Football: South County at Robert E. Lee Preview

By Phil Murphy

Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C. Metro Area

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South County (5-2, 2-2) at Robert E. Lee (5-2, 2-2), 7:30 p.m. Friday

Last Week: South County lost at Lake Braddock, 27-3; Lee lost at West Potomac, 14-7

PowerPoints: South County – 4th (Div. 6); Robert E. Lee – T1st (Div. 5)

Offensive Rank (Pts/Game): South County – 10th (Div. 6); Robert E. Lee – 6th (Div. 5)

Defensive Rank (Pts/Game): South County – 1st (Div. 6); Robert E. Lee – T6th (Div. 5)

When Lee senior running back Idreis Augustus misses time to injury, the Lancers are 0-2.

He should be back for this one. And he’ll be needed against the top-ranked scoring defense in Division 6.

But what we don’t realize is Lee senior Greg Lopez has the best quarterback rating of any full-time starter in the Northern Region. The emergence of senior playmaker Aaron Jackson in recent weeks has not hurt that cause.

Obviously, South County seniors Anthony Carabali and Andre Simmons (Vanderbilt) need to bring their A-game on the line and in the secondary, respectively.

But the X-factor is how the Lancers defend the Stallion running game. South County has the 10th-ranked scoring offense in Division 6, a statistic not helped by nine total points in its two losses.

The Stallions are 5-0 when surpassing 4.0 yards per carry, 0-2 when they don’t, including a season-low 52 yards on 26 carries last week at the Bruins.

The Lancers will call upon senior defensive tackle Justin Adams and senior middle linebacker Eric Wright to slow the running attack. Wright gets lost in the shuffle with the region elite, but he is a deserving first-team all-district linebacker.

But if Lee is ahead in the final minutes, South County faithful, wait this one out.

In 2007, Stallion running back Titus Pennington scored on a 32-yard touchdown run with :26 seconds remaining to lift South County to the 33-26 win. Then, last year, the Stallions trailed the Lancers, 23-13, with :46 seconds left.

SoCo running back Eric Dorsey scored on a long touchdown run, followed by an onside and a 38-yard touchdown pass from then-junior Aaron Andrews to now-college-freshman Kevin Sakyi lifted South County to an unbelievable, 27-23 home win.

Three of the four all-time games in this series were decided by six points or fewer.

Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com