It has been said on here Centreville is not as good as they were last year

[GurskyT]

Even if that were true, it doesn't look like the team they have this year is too far behind their state title squad from last year.

Patriot - thought they played valiantly in the first half battling back from being down 28-7 to putting the game in reach at 31-21 going into halftime. Game went as I expected it to though. Competitive first half, but Centreville pulled away very quickly in the third quarter. I was surprised how well Patriot was able to run the ball on Centreville in the first half. Patriot QB Agnew was under pressure throughout the night and the coverage was there as well for Centreville, as they intercepted four passes and kept Matthew in check. He did make a great touchdown catch in double coverage for Patriot's first score of the night.

Centreville kicked off to Patriot to open the second half, but the ball was left exposed and Centreville recovered deep in Patriot territory and that is when the points started to pour in. The knock on Patriot coming into this game was their lack of defense, but they did come up with stops forcing Centreville to punt on several drives. However, the mistakes they made on offense often gave Centreville a shorter field to work with. Although, Centreville would have moved the ball from any point on the field last night. One drive it took them just two plays to go 80+ yards.

Could not believe how fast Turner was in the open field. First play of the game. 60 yard touchdown run. Not very long after that, 50+ yard touchdown run. He follows his blocks really well, kicks it into another gear and just outruns the whole pack. He looks to have very good balance and sheds tacklers very well. He, Boose, Nickens-Yzer, and Tutt make that offense such a diversified attack. Honestly, whoever plays Centreville in the coming week(s) should treat their offense as an explosive spread-type offense that needs to be kept off the field. They've scored what, 170+ points in the past three weeks? With Turner back, they are just as explosive with as much big-play capability as any spread offense in the state.

Not saying Centreville is suddenly an unbeatable team, but they did look explosive tonight. I think they're going to come across a Battlefield team that is going to play a full four quarters next week though.

 

[1amishfootballfan]

Well, until they had Turner back they were not as good. Ferrick at QB is merely pedestrian and their defense is certainly not on the same level as last year.




Patriot showed some fight at the end of the first half. Centreville's defense had no answer to the
suddenly successful Pioneer running game.
Their last TD drive to come within 28-21 was all runs - no passes. Tutt and Turner did a fantastic job of
shutting down the Patriot passing game, but then the run defense wasn't getting
it done.


The outcome was never in doubt in my mind, but I did think
Patriot might make it interesting if they could get points on their first
possession of the second half.
Unfortunately for them no one attempted to field the second half KO for
the Pioneers and Centreville pounced on the ball and had a short field. Although the Patriot held them to a FG that
pretty much effectively ended any fight that Patriot had left. They simply made zero plays in the second half
and Centreville's defense was stifling.


This does bring one to the clear observation from the
game: RB AJ Turner is simply one of the most
dynamic high school players I have ever seen.
His quickness, speed and power are overwhelming at the high school level. I don't see how Centreville can lose with
Turner in the game. He was unstoppable last night.


P.S. Patriot brought
a fairly large and enthusiastic crowd to the game. It was a pleasure to see the fans having so
much fun at a football game. Hat's off
to them on a nice season and building a great program in such a short period of
time.

 

[BlueFan]

Centreville was doing fine in the first half until with 5 or 6 minutes left, with a 21-7 lead, and that was when things started to unravel for the Centreville team. Centreville started missing the great opportunities to score additional touchdowns to put the game away. All of suddenly they stopped trying to rush for additional touchdowns and tried to pass instead. The easy way. The defense had become porous and the Centreville defense had large gaps at the line of scrimmage that Patriot exposed. The Centreville team seemed to have become complacent; they seemed to expect Patriot to drop down and roll over dead. That was when Patriot struck back. In the last 5 minutes before halftime, Patriot struck for two quick touchdowns, and, all of sudden, Centreville was barely leading 28-21. With a FG before halftime, Centreville led 31-21. It was obvious that Patriot had taken the momentum away from Centreville, and things were not looking good for the second half. The Centreville defense certainly looked like a scared dog running with its tail between its hind legs. That was how I saw it. The halftime couldn't have come at a better time. I think this is where the lack of leadership in Centreville's defense was showing.

I don't know what the Centreville coaching staff did during the halftime, but the Centreville team was a completely different team in the second half. The defense stepped up their game, and the offensive team stayed on the ground most of the time and took incredibly many unbelievable opportunities to score more touchdowns from great field positions (deep in Patriot's territory, thanks to the defense). It was also unbelievable that the Centreville offense scored 62 points in the game; you don't do that against a great team like Patriot.

What I cannot understand is why Patriot "went for it" on fourth downs so many times and failed. You can't do that in playoffs against strong teams. Finally, in the fourth quarter, already so far behind in the game, Patriot started punting the ball. But the damage was already done.

My hat off to the Patriot team who had a great season. Everyone on the team was outstanding, as several made all-conference teams.

