Stone Bridge 45, W.T. Woodson 7
By Phil Murphy
DigitalSports.com
Stone Bridge now has one for the thumb.
Well, they would if the Virginia High School League gave out rings for district championships.
The second-ranked Bulldogs (9-1, 7-0) captured their third straight
Liberty District championship, their fifth consecutive district title
overall (Stone Bridge won the 2003 and 2004 AA Dulles District titles),
with a 45-7 win over W.T. Woodson (5-5, 4-3) on the Cavaliers’ senior
night.
The early action seemed to indicate the game would actually be tilting
in Woodson’s favor. On a 3rd-and-5 pass from just inside Cavalier
territory, Woodson senior linebacker Patrick Gaski intercepted a pass by Stone Bridge junior quarterback Patrick Thompson and returned the ball to the Bulldogs’ 17-yard line. Three plays later, sophomore quarterback Gabe Thomas eluded
a slough of Stone Bridge defenders and spun into the end zone for a
13-yard score, giving the Cavaliers a 7-0 advantage just over four
minutes into the game.
But on the first play of the ensuing Stone Bridge possession, senior running back Kareem Alexander gave a preview of the kind of night he would have as he went 62 yards untouched to knot the score.
“I really don’t know how that happened,” Alexander said. “I just had
good blocking by the O-line. I found that hole and it was big, so I
just got my knees high and kept running.”
Alexander wasn’t the only one who “kept running.” Several of his
teammates got in on the act as the Bulldogs scored on touchdowns of 62,
52 and 55 yards to total 45 unanswered points and put an exclamation
mark on their 38th consecutive district win and seventh this season.
Alexander led all rushers with 13 carries for 138 yards and 3
touchdowns. Ever the human highlight, fellow senior and Virginia Tech-bound Jeron Gouveia added to his legacy with the
aforementioned 52-yard score. The run was drawing comparisons on the
sideline to New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush’s touchdown
against Fresno State where Bush covered every lateral inch of the field
on his way to pay dirt.
One would think the Bulldogs would have some mercy on Coach Mickey Thompson after
the win considering the frigid fall air on Friday in Fairfax. The
varsity squad, however, did not spare Thompson a Gatorade bath as he
was forced to speak to the team and endure post-game interviews and a
banner presentation with a soaked back and pant legs.
Stone Bridge, the top seed in Division 5, will face the 8th ranked team
in the first round of the Regional Tournament in this, the first year
of Northern Region playoff expansion.
“I actually don’t like this extra game because it just makes the season
a whole lot longer,” Alexander said. “It makes you get a little bit of
jitters because if you lose you’re out. The playoffs are playoffs. We
still have to work hard and still have a lot of work to do.”
South County 35, Annandale 16
By Jimmy Thomas
DigitalSports.com
South County’s players and coaches entered Friday’s game knowing they needed a win — and some help — to gain a berth in next week’s Northern Region Divison 6 Playoffs.
“We knew two key things,” Stallions’ Coach Pete Bendorf said. “Either Robinson had to lose or Oakton had to lose. If that didn’t happen it was going to come down to some points and stuff like that.”
South County, of course, had to win, too. And the Stallions did their part, beating Annandale, 35-16. It was also announced near games’ end that they had also gotten the help they needed to advance into next weeks playoffs when Herndon defeated Oakton, 35-34.
South County jumped to an early 14-0 lead with two rushing touchdowns by Chris Mitchell and Titus Pennington and never looked back. The Atoms mounted a number of impressive drives but were unable to find their way into the end zone. After a 29-yard field goal by Annandale’s Stuart Ruiz narrowed the gap to 14-3, South County answered right back with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Eric Dorsey.
South County wasn’t done, adding a 79-yard touchdown run from Pennington to take the 28-3 lead into half time.
The second half was more of the same. With 11 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the game South County’s Karlos Morgan stepped in front of a Cason Kynes pass and returned it 79-yards the other way for the touchdown to give the Stallions added cushion.
Annandale added two late touchdowns when Kynes hit Dan Ejigu from 74-yards out to make the game 35-10 and later found Eric Cabellos with no time remaining on the clock, but it was too little too late.
“We had a great week of practice,” Bendorf said. “The seniors stepped up. We were 1-3 at the end of September and through their leadership we really responded and played really, really well. Our last half of the season has been really good.”
Robinson 24, Fairfax 0
By Eric Avissar
Robinson High Senior
Sports Editor of Valor Dictus
Robinson had been searching for momentum. It was hard to come by especially in the past two weeks with losses to Oakton and Chantilly, but the Rams were finally able to obtain the ever-elusive momentum on their senior night with a 24-0 shut out of visiting Fairfax.
Senior defensive back Sergio Rivera allowed to Rams to take control of their final regular-season game by intercepting a pass on the first play of the game. When the interception was mentioned, Rivera broke into a wide-eyed, ear-to-ear grin.
“I thought the defense came out and played great tonight, every play,” Rivera said. “Each time they came into our red zone we were pumped and it made us play better.”
Rivera was referring two the two key defensive stops that the Rams made in the second half when the team was pushed back inside their own 20-yard line by the opposing Rebels. Both times Fairfax threatened to put points on the board, the Rams sternly replied, forcing the Rebels to turn the ball over on downs.
The Rams’ offense was keyed by a rushing attack that totaled 240 yards. Junior running back Wynton Fox led all rushers with 81 yards on just six carries. Fox played the role of offensive catalyst, averaging 13.5 yards per touch to help Robinson maintain control of the game. Fox credited his offensive line for his performance.
“I thought the O-line did a great job on the run blocking, opening up holes that all of us could get through” he said.
Though the Rams were only able to get a field goal off of Rivera’s interception, Robinson held Fairfax deep in their own territory on the next drive. On the ensuing possession, Robinson quarterback Tim Meier threw a precise touch pass to wide receiver Xavier Duncan that hit him right on the numbers, and Duncan followed his blockers all the way to the end zone to boost the lead to 10.
Running back Alex Murray then helped Robinson pull away with a 1-yard punch-in run that was set up by runs from Fox and Peter Ferrara.
Fairfax came as close as it ever did during the game to getting back some of the momentum on a 53-yard kickoff return by C.J. Robertson that was followed by a 26-yard reception by a sandwiched Lonnie Carter. But the Rebels couldn’t manufacture any points on the first of their two scoreless red-zone appearances.
Robinson put the finishing touches on the victory with a 4-yard touchdown run by running back Jonathan Kilbourne, who set up the score with a 62-yard run earlier in the drive.
Fairfax had two runners surpass the 50-yard mark, including Ben McLennon who churned out 59 yards on 10 carries and Peter Miller, who added 56 yards on 15 attempts.
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