Football: Falcons Devour Cougars to Advance to First Ever State Finals

By Andy States
VivaLoudoun "Hired Gun"

Asbhurn (Dec. 5, 2010) - After one play from scrimmage in Saturday’s VHSL Division 4 state football semifinal at Briar Woods High, there was plenty of reason for optimism on the Courtland Cougars sideline.

The Cougars Maha Williams ripped off a 25-yard run to get the visitors off to an auspicious start. Unfortunately for them, there probably wasn’t another play in the first half worth remembering.

Williams’ run proved to provide the only first down of the opening half for Courtland, while the host Falcons forced one turnover after another and scored on each of their seven first-half possessions. By the time the first half reached its end, Briar Woods led 45-0 and went on to a 52-8 win to clinch its first state final appearance.

The Falcons will play for the Division 4 state championship against unbeaten Harrisonburg (13-0)at 4:15 p.m. Dec. 11 at Liberty University.

Through the opening 24 minutes, Briar Woods (12-2) dominated about as thoroughly as a team could.

“The first play you wouldn’t have known,” Briar Woods coach Charlie Pierce said. “After that, our defense played like they’re supposed to, and set the tone.”

The Falcons blocked a punt, recovered a fumble and intercepted two passes in the first half to consistently create short fields for the offense -- and the offense capitalized.

After stalling inside the five and settling for a 20-yard David Clements’ field goal on their first possession, the Falcons scored touchdowns on six straight possessions.


Ahead 3-0 late in the first quarter, Joe Rizzardi blocked a Courtland (8-5) punt to set the offense up at the Cougars 10. Freshman quarterback Trace McSorley found Victor Rizzardi for a TD pass on the very next play, and just that quickly the rout was on.

“I really like to score the touchdown, but when it comes to championship play you have to get points when you can,” Pierce said in reference to the opening offensive series. “The offense came back after we blocked the punt and kind of got the snowball effect.”

Two minutes later, after a Matt Rolin interception, McSorley scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper to cap a three-play, 16-yard drive. Less than a minute later, Matt's big brother, Scott Rolin, picked off a pass to again set up a short field for the offense.

Three plays later, Michael Brownlee bulled his way into the end zone from a yard out to make the score 24-0.

And Briar Woods was far from done. McSorley hooked up with Jamal Hill on a 33-yard touchdown pass with 5:23 left in the half. The Falcons then scored twice in the final 1:13 of the half – both Brownlee touchdown runs – to take an insurmountable 45-0 lead to the break.

“We came out swinging,” Brownlee said. “We hit them hard. We ran the ball down the field. We played hard-nosed defense, and just showed them who came to play.”

As successful as the offense was in reaching pay dirt, the defense served as the catalyst. After surrendering a first down on the game’s first play from scrimmage, the unit did not allow another first down until less than eight minutes remained in the third quarter and the game was already far out of Courtland’s reach.

“You couldn’t draw it up better on the whiteboard, as far as step by step and what to do,” Pierce said. “I expect our defense to play really well, and they haven’t let us down all year. If you get the defense to set the tone in championship games, then other things will fall into place whether it’s offense or special teams, and that’s what happened.”

Courtland’s rushing attack had carried its offense helping to earn the Cougars’ spot in the semifinals. But against Briar Woods, that ground attack was rendered completely ineffective. Fullback Kirk Wilson did finish the game with 117 yards, but 74 came over the team’s final two possessions in the final moments of the game.

Courtland finally broke up the shutout on Zaluzney’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Wahid Moore with 50 seconds left – after Alex Carter had returned his second interception of the game 40 yards for a score that had made the score 52-0 – but almost half of the yardage the Cougars accumulated on the game came on the team’s final two possessions against the Briar Woods reserves.

The Falcons picked off five passes, or one fewer than the number of passes Courtland completed.

“Our focus was that everyone doubts our team,” linebacker DeVontae O’Bannion said. “We love when people doubt our team, because it makes us play harder. We come out and get focused and look forward to playing. Each team we play, we hope they’re going to run the ball. This team came out, and they were supposed to be a good run offense. It seems like every time a run offense comes against us we seem to bend it and break it up.”

Now, the Falcons move forward to play for the first state championship in program history, and that’s a moment the players are going to relish.

“It feels good, especially as a senior,” O’Bannion said. “To cap out the year as a senior and win that state ring, if we win it. I feel excited going to states.”

“No one last year would have expected us to be here this year, especially myself,” Brownlee said. “Now that we’re here it feels awesome, and I just feel like we can’t lose.”

Briar Woods 52, Courtland 8
C   0   0  0 8 - 8
B 17 28  0 7 - 52
First quarter
B – FG Clements 20, 3:52
B – V. Rizzardi 10 pass from McSorley (Clements kick), 2:04
B – McSorley 1 run (Clements kick), :03
Second quarter
B – Brownlee 1 run (Clements kick), 10:42
B – J. Hill 33 pass from McSorley (Clements kick), 5:23
B – Brownlee 2 run (Clements kick), 1:13
B – Brownlee 1 run (Clements kick), :20
Fourth quarter
B – Carter 40 interception return (Clements kick), 5:05
C – Moore 27 pass from Zaluzney (Wilson run), :50

Rushing
C: Wilson 19-117, Williams 8-50, Zaluzney 1-1, Wendt 4-(-4).
B: Brownlee 18-93, Carter 4-51, Bumbray 13-38, Logan 2-7, Colder 1-3, McSorley 2-2, Fratalli 1-(-3), Rafliff 1-(-4).

Passing
C: Zaluzney 7-21-5 104
B: McSorley 6-6-0 93

Receiving
C: Moore 3-75, Green 2-21, Belcastro 1-9, Wendt 1-(-1).
B: Carter 2-33, V. Rizzardi 2-21, Hill 1-33, S. Rolin 1-6

Team Stats
Courtland - Briar Woods
12 First Downs 16
164 Rushing Yards 187
104 Passing Yards 93
1-5 Passing TD-INT 2-0
54 Total Plays 48
268 Total Offense 280
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 4-1
4-35 Penalties-Yds 8-55
22:31 Time of Possession 25:29
2-10 Third Downs 4-9
0-2 Fourth Downs 0-0
4-25.3 Punts-Avg 3-35.0

Defensive Stats BW
INT: Carter 2, M.Rolin 1, S.Rolin 1, Colder 1
TFL: O'Bannion 1.5, V.Rizzardi 1.5, Baker 1.0, Harold 1.0
Tackles: O'Bannion 11, J.Rizzardi 6, M.Rolin 5, Baker 5, V.Rizzardi 4, Colder 4, Sload 3, Hill 3, Merletti 3, Pierce 3, Carter 2, Brownlee 2, S.Rolin 2, Ratliff 2, Gadsen, Magner 2, Logan 1, Bumbray 1, Harold 1, Ismati 1, Sosa 1, Leith 1.
Assists: O'Bannion 7, M.Rolin 4, Baker 3, V.Rizzardi 3, Colder 2, Merletti 2, Pierce 2, Bronwlee 2, Magner 2, J.Rizzardi 1, Sload 1, Hill 1, S.Rolin 1, Gadsen 1, Bumbray 1, Ismatti 1, Sosa 1, Leith 1.