No Trick About It

By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Editor

Ashburn (Nov. 17, 2007) – The separation between the Broad Run and Park
View high school football teams in the Patriots 16-12 thrilling win
Friday nigh may have been as thin as the margin of error on two
identical trick plays ran in the Region II Division 4 semifinal playoff
game.

The
quarterback throwback play is a seldom used trick play where a
quarterback hands off to a running back and then runs a pass pattern.
The running back pulls up and throws all the way across the field to
his signal caller. Broad Run and Park View each called this play once
Friday and it might have been the difference in the game.

The
Spartans tried it with 4.2 seconds left in the first half while
trailing 10-6 with the ball on the Park View 13. The previous week,
Broad Run had used a halfback option touchdown throw by Breon Earl to
tight end Kevin Sandersen to spark a 21-14 win which clinched the
Dulles District title and a 10-0 regular-season for the Spartans.

On
Friday it appeared as if Earl wanted to run the same play again as he
pulled up to throw, only it was the quarterback throwback with Chris
Jessop running to the corner of the end zone and he appeared open, but
Patriot senior defensive tackle Thomas Mulabah had read the play, and
moving faster than any 280-pound lineman should ever move, he faded
over just in time and jumped up to intercept the pass as the half ended.

“Have you ever seen a defensive tackle do what Thomas did at the end of the first half?” asked Park View coach Andy Hill.

Then
in the fourth quarter with time running out and the Patriots facing the
prospects of losing in back-to-back weeks to Broad Run after having not
lost to their rival since 1991 – thanks to a Jessop to Adrian Flemming
23-yard touchdown throw with 6:04 remaining – Park View called the
quarterback throwback on 2nd-and-3 from the Spartan 44 with under two
minutes left in the contest.

Park View senior running back Eric
Johnston, who had a gutty 114-yard rushing performance on the night,
started to sweep toward the Broad Run bench and then pulled up to throw
to Patriot senior quarterback C.J. Leizear running along the PV
sidelines.

“I never completed it once in practice,” said Johnston. “When they called the play I was nervous as anything.”

Leizear
had complete confidence in the play call: “I was ready. I said, ‘Eric
just throw it and give me a chance’,” said Leizear.

The ball and
basically the balance of both clubs season hung in the air for a long
time and Leizear, who had completed 200 passes on the season for nearly
3,000 yards but had yet to catch a ball this year, appeared covered …
only to have the BR defender slip on the muddy turf and the Park View
sidelines and stands erupted as Leizear sprinted down the sidelines for
the game-winning touchdown with 1:43 remaining.

“We ran that in 10th grade but C.J. kept falling down,” said Hill. “Eric had run hard all night and that is what set that up.”

Broad
Run’s hopes of a comeback and advancing to this Friday’s regional title
game at Sherando where squelched when the Spartans lost their second
fumble of the night, recovered by Patriot junior Marcus Freeman, on the
first play from scrimmage after Leizear’s score.

“This was
everything that high school football should be,” said Broad Run coach
Michael Burnett who in two short seasons has turned BR from a 1-9 team
to 10-1 this season. “I just wish the world could see the way these
kids act on and off the field.”

Turnovers, injuries and field position were key factors in Park View’s turnaround.

Last
Friday, Broad Run had one turnover, but in the rematch the Spartans
gave up four turnovers to the Patriots one. Park View actually lost the
handle on four footballs on the frigid evening, but the bounces were
going the Patriots way as they recovered three and more importantly
Leizear had his first interception-free game since the district opener
against Loudoun County seven weeks ago. While Park View had a turnover
on its first series of the game last week, it was Broad Run turning the
ball over on its first series Friday with Mulabah recovering a botched
handoff on the Spartan 30.

The Patriots did not score on that
opportunity but it led to good field position. After losing a field
position battle in the first game, the Patriots had much better field
position Friday, starting three times in BR territory and starting six
times from their own 42 or better. The week before Park View started at
its 36 or deeper each time. Improved long kick-offs instead of short
pooch kicks and some nice punting by senior Danny Foley also
contributed to Park View’s better field position.

Injuries played
a key role in the turnaround from the previous week as in the first
game, Leizear played after missing three days of school with illness
and his top receiver sophomore Tommy Sedeski turned his ankle in
pregame warm-ups. PV also didn’t have tight end Kenny Smith who
returned Friday, playing for the first time since the season opener, to
give the Patriots a moral boost even though they were not able to work
him into the flow of the game.

Broad Run suffered a serious blow
when both starting linebackers went out with injuries midway through
the second quarter Friday after the Spartans had taken a 6-3 lead on
quarterback Cole Shain’s 1-yard sneak. Earl, with 80 yards in the first
half Friday but just seven in the second half, looked unstoppable on
the scoring drive.

