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Broad Run earns spot in regional final
Broad Run High School saw its football team earn a post-season win for the first time since the first Bush administration when the Spartans downed the Loudoun County Raiders 47-28 on a misty, foggy evening Nov. 14 in Ashburn.
Breon Earl wasted no time in setting the tone for the game, returning the opening kickoff nearly 80 yards to the Raiders' 10-yard line. Two plays later, Earl took a pitch off right tackle and zoomed in for the first of Broad Run's six first-half touchdowns.
Earl made his presence felt in all three aspects of the game. Defensively, his break-up on third down of a sure first-down catch killed a potential Raider drive and gave the Spartans the field position to set up their second score.
"That's what Breon plays like every Friday night," Burnett said. "I love the kid. I love him like a son, 'cause he never lets us down, he never quits. Every big game, he shows up."
Quick scores from defense and special teams in the second quarter separated the Spartans (11-0) from the Raiders (6-5).
After County's Chase Williams plowed up the middle to cut his team's deficit to seven, upback David Weaver caught the short kickoff, found a seam and ran it back 70 yards to the house.
On the ensuing drive, Mikey Cotton brought down a tipped Joe Bushrod pass and carried it the other way 35 yards to put the home team up 21.
An improbable 34-yard reception by Adrian Flemming -- who has a habit of making improbable receptions -- gave the Spartans the 27-point advantage they enjoyed at halftime.
Broad Run quarterback Chris Jessop lofted a deep spiral to the right front corner of the end zone. The County defensive back turned around to face the ball, which sailed just over his leaping stretch and off Flemming's chest. For the briefest of moments the ball and Flemming traveled downward together before lightning-fast hands snapped the oblong from the air before it could land incomplete.
"We have a lot of playmakers. It's very hard to catch up with our kids at times," Burnett said.
Many of those playmakers became spectators during the second half, in which Earl and running mate T.J. Peeler did not touch the ball on offense. Peeler produced two rushing touchdowns on the night, covering 80 yards on 12 carries.
Jessop completed just one pass on the night, that being the scoring strike to Flemming. He and backup Tim Miscovich combined to throw all of five passes, four of them before halftime. Contrastingly, the Spartans executed 37 running plays.
The Raiders never quit. Andrew Walczak burst through for 106 of his 181 rushing yards in the second half, including one drive in which he carried the ball on eight consecutive plays, gaining five first downs and a touchdown.
Loudoun County quarterback Joe Bushrod, like Walczak playing in his final high school football game, performed several dazzling displays of acrobatics in eluding Broad Run's incessant pass rush. Excluding four sacks, Bushrod rushed eight times for 41 yards, but did allow two interceptions and a lost fumble.
"Bushrod just played great. He had to have made five or six people miss. I just tip my hat to him in making plays and scrambling and keeping plays alive," Burnett said. "They played with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. They didn't quit when they got down three quick scores."
But it is Broad Run moving on to the Region II final, and it will be another Dulles brethren who will provide the opposition. Over in Sterling, Potomac Falls bested James Wood by nine points to set up a rematch of the top two records in the Dulles District.
The Spartans dismantled the Panthers 38-0 in Ashburn on Oct. 24.
Burnett believes his team has the physical and mental attributes to continue its playoff success.
"We really are very focused right now on what we want. I think we think that when we play well, this team has the ability to play with anybody in the state. And we want to prove that. We really do. We want to play for three more weeks."
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