Timely Penalty Stroke Propels Saxons

Langley Pulls Out a 2-1 Victory Over Oakton On a Second-Half Penalty Stroke by Senior Midfielder Faith Adams to Remain Undefeated

When the whistle blew Monday afternoon at Langley, there was no discussion among the Saxons players or coaching staff.

For starters, they didn’t need an explanation.

They all knew that when junior Katy Wingo, one of three Saxons sprinting toward Oakton’s goal on a breakaway, was tripped inside the box that the whistle meant there would be a penalty stroke awarded.

And they didn’t need to talk about who would take it, either.

	“Most of the time I tell them that whoever wants to take it, if they feel good about it, for them to step up and take the stroke,” Langley Coach Jennifer Robb said. “It’s a great thing. I’ve got several great captains who are all capable of taking strokes.” So senior co-captain Faith Adams offered only a nod in the direction of senior co-captain Katie Knapp, the other most likely candidate to take the shot, before stepping center-field and turning to square off against Oakton senior goalie Michelle Covington, who stood a mere seven yards away. But although Knapp said she had “100 percent confidence” that Adams would make the stroke and give the Saxons the lead, Adams’ said the decision wasn’t made out of confidence at all. It was a matter of sheer determination.
Langley senior defender Haley Blood looks on as fellow senior defender Lauren Canning battles Oakton senior midfielder Devin Grimm for a ball Monday.

“It was so scary,” Adams said. “We wanted so bad to stay undefeated. Plus, Michelle is one of my good friends so that made it more intense. She’s on my club team, so I was scared because I know she’s really good at strokes. And on top of it all, she knows where I go.”

But that knowledge wasn’t enough to save Covington or the Cougars. Adams fired a shot to the top right corner of the net to break open a tie game and give the Saxons a 2-1 lead with 9:03 to play. Langley, despite being outplayed in many areas, held on for its ninth consecutive victory of the season.

“The penalty stroke took us out of our game a little bit,” said Oakton Coach Lizzie McManus, whose team fell to 5-4 on the year. “We had the momentum going for us and I believe we were the better team. But it came out of our hands … and we couldn’t get back on top.

“We dominate every game … we have more shots, more corners. But we can’t finish. I think we’re doing everything right but putting that period on the end of the sentence. … It’s frustrating, because we don’t know what to fix.”

Indeed, the Cougars, who were led by senior Ashley Kimener and junior Pilar Lopez-Gomez, recorded eight shots to the Saxons’ two. They also totaled four corners, including three in the second half, to Langley’s three.

“Oakton is a fabulous team, and they came out here and really had our number,” Robb said. “They were outplaying us for a large portion of that game. They had more opportunities than we did, but when got it when it counted. … We only had two shots but we made sure they went in the back of the net.”

Langley got on the board first when Adams fed Knapp, who was open in front of the left corner of the goal, with 25:09 remaining in the opening half.

“It was all Faith,” Knapp insisted. “I love playing with her, and we really do work well together.”

But Oakton responded, knotting the score at 1 on an unassisted shot by senior forward Brittany Krout less than two minutes later. The Cougars quick score seemed to catch the unbeaten Saxons, who had not played a game in 11 days, by surprise.

“We were unprepared when they came back and scored that goal on us,” Robb said. “We just weren’t doing a very good job transitioning the ball up and getting in the circle. We usually do a great job passing the ball, and that’s one thing that we weren’t doing as great a job of today. They were double- and triple-teaming us all over the field and we weren’t making our quick passes.

“I think that having a week off in between games made it difficult because we weren’t seeing things as well.”

Most of the second half was played in front of Langley’s goal, prompting Robb to call a time out with 14:42 remaining. She delivered a fiery speech to her players, imploring them to get wide and keep their sticks down low. She also told then that if they wanted to remain undefeated, they needed to pick it up.

The Saxons responded, and with less than 10 minutes remaining they played great defense on a Cougars’ corner before taking off on a breakaway toward Oakton’s goal. Knapp, Wingo and senior forward Morgan Danner had only one player to beat, but she drew the tripping penalty in the circle before Langley could get off a shot.

The call set up Adams’ game-winning shot.

“The best thing about our team is that we all just really, really want to win,” said Adams, one of 10 seniors who start for the Saxons. “We have that attitude. I mean, we have really good skill and team work, too, but I think it’s the drive we have to win that matters most.”

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Week 2 Friday Football Round-Up

Big Second Half Sparks Herndon to a 36-21 Victory over South Lakes; Stout Offensive Line Leads No. 8 Madison to a 21-10 Win Over No. 7 Yorktown; Annandale QB Cason Kynes Leads No. 9 Atoms to Convincing 35-20 Victory over No. 10 Oakton

By Marcus Greene
Herndon High Senior
Sports Editor, Herndon Stinger

Herndon’s final play from scrimmage was a short, 2-yard handoff up-the-middle to senior running back Chris Winston. The straight shot up the gut, on which South Lakes made a quick stop, was one of the few plays Friday night when Winston didn’t break free.

Winston’s four touchdowns, including three in the second half, proved the driving force behind the Hornets’ 36-21 victory over the host Seahawks.

