For the first time this season, six of the nine area high school football teams all won on the same weekend, surpassing the previous high of five earlier this season.
T.C. Williams 38, Hayfield 28
The T.C. Williams Titans improved to 2-5 on the season with a solid 38-28 win on the road versus Fairfax rival Hayfield.
We knew going into this contest that the key for us was to be able to run the football successfully, said T.C. second-year head coach Dennis Randolph.
The Red, White and Blue Titans spotted the Hawks a 7-0 lead before roaring back with the final 17 points of the first half.
Commencing the scoring for the Patriot District Titans was senior Dominique Copeland, who returned a Hawk punt 44 yards to put the visitors on the scoreboard.
Before halftime kicked in, Copeland scored yet again with a 35-yard TD run and senior placekicker Bryan Frank successfully booted a 25-yard field goal.
As a result, T.C. led 17-7 at halftime against their Patriot District rivals.
At half[time], we stressed to the guys to just go out there and keep playing hard the entire second half, said coach Randolph, a former head coach at Edison and South Lakes as well.
In the third quarter, the Hawks put the first 13 points on the board courtesy of two Steve Lynch touchdown runs and Hayfield led 20-17 after having missed on a PAT attempt.
In what proved to be the decisive score of the game, T.C. senior Abu Kamara ripped off a late third-quarter 12-yard TD run to take the Titans to a 24-20 advantage.
In the fourth quarter, a 25-yard TD run by T.C. junior Rashaud Westbrook buoyed T.C.s lead to 31-20.
Steve Lynch responded minutes later with a three-yard TD run of his own to narrow the Hawks deficit to 31-28. Lynch also added the corresponding two-point conversion run.
The Titans put the exclamation point on the contest when Dominique Copeland burned the Hawks defense with a stellar 51-yard scoring run en route to the 38-28 victory.
On the evening, Bryan Frank recorded eight points, hitting five of five PATs as well as the aforementioned field goal.
The T.C. offensive line was spearheaded by seniors Ajay Ramesh and Pete Hunley, sophomores Jay Whitmire and Anthony Zamora and freshman center Aaron Tovsky.
The T.C. defensive line was led by senior Rashad Quarles, and sophomores Joseph Massaquoi, Deontre Sanders and Jay Whitmire.
The Titan linebackers were boosted by seniors Dominique Copeland, Nate Simpson and Brandon Burke.
The four T.C. senior captains include Brandon Burke, Pete Hunley, Dominique Copeland and (injured) Zach Goehler.
In the end, T.C. backup senior QB Marcus Via only had to throw the ball one time on the evening (regular season starting QB Zach Goehler has been sidelined by an injury).
Spearheading the ever-present running game: Copeland – six carries/129 yards; Kamara – 17/105; Westbrook – nine/52; Via – eight/23 and junior Charles Minor – three/13.
Copeland returned one kickoff for 25 yards and senior Alshun Taylor returned one kickoff for 35 yards. In addition, Copeland returned two punts for a total of 74 yards.
It was a big win for T.C., who now weigh-in with a 2-2 mark in the Patriot District.
It was a very good bus ride back to Alexandria City. The players have really been playing hard and working hard and have been giving forth a good effort, said coach Randolph.
For the Hawks, coached by veteran Billy Pugh, the Orange and White drops to 1-6 overall on the season and stand 0-4 in the Patriot District.
St. Stephens/St. Agnes 31, Bullis 0
The St. Stephens/St. Agnes Saints improved to 5-1 overall on the season with a convincing 31-0 skunking of IAC foe Bullis.
The Red, White and Green Saints, coached by veteran Dave Holm, led 14-0 and 24-0 respectively after the first and second quarters were in the books.
Scoring for the Saints (who advanced to the 07 VIS State semi-finals in Holms second season): Drake Hudgins – 75-yard run; Robert Asmar – three-yard TD reception from QB Ryan Seher; Travis Jones – five-yard run; Chazzo Habliston – 22-yard field goal and Ryan Gillooly – four-yard run.
In addition, Habliston booted three of three PATs and Matt Dyson booted one of one PATs.
On defense, Mike Holt and Garrett Whitehurst both recorded interceptions for the Saints.
In terms of IAC competition, the Saints improved to 1-0.
Edison 57, JEB Stuart 6
Powerhouse Edison, ranked 13th in the latest Washington Post poll, improved to 7-0 on the season (4-0 National District) with a 57-6 thrashing of JEB Stuart.
The Red, White and Blue Eagles, coached by veteran Vaughn Lewis, scored early and often en route to a stunning 43-0 advantage at halftime.
Edison gave Lewis his 104th career victory at the school, which includes the 86 State Title – Division 5.
Mount Vernon 69, Falls Church 40
Mount Vernon improved to 5-2 on the season (3-1 National District) with a 69-40 shellacking of Falls Church.
The Majors, coached by veteran Tom Glynn, recorded the highest point total of any team in the region thus far this season.
The 109 combined points is also the highest game total in the region so far this season.
The Majors led the Jaguars 41-19 at halftime, as well as 62-26 at the end of the third quarter.
Jefferson 34, G.C. Marshall 7
Jefferson recorded their most convincing win of the season with a very solid 34-7 thumping of G.C. Marshall, improving to 2-5 on the season (1-3 Liberty District).
The Colonials, coached by veteran Tim Puvogel, led 7-0 and 31-7 after the first two quarters respectively.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Red, White and Blue Colonials added a fourth-quarter field goal for their final margin of 34-7.
Bishop Ireton 21, St. Christophers 45
Bishop Ireton dropped to 2-5 on the season with a 45-21 loss to visiting St. Christophers (Richmond). The Cardinals, coached by Tony Verducci in his second season, play an Independent schedule.
West Potomac 29, Lake Braddock 36
South Alexandria West Potomac also dropped their most recent contest with a 36-29 loss to visiting Lake Braddock. With the surprising defeat, the Wolverines dropped to 5-2 overall (2-2 Patriot District).
