HAMPTON - For Coach Michael Burnett and his Tuscarora Huskies, it became quickly obvious that there was not going to be a comeback on Sunday.
The past three weeks had seen a series of fortunate breaks for the team from Leesburg. There was the 70-yard interception return by defensive back Alex Lee and last goal-line stand by the defense in a 14-12 second-round win over Broad Run, the missed extra point by Stone Bridge which turned out to be the difference in a 28-27 squeaker, and finally a game-winning 32-yard field goal by Max Skirkanich with time expiring, to seal a 20-17 win over fellow Cinderella team Stafford to bring the Huskies to this moment, and an opportunity to win their first state championship.
But anything that could go wrong for the Huskies on Sunday, did go wrong, and the game was seemingly over before halftime. When Highland Springs recovered a Husky fumble, and then Shy’re McKeiver burst through the line for a one-yard TD to give the Springers a 33-0 lead with 3:43 left before halftime, it appeared that the only question remaining was whether the clock would be running in the second half.
As it turned out, the Springers were two points short of activating the non-stop timer. And Tusky had one more fight left in them.
Resiliency had been a staple of the Tuscarora team all season. Even though Burnett admitted that, “the flow of a game is hard to change,” his Huskies did everything in their power to alter it.
With 2:13 left in the opening half, Justin Allen found Adam Thorne on a post route, and the senior receiver outran the Springer defense all the way to the end zone to complete a 62-yard touchdown. A minute later, the Huskies had the ball again and were driving toward the end zone when the fire almost dissolved.
Allen had a receiver open over the middle, but the potential ball catcher was shoved past the ball’s project path and intercepted by Billy Kemp who returned the ball past midfield and foiled the Huskies’ opportunity to get back into the game.
All appeared to be lost. But the Tuscarora defense kept the Springers from scoring, and as the second half got underway, Tusky dug deeper.
First, coach Burnett reached into his Sean Payton Super Bowl trick book and found the page with the onside kick to open second half of a championship game play. The kick was easily recovered by Highland Springs, but showed that the Huskies were not going to roll over.
They did not leave Armstrong Stadium with their collective tails between their legs; in fact, Tuscarora scored 27 of the game’s final 34 points to turn a 33-0 blowout into a respectable sounding 40-27 defeat in Sunday’s 5A state final.
When it was all over, several of their key players had something to say about the team’s mental toughness and resiliency.
“We’ve been in bad situations,” said tight end Kyle Jenkins. Jenkins, whose three touchdowns provided most of the offense in the Stone Bridge win, caught six balls for 39 yards and a seven-yard score in the game’s last minute. “But we learned to stay calm and execute.”
“This team has so much heart,” added quarterback Justin Allen. Allen, who was scrambling for his life on many plays, finished the day completing 17 of 30 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns. When we lost those two games (28-12 to Broad Run and 14-13 to Stone Bridge), we told ourselves, we don’t want to lose to those teams again.” They didn’t.
Defensive back Alex Lee focused on the positive reinforcement of his teammates. “We kept our heads up and looked past the bad things. Then, we went out and worked hard in practice.”
Tuscarora was not the most likely choice to be representing the 5A North teams at Armstrong Stadium on Sunday. Stone Bridge was the prohibitive favorite, with Broad Run just half a step behind. North Stafford looked to be a beast of a team through November, and their ouster by Brooke Point raised a few eyebrows, while the rest were raised when the Black Hawks lost to Stafford, a team that went 3-7 last season.
Burnett summed up his season and his players perfectly when all was said and done.
“I think of my players like I think of my own children. You want your children to do well and keep their heads up.”
He used the first Broad Run game as their turning point. “I told the guys after that game that we are our own worst enemy. Once we embraced that idea, things turned around.”
Tuscarora did not make it to Hampton with the hope of walking away with the second-place trophy. Still, their 12-3 record, finalized by the journey to the state final is a testament. Burnett called it a testament to the seniors, and it probably is. The Huskies are returning Allen and Leron West and several other players who contributed mightily to this season’s cause. If they can retain a hard head and a short memory, the Huskies 2018 ride could be just as long and inspiring.
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