Posts
Viva Loudoun Editor
Ashburn (Sept. 10, 2012) - The Stone Bridge High School football team doesn't lose very often so they take those rare defeats personally. Last year the Bulldogs let a game at Chantilly get away in the second half and they lost 22-14 to the Chargers. On Friday Stone Bridge got their revenge with a dominating 24-8 non-district win over Chantilly.
Senior Rassaun Goldring (153 yards on 10 carries) and junior Sterling Dailey (81 yards on 8 carries) combined for 234 of Stone Bridge's 348 yards on the ground and senior Alabama commit Jon Allen led a stifling Stone Bridge defense that forced three turnovers and held Chantilly to just 14 total yards in the first quarter and 50 yards in the first half.
"I thought we played lights out," said Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson. "I thought tonight was one of our better efforts in a few years. Every guy came in and played like a man."
Last year, after the Chantilly game, Stone Bridge won nine straight before falling in the regional semifinals. There isn't any reason that the Bulldogs can't run the regular-season table again this season.
The win gave Stone Bridge a sweep over Concorde District opponents this season after a season-opening win over Robinson. Still Thompson said the games against the larger AAA Division 6 programs are bruising battles with Dailey going out after the first quarter with a thumb injury.
"I'd hate to play in the Concorde District week in and week out," said Thompson said.
The 24-8 final score made Friday's game look closer than it actually was as Stone Bridge's defense, led by the revved up Allen, was busy throwing Chantilly for losses most of the first half.
On offense, Stone Bridge wasn't hitting on all cylinders as the passing game behind senior Stanford commit Ryan Burns went just 5-18 for 60 yards but the Bulldogs were picking up 10+ yards a clip running most of the evening.
A big Burns to junior D'Ante Yarborough reception for 29 yards put the ball into the Red Zone on Stone Bridge's first TD drive. Dailey scampered for runs of 14 and 5 yards to set up a 1-yard TD plunge by senior Cameron Reynolds. Dailey had broken a 41-yard run on Stone Bridge's first drive of the night that stalled on the Charger 20.
Senior Brendan Smedley's point after kick made it 7-0 with 5:25 left in the first quarter. The Bulldog defense forced a quick 3-and-out and the Stone Bridge offense needed just four plays to make it 14-0 as Goldring sprinted 40 yards for a score with 2:43 left in the first quarter.
Chantilly finally moved the ball into Stone Bridge territory in the second quarter but Allen, lining up at linebacker, sprung around a defensive lineman, vaulted over the line of scrimmage into the backfield and forced a fumble that was recovered by Reynolds.
Later in the second quarter, Allen would have a fumble of his own as the 6-foot-3, 245-pound prized recruit was inserted into the backfield and he coughed up the ball at the Charger 11 as he was dragging about half of the Chantilly defense towards the goal line on a bruising 8-yard run.
Stone Bridge's defense got the ball back when junior James Manning intercepted a ball along the Bulldog sidelines and returned it 10 yards to the Chantilly 27 with just 31 seconds left in the half. Smedley connected on a 34-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the half to give Stone Bridge a commanding 17-0 advantage.
"We are not going to lose a football game where we are up 17-0 at halftime," said Thompson.
Just in case anybody else in the stadium doubted that, Stone Bridge opened the second half with a 3-and-out on defense and taking over with good field position on the Charger 46 after a 20-yard punt went out of bounds, Stone Bridge needed just five plays to make it 24-0.
Burns started the TD drive with a 12-yard hook-u with Goldring followed by a 19-yard run by Yarborough. Goldring finished the drive with a 12-yard TD burst with 7:51 left in the third quarter.
Chantilly drove the ball down to the Stone Bridge 26 in the third quarter but a fumble was pounced on by -- who else -- Allen to stop the drive.
