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By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor
Ashburn (Oct. 1, 2010) - The Briar Woods High School football team electrified a standing room home crowd Friday by scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions against two-time defending Division 4 state champion Broad Run and the Falcons rode that momentum and a stifling defense to a 20-13 victory that snapped the Spartans 33-game winning streak.
"No question the biggest win in school history," said Briar Woods coach Charlie Pierce, the school's only head coach since the doors opened in 2005. "It's a wonderful win for the program, a wonderful win for the fans, for the administration, the teachers, everybody in the whole community."
Briar Woods (2-0 in Dulles Disrict, 4-2 overall) came into the game 0-4 lifetime against the Spartans. Broad Run (1-1, 5-1) had not lost a game since the first round of the 2007 playoffs and they had not lost a regular-season contest since the final game of 2006. Both of those losses came against Park View.
"I take total responsibility for what happened tonight ... I feel like I let them down ... those players and the fan base," said first-year Broad Run coach Matt Griffis, who moved from offensive coordinator at neighboring Stone Bridge to Broad Run after Mike Burnett departed on the heels of the back-to-back state titles to start the new program at Tuscarora.
Griffis brought the single-wing offense with him from Stone Bridge and its installation had went smoothly in the first five weeks but Pierce, with plenty of experience coaching against the single-wing, had his stingy defense ready for the task Friday as they held Broad Run to just four first downs in the game while Briar Woods moved the chains 16 times.
"We just came out there with a lot of heart. Heart is always on our team," said Briar Woods senior linebacker DeVontae O'Bannion, one of the reasons that the Spartans were held to just 63 yards rushing on 32 attempts. "We came out scoring first and when we got them down, we just kept hacking at them."
The Falcons elected to play defense to start the game and after holding Broad Run to 3-and-out, Briar Woods moved the ball 62 yards in just six plays with junior Ryan Bumbray carrying the ball for all but 12 of those yards on five rushes, including a 27-yard score.
"We talked today in our last meeting that it was crucial we come out fast on offense," said Pierce. "We deferred on the (coin) toss so that meant we put our defense out first. I just wanted to put our defense up to the challenge and they responded ... then our offense responded on back-to-back series."
Both teams were without key offensive starters as Broad Run played without junior quarterback Connor Jessop, who led the team to the state title as a sophomore starter but broke his collarbone in the second game of the season, and Briar Woods was without senior running back Michael Brownlee, who went down with an injury on his first carry of the season.
Bumbray stepped in for Brownlee in that opener until he too went out with an injury. The 5-foot-9, 155-pound junior was healthy enough to fulltime last week against Freedom but the Falcons kept him mostly in wraps so he would be 100 percent for Friday's game. Set up in a Wildcat-like formation, Brumbray was the difference maker early as he slashed his way to 62 of his 92 yards on the first two series.
"He's pretty elusive. He gives you a little dead leg and makes people miss," said Pierce.
After another 3-and-out for Broad Run, Briar Woods went 67 yards on eight plays with freshman quarterback Trace McSorley connecting on 4 of 5 passes on the drive including a 35-yard catch-and-run score by senior Scott Rolin.
"I just try to get the ball to where they can make a play on it and do something with the ball and we have great playmakers," said McSorley. "My line blocked great, gave me enough time to get the ball out."
Briar Woods freshman quarterback Trace McSorley
McSorley, making use of a quick drop, crisp release and strong arm, was right on the money almost all night with most of the patterns run towards the sidelines. He finished 19 of 26 for 190 yards and one interception to go with the TD throw. McSorley has already thrown for nearly 1,000 yards, going 87 of 141 for 987 yards.
"He's a football kid, he's well beyond his years as far as understanding the game," said Pierce.
Broad Run, aided by good field position after Briar Woods was flagged for celebrating on the touchdown, moved 48 yards on eight plays with Derril Thomas scoring on 4th-and-goal from the 1 on the first play of the second quarter to cut the lead in half, 14-7.
McSorley engineered a late drive in the second quarter, moving the Falcons 32 yards in just over a minute to set up the first of two David Clement's field goals, this one from 42 yards made it 17-7 Briar Woods with 37.1 seconds left in the half.
The Spartans recovered a fumble at the Briar Woods 9 on the third play of the second half and turned that into a another Thomas score on fourth-and-goal, this time from the 2.
A missed extra point left it 17-13 Briar Woods with most of the second half to play but the Spartans didn't see much of the football the rest of the game as the Falcons used an 11-play drive to extend the lead to 20-13 on a Clements 21-yard field goal and then used a 13-play drive that didn't result in any points but almost consumed half of the fourth quarter.
The Clements field goal not only gave Briar Woods a 7-point cushion but more importantly on the ensuing kickoff Spartan running back Thomas was injured and had to be helped off the field and did not return.
Broad Run was able to cross into Briar Woods territory after Sean Magness picked off a McSorley pass and returned it 27 yards to the Spartan 42 with 6:21 to play. Broad Run made it to the BW 38 but the drive stalled and then on 4th-and-3 Jamal Hill intercepted Michael Stratton's jump pass.
The orange-clad Falcon crowd surely wanted to storm the field in celebration as time ticked down by the Briar Woods administration kept the students at bay. Their support, including one of the top high school bands in the state of Virginia as well as a cheerleading squad that won a AA state title last year, did not go unnoticed by the football team.
"The fans were great, The fans were loud," said O'Bannion. "(They were) keeping us on the edge, keeping us hyped."
Pierce agreed and paid the Falcon faithful a high compliment.
"They are amazing. I have been around a lot and to me this is the best student support at all the schools I have been at," said Pierce.
For Broad Run and Griffis the test will be to see how the players bounce back after the first regular-season loss since any of the players entered high school.
"How do we react? Lets comeback. Lets find out who we are. Start another streak," said Griffis.
Briar Woods coach Charlie Pierce
Please check back for photos from the game and video interviews as well as complete stats.
Briar Woods 20, Broad Run 13
Broad Run 0 7 6 0 - 13
Briar Woods 14 3 3 0 - 20
1: BW Bumbray 27 run (Clements kick) 6:47
1: BW Rolin 35 pass from McSorley (Clements kick) 2:51
2: BR Thomas 1 run (Donnelly kick) 11:54
2: BW FG 42 Clements 0:37.1
3: BR Thomas 2 run (kick failed) 9:01
3: BW FG 21 Clements 3:05
Rushing
Broad Run: Thomas 11-20, Earl 5-15, Stratton 4-10, Anderson 5-10, Fields 3-8, Nicholas 1-4, Sistare 1-2. Total 32-63
Briar Woods: Bumbray 19-92, Carter 6-20, Logan 1-2, Leith 1-0, Rolin 1-(-2), McSorley 4-(-12). Total 32-100.
Passing
Broad Run: Stratton 3-7-2 28, Sistare 1-3-0 50. Total 4-10-2 78.
Briar Woods: McSorley 19-26-1 190.
Receiving
Broad Run: Price 1-50, Lindsey 1-13, Preziotti 1-12, Fields 1-3.
Briar Woods: Carter 7-60, Serigne 5-40, Rolin 3-53, O'Bannion 3-27, Hill 1-10.
First Downs: BR 4, BW 16
Total Plays: BR 42, BW 58
Total Offense: BR 141, BW 290
Penalties: BR 8-80, BW 10-83
Possession: BR 20:58, BW 27:02
3rd Down: BR 1-9, BW 6-14
4th Down: BR 2-4, BW 1-2
Punts: BR 4-39.3, BW 3-33.0
Turnovers: BR 2, BW 2
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mcsorley is football.
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