Sterling (Oct. 24, 2006) – Friday’s Homecoming game at Dominion High
School where the Titans hosted their South of Route 7 neighbor Park
View posed several interesting questions. Can a running back “quietly”
pick up 250 yards rushing and score three touchdowns and can a team
lose 35-7 but show vast improvement?
The answer to both of those questions was “yes” as the area’s
leading rusher, Patriot senior Deric Dudinski not only picked up the
250 yards but became his school’s all-time No. 2 leading rushing,
surpassing former Notre Dame and NFL star Allen Pinkett, in
unheralded fashion and the host Titans made a statement about how far
they have progressed despite the final score.
Park View (2-0 in Dulles District, 6-1 overall) now hosts the other
undefeated Dulles team, Potomac Falls, this Friday. Dominion (1-1, 3-4)
travels to face Heritage.
For starters Friday, the game was much closer than the final score
indicates as it should have been 14-14 at the half, save for two big
momentum-shifting plays: Park View senior defensive back Justin Denekas
tracking down Dominion quarterback Craig Carlson from behind in the
first quarter and not only making a touchdown-saving tackle at
the Patriot 5 on Carlson’s 44-yard run but popping the ball loose for a
key turnover; and Dudinski’s 59-yard touchdown run with 1:04 left in
the second quarter on the first play from scrimmage after Dominion had
cut Park View’s lead to 14-7.
Until that point, the Dominion defense had held the explosive
Dudinski fairly in check, yet his touchdown gave Park View the 21-7
lead at the half, vaulted him for good past Pinkett, and left him
“quietly” with 176 yards in the first two quarters.
“Dudinski is a great back. Unfortunately he doesn’t live on this
side of Route 7,” said Dominon coach Mike Dougherty referring to the
school boundary shared by the two Sterling schools.
Dominion, a team which looked much better than the squad that had
fallen in its last home game to Wakefield, came out strong in the
second half, holding Park View to three-and-out on their first series
and then the Titan’s big-play man Chris Brent intercepted Park View
quarterback C.J. Leizear at the Titan 32.
Edris Amin then picked up 13 and 14 yards on back-to-back carries to
move the ball into Patriot territory. Amin finished the night with 91
yards on 19 attempts as the Titans had their best ground game of the
year with 183 yards rushing. Just as things were going Dominion’s way,
disaster struck as Carlson, running the option near the Park View
sideline, attempted to cut back across the field and was caught by the
Patriot defensive pursuit just as he was twisting around. Carlson had
to be helped off the field and the injury was later to be revealed as a
broken leg which will keep him out of the rest of the season.
Park View held and then put the game away with a 10-play, 82-yard
drive that culminated in Leizear’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Ameichi
Anyaugo. Dougherty, for one, doesn’t see anybody stopping Park View the
rest of the regular season.
“I see them running the table in district,” Dougherty said.
Dudinski finished his night with a 25-yard touchdown run with 21
seconds left in the third quarter to finish the scoring on the night.
Dudinski’s unofficial career numbers are now 4,839 yards rushing in his
four seasons and he is within 318 of Tony Conway’s school record of
5,157 set in the late 1980s.
“He’s amazing and it is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Park View coach Andy Hill.
Park View tried to take Dominion’s large Homecoming crowd out of the
game early as Eric Johnston broke through and partially blocked
Dominion’s punt on their first series. The special teams play gave Park
View the ball at the Dominion 41 and it took just six plays for Leizear
to move the team down the field and his 13-yard scoring pass to Danny
Foley gave Park View the early lead. Leizear had developed a nice cadre
of receivers this season including Anyuago, Foley and Ryan Pick.
It looked as if Dominion would strike right back as on the second
play after the Patriot touchdown, just about every Park View defender
went after Amin on a nice dive fake from Carlson.
“If we execute, we can fool you,” Dougherty said.
Fool, they did, as Carlson rounded the right end unnoticed and was
off into the Patriot secondary. Denekas closed on Carlson just in time
and brought his arm down as hard as he could on the tackle attempt and
the blow forced the ball loose.
“We work on that technique in practice. I thought (Carlson) had scored. It was absolutely a huge play,” Hill said.
Park View drove back down to the Dominion 33, with Dudinski picking
up 42 yards on a play that could have been an 83-yard touchdown but he
stepped out of bounds. The Titans, however, stuffed Thomas Mulabah on
4th-and-2.
Dominon moved the ball well and got inside the Patriot red zone but
a Carlson fumble on 2nd-and-2 from the Patriot 22 took the wind out of
their sails as the Titans recovered the ball but lost seven yards.
Another loss left Dominion with a 48-yard field goal attempt by Tommy
Kowalick which was short, but just as effective as a punt.
The Patriots then went to business with a time-consuming 18-play,
80-yard drive that featured 10 Dudinski runs, the final a touchdown
from the 1 on 3rd-and-goal.
Trailing 14-0, Dominion went to the air with Carlson completing
passes to Cam Everett for 19 and Brent for 13 yards. Carlson then found
Brent for a super catch in the end zone from 18 yards out to slice the
lead to 14-7 with 1:22 left in the half.
Mulabah took the kickoff and returned it 16 yards before Dominon
could throw enough bodies in the way of his hulking 280-pound frame. In
what would have been a two-minute drill for most teams, was a Dudinski
handoff for Park View and the shifty senior busted off-tackle, cut back
against the pursuit and out-raced the Titans to the end zone for a
59-yard score.
“Dudinski was close to breaking it all night. He is a nice option to have in the two-minute drill,” Hill said.
Anyuago then made one of his two interceptions on the night to prevent Dominion from answering Dudinski’s body blow.
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