Football: Stone Bridge Put Fumbles Behind Them, Roll Past Langley, 50-10, to Improve to 8-0

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun Editor

Ashburn (Oct. 23, 2010) - There are many ways that the undefeated Stone Bridge High School football team can beat you, especially with multi-threat talents on the roster such as seniors Marcus Harris, Kyle Gouveia, Brian Rody and Spenser Rositano.

After Friday's 50-10 AAA Liberty District Homecoming win over Langley the Bulldogs improved to 5-0 in district and 8-0 overall, but the Stone Bridge coaching staff was left concerned about the ways the team -- which coughed up three fumbles in the first quarter and made key penalties during the entire evening -- could ultimately beat themselves in the playoffs.

"I saw plenty of positives tonight but against good teams you can't have the turnovers and penalties," said Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson which has his team just two wins away from an 8th consecutive district title and from the school's sixth undefeated regular season in eight years.

The one constant for Stone Bridge has been a defensive unit that has been lights out in 2010, allowing just two touchdowns against the first unit in eight games and is giving up an average of 5.4 points per game.

"The key for us is that we are playing really good defense and that has been covering up some inconsistencies on offense," said Thompson.

The Bulldog defense -- with Rositano intercepting two passes in the first quarter to help offset the fumbles; Gouveia taking an interception back for a touchdown in the second quarter and generally flying around the field the entire night and laying teeth-rattling hits on the Saxons; and the defensive line, led by sophomore Jonathan Allen, pressured Saxon quarterback Braden Anderson with six sacks, five in the first half -- has Stone Bridge squarely in position to capture a seventh Northern Region Division 5 title.


Harris proved again Friday that he is almost impossible to bottle up as he can beat your three ways -- via the run where he ran for 138 of his 144 yards in the first half and scored on an 8-yard run during Stone Bridge's 22-point second quarter outburst that erased Langley's 3-0 lead, just the second time all year that Stone Bridge found itself behind on the scoreboard. And Harris can catch the ball and turn receptions into scores such as his 13-yard TD from Brian Rody in the third quarter. And finally Harris puts the special in special teams as he returned a kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown after the Saxons lone touchdown of the night in the final quarter.

The talented RB is now over 1,000 yards on the season with 1,073 on 131 carries despite not playing far into the second half of most of the contests this year. Rody showcased his passing talents Friday as he also crashed the 1,000-yard mark on the year with a 14 of 19 performance for 250 yards and two scores.

Perhaps Rody's biggest throw of the night was a 67-yard pass play to Rositano that set up the first of Gouveia's two touchdown dives in the game with Stone Bridge trailing 3-0 at the time. Rody now has 1,093 yards passing on the year on 57 of 98 with an impressive 11 touchdowns and just one interception.

Langley (4-1, 5-3) came into the game unbeaten on the strength of Anderson and senior WR Troy Scharfen but the Bulldogs pressured Anderson with Allen tying a school record now with 10 total sacks on the season. The team as a whole has 28 sacks on the year and 14 forced fumbles, where the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Allen has already set the school record with six.

The tone for the night was set when Rositano picked up two of Anderson's first three throws and the Saxons were limited to 48 passing yards and 57 total yards in the first half as Stone Bridge rolled up 262 yards and a 22-3 lead.

The Saxons, benefiting from the Stone Bridge fumbles, drove into the Red Zone twice in the first quarter but came away with only three points as Allen batted down a pass on 3rd-and-7 from the 12 on the first attempt to force a field goal and back-to-back sacks by Allen and sophomore defensive back Sean Bell took Langley out of field goal range on the second attempt.

Taking over on their own 32 after holding on 4th-and-21, Stone Bridge needed two plays to take the lead with Rody hitting a wide open Rositano, who was dragged down at the 1 and Gouveia bulldozing in on the first play of the second quarter. Rositano took in a 2-point conversion to make it 8-3.

