Football: Loudoun County Takes Out Frustration on Woodgrove for Second Time This Season

By Dan Sousa

Viva Loudoun Editor

Leesburg (Nov. 10, 2012) -  The Loudoun County High School football team has lost twice this season and Woodgrove has had the misfortune of facing the Raiders the following week both times. 

In September the Raiders romped past the Wolverines, 48-7, after falling to Tuscarora, 21-7, the week before and on Friday night the Raiders once again took out their frustration on short-handed Woodgrove as the Raiders rebounded from a 45-0 loss to Briar Woods in the final week of the regular season with an emphatic 36-7 win over the Wolverines in the first round of the playoffs.

"We were disappointed because we didn't play to the best of our ability against Briar Woods," said Raider senior linebacker Nick Anthony who led a County defense that stuffed the Wolverines in the first half, allowing just 18 total yards on 21 plays.

Loudoun County (9-2) will face Leesburg rival Tuscarora (10-1) in a Region II Division 4 semifinal match-up this coming Friday. The Huskies advanced with a 42-21 win over Millbrook.

"We wanted this (rematch with Tuscarora) bad. It's a crosstown rivalry," said Raider senior quarterback Jake Lokey who came out slingin' Friday, throwing for three touchdowns on 17 of 23 passing and 207 yards despite sitting the entire second half.

Lokey mixed the ball around with three senior receivers -- Brad Szoka, Markale Bell and Sean Bell -- all catching four balls each. Szoka total 80 yards including two TD catches and junior Mike Anderson caught a TD as well.

It wasn't just all in the air in the first half as Raider senior running back Matt Arneson gained 97 yards on just 10 carries including TD runs of 4 and 59 yards. On that long TD run, Arneson broke the 1,000-yard mark for the season as he came into the contest needing 78 yards to crack the milestone.

First-year Woodgrove coach Mike Skinner knew his Wolverines (7-4) had a tall order in the the school's first ever postseason appearance, especially with senior quarterback Tucker Coil breaking his leg in the 21-14 win over Loudoun Valley to end the regular season.

"We are just so young," said Skinner, who surely pinned his hopes on the Wolverines controlling the clock behind junior running back Josh Sweet, who came into the game with 1,709 yards rushing and 25 touchdowns but the Dulles District Division 4 Offensive Player of the Year touched the ball just four times, gaining 17 yards.

Sweet took a wicked hit from the side midway through the second quarter as he was stopped on 3rd-and-1 at the 50. Sweet suffered a shoulder injury and did not return to the contest.

At the time of Sweet's injury, Loudoun County was dominating the contest and had just gone up 21-0 on a 10-yard Lokey-to-Anderons pass. The Raiders would nearly double that lead in the final four minutes of the half.

The Wolverines picked up a 15-yards personal foul as Sweet lay injured and were forced to punt. On the very next snap, Arneson blasted through the line of scrimmage and rambled 59 yards to make it 28-0 with 3:41 left in the first half as Jose Andrade made the extra point.

Woodgrove sophomore William Sheehan appeared poised for a bigger role in the Wolverines rushing attack with Coil and Sweet both down but on the first play after the kickoff, Sheehan was fighting for extra yardage on a nice 12-yard run when he was hit hard. The ball popped loose and was recovered by the opportunistic Raider defense as senior Tyler Pratt scooped the ball up and zigged and zagged all around the field before being brought down at the Woodgrove 29. 

To add insult to injury on the play was the fact that Sheehan was shaken up and he would not return the rest of the night.

The Wolverines were now reeling and Lokey knew what to do, hitting Szoka on a 29-yard timing route to make it 34-0 with 3:06 left in the half as the Wolverines blocked the PAT attempt.

Things hit bottom when a punt snap sailed 29 yards into the Wolverine end zone and Woodgrove punter R.J. Warfel was smothered for a safety with 36 seconds left in the half.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the officials threw a pass interference penalty on Woodgrove with no time left on the clock as Lokey heaved up a Hail Mary from 40 yards out with Anderson nearly wrestled the ball down. The penalty gave Loudoun County one more crack, from the Wolverine 19, but the Raiders opted to run it and Steven Graham nearly scored as he was knocked out of bounds at the 3 yard line to finally end the half.

Both teams started the second half with substitutes in the contest and the stadiums started thinning out before the third quarter even ended. The mercy rule was applied with Loudoun County up by 36 at the half and the second half went so quickly that the Raiders were offering 2-for-1 pizza, hamburger and hot dogs to the crowd before the fourth quarter started.

Loudoun County is averaging 35 points a contest but has just seven total points in the two losses. Still, Anthony, thinks the difference for County in the rematch with Tuscarora will be the defnese.

"We just need to fly around to the ball, creating turnovers," said Anthony. "Defense wins championships."

Loudoun County coach Todd Hill, who has guided the Raiders now to four playoff appearances in six seasons and before that took Handley to the state finals twice, wasn't thinking about championships or a potential rematch with Briar Woods down the road when asked by the Game of the Week TV crew how far his team could go: "We are just taking it one day at a time."

Loudoun County 36, Woodgrove 7

1 LC: Szoka 20 pass from Lokey (Andrade kick) 8:49

1 LC: Arneson 4 run (Andrade kick) 2:28

2 LC: Anderson 10 pass from Lokey (Andrade kick) 5:25

2 LC: Arneson 59 run (Andrade kick) 3:41

2 LC: Szoka 29 pass from Lokey (kick blocked) 3:06

2 LC: Safey (Warfel tackled in end zone) 0:36

4 WG: Mellor 40 pass from Koester (Warfel kick) 3:02

Rushing

WG: Sweet 4-17, Asencio 7-13, Washington 3-10, Sheehan 5-8, Kendall 1-6, Mellor 1-1, Koester 3-(-6), team 1-(-29). 25-20.

LC: Arneson 10-97, Lokey 6-29, Pratt 1-25, Graham 1-16, O'Kane 4-14, Adams 4-6, McCloskey 1-(-1), Crews-Naylor 3-(-2). 30-184.

Passing

WG: Koester 13-22-1 139.

LC: Lokey 17-23-0 207.

Receiving

WG: Mellor 6-96, Christen 3-15, Kendall 2-12, McVey 1-6, Evangelisto 1-5.

LC: Szoka 4-80, MBell 4-51, SBell 4-27, Anderson 2-27, Graham 1-12, AJackson 1-6, IJackson 1-4.