The Charger got on the scoreboard that ate up more than four minutes on the clock. Charger quarterback Sonny Romine, under pressure most of the night with the Bulldogs sacking him four times, had the big play on the drive as he eluded tacklers near the Charger bench and then tightroped it up the sidelines before slashing all the way across the field for 46 yards to the Stone Bridge 34.
It would take nine more plays before the Bulldogs relented with Ross Simms nosing in from the 1 with 8:57 to go. Romine hit Sean Huelskamp for a 2-point conversion to make it a 2-score game, 24-8.
Stone Bridge bled the clock, however, after a touch back on the kickoff, with Goldring, Calvin Strahin and Yarborough all making nice runs before turning it over on downs at the Charger 42 with 5:16 left.
A couple of pass interference calls aided a Charger drive to the SB 17 but the Bulldogs held on fourth down to ice the game with 2:26 left. Senior Jesse Mizell had a first down sack that left the Chargers in a hole after getting into the red zone.
Stone Bridge was flagged 15 times in the game for a whopping 133 yards in penalties. Chantilly picked up just 30 yards on six flags.
Stone Bridge, 56-1 vs. Liberty District foes since moving up to AAA in 2005, opens district play Friday night at South Lakes.
Stone Bridge 24, Chantilly 8
SB 14 3 7 0 - 24
CH 0 0 0 8 - 8
1: SB Reynolds 1 run (Smedley kick) 5:25 (drive: 7 plays, 58 yds, 1:53)
1: SB Goldring 40 run (Smedley kick) 2:43 (4 plays, 52 yds, 1:16)
2: SB Smedley 34 FG 0:10 (3 plays, 10 yds, 0:31)
3: SB Goldring 12 run (Smedley kick) 7:51 (5 plays, 46 yds, 2:24)
4: CH Simms 1 run (Huelskamp pass from Romine) 8:57 (12 plays, 84 yds, 4:37)
Rushing
CH: Harris 15-52, Simms 13-34, Romine 14-27, Smith 8-19. Totals 50-132.
SB: Goldring 10-153, Dailey 8-81, Yarborough 4-46, Reymonds 8-20, Allen 2-20, Strahin 2-16, Bradshaw 1-4, Team 1-(-2). Totals 36-348.
Passing
CH: Romine 6-13-1 33, Delaney 1-1-0 (-1). Totals 7-14-1 32 yards.
SB: Burns 5-18-0 60.
Receiving
CH: Harris 4-22, Huelskamp 1-5, Smith 1-3, Tram 1-2.
SB: Yarborough 2-35, Goldring 2-21, Higgins 1-4.
Stone Bridge vs. Northern Region non-Liberty District Opponents
9-7-12 W 24-8 Chantilly
8-31-12 W 31-14 Robinson
11-18-11 L 3-25 South County (D5 regional semifinals)
9-10-11 L 14-22 at Chantilly
9-1-11 W 3-0 at Robinson
11-26-10 W 35-7 Hayfield (D5 regional finals)
11-12-10 W 55-0 Stuart (D5 regional quarterfinal)
9-16-10 W 49-6 West Springfield
9-3-10 W 7-3 at Westfield
11-27-09 W 21-10 Lee (D5 regional finals)
9-17-09 W 36-33 at West Springfield
9-4-09 W 21-18 Westfield
11-21-08 W 35-6 at Edison (D5 regional finals)
11-14-08 W 42-0 Mount Vernon (D5 regional semifinals)
9-5-08 W 49-7 Robinson
8-29-08 W 42-28 West Springfield
11-23-07 W 27-14 (D5 regional finals)
11-9-07 W 42-12 (D5 regional quarterfinals)
9-7-07 L 14-41 at Robinson
8-31-07 W 56-36 at West Springfield
11-24-06 L 17-31 Edison (D5 regional finals)
9-15-06 W 25-7 Oakton
9-8-06 W 34-21 West Springfield
11-25-05 W 29-21 Edison (D5 regional finals)
9-16-05 L 6-28 at Oakton
9-9-05 W 21-14 at West Springfield
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment