By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Editor
Sterling (Sept. 1, 2007) – Park View High School quarterback C.J.
Leizear broke the school’s all-time passing mark Friday night as he
threw completed 21 of 33 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns in a
37-7 season-0pening non-district win over AAA Herndon.
Leizear, throwing behind an offensive line that gave him plenty of
time in the pocket, picked apart an inexperienced Hornets team and
raised his career passing total to 3,503 yards. The previous school
record was 3,433 yards.
“I had no idea I was close to setting the record,” said Leizear as
he accepted congratulations from family members after the game. “All I
knew is that we needed a win tonight.”
Leizear gave credit to his offensive line that gave him time to find
a variety of receivers such as junior Kenny Smith (two touchdowns),
senior Danny Foley (114 yards on five catches), senior Ryan Pick,
senior Eric Johnston and sophomore Tommy Sedeski (touchdown).
“As the O-line goes, we go. The O-line was a beast tonight,” said Leizear.
The D-line was a beast as well for the Patriots as top prospect
Thomas Mulabah shot into the Herndon backfield for an astounding four
sacks and five tackles for losses.
“It was not a good day overall,” said Herndon coach Joe Sheaffer, a
long-time Hornet assistant who was making his head coaching debut after
taking over for Tommy Meier who retired. “No. 1 that’s a **** good
football team … I don’t want to take anything away from them.”
Friday’s victory was game 1AD for the Patriots … or there first
game without running back Deric Dudinski, who graduated after a
brilliant four-year career that saw him become the school’s all-time
leading rushers with 5,708 yards, one of the top marks in Virginia High
School League history.
While the Patriots got production from the ground game —
with Johnston rushing for 92 yards on just 10 carries, with most of
that coming on a 51-yard touchdown that gave Park View a 10-o first
quarter lead — it looks like PV will be strongest through the air with
Leizear and his receivers having worked three years together.
“Foley, Pick, Smith … those are all three-year kids,” said Park View coach Andy Hill.
Despite the fact that Park View didn’t need to punt until their
final possession of the game when the second unit was running the
offense and that the defense only gave up a score after the second
group took the field with a 37-0 cushion, Hill thought his team could
have played better.
“I didn’t feel like we were very sharp,” said Hill.
Early on the Patriots fumbled away their first possession and had to
settle for a Clayton Parker 25-yard field goal after a long 14-play
drive that stalled despite having 1st-and-goal from the Herndon 8.
Parker looked strong Friday, making four extra points, kicking a
couple of touchbacks and hitting field goals of 25, 34 and 27. Last
year, Parker had just two field goals as Leizear, Dudinski and Company
found the end zone on just about every drive.
“I’ve never tried more than two field goals in a season and we tried three tonight,” said Hill.
Leading 3-0, Park View needed just two plays to score from their own
38. Leizear hit Foley on a slant pattern for 11 yards and with the
first quarter about to expire, Leizear hurried off a play with the snap
coming with a second left and Johnston took the hand0ff and went over
right tackle, utilized a good kickout block by the tight end Smith and
bumped it outside where he out-raced the Herndon defense 51 yards for
the score.
After a Parker field goal made it 13-0, the defense held Herndon to
3-and-0ut and Leizear took the offense 55 yards in seven plays, hitting
Sedeski in the right flat, who followed two blockers into the end zone
for an 8-yard score with 1:37 left in the half to make it 20-0. During
the drive, Leizear hooked up with Johnston on a 31-yard screen pass.
“(Leizear) is terrific. We were concerned about containing him,”
said Sheaffer. “I thought our defense played hard tonight. We are going
to **** it up and get better.”
Any hopes of Herndon mounting a comeback were lost quickly to start
the third quarter as Sedeski set the table for the offense by returning
the second half kickoff 57 yards to the Herndon 30.
After an incompletion and a tw0-yard run by Johnston, Leizear hooked
up with Pick, who broke a tackle for a 23-yard gain to the Herndon 5.
On the next play, Smith was all along in the corner of the end zone for
an easy touchdown catch. Each touchdown completion gave th Patriots
O-line something to smile about.
“Touchdowns. I love those,” said Park View senior right offensive
tackle Robbie Duncan with a grin. “We do slide protection where we
shift down and take care of our gap. Basically we play physical and as
hard as we can.”
Park View’s left offensive tackle Edwin Guzman said that
communication is the key on the line. Guzman and right guard Elisa
Barahona have played three years side-by-side. The players even have
their own “Morse code” that must sound like gibberish to the defense.
“I can make a weird sound and he knows what it means. We have chemistry on the line,” said Guzman.
Both lineman said they have enjoyed working with first-year O-line
coach Danny McGrath, who was playing for Virginia Tech this time last
year. Other starters for McGrath include senior right guard Will Ward
and junior center Kevin Welch.
“He really knows his stuff,” said Duncan.
Hill credited his defensive coordinator Mick Mullins for having the
Patriot defense well-prepared. Another Parker field goal and a second
Leizear-to-Smith strike, this time 15 yards o the final play of the
third quarter made it 37-0 and send the second units onto the field for
PV in the final quarter.
Herndon finally broke through when quarterback Paolo Montalban,
scrambling away from Mulabah all night, was able to break free when he
couldn’t find a target and ramble 27 yards to the Park View 3. PV
inserted some players back into the contest but Herndon running back
Devon Thompson plowed into the end zone to break the shutout.
“We wanted that shutout bad,” said Mulabah.
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