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| Marcus Harris dives across the goal line for one of his three TDs |
VivaLoudoun Editor
Manassas (Dec. 5, 2010) - In Stone Bridge High School's 2007 run to the VHSL Division 5 state football title the signature moment was a smash-mouth drive in the semifinals against Phoebus with Jeron Winslow-Gouveia running behind two big defensive linemen lined up in the backfield -- Brian Slay and Zach Thompson.
The 2010 Bulldogs might just have found such a signature smash-mouth moment Saturday in the state semifinals when senior Marcus Harris tucked in behind the bruising blocking off two defensive linemen-turned fullbacks -- 6-foot-8, 235-pound senior Rob Burns and 6-3, 215-pound Jon Allen -- on an 18-play, 80-yard march that ate up almost seven minutes off the clock.
That bone-crushing, morale-sapping drive -- which featured12 Harris runs including nine straight at one point, almost all on an identical off tackle play -- resulted in a Harris TD dive with 19 seconds left in the first half that broke a scoreless tie and sent Stone Bridge on its way to a 21-0 shutout over the high-octane Osbourn offense.
"Teams win football games and that was a team effort today," said Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson to his players.
Stone Bridge advances to the school's second straight trip to the Division 5 state finals and the fourth since 2005. The Bulldogs will face Phoebus in Saturday's title game with kickoff just after noon at UVa's Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.
It will be the fourth straight meeting between the Bulldogs and Phantoms -- with Stone Bridge winning in 2007 but Phoebus winning in the 2008 semifinals and in last year's title game. Phoebus won last year's title game, 15-10, thanks to several big plays but the Bulldogs 2010 defense has shown a penchant for not allowing big plays, highlighted by holding an Osbourn team averaging more than 44 points a game scoreless on Saturday.
"We kept our emotions and played as a team. As a team we are unstoppable," said junior defensive standout Aaron Palmer.
Osbourn drove five times deep into the Stone Bridge end only to come away empty with two missed field goals, two failed fourth downs and a punt. Crucial penalties on the Eagles and clutch defensive plays by Stone Bridge stalled each drive.
Eagles quarterback Dominique Terrell may have come into the game with enough college scholarship offers to wallpaper his bedroom but Harris with his 173 yards on 38 carries, including three touchdowns, stole the show as Terrell was limited to 59 yards on 22 runs. Terrell's rushing totals were hurt by the pressure of the Stone Bridge defensive line which came up with three sacks, two by Allen who has set the school record for sacks in a career with 19 in this season alone.
Allen's biggest sack came after Osbourn had driven the ball inside the Stone Bridge 10 in the second quarter and on 3rd-and-goal from the 7, Terrell was scrambling around trying to make a play when he reversed his field right into a bulldozer of a hit by Allen that jarred the ball loose. The Eagles recovered for a 13-yard loss and then missed a 37-yard field goal attempt, their second missed field goal of the half.
"That stop down there was the turning point," said Thompson.
Taking advantage of the momentum shift, Thompson went with the "heavy package" with Harris, some eight inches smaller than Burns, shielded by the big UVa recruit and then Allen, a sure All-Met player as a sophomore, starting cracking helmets at the line of scrimmage.
"Those big boys ... I put all my trust in them," said Harris who has 30 touchdowns this season and is just 70 yards shy of 2,000 yards. He gained 2,137 last year with 23 TDs for a gaudy 2-year total of 4,067 yards and 53 touchdowns.
After Stone Bridge quarterback Brian Rody started the drive with a 5-yard keeper, the smash-mouth commenced with Harris going for runs of 4, 6, 10 and 10 behind the big blocking bookends. Osbourn called timeout but the onslaught continued with Harris gaining 4, 4, 1 and then 2 yards on 4th-and-1 from the Eagle 36. After another hard-earned 1-yard run, the Bulldogs jumped offsides to bring up 2nd-and-14.
The Bulldogs mixed up the play calling then with Spenser Rositano, who had a big day with five receptions for 61 yards including a one-handed grab that would set up the touchdown on the signature drive, running for three yards. On the next play, after repeated runs over right tackle, Stone Bridge swiftly sent Harris on a sweep around the left end and he broke containment for 14 yards.
Rody then hit Rositano, first for a short 2-yard gain and then Rositano made an acrobatic grab on the Eagle 2 as the clock started to run inside one minute to play in the half. Without any timeouts left, Harris was stuffed just short of the goal line, but the Bulldogs reset quickly and this time Harris, with second effort, fought his way into the end zone with 19.2 seconds left in the half.
If that drive was a punch in the gut to Osbourn at halftime, then the opening kickoff for the second half must have seemed like a sucker punch as the Bulldogs, not wanting to put the ball deep into Terrell's hands, drilled an squib kick that bounced off an Osbourn player and after the dogpile for the ball was unscrambled it was the 'dawgs with the ball.
Stone Bridge then went 49 yards in seven plays, highlighted by a 20-yard catch by Burns from the tight end spot and three straight runs by Kyle Gouveia. On 3rd-and-2 from the Eagles 6, Harris broke through the defense to make it 14-0 with 9:04 left in the third quarter.
Osbourn was knocking on the Red Zone once again but the Bulldogs pass defense forced four straight incompletions from the 25 with underrated senior Calvin Hollenhorst batting down the 4th down attempt of Terrell who went 10 of 20 for 115 yards.
