Football: Bulldogs Bounce Back at Langley; Blocked FG Attempt in Final Secons Secures SB Win

By Denis Eaton
Special to VivaLoudoun.com

Langley (Oct. 24, 2009) - Looking to get back into the win column after losing the school's first ever AAA Liberty District contest -- to Madison earlier in the week -- Stone Bridge High School traveled to Langley Friday to take on the Saxons and emerged with a 17-14 win.

Junior Marcus Harris carried the ball a whopping school-record 43 times for Stone Bridge, gaining 204 yards to go over the 1,000-yard mark on the season (1,088), and junior Spencer Rositano played the hero once again, blocking a game-tying field goal attempt in the final seconds for the second time this season.



With three games remaining, all against Liberty District opponents, Stone Bridge needed a win against the Saxons to remain in the hunt for the district crown. For their part, the Saxons, winners of three straight games after losing their first four this season, were looking to even their record at 4-4 and keep their winning streak alive.

After the Bulldogs forced a Langley punt on its first possession, they gave the ball right back on their very first play from scrimmage, on a Kyle Gouveia fumble that put the Saxons in business on the Stone Bridge 44. Langley moved the ball to the Stone Bridge 34, where Saxon QB Braden Anderson connected on a pass to tight end Joey Kiffe for the score. Farhan Khan’s PAT kick gave the Saxons a 7-0 lead with 7:38 left in the first quarter, and the Stone Bridge faithful had to be wondering if this was going to be a case of “déjà vu all over again,” in the immortal words of Yogi Berra.

However, the Bulldogs responded and proceeded on 12-play, 75-yard drive that consumed 5:50 off the clock and ended with a 22-yard field goal by Spenser Rositano. The drive consisted solely of running plays, the majority of which were handled by RB Marcus Harris, who carried the ball 10 times for 72 yards…and he was just getting warmed up.

Stone Bridge took the lead with 5:50 left in the 2nd quarter, but it was the defense that produced the points. CB Dexter Rogers stepped in front of an Anderson passed and returned it 25 yards for the score. Rositano’s kick gave the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead.

Later in the second period, Stone Bridge moved the ball to the Langley 30, but turned the ball over on downs with just 25 seconds remaining in the half. Langley then put a big scare into the Bulldogs and their fans, as Anderson completed passes of 45 and 11 yards to Kiffe and the Saxons used their time outs to maneuver for a 37-yard Khan field goal attempt to tie the score on the last play of the half. However, Khan’s kick missed the mark and Stone Bridge left the field clinging to a 10-7 lead.

Stone Bridge received the second half kickoff and proceeded to move the ball inside the Saxon 35, with Harris again getting the majority of the carries. However, a fumbled pitch gave the ball to Langley on its own 40, and the Saxons retook the lead in just four plays, the last of which was a 40-yard run by Abe Yi. With 7:46 left in the 3rd quarter, Langley led, 14-10.

Once again, Stone Bridge executed a long, time-consuming drive; once again. Marcus Harris was the workhorse. He carried the ball on the last nine plays of the 12-play drive, netting 42 yards, the last two of which took him into the end zone for what would prove to be the final lead change of the evening. Rositano made the extra point, and Stone Bridge led, 17-14.

The fourth quarter was genuine nail-biter material.

The teams exchanged punts, then the Bulldogs embarked on another drive, but a Harris run for a first down was called back on a holding penalty and the drive stalled. Spenser Rositano punted to the Langley 8, and the Saxons took over with 4:29 left and 92 yards to travel.

Anderson completed passed of 20 and 23 yards, and suddenly the Saxons were at the Stone Bridge 24, courtesy of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Bulldogs. However, the Stone Bridge defense stepped up and stopped the Langley drive in its tracks, sacking Anderson twice and forcing two incomplete passes.

With 1:46 left in the game, Stone Bridge took over on offense, and one would have thought that the game was essentially over. Not so fast…

The Bulldogs gained only four yards on three plays, the Saxons executed some excellent clock management, and Stone Bridge was forced to punt. The ball was downed at the Langley 31, with 48 seconds left in the game.

