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Sports

Spartans Down Falcons in 'Battle for a Better Cause'

Ashburn show full-force support for Ryan Diviney as Broad Run exorcises last year's demons.

The atmosphere at Briar Woods High School was electric Friday night. An overflow crowd filled the stadium, the track and even the hillside along Belmont Ridge Road to watch the visiting Broad Run Spartans take on the Falcons in a rematch of last year's regional championship game. Seemingly all of Ashburn showed up wearing white T-shirts, which were sold to raise funds and show support for Ryan Diviney and his family. And the stadium went wild when Ryan's father Ken served as an honorary captain and took part in the coin toss to start the game.

Against the "white out" back drop of the Diviney supporters on both sides of the stadium, and with emotions running high for both teams, the Spartans put together a stellar defensive performance and over-powered the Falcons with an unrelenting rushing attack to come away with the 14-0 non-district victory.

The pivotal moment for the Spartans was an unprecedented gamble deep in their own territory in the third quarter that almost proved disastrous.

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Facing fourth down and five yards to go inside their own 20-yard line, the Spartans elected to go for it, rather than punt. The decision would be a huge risk under normal circumstances, let alone in a game where the Spartans clung to a 7-0 lead.

Lining up in a spread formation, the Briar Woods defense seemed surprised and perhaps confused as coaches tried to direct players into the proper positions before the play. After receiving the snap, Spartans quarterback Connor Jessop rolled out and tried to hit wide receiver Matt Preziotti, who did not hold on to the pass.

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At that moment, it appeared the Spartans had handed the ball over to Briar Woods in fantastic scoring position, and lost momentum in a game they appeared to control, despite the close score.

As Briar Woods began to celebrate, all eyes turned to a flag lying on the field. The call: unsportsmanlike conduct against the Briar Woods sideline. The team had reportedly received a sideline warning earlier in the game, and on the fourth-down play the refs determined someone on the sideline did something that warranted the penalty despite the pivotal moment in the game.

In an instant, momentum swung squarely back to Broad Run, and the Spartans seized the moment. Keyed by a 23-yard Derril Thomas run, the Spartans moved into scoring territory. On third down and four from the Briar Woods 11-yard line, Jessop took off on a designed run behind the mammoth right side of the Spartans offensive line, and fought through for the touchdown.

"That felt good. I don't get to run the ball too often, so when I do I try to take advantage of it. I just rode on somebody's back until I got in," said Jessop, who finished the game with 51 yards rushing and went 11 of 19 through the air with one touchdown and one interception.

The entire Spartan backfield rode the backs of the ginormous right side of their offensive line throughout the evening, which seemed to wear down the Falcon defense. The Spartans consistently ran right behind the twin towers Jackson Matteo and Brenden Vechery, who teamed with Phillip James and Caleb Lindsay to form a bulldozing blocking force that helped the team pile up 157 rushing yards.

As good as the Spartans ran their offense, the team’s defense shut down the Falcons, and constantly harassed quarterback Trace McSorley into an uncharacteristically inaccurate performance. McSorley finished the game 7 of 22 for 92 yards and an interception, and the Falcons mustered just 138 total yards of offense. Broad Run held Stanford-bound Alex Carter to just 65 yards receiving and no scores. The game marked the first shut out for Briar Woods since falling to Broad Run 29-0 in 2008.

Perhaps the biggest play for the Spartan defense came early in the second quarter. Briar Woods had put together its first successful drive of the evening, and had a first down at the Broad Run 12-yard line. McSorley took the snap and rolled left before slinging a pass into the end zone. Dorian Jenkins – the Spartan defensive back who is also McSorley's good friend – stepped in front of the pass and hauled in the interception to thwart the Falcon's scoring opportunity.

"They've got great receivers and he's a great quarterback,” Griffis said. “If you give him a little pressure he has to get rid of the ball a little faster than he wants to, and those passes that would be touchdowns are just off by a yard or so."

Broad Run sealed the victory when they received the ball with 7:44 left in the fourth quarter. Starting at their own 16-yard line, the Spartans drove to the Briar Woods 1-foot line and took a knee to run the clock out.

The game proved a satisfying victory for the Broad Run Spartan seniors, who saw their season end last year to the rival Falcons.

"We really wanted to do this for the seniors that couldn't do it last year, so we just focused and had a great week of practice and came out here and got the job done," said Thomas, who churned out a tough 97-yards rushing on the game.

The win improves Broad Run to 2-0 on the season, with both victories coming against AA teams. The Spartans begin a new AAA schedule next week when they host Woodbridge. The Falcons look to rebound against Park View, a team the Spartans thumped 51-7 a week ago.

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