Football: Tough Game Caps Tough Season for Determined Pride

By Erik Warnquist
Heritage High School student journalist

Leesburg (Nov. 6, 2010) - Coming off a tough loss at Loudoun Valley High School last week, the Heritage Pride football team came into their final game of the season Friday looking for good production but Heritage fell for the second time on the season to undefeated Osbourn, 72-19.

Hoping to capitalize off the excitement stemming from the Pride’s Senior night, the Heritage players were positive during the days leading up to game day. Despite a 1-8 record stemming from one of the toughest schedules in the Metro area -- Osbourn was Heritage's fifth opponent on the season to finish with a 10-0 record if you count the Eagles twice along with Stone Bridge, Colonial Forge and Hylton -- the Pride continued to work hard during practices to prepare themselves for the elusive running game of the Eagles.

The game started as the Pride would most likely have expected, with Osbourn pushing back the defensive line of the Pride with their outstanding running game.

The first quarter quickly set the tone for the evening as the Eagles were able to build up a 28 point lead. However the determined Pride refused to give up as junior quarterback Austin Nelson connected with recently returned from injury senior receiver Dan Dykema for a 24-yard touchdown pass to cap off the quarter on a positive note.

Nelson and senior receiver Kyle Flinton continued their success as Nelson was able to connect to Flinton for seven receptions and 60 yards. This skilled duo, interviewed by VivaLoudoun earlier this season, were able to pick apart the smaller holes in the Osbourn defensive secondary to supplement both player’s stellar season stats.

Nelson finishes the season with a school-record 200 completions and 2510 yards; Flinton finishes his senior campaign with a school-record 50 receptions and 583 yards.

The second quarter proved to be better for the Pride as they were able to hold the Eagles to only two touchdowns while also scoring one of their own. Even with the touchdown connection between senior running back Aaron Summers and Nelson (27 yard pass) the score at halftime was a difficult to swallow 42-13.

Following halftime things only got worse for the Pride as the Eagles were able to score two consecutive touchdowns, both off runs by Lucky Whitehead. With the score at 56-13 the crowd seemed to almost be removed from the game, yet the Pride once again would not quit.

Following Whitehead’s second touchdown senior receiver and return specialist Chuck Carlin was able to return the kickoff for a score to make it 56-19. Carlin's return would be the final score for the Pride in the 2010 campaign as the score ended 72-19. Despite the sad ending to a tough season, the Pride demonstrated respectable courage and a true tenacity while facing one of the most difficult schedules in Loudoun if not Northern Virginia and statewide history.

Toughest Schedule Ever? Heritage 2010 Football
Opponent - final season record
Broad Run - 9-1
Stone Bridge - 10-0
Colonial Forge - 10-0
Tuscaorora - 5-5
Osbourn - 10-0
Stonewall Jackson - 2-8
Hylton - 10-0
Battlefield - 8-2
Loudoun Valley - 7-3
Osbourn - 10-0

Total: 81-19

Osbourn Eagles 72, Heritage Pride 19
Osbourn Eagles  27   15   21  9 - 72
Heritage Pride       7    6     6  0 - 19

Scoring summary Qtr Time Scoring play OHS HHS
Osbourn 1 12:00 #22 Whitehead, Lucky 1 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 7 0
Osbourn 1 11:33 #2 Terrell, Dominique 15 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 14 0
Osbourn 1 9:19 #2 Terrell, Dominique 2 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 21 0
Osbourn 1 7:55 #22 Whitehead, Lucky 66 yd punt return (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 28 0
Heritage 1 3:00 #4 Nelson, Austin 24 yd pass to #82 Dykema, Dan (#93 Habibovic, Amel kick) 28 7
Osbourn 2 7:05 #10 Delaney, Cedrick 2 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 35 7
Heritage 2 3:17 #4 Nelson, Austin 27 yd pass to #3 Summers, Aaron 35 13
Osbourn 2 3:03 #22 Whitehead, Lucky 76 yd kick return (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 42 13
Osbourn 3 9:31 #22 Whitehead, Lucky 14 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 49 13
Osbourn 3 5:23 #20 Drinko, Taylor 1 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 56 13
Heritage 3 4:47 #2 Carlin, Chuck 85 yd kick return 56 19
Osbourn 3 0:40 #7 Nelson, Cory 8 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 63 19
Osbourn 4 6:32 #3 Fields, Devon 1 yd run (#1 Boteler, Chris kick) 70 19
Osbourn 4 6:06 # safety 72 19

Team stats Osbourn Heritage
First downs 24        11
Rushing yardage 441      -6
Pass completions - attempts 5-9      19-43
Passing yardage 65          176
Pass touchdowns - interceptions 0-0    2-2
Total plays 60        54
Total offense 506         170
Fumbles - lost 2-2      2-1
Penalties - yards 7-80     2-15
Defensive sacks - yards lost 2-18    1-3
Time of possession 27:39    20:21
3rd down efficiency 3 for 5      3 for 11
4th down efficiency 1 for 2     1 for 2
Punts - average 0-0.0        5-34.2

Osbourn
Rushing
#2 Terrell, Dominique 16-214
#14 Robinson, Eric 5-51
#10 Delaney, Cedrick 4-41
#22 Whitehead, Lucky 5-40
#7 Nelson, Cory 6-37
#6 Payne, Devante 3-25
#34 Johnson, Mark 2-18
#20 Drinko, Taylor 3-13
#28 Bryant, Shaq 1-4
#20 Parker, Jarrett 1-2
#3 Fields, Devon 1-1
#33 Montanez, Chris 1-1
#9 Carter, Robert 1-0
#25 Golphin, Keith 1-(-1)
#16 Withers, Brandon 1-(-5)
Total: 51-441

Heritage
Rushing
#14 Faley, Tyler 2-13
#3 Summers, Aaron 3-7
#4 Nelson, Austin 5-(-10)
#10 Wall, Dylan 1-(-16)
Total: 11-(-6)

Passing
#2 Terrell, Dominique 5-9 65 0 0

Passing
#4 Nelson, Austin 19-42 176 2 2
#10 Wall, Dylan 0-1 0 0 0
Total: 19-43 176 2 2

Receiving
#22 Whitehead, Lucky 3-25
#9 Carter, Robert 1-37
#35 Wright, Matt 1-30

Receiving
#6 Flinton, Kyle 7-60
#3 Summers, Aaron 3-32
#82 Dykema, Dan 3-27
#2 Carlin, Chuck 2-39
#5 Drew, Burkhard 2-12
#87 Taylor, Ryan 2-6

VivaLoudoun is looking for student journalists to cover their school and favorite teams. Email Dan Sousa at dan.sousa@vivaloudoun.com