“Beating South Lakes is huge,” Winston yelled as he headed toward the locker room with the rest of his teammates.

	On the first drive of the game, a miscommunication by the Seahawks’ offense led to a fumble by South Lakes senior quarterback Scott Reed, who otherwise turned in a solid performance. Herndon was quick to capitalize on the good field position, with senior quarterback Paolo Montalban finding a wide-open Brendan O’Conner, a senior tight end, in the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. Herdon’s defense promptly shut down South Lakes’ attack, forcing them into a three-and-out. But a muffed punt gave the ball right back to the Seahawks, and a few plays later Reed found senior wide receiver Thomas Mayo in the end zone to knot the score at 7. The Hornets’ next possession ended much like their first one started, with a fumble recovery taken to the house by senior defensive back A.J. Price that struck silence into the Herndon crowd at Patricia A. Bergan Stadium in Reston and sent the home fans into a continued frenzy.
A Madison player looks to cool off on what was a hot — and highly-contested — night of football around the Northern Region.

An exchange of failed possessions followed before Herndon (1-1) found the end zone again midway through the second quarter on a 7-yard scamper by Winston. But the quarter didn’t end without some fireworks.

Getting the ball back at its own 21-yard-line, South Lakes (1-1) used a nice pitch play to move the ball into Herndon territory. A fantastic catch by senior running back Devron Smith went for naught, though, as the grab at the Herndon 20 game as time expired.

Looking beaten down — and lucky to be sitting tied at 14 — Herndon came out explosive in the second half. The opening kickoff was run back for a score by Winston, but a holding penalty negated the run. It didn’t make much of a difference, though, as Winston would later pile in for a score on the drive.

Herndon Coach Joe Sheaffer decided to go for the two-point conversion instead of kicking the extra point, and it paid off. Montalban ran it in on the play to give Herndon a 22-14 lead.

Winston would find the end zone two more times, and Herndon stepped up its play on the defensive side of the ball as well. After South Lakes pulled within 29-21, Winston’s final touchdown secured the Hornets’ victory.

No. 8 Madison 21, No. 7 Yorktown 10

By Jimmy Thomas
DigitalSports.com

Madison Coach Gordon Leib has said that the success of his team will depend on the play of its interior linemen.

So far, so good.

Coming off a huge win last week in the Outback Challenge at Oakton, Madison (2-0) this week defeated Yorktown, 21-10, in its home opener. Using a double-wing offensive attack, the Warhawks consistently pounded the ball between the tackles using a slew of different ball-carriers, highlighted by senior Brendan Ginley.

Ginley finished with 105 yards rushing on 15 carries, including touchdown runs of 27 and 7 yards, respectively.

Yorktown, coming off a Northern Region playoff appearance a year ago and a blow out of Wilson (D.C.) last week, struggled to get things started Friday night. Though senior quarterback Tim Reynolds completed 8-of-13 passes for 105 yards, nearly every promising drive either ended in a turnover or was stalled by penalties.

The Patriots (1-1) did get a 42-yard field goal by first-year, senior kicker Brian Sims, and junior running back Kyle Toulouse scored from 1-yard out in the third quarter to narrow Madison’s lead to four. But the Warhawks scored on its ensuing possession and were able to run the clock out.

No. 9 Annandale 35, No. 10 Oakton 20

By Phil Murphy
DigitalSports.com

Annandale junior quarterback Cason Kynes proved his inaugural start as the Atoms’ new signal-caller was no fluke as he captains his team to a convincing, 35-20 victory over visiting Oakton.

The Cougars toppled the Atoms in the final game of the regular-season in 2006, 20-10, thanks to the heroics of Oakton wide receiver Ervin Garner, now at Virginia Tech.

Kynes (8-of-14, 167 yards, 3 touchdowns) led the Atoms on scoring drives on three of their first five possessions, highlighted by his picture-perfect connection with senior Eric Cabellos on a steak pattern for an 89-yard score with just under four minutes left in the first half.

“He’s been fantastic,” longtime Annandale Coach **** Adams said of Kynes. “Simply fantastic. [Cason’s] doing a great job.”

The Atoms (2-0) would extend their lead to  35-7 with two minutes remaining in the third quarter when Kynes this time hooked up with newly-acquired Jordan Anderson, a summer transfer from Arkansas, on an 18-yard score. Anderson, a junior, finished with 151 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns on just 16 touches.

Oakton (0-2) mounted an impressive rally against Annandale’s first-team defense in the games’ final minutes, but the hosts held firm. The Atoms stuffed the Cougars’ 3rd-and-goal rushing attempt at the 1-yard line as the final seconds ran off the clock.

*If you are a Northern Region high school student and are interested in contributing content on your high school team to DigitalSports in the form of stories, photos or videos, please contact Content Editor Angela Watts at awatts@digitalsports.com. DigitalSports will be awarding a $1,000 scholarship at the end of each high school sports season to the Northern Region student who contributes the best content on the most consistent basis.

Football Top 10 — Week 1

The Top Four Preseason Teams Hold Strong Through the Opening Week of the 2007 Season; Madison and Annandale Join the Ranks

* DigitalSports’ Top 10 was chosen by staff members Angela Watts,
Jimmy Thomas and Phil Murphy.