Johnston, however, broke off a 39-yard run on
the Patriots first snap after the score to move the ball deep into
Broad Run territory. On 4th-and-1 from the Spartan 25, Johnston nudged
ahead for two yards and BR junior Kenny McAdow, a defensive leader and
a key blocker for Earl on offense, went down with a shoulder injury and
had to be helped off the field. McAdow would later return but he did
not carry the ball on the evening. In the first game, the Spartans had
running back Billy Rocca injured and he did not carry the ball Friday
as well. The bottom line: in the victory a week ago, McAdow and Rocca
combined for 13 carries and in Friday’s defeat they had none.

The
injury news got worse for the Spartans on the very next play as
McAdow’s inside linebacker mate, senior Dustin Locascio went down in
obvious pain from a knee injury while trying to stop Sedeski on a
reverse which appeared to be a pass play in which the speedy sophomore
kept the ball and danced along the sidelines for 11 yards. With the
concerned Spartan defenders urging Locascio to get up, the senior had
to be helped across the field by Burnett and another player. He did not
return to the game.

The shaken Broad Run defense was open up the
middle and Park View took advantage as Johnston picked up the remaining
12 yards on two carries, scoring through a big hole with 8:53 left in
the half to make it 10-6 Broad Run.

Park View, with Thomas
Mulabah doing some punishing running out of the backfield, got in
position to pad the lead but senior Clayton Parker, who had made a
25-yard field goal earlier to give Park View a 3-0 advantage, missed a
40-yard attempt.

Broad Run then drove inside the Park View 15
only to have Mulabah make a big tackle on Jessop for a 4-yard loss and
then have Patriot junior defensive back Josh Jones make a nice play on
3rd-and-9 from the PV 11 and then Park View senior linebacker David
Revsbeck was at the right place at the right time to defend a pass on
4th-an-9.

The Spartans, which had long snapping issues due to
injuries and had missed an extra point attempt, did not risk a field
goal try on either of those two drives.

At halftime, Park View,
which had adjusted its defense to stop Earl from having another
120-yard game like he had the previous week, went and switched back to
their normal alignment and that seemed to work as Earl was held to no
gain or a loss on four of his seven attempts in the second half.

“We came back to our base stuff after the half. The adjustments were great,” said Hill.

The
second half belonged to both defenses. BR tried a fake punt on
4th-and-9 from the Patriot 45 midway through the third quarter but the
PV defense was ready with Jessop thrown for a one-yard loss.

Park View gave the ball back two plays later on its only turnover of the night, a botched hook and lateral play.

Broad Run couldn’t take advantage as Patriot senior Nash Cook threw Shain for an 11-yard loss on 3rd-and-13 from the Spartan 41.

Park
View had not one but two fumbles on its next series but each was
recovered by the Pats. Foley bailed PV out with a booming punt that put
BR back on its 20 as the third quarter ticked down to a close.

Neither
team could move the ball and both went 3-and-out to start the final
quarter. Jessop, in at quarterback for Shain, rallied the Spartans and
put the huge crowd back into the game. On 3rd-and-9 from the BR 24,
Jessop found Ryan Diviney for a big 48-yard gain.

Three plays
later, Jessop rolled out of the pocket right, bravely took a hit right
in the face mask as he released the ball for Flemming. Leizear had an
opportunity to pick off the pass but it slipped through his fingers and
Flemming cradled the ball like a baby for the score to put BR ahead.

Leizear
spent about two seconds with his head down and then clapped a couple of
times and gave himself a pep talk. Leizear and Park View, which had
lost last year on a heartbreaking last-second field goal to Louisa,
knew there was plenty of time left in the contest for a comeback.

Johnston
called the Patriots playoff experience, having made the trip to the
first round for three straight years, “big time” and that they knew
that “it ***** having a taste in your mouth after losing.”

Even
after the back-breaking score by PV and the fumble by BR, the Spartans
kept at it and forced the Patriots to turn the ball over on downs at
the Spartan 46 with 42 seconds still left. It didn’t help that PV had
missed opportunities to put the game away on Leizear to Sedeski slant
routes that went incomplete both times and stopped the clock.

The
Patriot defense was up to the task, however, as Jessop went deep on the
first play and Johnston was able to get a hand on it and senior Ryan
Pick made the pick and the celebration from Ashburn all the way back to
Sterling was on.

“It feels like we should just keep playing,” said Burnett. “It was almost the same game (as last week).”

Indeed,
in two games, the separation between the two teams was incredibly thin
with BR piling up 522 total yards and PV 527 yards.

Next week:
The final score was still up on the BR scoreboard and Park View was
already thinking ahead to Sherando. BR kept the Patriots from throwing
a TD pass in both games and that has to be a concern. “We have to get
back to more of our air attack,” said Hill.