#1 WR Nick Mathews - the most watched Patriot player in the game
#11 WR Corey Coyne - another great WR
#12 QB Cody Agnew - great QB, greatly admired by Centreville fans
#4 RB Jake Caparella - really an amazing RB who gave Centreville defense a hard time
#33 RB JB Thompson - another amazing RB who gave Centreville defense a hard time

I wish I could recognize more Patriot players but I don't know the Patriot team enough. It would be great if Patriot and Battlefield could play more Fairfax County teams during the regular season now that they are 6A North teams.

 

[BlueFan]

Originally posted by BlueFan:

I wish I could recognize more Patriot players but I don't know the Patriot team enough. It would be great if Patriot and Battlefield could play more Fairfax County teams during the regular season now that they are 6A North teams.

Maybe Patriot and Battlefield should join the Concorde District. This would be great for the Northern Virginia football.

 

[oldtimer448]

A scared dog? Patriot was running to the weak side and gashing the Cville defense. The second half they shifted a few players around and controlled the run game. Cville put a man over the top on Nick Mathews the whole game so that was one less up front to help the against the run. Cville lost their top linebacker a few games ago and the coaching staff is adjusting. Not excusing the D, just an observation. The onside kick helped as well, but not punting the ball was border line plain stupid. Maybe that is the way the play or the coach didnt think his D. was up to stopping Cville's O.

 

[BlueFan]

Originally posted by oldtimer448:
A scared dog? Patriot was running to the weak side and gashing the Cville defense. The second half they shifted a few players around and controlled the run game....

Patriot were hitting the defensive line where it hurt most. Centreville defensive players were returning to sideline showing faces of frustration and confusion. There was no sign of leadership to get the players back into the game. Thus, my remark about Centreville defense looking like a scared dog, not knowing what to do or where to go to. There was no fight in the scared dog.

In the second half, you could see the fight in the Centreville team, especially the defensive team. Of course, this brought up some flags. That is the big difference.

Against Patriot last night, #74 OL Justin Skule got angry at a Patriot player and had to be restrained by his teammates. That brought a flag for unsportsmanship. I have never seen Skule that angry before; he had been "too nice" in previous games. Vanderbilt (Skule has committed to Vanderbilt) has been after him to get more aggressive in the games.

 

[oldtimer448]

I couldn't see their faces because of where I was at the game. Wasn't Skule protecting his QB when he got the flag? I havent seen the reply on Gameday yet.

 

[Wonsley39]

1. #74 got the flag because he came in after a Centreville player went low on #45 Timmy Kennan (it just so happens to be their best defensive player) after away from the play so #45 gave him a deserved shot back which is when #74 came in, watch the
Gameday and you will see...the officials got that one right unlike the Offensive PI that was not called right before the end of the half, (15 yds&loss of down) which would have pushed them out of FG range

2. Patriot's very aggressive going for it on 4th down most of the time is what they do and have done all year, why change? you have to roll the dice against a team with far superior talent and they were behind much of the game also the converted several fourth downs too, the QB had to have an extraordinary game and he was far from that...

3. I was so pleased to see Centreville's QB running back and forth to get the plays from the coach, how funny...if they ran a full tilt offense and gave the ball to #23 most of the time well, I guess that would be too easy, they must like a challenge...

This post was edited on 11/22 11:38 AM by Wonsley39

 

[GurskyT]

After Patriot recovered the onside kick and scored the touchdown to make it 28-21, they should have kicked the ball deeper on the next kickoff. Instead, they attempted another onside kick which gave Centreville prime position to move into field goal range and make it 31-21. This didn't make a huge difference in how the game turned out, but since there was only maybe 45 seconds left in the game, wouldn't want to make it that easy for Centreville to tack on any extra points before the half.

I wouldn't criticize Patriot going for it on 4th down. If you recall, on that touchdown drive before halftime they successfully converted on a 4th down play that led them to that score. As Wonsley said, that is just the type of team they are. When they played Hylton earlier in the year, on their opening drive they converted two 4th down plays to drive and make the touchdown. I think that is just the confidence they have in their offense.

Originally posted by BlueFan:

It was also unbelievable that the Centreville offense scored 62 points in the game; you don't do that against a great team like Patriot.

Did not come all too much as a surprise to me that Centreville scored 62 points. I predicted they would put up 55. Patriot gave up a lot of points this year, including 49 points to Forest Park, 66 points to Hylton, not to mention eight touchdowns to one player in a game. Centreville scoring a lot of points in this game IMO was to be expected.

 

[TNC317]

This Centreville team is clearly not the same as last year for one reason, injuriess. But my hat must go off to the Centreville's coaching staff to be able to keep things together with what they had to and continue to endure this season with all the injuries. It appears that they have a system that is almost "plug and play".

As for AJ Turner, I too agree, he is the best HS football player I have ever seen. He has a combination of speed, strength, balance, patience, and intelligence that is unmatched. His ability to separate from defenders is a beauty to watch and amazing.

Last night Tutt may have had his best game of the season. The last touchdown of his, let everyone know of his special skill to go deep and go after any ball.

Defense woke up in the second half (locker room speech from Haddick?) Purely dominanted 3Q. Need to get healthy. Jordan Brooks and Love are missed. Defense needs to be able to plug those holes along the line that Patriot exploited in the first half.

Centreville Battlefield game will be a great game watch, two powerhouse teams that can score.