After the defense held, Stone Bridge put together a 8-play, 62-yard drive with Harris picking up 36 of those yards, including the 8-yard TD scamper.

Trailing now 15-3, Langley tried to go back to the air but on the next play from scrimmage, Anderson was sacked by senior Ben Branower and on the next play, Gouveia stepped in front of a receiver and strolled in from 19 yards to make it 22-3 with 4:40 left in the quarter.

Stone Bridge's rush to the quarterback continued on the next series as junior Aaron Palmer and Allen racked up back-to-back sacks. Stone Bridge drove easily to the Langley 9 but then three consecutive penalties, for a whopping 35 yards, left SB facing 4th-and-goal from the 37 and Harris gamely picked up 28 yards on a draw before being brought down.

The Bulldogs have done a nice job in 2010 of putting teams away early in the third quarter and Friday was more of the same as Stone Bridge went 63 yards in just four plays to open the half, with Rody hitting Gouveia for a 30-yard pass play and then Harris for 22 yards to put the ball on the 2 where Gouveia did the honors again to make it 29-3.

It was all Rody on the Bulldog next drive as he completed five passes on a 51-yard series that ended on a Harris TD reception to make it 36-3.

Langley's offense couldn't move the ball in the third and when Stone Bridge took over at the 32 towards the end of the quarter, Rody wasted no time as he hit Stan Johnson on a 32-yard TD pass that put the running clock into play as Stone Bridge now led by more than 35 points at 43-3.

After the Saxons only score of the night, Harris had an answer as he swiftly cut through Langley's kickoff coverage team to make the final score 50-10.

Stone Bridge 50, Langley 10
Langley         3   0   0 7 -- 10
Stone Bridge 0 22 21 7 -- 50

LHS 1 Farhan Khan, 30 field goal N/A
SB 2 Kyle Gouveia, 1 run Spenser Rositano run
SB 2 Marcus Harris, 8 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 2 Kyle Gouveia, 19 interception return Ben Jamison kick
SB 3 Kyle Gouveia, 2 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 3 Marcus Harris, 13 pass from Brian Rody Ben Jamison kick
SB 3 Stan Johnson, 32 pass from Brian Rody Ben Jamison kick
LHS 4 Troy Scharfen, 4 pass from Braden Anderson Farhan Khan kick
SB 4 Marcus Harris, 74 kickoff return Ben Jamison kick

TEAM STATISTICS –
Stone Bridge Langley
15 First Downs 15
422 Total Offense (Yards) 171
26-172 Rushes – Yards 29-28
250 Passing Yards 143
19-14 Passes – Completions 34-15
0 Passes Had Intercepted 3
109 Return Yards 123
4-3 Fumbles - Lost 4-1
10-104 Penalties – Yards 3-30
0-00.0 Punts – Avg 3-27.0
16:09 Time of Possession 31:51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS –
Rushing –
Stone Bridge Marcus Harris 18-144, 1 TD; Kyle Gouveia 6-29, 2 TD; Adrian Thomas 2-(-1)
Langley Philip Mun 19-59; AJ Holtberg 1-0; Braden Anderson 7-(-27)

Passing –
Stone Bridge Brian Rody 19-14, 0 INT, 250 yards, 2 TD
Langley Braden Anderson 33-14, 3 INT 136 yards, 1 TD; Austin Vasiliadis 1-1, 0 INT, 7 yards

Receiving –
Stone Bridge Stan Johnson 4 for 54 yards, 1 TD; Spenser Rositano 3 for 78 yards; Marcus Harris 3 for 46 yards, 1 TD; Ryan Lowdermilk 2 for 35 yards; Kyle Gouveia 1 for 30 yards; Tye Lighton 1 for 7 yards
Langley Troy Scharfen 8 for 98 yards, 1 TD; AJ Holtberg 3 for 13 yards; Joey Robinson 2 for 14 yards; Philip Mun 1 for 12 yards; David Paul 1 for 6 yards