Football: Stone Bridge Smashes the Spartans

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor

Ashburn (Sept. 17, 2010) - Stone Bridge High School set the tone early Thursday night against West Springfield as Bulldog senior Marcus Harris rambled 31 yards on the first snap of the night and five plays later he capped the 89-yard drive with the first of his three touchdowns in the 49-6 blowout.

The Bulldog first unit defense – which hasn’t given up a touchdown in three games – was equally as impressive as they forced a fumble on the Spartans first offensive play. By the time the rainy evening was over the Bulldogs had picked off three passes and scooped up another fumble as they improved to 3-0. West Springfield, which opened the year with a win over traditional Division 5 Northern Region power Edison, fell to 1-2.


“We had a lot of penetration and lot of guys getting to the quarterback tonight,” said Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson.

The front defensive four of Stone Bridge – Rob Burns, John Cheretis, Calvin Hollenhorst and Jonathan Allen – dominated the line of scrimmage and made it easy for the SB linebackers and secondary – most of which return from last year’s state runner-up squad – to do their job.

“It’s the mindset. We come out hyped and we go after it,” said Bulldog middle linebacker Aaron Palmer, who had an interception in the game. “It’s a blessing to play with these defensive lineman. If they are not getting a sack, they are tipping the ball, if they aren’t tipping the ball, they are putting pressure on the quarterback that causes an interception.”

By halftime, Stone Bridge had established it could score via the run, such as the first drive of the night that feature six straights runs, five courtesy of the workhorse Harris, who finished with 108 yards on 12 carries. And Stone Bridge had established it could score via the pass, such as the 2-play “drive” towards the end of the first quarter in which the Bulldogs flew 63 yards via a 36-yard Brian Rody to Stan Johnson pass and then Harris sliced across the middle and out-ran the defense for a 27 yard TD reception.

The senior Rody was just getting warmed-up as he threw for 213 yards on 10 of 13 including two other scores, both nice catches in the end zone, a 10 fade to Johnson in the left corner and a 23-yard leaping grab by senior Umer Nasir just over the goal line by the right pylon.

With already 332 total offensive yards at the half, and West Springfield limited to 58, it was more of the same in the third quarter as the Bulldogs held the Spartans to 3-and-out on the first series of the second half in just 21 seconds as West Springfield attempted to air it out.

Stone Bridge, set up at the 50 after a punt, needed only four plays to make it 35-0 with senior Kyle Gouveia making a highlight reel catch for 38 yards and Harris darting in from 12 yards out for the score.

After Palmer’s interception halted the next Spartan drive and gave SB the ball on the West Springfield 38, the Bulldog first offensive unit finished their night with another 2-play scoring drive. Rody found Johnson for 15 and then the score to Nasir. At that point it was 42-0 Stone Bridge with 7:21 still remaining in the third quarter.

The running clock, due to the lead of 35 or more points, made the rest of the game go quick. West Springfield finally got on the scoreboard with a 8-play march against the SB second defensive unit. The Bulldogs second offensive unit got it right back as sophomore Sean Bells showed great breakaway speed on a 58-yard sprint to the end zone.

The exclamation point was put on the evening when Adrian Thomas picked up a Spartan pass on the final play.


West Springfield 0 0 0 6 – 6
Stone Bridge 14 14 14 7 – 49

1 – SB: Harris 1 run (Jamison kick)
1 – SB: Harris 27 pass from Rody (Jamison kick)
2 – SB: Gouveia 8 run (Jamison kick)
2 – SB: SJohnson 10 pass from Rody (Jamison kick)
3 – SB: Harris 12 run (Jamison kick)
3 – SB: Nasir 23 pass from Rody (Jamison kick)
4 – WS: Kamara 5 run (pass failed)
4 – SB: Bell 58 run (Jamison kick)

Rush Leaders
WS – Pham 12-32. SB – Harris 12-108, Bell 6-81, Thomas 5-55.
Pass Leaders
WS – Pham 7-10-1 41, Stahl 7-17-2 76. SB – Rody 10-13-0 213.
Receiving Leaders
WS – Kim 4-47, Jarrett 3-20, Dunn 6-19. SB – Harris 3-71, SJohnson 4-70.