Stone Bridge is so closely identified with its single-wing offense that outside observers might think that the success is owed to misdirection and smoke-and-mirrors tricks but the truth of the matter is that Stone Bridge is at its best in a power football game when the team can show off the fruits of its year-round, religious weight training program and that is what Stone Bridge did on their third touchdown drive of the afternoon, a 13-play, 75-yard all-run drive.
The final scoring drive wasn't really a "heavy package" drive or even a drive coming off a big change of fortune such as the second half opening kickoff ... the final score drive was simply, the 11 guys on Stone Bridge's side, lining up and moving the 11 guys on Osbourn's side of the ball back off the line of scrimmage.
On the first eight plays of this drive, Rody, Gouveia and Harris shared the running load and then it was all Harris with the exclamation point of the afternoon coming on 4th-and-5 from the Osbourn 33 where Stone Bridge, not only didn't throw the ball, but ran a garden-variety running play that resulted in a 7-yard gain and first down with Harris getting near the first down by good blocking and then safely passed it by fierce determination.
Even though the score was still just 14-0 at this point, that fourth down play took all hope away from Osbourn and on the very next handoff, Harris met very little resistance after breaking a tackle at the line of scrimmage and he sprinted into the end zone for a 27-yard score to make it 21-0 with 9:23 left in the contest.
That left just enough time for a lot of the home fans to slip out early to beat the traffic and for the Bulldog defense -- which is now allowing less than six points a game on the season -- to pile up more sacks and tackles for losses.
And it gave the visiting Stone Bridge fans to warm up on a frigid afternoon to a chant of "We Want Phoebus".
"We would like to win a state title, it is not about Phoebus," said Thompson.
Stone Bridge. Phoebus. It will be about smash-mouth football next week and if the Bulldogs play like they did Saturday, they will most likely bring home the school's second state title.
Eagles Missed Opportunities vs. Bulldogs Bend but Don't Break Defense
Osbourn drove deep into Stone Bridge territory five times Saturday and came away with no points ... here is what happened
1st drive
Eagles had 1st-and-10 at SB26
Result: missed FG
Key: 15-yard loss on a failed reverse that included a 10-yard blocking in the back penalty on Eagles
2nd drive
Eagles had 1st-and-10 at SB 37
Result: Punt
Key: 12-yard loss on play that included a 10-yard holding penalty on Eagles
3rd drive
Eagles had 1st-and-goal at SB9
Result: missed FG
Key: 13-yard loss on sack and fumble recovered by Eagles
4th drive: 2 plays at end of first half after Stone Bridge went up 7-0
5th drive
Eagles had 1st-and-10 at SB 25
Result: Turned ball over on downs
Key: Four straight incomplete passes including a batted down ball on 4th down
6th drive
1st-and-10 at SB 16
Result: Turned ball over on downs
Key: Sack on 2nd-and-5 from the 11
7th drive: 4 plays to end game that included two sacks by Bulldogs
Stone Bridge Bulldogs 21 Osbourn Eagles 0
Stone Bridge 0 7 7 7 - 21
Osbourn 0 0 0 0 - 0
Team Period Scoring Play Conversion
SB 2 Marcus Harris, 1 run Ben Jamison kick 0:19
SB 3 Marcus Harris, 6 run Ben Jamison kick 9:04
SB 4 Marcus Harris, 27 run Ben Jamison kick 9:23
TEAM STATISTICS –
Stone Bridge Osbourn
18 First Downs 12
337 Total Offense (Yards) 202
54-225 Rushes – Yards 26-74
112 Passing Yards 128
13-8 Passes – Completions 21-11
1 Passes Had Intercepted 0
0 Return Yards 51
1-1 Fumbles - Lost 2-0
4-35 Penalties – Yards 4-37
1-30.0 Punts – Avg 1-30.0
28:33 Time of Possession 19:27
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS –
Rushing –
Stone Bridge
Marcus Harris 38-173, 3 TD; Brian Rody 5-27; Kyle Gouveia 6-26; Spenser Rositano 2-5; Ryan Lowdermilk 1-4; Adrian Thomas 1-0
Osbourn
Dominique Terrell 22-59; Timmy Keith 2-15; Lucky Whitehead 2-0
Passing –
Stone Bridge
Brian Rody 13-8, 1 INT, 112 yards
Osbourn
DominiqueTerrell 20-10, 0 INT, 115 yards; Lucky Whitehead 1-1, 0 INT, 13 yards
Receiving –
Stone Bridge
Spenser Rositano 5 for 61 yards; Ryan Lowdermilk 1 for 23 yards; Rob Burns 1 for 19 yards; Stan Johnson 1 for 9 yards
Osbourn
Lucky Whitehead 6 for 97 yards; Timmy Keith 5 for 31 yards
Kick Returns –
Stone Bridge
None
Osbourn
Dominique Terrell 1 for 33 yards; Lucky Whitehead 1 for 14 yards
Punt Returns –
Stone Bridge
None
Osbourn
Lucky Whitehead 1 for 3 yards
Interception Returns–
Stone Bridge
None
Osbourn
Robert Carter 1 for 1 yard
Fumble Returns–
Stone Bridge
None
Osbourn
Unidentified player 1 for 0 yards
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