Stone Bridge Opens with Milestone Victory over Westfield as Blocked Field Goal with 58.3 Seconds Left Preserves 21-18 Win

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor

Ashburn (Sept. 5, 2009) - Scan the Stone Bridge High School glossy football program and you see two players -- juniors Kyle Gouveia and Spenser Rositano -- listed with the unusual designation of ATH because if you listed all the positions that these two could play, you would run out of room on the page.

Simply put Gouveia and Rositano are ATH or Athletes with a capital "A" and they proved it Friday night in Stone Bridge's thrilling 21-18 victory at home over Division 6 powerhouse Westfield before a packed stadium.

Gouveia and Rositano each scored first half rushing 3-yard touchdowns, Gouveia had an interception and then the pair hooked up on a 66-yard trick play in the third quarter -- Gouveia caught a lateral from junior quarterback Brian Rody and then heaved it across and down the field to a wide open Rositano for a touchdown -- which gave Stone Bridge the winning margin. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Gouveia keyed a time-consuming 14-play march that gave the Bulldog defense a much-needed rest and then Rositano blocked a 23-yard, game-tying field goal attempt with 58.3 seconds left.

"I got lucky. I just thank the Lord for it," said a humble Rositano after the game about his game-changing performance. "I originally wasn't going to blitz but the tight end sat and I saw a hole so I ran up and jumped as high as I could go and luckily I got a piece of the ball."

Junior running back Marcus Harris might want to have his program designation changed to workhorse as the 6-foot, 175-pounder carried the ball a bone-crunching 27 times for 91 yards in the win.

"That was the most hyped game we have every played in," said Harris with a weary smile after the contest.

Harris also had an electrifying kickoff return -- which appeared to go 87 yards for a score but it was ruled he stepped out of bounds at the Westfield 31 -- after Westfield had scored on the first play of the game, on their own trick play, a double pass which went from quarterback Danny Fenyak to Mack Spees to a wide open Gary Turner.

"It was kind of my fault on that first ball," said Rositano who blamed himself for not getting over to cover the 69-yard Westfield score, but Rositano and Gouveia turned the tables after Westfield went up, 18-14, with 5:03 left in the third quarter on Kendall Anderson's strong 42-yard touchdown run.

Rositano said the game-winning play was put into the playbook just this week at practice.

"I came in like I was going to block and then Kyle threw a perfect ball," said Rositano.

The Stone Bridge defense allowed just the one second-half touchdown, despite Westfield having great field position after the break with the Division 6 Bulldogs staring drives at the Stone Bridge 35, 42, 41 and 43.

"This was a huge victory, we played with a lot of heart tonight," said Gouveia, one of the few starters returning from the 2008 team which went 13-1.

Even though this was just an opener and a non-district contest, Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson wasn't downplaying the significance of beating one of the top programs in the state and one of the largest schools with nearly 3,000 students.

"This could go a long way for us," said Thompson. "There were a lot of alumni back that didn't think we could win ... I like seeing the surprise on their faces."

A victory over a larger Division 6 school is nothing new for Stone Bridge which has taken on and defeated Robinson and Oakton as well over the years.

"We have beaten the big three," said Thompson.

It appeared that Stone Bridge might be in for a long evening with Westfield's 69-yard scoring trickery on the first play of the night but James Johnson was credited with blocking the extra point -- the first of three failed conversions for Westfield --  and then Harris was off to the races to set up the first Stone Bridge score, a 9-play, 31-yard drive capped by Rositano from the 3 on third-and-goal.

Sure-footed Stone Bridge senior Abdul Shaban made the first of three point after kicks and they turned out to be important in the 3-point game.

Both teams traded 3-and-out but Westfield found itself in good field position, on the Stone Bridge 40 after harry Van Trees smothered Rositano while he attempted a pooch punt that deflected and went just 10 yards. Stone Bridge had punting woes on the night with three short punt formation efforts resulting in just 35 total yards. The Bulldogs also had seven penalties for 50 yards in the contest.

