Stone Bridge Cruises Past Madison

Tough Defense, Big-Play Offense Keep No. 3 Bulldogs Undefeated

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Saturday, October 18, 2008

The main question facing Stone Bridge heading into Friday night’s Virginia AAA Liberty District matchup at Madison wasn’t whether the Bulldogs would win the game. The Warhawks had struggled mightily against their visitors, including playoff losses in each of the last two years. The bigger question was how the Bulldogs' defense would respond to the loss of defensive tackle Zach Thompson, who is out two-four weeks with a knee injury.

The No. 3 Bulldogs did just fine without their Wake Forest signee, suffocating Madison’s offense from the opening kickoff to the final seconds of a 35-0 victory.

Stone Bridge has lined up in a 4-3 defense this season, showcasing their great front four of Thompson, Virginia Tech signee David Wang, all-district honoree Jimmy Bradford and North Carolina State signee Brian Slay. In Thompson’s absence, they shifted to a three four, inserting senior Brian Burnett into the linebacking corps and failed to miss a beat.

The Bulldogs' defense held Madison (4-4, 3-2) without a first down in the opening half and limited them to 26 yards passing and 58 yards of total offense on the night.

"We knew we had to step up because we were one man down," Slay said. "So instead of running our normal four-man front we ran a three-man front and got another backer in there and that was big. Backers have been waiting to get their turn to play and with Zach going down they did a tremendous job of stepping up."

The Bulldogs (8-0, 5-0) got on the board early, finding the end zone on their opening possession on a nine-yard run by senior receiver Michael Prince.

Two possessions later, senior quarterback Patrick Thompson hit Prince for a 20-yard touchdown pass to give Stone Bridge a 14-0 lead, but Prince wasn't done yet.

A 25-yard Thompson touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Johnny Bladel put the Bulldogs up 21-0 at the half and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Thompson hit senior running back Daniel Allen for an 11-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead.

Prince capped the scoring with a 93-yard touchdown run. After getting a big block by a receiver on the outside, he outran everyone on the field and made it into the end zone untouched for his 13th touchdown of the season. In a Week One win against West Springfield, Prince had four scores.

"I was trying to get out there to get a fourth one," Prince joked. "But really it's all about our blocking. They were outstanding, creating holes for me to get through, so it was all them."

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Stone Bridge Routs Madison

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Stone Bridge's Michael Prince scores his second touchdown of the game in the second quarter against Madison. (Michael Temchine)

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Will Cybulski and Madison's offense found it tough to make any gains on Stone Bridge's defense on Friday night. (Michael Temchine)

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Stone Bridge's Daniel Allen had another strong performance Friday, rushing for 135 yards and making an 11-yard touchdown reception. (Michael Temchine)

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Allen was the workhorse of the offense against tough Madison defensive front, chipping away for chunks of yardage and finishing the night with 23 carries for 135 yards. Thompson was 14 of 26 for 185 yards, three TDs and one interception.

"We're getting better and better at getting him the ball now and trying to make him a guy that everybody has to focus on," Stone Bridge Coach Mickey Thompson said. "Tonight we weren't able to bust a lot but a lot of it was them. They played good sound defense and you've got to give them their credit, too."

If the Warhawks played a sound defensive game, the Bulldogs were nearly flawless, gang-tackling junior running back Sasha Vandalov at the line of scrimmage and forcing senior quarterback Will Clarkson into awkward throws on the run as he attempted to evade the Stone Bridge pressure.

Nowhere was the defensive dominance more apparent than on one series late in the fourth quarter. The Warharks were in the midst of their best drive of the night and following a facemask penalty on the Bulldogs, had a first-and-four on the Stone Bridge 9-yard line.

On the first play, Vandalov ran up the middle for two yards. Trevon Walker got another yard on the ground on the next play. But on third-and-one from the 6, the Bulldogs stuffed Vandalov for no gain, and then they did it again on fourth down.

"I just thought we took everything away on defense," Thompson said. "You've got to realize what kind of offense they run and very few people can slow them down like that. They're going to get their first downs – whether they score a lot of points or not, that's their problem – but they're going to get their first downs. They're going to get some push and they're going to move the ball a little bit and they virtually didn't move the ball at all tonight."

Two plays later, Prince was dashing down the field for his long touchdown run and another Stone Bridge victory was in the books. That's 21 in a row for the defending Virginia AAA Division 5 champions. Their next test comes when they host W.T. Woodson in two weeks in a matchup that should decide the Liberty District title.

"It all starts in the weight room," Slay said. "You've got to be big, strong and physical to stop their offense and hold them to no points. And it's just staying focused. As long as we stay focused we're going to be good, because we know we have a strong defense this year. As long as we stay focused we don't think anyone can score on us."

Tagged: football, high school sports, Stone Bridge High School

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