Northern Virginia Week 3 High School Football Recap

The third week of Northern Virginia high school football did not disappoint. Several of the usual suspect teams bumped their records to 3-0, while two others (Mt. Vernon and Stafford) are pleasant surprises with their undefeated marks. Two teams, Robinson and Annandale, eclipsed the 100-point barrier in their game, while North Stafford’s Devyn Ford scored six touchdowns to account for 36 of his Wolverine team’s 48 points.

Lake Braddock finds itself in a less than auspicious position, with Coach Mike Dougherty’s team falling to 0-3 after a grating 33-point loss to Stone Bridge. Fairfax, winless last year, beat Lee by 23, while Potomac Falls finally got into the win column, beating Riverside 40-21. St. John Paul the Great, 1-9 last season, earned a big 28-26 win over the Potomac School. Finally, J.E.B. Stuart showed moxie, scoring 57 points in its win over Park View, a strong effort from Coach Clarence Martin’s bunch.

Finally, the Colonial Forge squad will surely enjoy its four-hour ride back from Chesapeake after stomping the Grassfield Grizzlies 42-0 in Friday night action.

Madison 38, West Potomac 16

The Warhawks raised their mark to 3-0 as back Casey Koshuta enjoyed a career-best day for Madison, rushing for 176 yards and two touchdowns.

Koshuta, who usually splits carries with Brandon Walker, took on the lion’s share of the ground game on Friday, carrying the ball 37 times, as Madison scratched to a 10-8 halftime lead before busting the game wide open with 21 unanswered third-quarter points.

Koshuta also threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to John Finney; however, the passing game was conservative, with only nine attempts, and five completions for 60 yards. John Cothran did throw a second touchdown, a 10-yarder to Thomas MacColl.

Centreville 31, South County 27

Bassie Kanu rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats opened up a 17-7 lead early in the second half, but survived the ferocity of the Stallion offense to edge South County.

Kanu’s 24-yard touchdown served as the game’s first score, while his 44-yarder sealed the game for Centreville, as South County had cut the lead to 24-21. The Stallions, who are known for their aerial attack threw for no touchdowns on Friday, yet quarterback Michael Tull and star receiver Dillon Spalding each ran for two scores to account for the Stallions’ points.

Jordan Wright added 117 rushing yards on eight carries, including a 77-yard touchdown early in the second half to spark Centreville (2-1), who avenged a 28-21 loss to John Champe last week.

Colonial Forge 42, Grassfield 0

The Eagles wasted no time establishing their presence with 21 points in the first and second quarters, as their 42-0 halftime margin led to a running clock and scoreless second half.

Ethan Garwood was almost perfect, completing nine of 10 passes for 211 yards, including touchdowns to D.J. Dennis and Josh Sarratt, whose 64-yarder opened the scoring for the Eagles. Sarratt also returned a punt 42 yards for a touchdown.

In their three wins, Colonial Forge has outscored its opponents 131-3.

Mount Vernon 34, Falls Church 16 – The Majors improved to 3-0 behind the star power of Darrien Newton, who snared three receiving touchdowns as part of a 10-reception, 257-yard evening.

The Jaguars had closed the lead to 24-16 before Newton put the game away with his 73-yard scoring pass. Tim Heltzel threw two of the touchdowns to Newton, while Kofi Kwarteng added the third, tossing a scoring lob to Newton after receiving a “skip pass” from Heltzel.

Patrick Dunn added two field goals for the Majors, who will take on Washington-Lee next week in their effort to reach 4-0.

Hylton 41, Osbourn 0 – Penn State commit Ricky Slade scored on a 95-yard touchdown run and finished with 153 rushing yards as the Bulldogs pitched a shutout win over Osbourn.

Slade also caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Keyshawn Copeland, who finished with 261 yards and a pair of passing scores for Hylton (2-0).

Flint Hill 35, Paul VI 13 – Jordan Houston ran for 145 yards and three touchdowns as the Huskies won their opener in Fairfax. Miles Thompson completed five of eight passes for 85 yards, as Flint Hill gained 317 yards and 17 first downs.

Yorktown 44, Wakefield 7 – The Patriots earned the 22^nd straight win over cross-town rival Wakefield, opening up a 34 -7 halftime lead and coasting to victory. Tanner Wall caught a pair of touchdowns, and ran for 88 yards as Yorktown raised its record to 2-0.

Rodney Lee (171) and Kesean Deshazer (117) combined for 288 rushing yards for the Warriors, who evened their season record at 1-1. Lee has 364 rushing yards in two games.

North Stafford 48, Potomac 12 – Devyn Ford rambled for six touchdowns and 227 yards as the Wolverines made easy work of the Panthers.

Stafford 17, Courtland 7 – The Indians are 3-0 for the first time since 1981 after Friday’s 17-7 win over Courtland.

In spite of eight fumbles, Coach Mo Hampton’s team was able to hold its composure for the victory. Jalen Smith threw for a touchdown, as part of his 9 of 20, 169-yard evening, and also ran for another. Justin Toler caught Smith’s 34-yard TD for Stafford’s first touchdown, which came after a scoreless first half. Landon Woodson added two catches for 49 yards., while Jayvawn Cordell-Ford bulled into the end zone on a 1-yard run for the Indians’ last score.

