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VivaLoudoun Editor
Leesburg (Nov. 12, 2011) – Loudoun County High School senior running back Antonio Rutherford scored four touchdowns Friday and crashed past the 1,000-yard mark for the season with a 183-yard performance that helped the Raiders win their first football playoff game since 1996, a convincing 42-14 win over rival Heritage.
The win earned Loudoun County (9-2) a rematch with Dulles District champion Briar Woods (10-1) in next week’s Region II Division 4 semifinals in Ashburn. The defending state champion Falcons defeated the Raiders in the final week of the regular season, 35-7, in a game that was 7-7 at the half.
For Heritage (7-4) the loss ended the Pride’s finest football season as they made their first ever playoff appearance after collecting a total of just three wins in the previous two seasons combined.
“We are relevant in the football discussion in the county again,” said Heritage coach Steve Williams. “We came a long way and we still have a long way to go.”
Rutherford, with 1,170 yards rushing on the season and 17 touchdowns, started the year with just one 100-yard effort in the first five games but he has averaged 133.7 yards per game in the past six. On Friday he had touchdown runs of 50, 9 and 64 yards and he caught a 30-yard score as well.
Raider junior quarterback Jake Lokey held his own in a match-up with Pride senior Austin Nelson, one of the leader passers in the Metro Area. While Lokey, with the aid of Rutherford’s rushing, was an efficient 11 of 14 for 201 yards, Nelson put up a season-high 44 attempts with 24 completions for 220 yards.
Nelson, falling just shy of 3,000 yards passing on the season with 2,902 yards and 31 touchdowns, was under constant pressure from the Raider pass rush all night as he was knocked to the ground on almost every pass attempt.
“It was awesome to play against people you know and respect but it is a sad night to go out on a loss,” said Nelson.
Raider coach Todd Hill said the pressure on Nelson was key to the gameplan: “If we let him sit back in the pocket, then he would pick us apart. He would pick anybody apart. He is an extremely dangerous quarterback.”
County’s stingy defense allowed the Pride just one offensive touchdown – a first quarter Nelson to Nicholas Wright 25-yard TD pass – as Heritage’s other score came on a Marcus Finney 89-yard kickoff return. The Raiders blocked a punt – junior Quan Stinger got to the ball first – to set up the game’s first score and County collected two key fumble recoveries, both by senior Ben Messina, who always seems to be around the football.
“Our defense goes as he goes,” Hill said about Messina. “He is the catalyst for the whole team, not just the defense. He just makes big-time plays and has the heart of a warrior.”
The Pride had no running game with its only positive rushing plays coming from Nelson’s scrambles and Heritage finished the night with 14 yards rushing on 10 attempts.
Meanwhile, the Raiders balanced attacked featured a strong game from junior Brad Szoka who caught five balls for 110 yards including TDs of 23 and 55 yards. Szoka now has 50 receptions on the season for 861 yards with 14 TDs.
The Raiders offense line Friday deserves credit for opening holes for Rutherford and giving Lokey plenty of time in the pocket to find his receivers.
Two-way all-district lineman Austin Kirkpatrick credits first-year line coach Chris Tibbs and communication with his group’s success: “We lifted together as a group in the offseason and most of us started last year.”
Hill says he challenged the group a month ago.
“I told them that they had to step it up and that they had to improve their run blocking,” said Hill. “And for the last month we have not been one-dimensional.”
While turnovers cost the Raiders in the loss to Briar Woods a week ago, Count was turnover free on Friday with the only cause for concern, 85 yards in penalties on 12 infractions.
After the blocked punt, the Raiders scored two plays later as Lokey spotted Szoka open in the end zone from 23 yards out with 8:42 left in the first quarter.
When Heritage stalled on their next possession and turned it over on downs at midfield, it again only took two plays for the Raiders to score, as Rutherford went around the right side, evaded several tackles behind the line of scrimmage and then out-ran the Pride defense for a 50-yard score.
“The offensive line gave me a split second of an opening and then I just did what I do best,” said Rutherford.
With sophomore kicker Caleb Hilgartner perfect on the night on extra points, it was 14-0 County with 6:08 left in the first.
