Good morning...er afternoon everyone. After being heckled by one Mr. Dave Scarangella, I was trying my best to get this up on a Monday morning instead of afternoon. But interviews conspired against me and once again I missed that noon cutoff. I guess I should expect another email making fun of my poor morning posting habits.

I'm going to format this a little differently with Matt Brooks still out of action and also after getting Potomac Falls Coach Scott Woodlief on the phone this morning. We'll take a look at Potomac Falls first and then I'll do a run down of stuff from the other games. I think it'll probably end up looking more like Peter King's MMQB than our usual stuff. And I love reading Peter King so hopefully this works out just as well.

Prior to the season, Potomac Falls coach Scott Woodlief surprised some when he came out and said that he thought his Panthers team would be a major contender for the Dulles District title. After all, Potomac Falls was coming off of a 3-7 season.

But after three games this season, the Panthers are 3-0 and are among the most impressive teams in Loudoun, putting up points and registering impressive wins over talented teams like Martinsburg and Jefferson, both of West Virginia.

"They're excited, they have a goal that they set for the year and we always said we would see where we were after the three games against the West Virginia teams," Woodlief said in a phone interview this morning. "We were the first Loudoun team to beat Martinsburg and the kids are excited."

The Panthers have looked especially impressive on offense, putting up 138 points (46 per game) behind the standout play of QB Gregory Woodlief and RB Michael Baker.

Woodlief has passed for 510 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another 240 yards and four scores, while Baker has found the end zone nine times while rushing for 438 yards and grabbing another 95 yards receiving. The two have excelled in a balanced offense in which the pass often sets up the run, and Woodlief's dual threat capabilities have also opened things up for the Panthers.

Scott Woodlief said he feels Baker has surprised people this season with his play.

"I think Michael [Baker] has shocked a lot of people in running the football," Woodlief said. "I don't think they knew Michael as that type of tailback. I think he's got great vision. Does he have great speed in the 4.4 and 4.3 40-range? He doesn't have that. But he has vision and sees daylight. He'll stick his nose in there and get you three or four yards and might turn three or four into 44."

Scott Woodlief also praised his son, Gregory, for his leadership at quarterback and credited his offensive and defensive line for helping turn the program this season.

"I'll tell you the truth I'm really really surprised with how the offensive line has really glued together and the defensive line," Woodlief said. "That was our sticky situation in things that we had to look at. But the offensive line is doing a great job of giving protection and opening holes in the run game. The defensive line is getting off the ball. I think if you win the line of scrimmage you win football games and we try to emphasize that here. ... It's showing on Friday night they're getting after it."

The Panthers have a bye week this Friday before a huge Week 1 match-up with undefeated Heritage to start the district season. It's a game Woodlief said he felt would take all 48 minutes to decide and would likely come down to one big play. "I don't know if they have a weakness," he said. "It's going to be a really, really good game."

But as they prepare for the Pride, Woodlief's Panthers seem to be living up to the large expectations placed on them by their coach early this season. And for Woodlief, the belief he expressed early this season has not faded. Asked how confident he felt in his team, the coach had a simple answer.

"Confident as I can get," he said.

AROUND THE COUNTY

-- Stone Bridge continues to prove that they are one of the most efficient and dangerous offenses in the area -- perhaps ever -- something I hope to take a look at later today for tomorrow's paper. A 63-0 mandhandling of Marshall was just another game for the Bulldogs, with Patrick Thompson lighting it up through the air and the secondary turning in an outstanding performance. It's amazing that this team puts up the number of points that they do in usually just over two quarters of work.

-- What a huge, huge win for Park View. Down late in the fourth quarter and with little time remaining, it was looking like a tough 0-3 start to the season for the Patriots. Instead, Brandon Lee pulls of a great play after dropping a snap to pick up the first down, injures his shoulder and gives way to backup Sawyer Hackett and the next thing you know Park View is driving and wins it on a touchdown pass to a receiver in the wrong place at the right time. I think Coach Andy Hill said it best after the game when he talked about everything with a young team being magnified. A win like this, in the manner in which they did it, can really help turn a season around and re-energize a team for the district season.

-- I saw former Park View assistant and current Loudoun Valley head coach Danny McGrath while covering the Patriots' game and had a chat with him about the Vikings, who had a tough 48-0 loss to a very talented Woodbridge team. It was a difficult game for Valley, which is still trying to come together as a team early on and faces a tough back-to-back stretch with No. 11 Woodbridge and No. 4 Stone Bridge back to back. You can't expect great results against teams that talented, especially under a first year coach who took over in a sort of unconventional manner, but after talking to McGrath I continue to feel that there is growth going on in that team and it will be interesting to see how they fare once they hit their district schedule.

-- Heritage pulled out another win over Brentsville, again getting a big night from Ross Madison, who carried the ball 31 times for 213 yards and a touchdown. That 31 carries should put a smile on the face of Matt Brooks, who was heckled in the comments for giving too many carries to the senior in his Top Performer predictions. It means even more to Heritage, which is now 3-0 and looking forward to a huge match-up with Potomac Falls in Week 1. Madison will again be the key in that game, as Heritage likely will look to control the clock and keep Potomac Falls offense off the field.

-- Briar Woods downed Manassas Park 28-0 on Friday behind a tremendous performance from the defense, which held Manassas Park to just 22 yards of total offense. Austin Fratalli had a big night, throwing for two touchdowns and Jeremy Gray turned in a strong performance with six catches for 109 yards and a score. You've got to like what you're seeing right now if you're a Falcons fan and that Briar Woods-Broad Run district opener in two weeks is looking better and better.

-- Loudoun County rebounded nicely from its loss to Handley to pull out a win over James Wood, 23-20. Michael Ayoub had five catches for 150 yards, continuing his strong season, and Joe Bushrod threw for 248 yards and rushed for two touchdowns to lead the Raiders. You can read about it in the Loudoun Times-Mirror here. I'm not counting County out for anything yet -- even with the loss to Handley -- and think that they'll be right in the thick of things as we go through the district season.

-- Dominion is having a tough start to the season in year one under Karl Buckwalter, losing 38-0 to Millbrook. Deandre Reaves continues to be a stellar performer for the Titans, but it seems the Titans are really struggling and it will be interesting to see how much they're able to grow as they rebuild this year.

Only one more week until the district season starts, with several teams resting on a bye. We'll be out at Broad Run - Brentsville for the Game of the Week this week, and we have a video preview up on that linked under the Game of the Week graphic on the sports front. As I say in that analysis, I think this is a week where coaches are fine tuning their teams prior to the start of the season, and it's a chance to look for improvement in key areas in which teams maybe have not been as sharp in the early goings. We'll break all that down later in the week, likely in the Thursday Throwdown. So stay tuned.

And of course, if you have any recommendations for tomorrow's Top Performers, send recommendations to tenoriop@washpost.com or Matt.Brooks@wpni.com.