By: Dan Sousa
Ashburn (Oct. 8, 2006) – Briar Woods High School wasn’t about to let a little weather spoil its first-ever varsity homecoming Friday night as the Falcons stuck to their game time while others postponed until Monday. The weather actually turned out to cooperate as it was a bit miserable but not as dire as predicted. The same can’t be said for the Heritage Pride, which did not cooperate at all, as they put a damper on the festivities with a 16-0 non-district win over Briar Woods.
The Pride scored while most fans were still trying to dry off their seats as Sean McCoy took an option pitch from quarterback Kyle Nelson on the second play from scrimmage and the senior running back utilized a great seal block from tight end Zak Burkhard to turn the corner and he was untouched the rest of the way as he out-sprinted the Falcon secondary for a 72-yard score.
The Falcon faithful had to have their hearts in their throats given that Park View’s Deric Dudinski rushed for 406 yards and six touchdowns the week before, but Briar Woods held firm the rest of the evening, giving up yardage to the Pride but no more offensive touchdowns.
Heritage utilized a roughing the punter penalty in the second quarter to turn a stalled drive into a 35-yard James Mallon field goal. And that is where the game stood until Burkhard put the finishing touches on things by picking off an Alex Munro pass in the fourth quarter and returning it 14 yards for a touchdown. Munro, who didn’t complete a pass in the first half but did throw for 104 yards in the second half, was pressured all night by Burkhard and the tenacious Pride defense.
“Our offensive line had a hard time handling their defensive pressure,” said Briar Woods coach Charlie Pierce. “That No. 44 is a heck of a linebacker.”
No. 44 is Burkhard and he finished the night with two interceptions, a sack, two quarterback hurries, six solo tackles and eight assists.
“Burkhard is a coach’s dream,” said Heritage coach Wes Driskill. “He gives you everything he’s got. He’s a leader on the field. If you looked in the dictionary under football player, you would probably see a picture of him.”
The combination of the Pride pressure, the good secondary work of Bryan McCarthy, who had an interception in the first half and a touchdown-saving tackle in the second half, and the elements — it was tough to throw in those quarters when the teams were facing the open end of the field and a whipping wind — kept the Falcons passing attack under wraps. Briar Woods receiver Tim King came into the game averaging three catches and nearly 60 yards a game but he was shut out. Devin Barber did have a big night with 80 yards receiving on four catches.
Just as Heritage kept King in check, the Falcons were able to prevent any big plays from Heritage’s Bobby Edmonds. The Pride speed burner came into the game averaging four catches and 85 yards per game but he was limited to just one catch for four yards and an 18-yard run Friday.
“That is a good team over there. As I said earlier when we were 4-0, there was a daunting task ahead of us,” said Pierce. “I’m proud we came back. They were district co-champs and we kept them at bay somewhat.”
Heritage, still playing without running back Chris McCalla, who has been out with a injury the past several weeks but is expected back when the Pride faces Park View next week, unveiled a new look in their option attack and it worked better than the running scheme had been working earlier this year.
“This was our best performance this year running the ball. We had a lot of good reads. A lot of good runs,” said Driskill. “We had miscues here and there that stopped drives but we took a good step tonight.”
McCoy finished with 121 yards rushing on 12 carries and the Pride had nearly200 yards rushing, though their official totals were cut down by a half dozen Falcon sacks on Nelson for 34 lost yards.
Heritage threatened to blow the game open early as the Pride drove inside the Falcon 10 the second time they got the ball. A botched hand-off and a blocking in the back call, however, moved the Pride back and Mallon missed on a 32-yard field goal attempt against the wind.
Briar Woods fought a losing field position battle in the first half, as the Falcons spent most of their possession inside their own 30 and it took a Heritage fumble at midfield with 3:56 to go in the half for the Falcons to finally cross over into Pride territory.
On 2nd-and-8 from the Pride 45, however it was Burkhard again putting a halt to things, this time, throwing Sean Leach for a 4-yard loss on a sweep attempt. Leach managed just 18 yards on 11 attempts and Briar Woods as a team was held to 29 yards rushing on 30 attempts.
Another sweep got the four yards back. On 4th-and-8, Pierce had his team try a bit of trickery as they did the muddle huddle instead of punt formation but the Pride defense was prepared and they held Munro to two yards on the play.
Briar Woods almost got right back in the game to start the second half as Munro connected with Barber on the first play of the third quarter. Barber grabbed the ball 15 yards downfield, made a move to avoid a tackle and was headed for six until McCarthy raced from across the field to drag the Falcon down. The 37-yard play put Briar Woods on the Pride 41 but back-to-back motion penalties let the air out of any momentum. Both teams were flagged nine times each in the game.
On 3rd-and-15 from the Heritage 46, Munro tired to make something happen but McCarthy picked off the pass and he returned the ball 45 yards but that was wiped out by a Pride penalty on the return.
The Falcon defense dug in and held the Pride to three-and-out and Heritage, forced to punt against the wind, gave the Falcons good field position at their own 43.
Briar Woods put its best drive of the night together, going 38 yards on 10 plays. Leach picked up three yards off right tackle on 4th-and-2 to keep things going and Munro hit Barber for 15 yards on 3rd-and-11. That play moved the ball to the Pride 32 and on the next play, Munro found tight end Chris Wade for 10 more yards. Two plays later, however, Briar Woods fumbled the ball away with McCoy coming up with the ball.
Heritage wasn’t able to mount anything offensively in the second half but that didn’t matter as the fourth quarter started, the Pride used the wind as a weapon as punter Chris Rossie sent a punt 48 yards to put the Falcons back on their 13.
Pride defensive coach Jason “Choppy” Burke instructed Burkhard, who had spent most of his night leaning into a gap so he could plunge into the backfield upon the snap, to go ahead and play back off the snap as Munro was now in a shotgun formation. Burke’s position was spot on as two plays later, Munro tried to find a receiver over the middle and Burkhard stepped in front, snagged the pass and easily went into the end zone untouched for the score.
Briar Woods (4-2) will play the Potomac School this coming Thursday, in a game moved up a day from the original schedule while Heritage (3-2) most travel to Sterling to take on Park View in a match-up of the two teams that shared the Dulles District title last year.
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