Football: Dominion Loses Heartbreaker in School's First Ever Playoff Game

By Joey Longo
Dominion High School student journalist

Front Royal (Nov. 12, 2010) - Dominion High School senior Deandre Reaves rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns Friday night but it wasn't enough as the Titans fell in the closing minutes at Warren County, 29-26, in a Region II Division 3 quarterfinal game.

Dominion (4-7), making the school's first ever playoff appearance, piled up 354 yards rushing in the contest but managed just three yards passing and the Titans could not stop the passing game of Wildcat QB Tyler Post, who threw for three TDs including a score with one second left in the first half and the game-winning score with just 3:26 to go in the contest.

When asked if he was in shock after the loss, Reaves, Dominion's all-time leading rusher and one of the top running backs in Loudoun County history, said “yeah, I should be, so should everyone else.”

Reaves -- who broke off TD runs of 46, 18 and 84 yards and had an interception on defense in the game with the last TD run puttiing Dominion ahead, 26-22, on the final play of the third quarter -- continued,“We had the lead, we couldn’t key in on what they were doing until (it was too) late -- We got too comfy, (we) felt we had the win but got too comfortable. We played the clock instead of playing the game."


As the Titans were getting ready to leave Sterling to play their first ever playoff game Friday, Dr. John Brewer, Principal of Dominion, addressed the team.

“Big game tonight guys, your role may be huge or it may be small. It’s a pretty special time for all of you, so make sure your contribution is big,” said the seventh year principal and Loudoun Times Mirror person of the year.

In the week leading up to the game, Titan head coach Karl Buckwalter stressed three things: blocking, tackling and playing with emotion. “If we can do those three things, we will win,” Buckwalter said.

Dominion won the opening coin toss and elected to receive. Early on in the drive, the offense was flagged with an illegal procedure penalty, and the drive stalled soon after.

After the punt, Warren County ran the ball effectively, ending the drive on a 45-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Gage Steele with 8:15 left to play in the first quarter.

Dominion bounced right back when Reaves ran for a 46-yard touchdown run only one minute after Warren County had scored. The PAT attempt went wide right, and the first quarter came to a close with Warren County on top, 7-6.

In the second quarter, Dominion capitalized off of an interception in the Red Zone by Dashaun Wesley. The Titans then went the length of the field with quarterback Trey Baxter sneaking into the end zone for a 5-yard TD run. Dominion attempted a two point conversion, but it failed when Reaves tried to cut back but was swallowed by three members of the Warren County defense. Still, the Titans had their first lead of the game at 12-7.

With about four minutes left in the half, the Wildcats took control of the ball in their own territory looking to score before half. Senior running backs Damien Caison and Darius Turner took the majority of the carries with Steele checking in periodically on third and short situations.

Warren County sophomore quarterback Post connected with Caison on an 8-yard catch that would set up a 26-yard touchdown pass from Post to senior wide-out Logan Hibbs with one second left in the half.

The Wildcats converted for two points, and took a 15-12 lead into halftime.

“At halftime, I told everyone to just keep their composure, keep playing hard, and do your assignments. We made some mistakes, and their last drive of the first half slipped away from us,” Reaves said.

Dominion kicked off to start the second half. The Wildcats continued to pound the ball with the Steele/Caison/Turner trio. Warren County’s offense was surging inside Titan territory when Reaves picked off Post’s seventh pass attempt of the game, inside the 20 yard line and returned it over 40 yards to inside Wildcat territory.

The Titans took the field looking to take the lead again with a running trio of their own: Reaves, Wesley and Baxter. Quickly, Dominion was able to find the Red Zone. With just over five minutes left in the third quarter, Reaves pranced in for what looked like a 15-yard touchdown run, but the score was called back for offensive holding.

Dominion was set back to the Wildcat 18 yard line. Reaves took the ball and ran the exact same play as before - again scoring and this time without any yellow flags. Senior kicker Josh Jimenez tacked on the extra point to put Dominion ahead, 19-15 with 4:53 left in the third.

“The holding call didn’t make a difference because I feel it actually helped us out. It made us mad, it made the O-line want to block harder,” Reaves said.

Back on offense, the Wildcats ran the ball only two times with Caison and Steel before Post hooked up with senior Jeremy Vogt who exploded past the coverage for a 63-yard touchdown pass. The point after was good and the score was now 22-19 Warren County as the ballgame had its fourth lead change.

After the ensuing kickoff, Dominion was struggling to move the ball. Just when it looked as if Dominion would not run another play in the quarter and wait until the teams switched sides to take another snap, Reaves took a snap and quickly sprinted 84 yards for a score with two seconds left in the third quarter. Jimenez booted his second PAT of the game, and Dominion took a 26-22 lead entering the fourth.

Early on in the fourth, the Titans defense was playing outstanding football, not letting Warren County break anything deep. Sophomore linebacker Matt Valenzuela sacked Post for a 7-yard loss in their own territory which eventually caused the Wildcats to punt.

“We held them good early in the fourth,” Valenzuela said, “coach told us to play as hard as we could and to leave it all on the field. And that’s exactly what I did.”