Other Friday scores

Battlefield 30, Forest Park 6

Broad Run 28, Woodgrove 26

Brooke Point 48, Briar Woods 14

Caroline 25, Powhatan 21

Dominion 42, Fauquier 6

Eastern View 56, Orange 14

Fairfax 30, Lee 7

Herndon 10, Chantilly 7

John Champe 43, Heritage 7

John Paul the Great 28, Potomac School 26

Kettle Run 23, Brentsville 19

Louisa 54, King George 12

Massaponax 51, Hanover 14

Mountain View 30, James Monroe 0

Patriot 66, Colgan 24

Riverbend 54, Chancellor 28

Robinson 61, Annandale 40

Rock Ridge 47, Loudoun Co. 44

Stonewall Jackson 20, Gar-Field 12

Stuart 57, Park View 37

Tuscarora 24, T.C. Williams 14

W.T. Woodson 37, Langley 20

West Springfield 39, Washington-Lee 0

Woodbridge 42, Osbourn Park 0

VIRGINIA CRUSADERS SPEED TO FIVE WINS TO OPEN SEASON

The Virginia Crusaders have started their 2017 campaign in the same fashion that marks their others. Win, and then win again and again.

The Crusaders started slow, but with a 28-8 win over the Portsmouth Mustangs, followed by a 21-0 spanking of the Washington Warriors, the team has jumped to a 5-0 start. Much to their dismay, the Palmetto Hurricanes (5-1) and River City Outlaws (4-1) have almost held their pace in the South Division of the Mason-Dixon League.

They should catch a break this week as they take on a youthful Carolina Stallions (2-3) team, while Palmetto and River City square off against each other.

Head coach Larry Stith plans to use the opportunity against Carolina to look at some of his younger players.

“We usually carry about 60 players, and dress 50 each week,” said Stith, who was inducted into the Semipro Football Hall of Fame in June. “We’re going to rotate players, as everybody has to battle for their job every week.”

The offense has been sluggish at times, averaging just under 20 points per game. However, against Portsmouth, they burst for a 28-point first half with Raquan Artis and Mike Codie scoring on runs of  five and ten yards, while Marcus Hofler scored on an ten-yard pass from Phonta Williams. Defensively, TyShawn Washington broke into the scoring ranks with his 50-yard fumble recovery for a score.

Still, Stith, always looking for improvement, was less than pleased.

“We were lagging after a week off, and left a lot of points on the field.” As far as the defense went, he added that “we shouldn’t have given up that touchdown.”

Still, the solid defense of the Crusaders has been the team’s calling card, with the unit allowing only 6.8 points a game so far.

Venable Pair Wins World Championship of Ride & Tie

Rhonda and Dave Venable of Toano, won the 47th Annual Ride and Tie World Championship, held on Saturday, July 22 in Orkney Spring, VA. Twenty-eight teams from across the country participated in the 35-mile race, which was held on the East coast for the first time ever this year. Ride and Tie has a long history in the West, where it was first sponsored by Levi's in 1971.

In their eight years of competition, the Venables had won yearlong point championships three times, as well as the past two East Coast Championships; however, this was their first world title.

The Ride and Tie event is unlike any other. Participants alternate between endurance riding on horses, and trail running on their own. The race distances can vary between 20-100 miles.

Strategy is the key. In order to complete the race, each team must get all three members (two humans and one horse) across the cross-country course by alternately riding and running. A favorite strategy is for the rider, being faster, to gallop ahead and tie the horse to a tree before beginning his/her running portion of the race. Subsequently, the team member who started off running on foot will reach the horse, untie it, mount and begin riding, all the way past the first runner. The leapfrog type of activity continues throughout the course of the race, and the strategy comes from deciding where and how to make the necessary exchanges.

Rhonda rode first on her horse Dakota for a 1.25 mile leg. She estimates that her and Dave alternated every half mile, but said that “the distance gets shorter if the competition is catching up.” This year, she said that “someone was within two minutes of us for most of the race.” The Venable couple pulled away at the end and their winning time of 5:43:12 was almost seven minutes ahead of second-place Karen Isaacs and Beth Brinkley.

Dakota was also honored at the race’s end as the best conditioned horse of the top-10 finishers. Said Rhonda, “the vets go over all of the horses very thoroughly.”

Additional background on Ride and Tie is available on the website rideandtie.org.

Rhonda Venable is a teacher at Crittenden Middle School in Newport News, former cross-country coach at Bethel High, and a past president of the Peninsula Track Club. She and husband Dave relocated from Yorktown to Toano in June, and trained at York River Park for the final six weeks leading to the event.

Other area residents who competed in this year's Ride and Tie Championship include sisters Chelsea Portwood (Virginia Beach) and Alison Zeytoonian (Smithfield), and Greg Bradner (Yorktown), who partnered with his daughter Megan Wilson of Springfield, Virginia.