Ashburn High School Football Weekly Preview

Last weekend provided a mixed bag of results for Ashburn high school football fans. Briar Woods and Broad Run ran away with blowout victories over their opponents, but Stone Bridge lost just its third regular season game since 2007, to the Chantilly Chargers. This week the Bulldogs hope to rebound with their first home game of the season, while the Falcons and Spartans look to keep their momentum going on the road after last week's big wins.

Stone Bridge hosts South Lakes in key Liberty District game: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
The Bulldog offense continues to experience the struggles of a team returning just one starter from last year's state finalist squad. In two games, the Bulldog offense has mustered just two touchdowns. Going scoreless is never good for an offense, but setting up the opponent to score with turnovers and other sloppy play is worse, and that's what the Bulldogs have done.

Last week, the team held a 14-3 lead over Chantilly in the third quarter, but was undone by its own mistakes. Quarterback Ryan Burns threw five interceptions – one of which Chantilly returned for a touchdown – and gave up a safety to the Charger defense. Those nine points proved pivotal, since Chantilly held on for the 22-14 win.

Even with eight new starters, the Bulldog defense is proving to be a tough match for any opponent. Defensive end/linebacker extraordinaire Jonathan Allen is exceeding all of the hype he's received both locally and nationally. In week one against Robinson he tallied four sacks, and he leads a defense that has allowed just 13 points in two games against two of Fairfax County's traditional football powers.

This week, the Bulldogs should benefit from their first home game of the season as they host the South Lakes Seahawks of Reston. The Seahawks (0-2) enter the game as a team facing struggles both on the field and off. The Seahawks have been outscored 85-13 in games against Westfield and Herndon. Prediction:  While the Bulldogs should win this game, hopefully the bigger story will be the show of support the Ashburn community provides Seahawks’ Coach Marvin Wooten, whose mother passed away just before the season began.

Broad Run travels to Forest Park: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Remember you heard it here first ... Broad Run has a special team this season, one that may replace Stone Bridge as the Ashburn team usually playing in the AAA Division 5 state finals. This is in no way intended as a slight against Stone Bridge, but rather recognition of the type of team Broad Run has fielded this year.

The fact that the Spartan offense is hitting on all cylinders is no surprise. Led by senior stalwarts such as quarterback Connor Jessop, running back Derril Thomas, wide receiver Michael Stratton, and the dynamic duo of Brendan Vechery and Jackson Matteo on the offensive line, the Spartans are running up yards and averaging 32 points per game. But despite all of their firepower on offense, the Spartan defense is what makes this year's squad special. In three games, the Spartans have pitched two shutouts, surrendering just one touchdown in a blow out win over Park View.

This week, the team travels to Prince William County to take on the Forest Park Bruins. The Bruins (0-3) are a tough team to figure out. Although they have not captured a win this year, Forest Park showed well in tough losses to Stonewall Jackson and Colonial Forge in its first two games, yet were throttled by a struggling Osbourn team 54-7 last week. If anything, the Bruins have shown big-play ability. Mustaqueem Williams has scored on a 96-yard interception return and a kickoff return from the same distance this season, and wide receiver D.J. Myers tallied more than 100 yards against Colonial Forge.

Prediction: Expect the Spartans to keep rolling this week, as they bottle up the Bruins big-play threats and score at will in the first true road game of the season. Broad Run 45 Forest Park 7.

Briar Woods heads to Dominion: Friday, 7 p.m.
The Falcons (2-1) showed last week against Park View what they did not show in the opening week loss to Broad Run: they are still one of the most talented teams in the state, capable of scoring from anywhere on the field. The team started the scoring barrage with an 80-yard touchdown pass from Trace McSorley to Alex Carter and never looked back, cruising to a 53-3 win.

Similar to Broad Run, Briar Woods hits the road this week to take on a struggling opponent. The Falcons head to Sterling to face a Dominion team (0-2) that has been outscored 73-17 in its first two games. Gone from Dominion's offense is all-everything running back DeAndre Reaves, who gave Dulles District foes fits last season. Dominion has still not found a replacement for Reaves, who graduated last year, on offense and has done little to stop opponents on defense.

Prediction: Expect another blowout win from Briar Woods, and the continued emergence of running back Cory Colder as a key cog in the Falcon offense. Briar Woods 38 Dominion 10.