Football: Freedom Wins First Ever District Contest, Snapping 23-Game String with 26-19 Win at Potomac Falls

Sterling (Oct. 24, 2010) - The Freedom High School football team not only tied the school mark for victories in a season with a 26-19 win at Potomac Falls on Friday night but the victory was the Eagles first ever Dulles District win, snapping a 23-game string of losses, as they improved to 4-4 overall.

While Freedom went 4-6 in 2006, the first year they went to a varsity schedule, including wins over Briar Woods and Loudoun County, the Eagles did not play a district schedule and the past three seasons Freedom has struggled, going 3-27 overall.

Second-year coach Mick Mullins, however, has been rebuilding the program, going 2-8 last year after just one win in the previous two campaigns, and now 4-4 overall with a 1-3 district mark.

The Eagles, stunning the Panthers on their Homecoming by scoring on the first play of the game with a 67-yard touchdown pass from Matt Malacane to Gerson Rodriguez, rolled to a 19-0 lead early in the game and then a shocking 26-6 halftime lead, especially since Freedom hand't scored 26 points total in a district contest since 2007.

After the early strike, Freedom's defense made it 9-0 with a saftey and then the Eagles used an 11-play drive to set up a 22-yard field goal by Jeff Denfeld to make ti 12-0 with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.

Malacane, who finished with 218 yards passing on 7 of 10 throwing, was at it again in the second quarter, this time hooking up with Derek Burns on an 80-yard touchdown that made it 19-0.

Potomac Falls showed some life with John Fishchetti throwing the first of this three TD's on the night, this one a 25-yarder to Nicholas Fernandez to cut into the lead but Freedom went on another long drive, this time 66 yards on nine plays with Malacane throwing his third TD of the night, a 22-yarder to Chuck Thompson to make it 26-6 with 3:03 left in the half.

Freedom would not score again and needed to hang on as Fischetti combined with Garrett Streich for two touchdown passes in the final six minutes of the game. The last TD made it 26-19 with just over two minutes to play. The Panthers held on defense and forced Freedom punt deep in their own end but the Eagles came up with their third interception of the game -- Joel Pugh, Will McGlaughlin and Chris Cook all had picks -- to ice the game.


Freedom 26, Potomac Falls 19

Freedom South Riding Eagl  12 14  0   0 -- 26
Potomac Falls Panthers          0   6  0 13 -- 19

Scoring Summary: Plays Yards TOP Score
1 11:36 FHS Matt Malacane Passes to Gerson Rodriguez COMPLETE TOUCHDOWN. 67 yds PAT Kick by Jeff Denfeld GOOD. 1 67 00:24 7 - 0
1 06:47 FHS Kyle BULGER Carries(Hand Off) SAFETY. -2 yds 2 -2 00:25 9 - 0
1 00:38 FHS 22 yd Field Goal MADE by Jeff Denfeld 11 44 06:09 12 - 0
2 10:40 FHS Matt Malacane Passes to Derek Burns COMPLETE TOUCHDOWN. 80 yds PAT Kick by Jeff Denfeld GOOD. 1 80 00:03 19 - 0
2 07:09 PFHS John FISCHETTI Passes to Nicholas FERNANDEZ COMPLETE TOUCHDOWN. 25 yds PAT Run by Jeremy JULIANE NO Good 8 48 03:31 19 - 6
2 03:03 FHS Matt Malacane Passes to Chuck Thompson COMPLETE TOUCHDOWN. 22 yds PAT Kick by Jeff Denfeld GOOD. 9 66 04:06 26 - 6
4 06:19 PFHS John FISCHETTI Passes to Garrett STREICH COMPLETE TOUCHDOWN. 2 yds PAT Kick by Brody FROST GOOD. 3 45 01:27 26 - 13
4 02:36 PFHS John FISCHETTI Passes to Garrett STREICH COMPLETE TOUCHDOWN. 14 yds PAT Run by Jeremy JULIANE NO Good 7 52 00:48 26 - 19