Heritage climbed back into the game with a 7-play drive that featured a beautiful leaping grab by Finney to put the ball on the Raider 28. On a 2nd-and-22 call from the 25, County had a busted coverage in the secondary as Wright was left all alone running down the left sidelines and he easily gathered in Nelson’s toss and waltzed into the end zone. That made it 14-7 with 3:01 left in the first.
County answered right back with its own 7-play drive, this for 73 yards. The big play was a Lokey-to-Stinger hook-up that resulted in 46 yards to the Pride 14. On the first play of the second quarter, Rutherford spun his way through the line of scrimmage and strode into the end zone to make it 21-7.
“His vision is exceptional,” said Hill. “He can run back against the grain and he has made some openings that just weren’t there.”
Heritage’s offense sputtered in the second as Nelson missed on six straight attempts. The Pride finally had something going and looked to make it a one-score game as Finney grabbed a ball at the Raider 15 and broke a tackle and was fighting for more yardage at the 10 when he was stripped of the ball and Messina scooped it up to stop the scoring threat with 1:31 left in the half.
In the third quarter, County had its third two-play “drive” as Rutherford went 8 yards from his own 28 and then on the next handoff, he out-ran a tiring Pride defense for a 64-yard score. Down 28-7, Heritage struck back as Finney scored on the ensuing kickoff.
“Our senior class … they kept fighting, they kept believing,” said an emotional Williams about the group of players that stuck with the program and helped turn things around after 2-8 and 1-9 seasons at the AAA level. Heritage returned to the AA level this season with the opening of Tuscarora High School in Leesburg cutting enrollment.
Any hopes of a Heritage comeback, however, died on the next drive as County, staring with good field position on their own 43, went 57 yards on seven plays with Rutherford making a highlight reel catch for a 30-yard score as he leaned out and snagged a Lokey throw by his fingertips in the back of the end zone. That score made it 35-14 with 1:52 left in the third.
The Raiders final score of the night came with 4:10 left in the contest as Szoka got behind the Pride secondary on a 3rd-and-22 call for a 55-yard score.
County’s defense would have had a third fumble recovery and a defensive touchdown as a jarring hit on a screen pass from the Pride 24 in the second quarter, created a scrum for the loose football. Looking like half of the Raider student body was fighting for the ball, a County player kicked the ball towards the end zone where the Raiders recovered – only the kick was an illegal touch and resulted in a 15-yard penalty and a return of the ball to the Pride.
While County continues to play without the services of injured senior running back/linebacker Brock Badman, Heritage was without key offensive lineman/linebacker Chris Rader and without senior wide receiver/defensive back Drew Burkhard.
“The injuries killed us. We have just had a lot of injuries all year,” said Nelson.
Loudoun County 42, Heritage 14
H 7 0 7 0 - 14
LC 14 7 14 7 - 42
LC 1 Szoka 23 pass from Lokey (Hilgartner kick) 8:01
LC 1 ARutherford 50 run (Hilgartner kick) 6:08
H 1 Wright 25 pass from Nelson (Pyszka kick) 3:01
LC 2 ARutherford 9 run (Hilgartner kick) 11:53
LC 3 ARutherford 64 run (Hilgartner kick) 5:57
H 3 Finney 89 kickoff return (Pyszka kick) 5:44
LC 3 ARutherford 30 pass from Lokey (Hilgartner kick) 1:52
LC 4: Szoka 55 pass from Lokey (Hilgartner kick) 4:10
Rushing
Heritage: Nelson 7-25, Leonard 2-(-4), Finney 1-(-7). Totals 10-14
Loudoun County: ARutherford 26-183, Smith 5-20, Davis 2-5, Messina 1-(-1), TEAM 1-(-1). Totals 7-185
Passing
Heritage: Nelson 24-44-0 220.
Loudoun County: Lokey 11-14-0 201.
Receiving
Heritage: Finney 10-96, Wright 4-71, Taylor 5-28, Gerling 3-25, Leonard 2-0).
Loudoun County: Szoka 5-110, Stinger 1-46, ARutherford 2-24, MRutherford 2-13, Green 1-8.
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