The Bulldogs were deployed in a prevent defense, with defensive backs arrayed well off the line of scrimmage, so Anderson went to work, completing a series of short passes (10, 15, 11, and 9 yards) that took them all the way to the Stone Bridge 23. On 4th-and-1 from that location, Farhan Khan came in to attempt a game-tying, 40-yard field goal.

As if he had not already performed yeoman’s work, running and catching the ball, punting and placekicking, and playing defense, Rositano leapt into the fray and blocked the field goal attempt, much as he had done back in early September in the season-opening game against Westfield. With five seconds left in the game, Gouveia took a knee, and the Bulldogs left the field with their 7th win of the season.

Marcus Harris must have been a very tired player after this game…happy, relieved, but tired. He carried the ball a total of 43 times in this game, picking up 204 yards and scoring his 10th rushing TD of the season.

The 43 carries in a game breaks the school record in a BIG way; previously, no one in the 10 seasons of Stone Bridge had carried the ball even 30 times in a game. Harris now has 178 carries this season, in eight games (for a total of 1088 yards); that’s 10 carries shy of the season record of 188, which is held by another Harris – Grant Harris, who did so in the Bulldogs’ inaugural season, 2000.

There were good things and bad things to take away from this game for Stone Bridge.

On the good side, in addition to Harris’ rushing exploits, the Stone Bridge defense held Langley to just 44 rushing yards on 19 carries (40 of those yards came on 1 carry); the defense scored another TD (Dexter Rogers); the Bulldogs held Langley to 0 return yards (kickoffs + punts + fumble returns); Spenser Rositano averaged 42.3 yards on 4 punts; and the Bulldogs won the time of possession battle in a convincing fashion, by a 31:58 to 16:02 margin.

On the bad side… penalties, penalties, penalties.

The Bulldogs were flagged nine times in this game (79 yards), for infractions ranging from illegal procedure (twice) to holding (on offense and twice on defense) to unsportsmanlike conduct. Some of the penalties stopped Stone Bridge drives; some gave new life to Langley drives. The Bulldogs have now been penalized 58 times in 8 games, for a total of 502 yards (average per game – 7 penalties for 63 yards).

The Bulldogs also fumbled the ball away twice. On both occasions, Langley scored TDs on the ensuing drives.

With this win, Stone Bridge’s record improves to 7-1 (4-1 in the Liberty District), putting them in a tie for first place with South Lakes, which happens to be the Bulldogs’ final regular season opponent (6 November). For their next game, on 30 October, the Bulldogs will again take to the road, this time to McLean, to do battle with the Highlanders.

McLean is 5-3; its 3-2 district record puts it right behind Stone Bridge and South Lakes. With the loss to Stone bridge, Langley’s record falls to 3-5, and 2-3 in the District. The Saxons have games remaining at South Lakes and at McLean.

NOTES:
• Since joining the Liberty District in 2005, Stone Bridge has won all five of its games against the Langley Saxons. The first meeting, in 2005, will forever be known as the “Monsoon Bowl”; the game was played in a rainstorm that was at times torrential. Stone Bridge ultimately prevailed, 21-14 in overtime. Since then, the games have not been so close…until this year. Stone Bridge has now scored 160 points against Langley (average – 32 per game), while the Saxons have scored 56 against the Bulldogs (11 per game).
• Dexter Rogers’ interception return for a TD was the 2nd score on an interception this year for the Bulldogs. Andre Best returned a pick 24 yards for a score against West Springfield.
• Two pass receivers had superb performances for the Saxons. Troy Scharfen caught 6 passes for 79 yards, and Joey Kiffe had 5 catches for 103 yards and a TD. Braden Anderson is the first QB to throw for over 200 yards against the Bulldogs since West Springfield’s Eric Schauder threw for 230 against them on Sept. 17.
• The 44 yards rushing given up by the Stone Bridge defense marks the 5th time this season that opponents were held to under 100 yards. Overall, the Bulldogs have ceded just 522 yards on 229 carries in 8 games, which averages out to 65 yards on 29 carries (2.3 yards per carry).
• With 1088 yards on 178 carries, Marcus Harris is averaging 136 yards per game (22 carries). He has rushed for over 200 yards 3 times this season, and fell just a bit short on a 4th occasion, with 190 yards.