After the punt, Dominion was in prime position to seal the game, and advance in the playoffs. They had the lead, they had the ball and they had less than six minutes to play. The Wildcats, however, forced a three-and-out, and thanks to some shaky clock-management on Dominion’s part, the Wildcats had the ball back with just under five minutes to play.

Post and the Wildcat offense kicked it into gear. The sophomore threw for 97 yards in the fourth quarter, which included the 46-yard touchdown pass dagger to Damien Wright with 3:26 left to play. Post also finished with 47 rushing yards off of 11 attempts. After the extra point, Warren County held a 29-26 lead.

The Titan offense took the field in hopes of being able to prolong their season, needing only a field goal to tie it. They drove past midfield and got inside the Wildcat 40 when the Warren defense rose to the challenge and stalled Dominion.

The entire season for Dominion came down to a 4th-and-8 inside Wildcat Territory with 58 seconds lef. Reaves took it out of the shotgun, scrambled under heavy pressure, found receiver Sammy Coleman and shovel passed it. Coleman, looking superhuman on the playing field, did everything in his power to try and get the first down. Linebacker upon linebacker piled up on his back but Coleman refused to go down. Eventually, one too many Wildcat defenders got to the talented Titan and brought him down just shy of the first down marker.

The Wildcat bench and stands erupted as the clock stopped with 46 seconds left and the Warren County offense took the field.

One kneel down was all it took as players from Dominion looked around in disbelief, most with tears in their eyes. Coaches and players from Warren County shook hands and congratulated as many Titans as they could for their season and the game they played tonight.

In the locker room, over players softly crying, Buckwalter could be understood. “There is nothing we can do about it. The sun will come up tomorrow,” said Buckwalter, “It is not going to do us any good to sit here and be upset about it. Championship teams are made not on offense. Whenever you have to make a play, you have to step up and do the things you have to do.”

When asked how he was feeling, Wesley said “feeling tired, little mistakes turn into big mistakes. We should have beaten them; they’re not as good as we are.” Wesley finished the game with 7 rushes for 68 yards and an interception on defense.

The inconsolable Baxter, who ran the ball for a score in the first quarter to give Dominion their first lead and had a total of 19 yards on 7 carries didn't need to put his emotions into words.

When asked if he was in shock, Reaves, Dominion's all-time leading rusher and one of the top running backs in Loudoun County ever, said “yeah, I should be, so should everyone else.”

Reaves continued on saying “We had the lead, we couldn’t key in on what they were doing till late. We got too comfy, felt we had the win but got too comfortable. We played the clock instead of playing the game."

For underclassmen linebacker Valenzuela and lineman Kenny Sission, the depressing loss makes them want to work harder in the offseason. “This is a huge motivation for the underclassmen, we’re going to get to work in the weight room very shortly,” Valenzuela said.

Said Sisson: “My emotions were high, at the end, I felt sad because I’ll never be able to play with some of these guys again."

Senior linebacker Nick Moreno, who missed the last few games of the season and the playoff loss after being injured in the game against South Lakes. “It hurts. I didn’t get to put the pads on for the last time. We’re a family, and I feel what they feel.”

Warren County will move on in the region playoffs. They will be hosting Park View, next Friday night, the team that Dominion had beaten by three points, earlier this season.

Box Score-
DHS-       6 6 14 0 = 26
WCHS-   7 8   7 7 = 29

Scoring (First Quarter)
Gage Steele (WC) 45 yd TD run (8:15) PAT good.
Deandre Reaves (D) 46 yd TD run (7:03) PAT no good

Scoring (Second Quarter)
Trey Baxter (D) 5 yd TD run (4:23) 2pt Convr. no good
Tyler Post (WC) 26 yd TD pass to Logan Hibbs (0:01) 2pt Convr. good

Scoring (Third Quarter)
Deandre Reaves (D) 18 yd TD run (4:53) PAT good
Tyler Post (WC) 63 yd TD pass to Jeremy Vogt (3:33) PAT good
Deandre Reaves (D) 84 yd TD run (0:02) PAT good

Scoring (Fourth Quarter)
Tyler Post (WC) 46 yd TD pass to Damien Wright (3:26) PAT good

STATS

DHS Rushing-
Deandre Reaves- 24-241
Trey Baxter- 7-19
Dashaun Wesley-  7-68
Sammy Coleman- 6-24
Matt Valenzuela- 1-2
Total rushing =354 yards on 45 attempts and 4 TDs

DHS Passing-
Deandre Reaves- 2-4-0 for 3 yards

DHS Receiving-
Sammy Coleman- 2-3

WCHS Rushing-
Gage Steele- 8-66
Damien Caison- 10-82
Darius Turner- 5-13
Tyler Post- 11-47
Robert Camby- 2-(-10 )
Total rushing- 198 yards on 36 attempts and 1 TD

WCHS Passing-
Tyler Post- 6-15-2 152 yards

WCHS Receiving-
Damien Caison- 2-30
Logan Hibbs- 2-64 and 1 TD
Jeremy Vogt- 1-63 yards and 1 TD
Damien Wright- 1-46 yards and 1 TD

DHS Penalties-
7-55
WCHS Penalties-
6-70