Football: Pride Get Win No. 1 Over New Leesburg Rival Tuscarora

By Owen Gotimer
Heritage High School student journalist

Leesburg (Sept. 25, 2010) - Heritage High School, after an 0-3 opening schedule that included three of the top football teams in the metro area, finally got in the win column Friday with a 34-15 victory over new rival Tuscarora.

The Pride took charge early on in the game, as junior quarterback Austin Nelson dropped back and threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to senior Chuck Carlin on Heritage's first offensive play of the game.


Wanting to maintain the momentum, Heritage then elected to onside kick and the gamble paid off as Pride kicker Amel Habibovic recovered his own kick. Heritage couldn't turn that into any points but after both teams went 3-and-out the Pride were on the move again with 6:31 left in the first quarter.

Passes were complete to both Carlin and senior Dan Dykema during the drive, and then Nelson kept it himself to cap off the drive with a 11-yard touchdown run to put Heritage up 14–0.

Heritage had a chance to go up 21-0 with the ball on the Husky 3 at the start of the second quarter, but but a botched snap led to a Dionte Fitts fumble recovery and he rambled 97 yards for a touchdown to cut the Pride lead in half, 14-7.

What looked like a one-sided battle started to become more even but the Pride defense wasn’t going to allow the Huskies another shot at scoring as Heritage senior Tyler Schulze intercepted Tyler Dietrich’s pass, and the Pride were back in business with the ball at the Tuscarora 14.

Nelson completed a quick 8-yard pass to Kyle Flinton to increase the Pride’s lead was to 21–7.

Defense was the name of the game as both the Huskies and Pride made two more defensive stops before Heritage once again controlled the football. Nelson worked quickly completely passes to both Flinton and Carlin, before finding junior Ryan Taylor in the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-7 Heritage going into the half.

Tuscarora got a big defensive play early in the third when Chris Holoman intercepted Nelson in the Red Zone but the Pride defense held

Heritage put the game away with a final scoring drive, utilizing both the pass and run game as they marched down field. Aaron Summers took the hand off from Nelson at the 1, and walked in for the score to make it 34-7 with 4:05 left to play in the third.

Habibovic landed a punt to start the fourth quarter inside the Huskies 10. Tuscarora junior Edwin Mends broke multiple tackles and ran for 31 yards to get the Huskies out of their own end. Three plays later he completed a 34-yard pass to sophomore Derek McGee and the Huskies were in business. The drive was capped off by a Mends, 2-yard quarterback keeper with just 48 seconds left to play.

Note: Receiver Dan Dykema became the first player in Heritage Pride history to accumulate 1000 career receiving yards with his 23 yard reception early in the 1st half.

Top Players:
HHS, Austin Nelson – 308 passing yards, 3 passing TD, 1 INT, 11 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD
THS, Edwin Mends – 51 passing yards, 40 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD
HHS, Chuck Carlin – 175 receiving yards, 1 TD
THS, Cameron Molina – 95 rushing yards
HHS, Amel Habibovic – 4 for 5 on PAT, average 39 yards on punts
HHS, Defense – 18 different players with tackles including 14 tackles for a loss


Heritage Pride 34, Tuscarora Huskie 15

Score by quarter
Tuscarora Huskie   0   7 0 8 - 15
Heritage Pride      14 14 6 0 - 34

Scoring summary Qtr Time Scoring play THS HHS
Heritage 1 8:24 #4 Nelson, Austin 80 yd pass to #2 Carlin, Chuck (#93 Habibovic, Amel kick) 0 7
Heritage 1 3:51 #4 Nelson, Austin 11 yd run (#93 Habibovic, Amel kick) 0 14
Tuscarora 2 11:38 #16 Fitts, Dionte 97 yd fumble return (#9 Miller, Chris kick) 7 14
Heritage 2 8:51 #4 Nelson, Austin 8 yd pass to #6 Flinton, Kyle (#93 Habibovic, Amel kick) 7 21
Heritage 2 0:57 #4 Nelson, Austin 5 yd pass to #87 Taylor, Ryan (#93 Habibovic, Amel kick) 7 28
Heritage 3 4:05 #3 Summers, Aaron 1 yd run 7 34
Tuscarora 4 0:48 #1 Mends, Edwin 2 yd run (#1 Mends, Edwin pass to #8 Carpenter, Alden) 15 34

Team stats                                Tuscarora Heritage
First downs                                    11         18
Rushing yardage                            156        78
Pass completions - attempts           7-17  24-34
Passing yardage                              88      308
Pass touchdowns - interceptions     0-1      3-1
Total plays                                     56       58
Total offense                                 244      386
Fumbles - lost                                3-2     1-1
Penalties - yards                           6-40    6-60
Defensive sacks - yards lost           0-0    1-10
Time of possession                       25:23   22:37
3rd down efficiency                    2 for 11  3 for 9
4th down efficiency                     2 for 6   1 for 2
Punts - average                          3-29.3     5-39.0