to stretch the lead to 17-0 before Grant Swanger had a touchdown run of five yards with under a minute to go until halftime to lead 24-0 at intermission.

Atlantis snatched a little momentum out of halftime, forcing a Builder fumble that Burnett Godbee returned for 60 yards and an Atlantean touchdown, but that was the only bright spot for the team from Miami as Apprentice answered immediately with a 37-yard pass from Swanger to Eduardo Rios to take momentum back.

After a pair of safeties pushed the score to 35-6 with four minutes to go in the third, Apprentice got another chunk play for six as Braxton broke free from 42 yards out to end the third quarter. In the fourth, the Builders got another touchdown pass from Swanger to Rios before Eastman hit a 35-yard field goal. Late in the period, Phipps got in on the scoring as he recovered a fumble forced by Kasim Drumgole and ran it back from 15 yards out to get to the final score.

Phipps finished the day with seven tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a fumble recovery for a touchdown and an interception. Offensively, Colby Messe rushed for 136 yards, while Braxton added 71 yards with his two scores. Swanger threw for 142 yards on the day.

Atlantis was held to just 66 yards of offense and turned the ball over five times.