Football: Marshall Plan Doesn't Work as Top-ranked Stone Bridge Crushes Statesmen, 63-7

By Denis Eaton, Stone Bridge statistician
Special to VivaLoudoun.com

(Oct. 4, 2010) - The top-ranked Stone Bridge High School football team traveled to George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church Friday for a Liberty District contest and like previous visits to Jimmy Miller Stadium, the evening prove very successful for the Bulldogs as they scored early and often enroute to a 63-7 victory.

Stone Bridge, ranked No. 1 in the D.C. Metro area by the Washington Post, scored 21 points in the first quarter, and tacked on another 28 in the second, to take a 49-0 lead into halftime. Marcus Harris ran for 100 yards and three TDs on just 10 carries, his fifth consecutive 100-yard game this season. Other rushing TDs were scored by Brian Rody (30 yards) and Warren Miles (1 yard).


The Bulldogs attempted just five passes, and Brian Rody completed three of them for 55 yards before giving way to the freshman tandem of Nick Azzarita and James Manning. Manning had put on an impressive running display against Thomas Jefferson; Friday it was Azzarita’s turn, as he picked up 85 yards on seven carries, and scored a TD.

The Bulldogs were productive on offense and stingy on defense, as has been the case this year, but their performance on special teams was particularly noteworthy in this game. Spenser Rositano, who had been forced to sit out last week’s game against Jefferson because of illness, came back with a vengeance, returning four punts for 165 yards and two TDs. He scored on a 43-yard return in the first, and on a 60-yard return in the second, and nearly broke a third return for a score.

No other player in Bulldog history had ever returned two punts for scores in the same game; in fact, no Bulldog player had ever returned more than one punt for a score in a season.

Marshall scored its only TD, on a 45-yard run by QB Kelly Brooks-Muse with 1:57 left in the game. Sam Kopciak returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for the final Stone Bridge TD of the evening.

In five games this season, the Bulldogs have gained a total of 2,146 yards (1,442 rush, 704 pass), and have scored 224 points. That averages out to 429 yards and 45 points per game. At the same time, the SB defense has given up just 544 yards of total offense (233 rush, 311 pass), and opponents have scored only 23 points. Of note, 20 of those 23 points were scored in the 4th quarter, after Stone Bridge had pulled its starters, who have yet to allow a TD on the season.

With the win, Stone Bridge is now 5-0, and 2-0 in the Liberty District. The Bulldogs return home on Friday, Oct. 8, to face the Fairfax Rebels, who are 3-2 (1-1 in District play) this season. One of those wins came against Robinson (4-1 record). Marshall, now 1-4 (0-2), will travel to Langley to play the Saxons.

NOTES:
*Senser Rositano now has a school record 3 punt returns for TDs in his career at Stone Bridge, accounting for 60% of the scoring done on punt returns by Stone Bridge. Previous punt returns for TDs: Rositano is the first Bulldog to return two punts for TDs in the same game. He now has three for his career at Stone Bridge. Rositano had 4 punt returns against Marshall for 165 yards, which average out to 41.3 yards per return.
*Rositano set a school record with a 75-yard punt return for a score against West Springfield in 2009.
*In 2004, there were 2 punt returns for TDs: Khalil Conteh returned a punt 72 yards for a TD against Bishop O’Connell, and Caleb Henderson was credited with a punt return for a TD when he picked caught a blocked punt and returned it 4 yards for a score against Broad Run.
*Sam Kopciak's kickoff return for the last score of the game is 3 yards short of a school record. Back in 2000, and 2001, Chris Bray and Tyrone Thomas each ran a kickoff back 95 yards, respectively.
*Marcus Harris has run for at least 100 yards in each of the first five games this season. He now has 626 rushing yards and 10 rushing TDs, on 70 carries. He also has 7 pass receptions for 205 yards and 2 scores. He leads the team in scoring with 12 TDs for 72 points.
*Aaron Palmer, Drew Dettra, and Ben Branower were each credited with a sack in the game, giving the Bulldogs Defense 20 on the season to date. Jon Allen still leads the team with 6.

Stone Bridge 63, Marshall 7
Stone Bridge 21 28 0 14 - 63
Marshall 0 0 0 7 - 7
SB 1 Marcus Harris, 19 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 1 Spenser Rositano, 43 punt return Ben Jamison kick
SB 1 Brian Rody, 30 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 2 Marcus Harris, 1 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 2 Spenser Rositano, 60 punt return Ben Jamison kick
SB 2 Marcus Harris, 46 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 2 Warren Miles, 1 run Ben Jamison kick
SB 4 Nick Azzarita, 1 run Ben Jamison Kick
MHS 4 Kelly Brooks-Muse, 45 run Aaron Aggen kick
SB 4 Sam Kopciak, 92 kickoff return Ben Jamison kick

Rushing –
Stone Bridge Marcus Harris 10-100, 3 TDs; Nick Azzarita 7-85, 1 TD; Brian Rody 2-33, 1 TD; Warren Miles 3-33, 1 TD; Sean Bell 2-17; Albi Selimaj 1-4; James Manning 4-4; Umer Nasir 2-3; Scott Boker 1-(-1); Dominic Michael 2-(-2); Adrian Thomas 2-(-4)
Marshall Arthur Kapplow 16-48; Kelly Brooks-Muse 15-40, 1 TD; Kevin Amaya 2-5; Mike Nassoiy 1-3; Patrick Greenwood 1-2; Matt McAloon 2-1; Zack Brooks 1-0; Tyler Snook 1-(-1); Danny Mendez 2-(-2); Garrick Charels 1-(-3)

Passing –
Stone Bridge Brian Rody 5-3, 0 INT, 55 yards
Marshall Kelly Brooks-Muse 3-1, 0 INT, 6 yards

Receiving –
Stone Bridge Stan Johnson 1 for 31 yards; Adrian Thomas 1 for 15 yards; Marcus Harris 1 for 9 yards
Marshall Aaron Aggen 1 for 6 yards

Kick Returns –
Stone Bridge Sam Kopciak 1 for 92 yards, 1 TD
Marshall Danny Mendez 4 for 69 yards; Kunal Thakur 2 for 33 yards; Aaron DeLucia 2 for 15 yards; Luigi Fernandez 1 for 14 yards

Punt Returns –
Stone Bridge Spenser Rositano 4 for 165 yards, 2 TD
Marshall None

Interception Returns–
Stone Bridge None
Marshall None

Fumble Returns–
Stone Bridge Mike Tompkins 2 for 17 yards; Hilton Galyean 1 for 0 yards;
Marshall None

Team Stats

Stone Bridge Marshall
9 First Downs 4
323 Total Offense (Yards) 96
37-268 Rushes – Yards 43-90
55 Passing Yards 6
5-3 Passes – Completions 3-1
0 Passes Had Intercepted 0
221 Return Yards 131
1-1 Fumbles - Lost 4-3
6-50 Penalties – Yards 3-25
0-00.0 Punts – Avg 8-38.0
20:18 Time of Possession 27:42