Gouveia halted the Westfield drive at the 23 as he dived and scooped up a deflection for an interception. Stone Bridge then went on a monster 17-play scoring drive that ate more than half of the first half, a total of 8:20 off the clock.

Key plays on the drive included a 13-yard pass from Rody to Ryan Lowdermilk, a 6-yard Harris run on 4th-and-1 from the Westfield 41, and a 19-yard pass play from Rody to Harris on 3rd-and-17. Faced with 4th-and-1 from the 3, Gouveia got the call and he picked up the first down and more, rumbling into the end zone to make it 14-6 Stone Bridge with 5:40 left in the first half.

Westfield responded with a 66-yard, 11-play drive that was boosted by a pass interference call. On 3rd-and-2 from the 3, Mitch Castleberry made a nice catch with out-stretched arms in the end zone with 25.5 seconds left in the first half. A two-point pass play failed to make it 14-12 at the half, Stone Bridge.

The third quarter was mostly defensive with the visitors picking off a Rody pass at midfield. That Bo Hartman interception led to Anderson's run up the left sidelines. Another 2-point pass attempt failed and it was 18-14 Westfield with 5:03 left in the third quarter.

On the very next play from scrimmage, Gouveia and Rositano executed their trick play to put Stone Bridge back ahead.

The Stone Bridge defense locked down Westfield on the next drive but Westfield got the ball back on the SB 41 after the SB couldn't move the ball. A Turner reception put Westfield in long field goal range but a 45-yard attempt was just short.

With more than 10 minutes left in the game, Stone Bridge, inserting Gouveia in as the running quarterback for Rody, went on a 14-play, run only drive that moved the ball 38 yards and ate up seven minutes.

Westfield finally held on 4th-and-10 from their own 42 with 3:33 left and Fenyak, along with running back Dylan Doty, moved the ball quickly down the field. A pass to Castleberry brought the ball down to the Stone Bridge 7 with 1:11 to go.

Fenyak spiked the ball to stop the clock as Westfield was out of time outs and then Fenyak tried on back-to-back plays to hit Turner on a fade route in the corner of the end zone but Stone Bridge corner Andre Best had the coverage.

Westfield then attempted the game-tying 23-yard field goal with just under a minute to go. The kick was a low line drive and Rositano, rushing up but behind the line of scrimmage was able to get a hand on it.

"This is a great victory but we can do a heck of a lot better," Thompson told his players as they gathered after the postgame handshake.

WF 6 6 6 0 - 18

SB 7 7 7 0 - 21

1: WF - Turner 69 pass from Spees (kick blocked) 11:41
1: SB - Rositano 3 run (Shaban kick) 7:11
2: SB - Gouveia 3 run (Shaban kick) 5:40
2: WF - Castleberry 3 pass from Fenyak (pass failed) 0:25.5
3: WF - Anderson 42 run (pass failed) 5:03
3: SB - Rositano 66 pass from Gouveia (Shaban kick) 4:40

Unofficial Stats

Rushing
Stone Bridge: Harris 27-91, Gouveia 7-35, Rositano 5-31, Rody 4-14, Girdy 3-2. Totals 46-173.

Westfield: Anderson 5-50, Doty 6-49, Ferington 3-9, Monticue 3-7, Fenyak 3-(-12). Totals 20-103

Passing
Stone Bridge: Rody 6-12-1 66, Gouveia 1-1-0 66. Totals 7-13-1 132.

Westfield: Fenyak 14-25-1 113, Spees 1-1-0 69. Totals 15-26-1 182.

Receiving

Stone Bridge: Rositano 1-66, Harris 3-38, Lowdermilk 1-11, White 1-8, Gouveia 1-7.

Westfield: Turner 6-119, Scoville 6-39, Castleberry 2-24, Anderson 1-0.