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Viva Loudoun Editor
Leesburg (Sept. 15, 2012) - After Tuscarora High School's first three drives in Friday night's AA Dulles District football game the only question seemed to be how many yards and touchdowns Huskies sophomore running back Noah Reimers would finish with.
At the time, Tuscarora (1-0 in district, 3-0 overall) was cruising with a 20-0 lead behind Reimers' three scores powered by 15 carries for 73 yards in just over a quarter's worth of work. Loudoun Valley (0-2, 1-3), however, took the air out of the rest of the first half with a monster drive of 16 plays that lasted eight minutes and ended one inch shy of a score as Reimers stripped Viking quarterback Neill Frazier of the ball as he struggled to get across the goal line after a hard-nosed 13-yard run.
The Huskies recovered the fumble for a touchback and the play turned out to be key after Loudoun Valley rallied with two scores in the final five minutes of the game before Tuscarora, successfully defending two onsides kicks, ran out the clock for a 20-14 victory. Reimers finished with 117 yards on 29 carries.
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| Vikings in action the week before |
"We are learning to be a great team," said Tuscarora coach Mike Burnett, "We lost our mental focus tonight and made a ton of mental errors."
With that being said, Burnett was pleased with the unbeaten start coming into next week's big match-up with rival Loudoun County (1-0, 3-0).
"We show signs of being a very, very good football team," said Burnett.
Loudoun Valley, behind a blue collar running effort of sophomore Andrew Corani (91 yards of 25 carries), actually out-gained Tuscarora in the contest, 205 to 193 total yards. 82 of those yards for the Vikings came in the fourth quarter rally that had the Vikings fans on their feet.
Starting a drive with 9:03 left in the game on Tuscarora's 46 after a 15-yard Huskies penalty on a punt return, the Vikings moved quickly with sophomore Sully Warner stepping in a quarterback. Warner's 15-yard option run moved the ball to the 19 and two plays later, junior Brandon Grayson busted through a nice hole on the left side for a 12-yard score. Aaron Peart's PAT with 5:12 left made it 20-7.
Tuscarora junior Gavin Wall calmly recovered an onsides kick by the Vikings but Valley didn't quit as junior Chase Miller had a big sack and then Grayson intercepted Tuscarora back-up quarterback junior Chad Carerra at the Valley 30 and raced 34 yards down the Vikings sideline before being stopped at the Tuscarora 36.
There was just 2:07 left in the game but the Vikings took just six seconds to score as Warner lofted a pass to junior Brandon McGurk who was all alone in the Huskies secondary after it appeared a Tuscarora defender had tripped to the turf. That made the score 20-14 with 2:01 to go but once again Wall was on the spot with an onsides kick recovery for the Huskies.
Reimers final 10 yards were important and came on the final possession of the night including a 3-yard run on 4th-and-3 that ended any hopes of Valley's miracle comeback.
"I'm proud of these guys," said Loudoun Valley coach Danny McGrath "We are a work in progress."
It was all Tuscarora early in the evening as the Huskies, before an appreciative home crowd on a perfect fall night, ran at will against the Valley defense. After a 3-and-out defensively to start the game, the Huskies had a short field for their first drive, starting on the Viking 44.
Reimers set the tone with runs of 11, 8, 4 and 5. After taking a breather with senior Adrien Stinger getting runs of 7 and 4, it was Reimers two plays later scoring from the 6. Junior Chris Miller's PAT with 6:20 left int he first made it 7-0.
Another 3-and-out and the Huskies were marching down the field again. On this drive, Tuscarora mixed in the passing game with junior Nick Azzarita connecting with sophomore Jordan Fisher for gains of 14 and 7. The 11-play drive was finished by Reimers as he scored from the 9 with 1:55 left in the first quarter and the Huskies up 14-0.
Tuscarora didn't let up just yet as the Huskies recovered an onsides kick after the TD and with the Viking defense forced to go back on the field, Azzarita hooked up with Wall on the next snap for a 36-yard gain to the Viking 12. On 4th-and-1, Reimers got the 1 and two more yards for his third score of the game. The Huskies bid for two points failed for a comfortable 20-0 lead with 9:31 still left in the second.
Loudoun Valley then went on the long drive which incredibly started with 10 consecutive Cordani carries. All told, Cordani ran the ball 13 times on the 16 play drive. With 1:23 left in the half, it appeared the Vikings would score as Frazier, stopped just shy of the goal line was twisting and turning to get in when Reimers reached in and nudged the ball out of his grasp.
It appeared that Frazier may have broken the plane of the goal line before loosing the ball but it was ruled a fumble and the Huskies recovered in the end zone to end the threat and take a 20-0 lead into half.
Tuscarora had the ball most of the third quarter as the Huskies had two 7-play drives sandwiched around a Viking fumble on their only snap but the lead remained at 20-0 as penalties kicked the first Tuscarora drive at midfield and the second drive ended on a fumble on 4th-and-goal as Azzarita was sacked.
Tuscarora 20, Loudoun Valley 14
LV 0 0 0 14 - 14
T 7 13 0 0 - 20
1: T Reimers 6 run (Miller kick) 6:20 (drive 8 ply, 44 yds, 3:59)
2: T Reimers 9 run (Miller kick) 11:55 (11 ply, 56 yds, 5:01)
2: T Reimers 3 run (run failed) 9:31 (5 ply, 48 yds, 2:24)
4: LV Grayson 12 run (Peart kick) 5:12 (8 ply, 46 yds, 3:51)
4: LV McGurk 36 pass from Warner (Peart kick) 2:01 (1 ply, 36 yds, 0:06)
Rushing
LV: Cordani 25-91, Grayson 4-20, Warner 2-15, Frazier 1-13. Total 32-139.
T: Reimers 29-117, Stinger 7-14, Azzarita 4-2, Abbate 3-2, Carerra 1-(-2), Coates 1-(-5). Totals 47-128.
Passing
LV: Warner 2-2-0 43, Frazier 4-8-0 23. Totals 6-10-0 66.
T: Azzarita 6-7-0 61, Carerra 1-2-1 4. Totals 7-9-1 65.
Receiving
LV: Keane 3-18, McGurk 1-36, Cypher 1-9, Fletcher 1-3.
T: Fisher 3-19, Wall 1-36, Coates 1-5, Abbate 1-4, Reimers 1-1.
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