A showdown against the undefeated Yorktown High School Patriots and poor weather could not dampen the spirits of Falls Church High School fans last Friday: It was the Jaguars’ homecoming game. But the Jaguars were in for a scoreless night against a team that would remain undefeated with a 48-0 win.
The 7-0 Patriots came to this game after narrowly defeating Langley High School by a score of 24-14; the Jaguars were coming off of their 41-6 victory over the Wakefield High School Warriors. But the Patriots arrived at Jaguar stadium ranked in the All-Met top 20.
The Patriots began demolishing the Jaguars early, and would continue to throughout the game. Senior Micah Gregory began the opening attack for the Patriots. On the first drive for the Jaguars, he picked off junior quarterback Adam Daly. All-Met and highly scouted running back Junior M.J. Stewart finished the drive for the Patriots, punching in from four yards out.
The Jaguars were able to stop the Patriots from scoring the rest of the first quarter, but couldn’t muster an offense.
The Patriots continued their attack on the Jaguars in the second quarter, beginning with a 70-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Will Roebuck to senior running back Arturo Brown. After a failed extra-point kick, the Patriots held a 13-0 lead over the Jags only moments into the second quarter.
After three failed offensive attempts, the Jaguars were forced to punt to a waiting Stewart. After catching the punt, he proved why he is as highly scouted as he is. He took the punt back 82 yards for another Yorktown touchdown, extending their lead to 20-0. Stewart would finish the game with 116 yards on 10 carries and three touchdowns, putting his season total at 20.
The Patriots went on to score once more in the second quarter with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Roebuck to senior receiver Nick Yore. The score at the half was 27-0.
The Jaguars had few signs of life against the well-balanced offensive and defensive efforts of the Patriots. Junior linebacker Ronny Khalek was able to recover the one Patriot blunder, a fumble by Roebuck. Even with the good placement from the fumble recovery, the Jaguars were unable to put anything together due to the tough defense of the Patriots.
The Jaguars couldn’t string together a set of positive plays, but the Patriots could – they were able to score three more times in the third quarter with touchdowns on a 48-yard run by Stewart, and three-yard runs by Brown and junior fullback Greg Dalzell. The final score was 48-0.
The disappointed 2-6 Jaguars will attempt to bounce back after the loss to the Patriots against the visiting 5-3 Hayfield High School Hawks.
