Football Review: Falcons Tame Huskies

Briar Woods Shuts Out Huskies 38-0

Ask any football coach for some keys to winning road games in front of raucous fans, and you'll likely get the same answer: score early, get the home crowd out of the game and capture momentum. Unfortunately for the Tuscarora Huskies, not only did they not take the rowdy Briar Woods fans out of the Ashburn Patch Game of the Week early, they gave up an opening kickoff return for a touchdown to the Falcons Alex Carter, which sent the crowd into a frenzy and helped spur the Falcons to a 38-0 blowout victory. 

Carter's return was a thing of beauty. After corralling the quasi-squib kick deep in his own territory, he sprinted to his right. Finding no open running lanes, he reversed field and raced past a slew poorly positioned Husky players. Once in the open field, Carter ducked past the Husky's safety and kicker, and raced to the end zone for the 92-yard score. With no time off the clock, the Falcons (4-1) were up 7-0 practically before the game even started, and the Falcon faithful – clad in pink for breast cancer awareness – went crazy.

And then things just got worse for the Huskies. A big punt return by Connor Cashman gave the Falcons great field position at the Tuscarora 25-yard line late in the first quarter. After several tough runs by Cory Colder and a key first down conversion pass from Trace McSorley to Cam Serigne, the Falcons punched the ball into the end zone with a two-yard plunge by Colder, who finished the day with 74 yards rushing.

Perhaps realizing his team was facing dire circumstances down 14-0 on the road against the defending state champs, Husky coach Mike Burnett made a gutsy call to go for it on fourth-and-7 with just over two minutes remaining in the first half. With his team on its own 33-yard line, Burnett had his players line up in a punt formation before shifting into a regular shotgun offensive set. The gamble nearly paid off, as a Husky receiver popped open in the middle of the field; but quarterback Chad Carrerra could not complete the pass and the Falcons took over on downs in great field position. Five plays later, McSorley found Serigne again for a 15-yard touchdown. McSorley completed 13 of 24 passes for 113 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

The last best chance for the Huskies to make a game of it came at the beginning of the second half. Trailing 21-0, Tuscarora drove all the way to the Briar Woods 15-yard line with a combination of quick passes and a pass interference call against the Falcons. However, Alex Carter tipped a first-down pass from Carrerra, and Brandon Brown came down with the interception. The Falcons put the game out of reach on Carter's second touchdown of the day, a 12-yard end around run that put the score at 28-0.

A David Clements field goal and a Mike Barta interception return for a touchdown closed out the Falcons’ scoring for the 38-0 win.

Briar Woods next plays at Woodgrove (3-3) Oct. 6.

Stone Bridge Downs TJ Colonials 43-21

The visiting Thomas Jefferson Colonials did their best to take the Bulldogs home crowd out of the game early, when Luke Birch recovered a first quarter Bulldog fumble and returned it 59 yards for the 7-0 lead.

But that was one of few highlights for TJ, as Stone Bridge (4-1) then scored six unanswered touchdowns en route to the big win. Running back Stephen Trivieri had another huge night, rushing for 129 yards and three scores.

The Bulldogs’ starting defense limited the Colonials to a total of 9 rushing yards net for the game, and scored on Kevin Bradshaw's 40-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Even with the big win, coach Mickey Thompson will have plenty of things to work on with his team this week: the Bulldogs committed nine penalties, lost two fumbles and scored fewer points they ever have against TJ.

Stone Bridge next plays at Langley on Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Spartans Sting Herndon Hornets 36-7

Broad Run (5-1) appeared to suffer zero hangover effects from last week's stunning overtime loss to Stone Bridge, jumping out to a 29-0 halftime lead over Herndon behind another strong performance from running back Derril Thomas. And this week the lead held in the second half.

Thomas started the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown run, and added two more scores on his way to 133 yards on the ground. Thomas’ big runs must have inspired quarterback Connor Jessop, who took off for the Spartans biggest rush of the night, a 60-yard touchdown run. Jessop passed rarely, but precisely, completing five passes for 142 yards and one touchdown to Michael Stratton.

Herndon moved the ball at times against the Broad Run defense, especially on the ground. The Hornet's star running back Josh Schow ran for 178 yards and helped the Hornets win the time of possession battle. But the team had trouble finding the end zone.

Broad Run has a bye next week and hosts defending state-semifinalist Osbourn (4-2) Oct. 14.