PFHS FHS
FIRST DOWN 12 12
RUSHES / YARDS (NET) 12/53 39/32
PASSING YARDS (NET) 199 235
Passes Att/Comp/Int 38/21/3 15/11/0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS/YARDS 50 / 252 54 / 267
Fumble Returns / Yards 1 / 14 0 / 0
Punt Returns / Yards 1 / 6 3 / 20
Kickoff Returns / Yards 4 / 70 5 / 121
Interception Returns /Yards 0 / 0 3 / 0
Punts (Number/Avg) 3 / 32 5 / 35
Fumbles / Lost 0 / 0 2 / 1
Penalties / Yards 5 / 51 5 / 35
Possession Time 16:28 31:21
Sacks By: Number/Yards 1 / 9 1 / 9

RUSHING(Att / Yards):
Freedom South Riding Eagl- Derek Burns 15 / 35 Darius McMillian 8 / 10 Matt Malacane 1 / 8 Gerson Rodriguez 2 / 6 Austen Thomas 1 / 4 Trent Gilmore 8 / -13 TEAM 4 / -18
Potomac Falls Panthers- Matthew Brown 6 / 40 Steven Wilson Jr. 1 / 21 Leo Pittman III 2 / 3 Garrett Streich 1 / 0 Kyle Bulger 1 / -2 John Fischetti 1 / -9

PASSING(Comp/Att/Int/Yard):
Freedom South Riding Eagl - Matt Malacane 7/10/0/218 Trent Gilmore 4/5/0/17
Potomac Falls Panthers - John Fischetti 21/38/3/199

RECEIVING(No / Yard):
Freedom South Riding Eagl - Derek Burns 3 / 102 Gerson Rodriguez 4 / 82 Chuck Thompson 2 / 27 Patrick Donovan 2 / 24
Potomac Falls Panthers - Steven Wilson Jr. 6 / 74 Brody Frost 3 / 34 Nicholas Fernandez 2 / 34 Kyle Bulger 4 / 27 Garrett Streich 2 / 16 Leo Pittman III 2 / 8 Matthew Brown 2 / 6

INTERCEPTIONS(No / Yard):
Freedom South Riding Eagl Joel Pugh 1 / 0 Will McGlaughlin 1 / 0 Chris Cook 1 / 0
Potomac Falls Panthers

SACKS(UA / A):
Freedom South Riding Eagl Jesse Mizell 1 / 9
Potomac Falls Panthers Matthew Hoover 1 / 9

TACKLES (UA / A) :
Freedom South Riding Eagl - Alec Owens 7 / 4 Aiden Johnson 4 / 4 Chris Cook 3 / 4 Jesse Mizell 2 / 2 Christian Lewis 2 / 0 Gunnar Blackshaw 2 / 0 Joel Pugh 1 / 2 Eric Daly 1 / 1 Darius McMillian 1 / 0 Derek Burns 1 / 0 Chuck Thompson 0 / 1 Mitch Gilmore 0 / 1 Chris Freda 0 / 1
Potomac Falls - Panthers Matthew Brown 7 / 4 Steven Wilson Jr. 6 / 3 Matthew Hoover 6 / 0 Zachory Hobby 5 / 1 Marquis Vasciannie 4 / 1 Jeremy Juliane 2 / 1 Donald Denny Jr. 2 / 1 Tyler Wilkinson 2 / 0
Brandoon Waggener 2 / 0 Zachery Causey 2 / 0 John Aquino 2 / 0 David Aggrey 1 / 1 Kevin Owens 1 / 0 Dacota Lane 1 / 0 Major Rogers IV 0 / 1 Leo Pittman III 0 / 1

Freedom Football Year-by-Year
2010
4-4 overall
1-3 district

2009
2-8 overall
0-6 district

2008
1-9 overall
0-7 district

2007
0-10 overall
0-7 district

2006
4-6 overall
no district schedule

2005
JV program only

All-time district contests
2010
W - Potomac Falls 26-19
L - Broad Run 13-44
L - Dominion 3-49
L - Briar Woods 3-35

2009
L - Park View 0-37
L - Loudoun County 10-45
L - Potomac Falls 3-27
L - Broad Run 8-56
L - Dominion 0-39
L - Briar Woods 0-31

2008
L - Briar Woods 23-61
L - Broad Run 22-44
L - Loudoun County 10-42
L - Potomac Falls 0-54
L - Heritage 21-64
L - Park View 13-41
L - Dominion 7-35

2007
L - Briar Woods 14-49
L - Broad Run 7-49
L - Loudoun County 26-43
L - Potomac Falls 7-28
L - Heritage 7-33
L - Park View 7-35
L - Dominion 7-35