Stone Bridge Jumps on Marshall Early in Win

By Levi Chronister

Saturday, November 17, 2007

During the regular season, Stone Bridge football coach Mickey Thompson often pulled his starters in the second half with big leads and coasted to easy wins.

However, the postseason -- with neither mercy rule nor running clock and opponents playing to keep their seasons alive -- is a different beast.

The Bulldogs still walked off the field 49-29 winners over the Marshall Statesmen on Friday in Ashburn, but Thompson had to put his first teamers back in the game to pull off the AAA Northern Region Division 5 semifinal win.

"They've always done the job, and tonight they didn't," Thompson said of Stone Bridge's backups. "Unfortunately, I think they (the starters) should have gone a couple more series before I pulled them. In the playoffs you don't have a running clock so it's a lot longer game. I probably made a mistake there."

Any mistake Thompson made was erased by his first teamers, who scored on their first four possessions of the first half en route to a 28-0 lead. Three scoring runs -- Jeron Gouveia for a yard, Patrick Thompson for two yards and Matt Irwin for 71 -- led to a school-record 99-yard pass from Thompson to Gouveia, who caught the ball around the 20-yard line, shrugged off a pair of defenders at the 40-yard line and outraced the rest of the Statesman defense down the left sideline.

"I ran out of room on the sideline and two guys cut me off," Gouveia said, "so I kind of stopped with nowhere to go and I wanted to keep the play alive. I kind of juked to the middle, a couple of kids fell and then I was open again so I took it. I just saw some space on the sideline, went down the sideline and got some blocks downfield."

On the Bulldogs' final possession of the half, they were moving downfield yet again, but the clock expired before they could get into the end zone one more time.

That momentum carried through the halftime break, though, as Ryan Moody returned the opening kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown and a 35-0 advantage.

Mike Stancik picked off Harold Sweet for the second time on third down of the ensuing possession, but the Bulldogs couldn't take advantage as Ronnie Shaban just missed a 35-yard field goal attempt.

Coach Thompson then brought in the second-string and things began to unravel. Douglas Howell returned a punt 38 yards to the Bulldogs' 11-yard line before punching into the end zone two plays later for Marshall's first score.

The Statesmen recovered an onside kick, but fumbled the ball away six plays later. However, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs and Sweet scored on an eight-yard run to cut the deficit to 35-14 with just more than 10 minutes left.

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Marshall vs. Stone Bridge

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The Stone Bridge High marching band plays prior to the entrance of the Stone Bridge Bulldogs for Friday's game against the Marshall High Statesmen. (Emmy Crawford)

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The team captains for the Stone Bridge Bulldogs and the Marshall Statesmen meet at midfield for the coin toss before the game. (Emmy Crawford)

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Marshall quarterback No. 7 Harold Sweet prepares for the snap, flanked by the Statesmen offensive line. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge quarterback No. 6 Patrick Thompson dodges a tackle on a quarterback-keeper play in the first half against Marshall. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge running back No. 20 Daniel Allen stretches to make a first down during game play against Marshall. Allen had five carries for 17 total yards on the night. (Emmy Crawford)

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Marshall running back No. 42 Douglas Howell evades a Stone Bridge defender. Howell had 23 carries for 129 yards on the night. (Emmy Crawford)

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A Statesmen ball carrier is brought down by a pack of Bulldog defenders, including No. 3 Jeron Gouveia. Gouveia will play for Virginia Tech in the fall. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge quarterback No. 6 Patrick Thompson fades back to pass. Thompson had seven completions on 11 attempts, totaling 223 yards. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge running back No. 3 Jeron Gouveia tries to dodge Marshall defenders. (Emmy Crawford)

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Statesmen quarterback No. 7 Harold Sweet outruns Bulldog linebacker No. 18 Mike Olson while looking for an opening to pass. Sweet had nine completions on 30 attempts and threw four interceptions. (Emmy Crawford)

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Bulldog running back No. 20 Daniel Allen struggles to break the hold of a Statesmen defender in the second half. (Emmy Crawford)

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Statesmen running back Douglas Howell powers through the Bulldog defensive line to gain a first down. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge backup quarterback No. 12 Kyle Gouveia is brought down on a carry by Marshall inside linebacker No. 48 Craig Murphy. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge running back No. 3 Jeron Gouveia breaks through the Marshall defensive line using some fancy footwork. (Emmy Crawford)

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Marshall quarterback No. 7 Harold Sweet tries to avoid a sack in the final minutes of the game against Stone Bridge. (Emmy Crawford)

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Stone Bridge's second-team offense finally started moving the ball on its next possession, reeling off consecutive runs of 9, 17 and 8 yards. But on second-and-two from inside the Marshall 25-yard line, Chris Kamara fumbled on a carry up the middle and Sweet returned it 71 yards for a score, bringing the Statesmen within two touchdowns.

The Bulldogs' starters came back in the game at that point, with Irwin covering up an onside kick. Stone Bridge picked up two first downs on the ground, but Gouveia fumbled the ball back to Marshall after a long run up the middle.

The Virginia Tech signee made up for the error by picking off Sweet along the sideline two plays later, and Patrick Thompson hit Moody behind the Statesmen defense on the next play for a 38-yard touchdown.

Down 42-21 with about three minutes remaining, Marshall still had an outside shot of tying or even taking the lead, but John Bladel intercepted a Sweet pass on the second play of the next drive and returned it 45 yards for the clinching score.

"I think we're playing extremely well," coach Thompson said of his starters. "Hopefully they keep making those plays because we're going to have to score some points to beat Edison."

That's Thomas A. Edison High, which defeated James Madison High, 45-26, Friday in the other Division 5 semifinal behind 110 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns and 152 passing yards by quarterback Ben Barber. Stone Bridge will face Edison in the regional finals.

"I haven't seen them at all, so I don't even know what to expect," Thompson said of the Eagles. "I don't know what they're doing with Barber at quarterback. I haven't seen anything. It'll be interesting to see how we can contain him and keep that one under control."

Irwin finished with 113 yards on four carries, and Patrick Thompson added 25 yards on the ground along with 7-of-11 passing for 223 yards and two scores, giving him a school-record 22 touchdowns on the season.

Gouveia finished with a team-high 110 receiving yards, and Moody caught two passes for 68 yards.

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks