October 8, 1999

October 8, 1999

Eagles show who owns G'town

Photo by Galen A. Lentz/The Gazette Seneca Valley¹s Anthony Pierouchakos (6) outleaps Northwest¹s Mauricio Urbina for ball.

by Brandy L. Simms

Staff Writer

An estimated crowd of 7,500 flocked to Seneca Valley High for last Friday¹s homecoming game between Seneca and Northwest. The two Germantown schools are separated by just a two-mile stretch of the Great Seneca Highway.

Both teams entered the contest with unbeaten 4-0 records and potent offensive attacks led by highly regarded signal-callers. Northwest featured junior Brian Shaw, a former Seneca Valley junior-varsity quarterback, while the Screaming Eagles countered with senior All-State quarterback Chris Kelley. The stage was set for a battle between two of the county¹s finest programs.

The Jaguars were coming off an impressive 36-6 win over Blake and had outscored their opponents, 104-38, in their four previous outings.

Meanwhile, Seneca Valley had beaten defending Class 3A state champion Friendly of Prince George¹s County the week prior, 42-0, to extend its winning streak to 30 games.

The streak reached 31 straight, as the Screaming Eagles undid the upstart Jaguars, 42-13.

Even though the Jaguars were able to score more points on Seneca Valley than any other team this season, Northwest head coach Randy Trivers did not consider the lopsided outcome as a moral victory for his club. ³That¹s no accomplishment,² said Trivers. ³We¹re not happy with that result.²

Through hard work and dedication, Trivers and his coaching staff have masterminded an impressive turnaround after struggling through a 2-8 season a year ago.

³My team played hard tonight,² said Trivers. ³My team came out here to win a football game. We didn¹t get it done. We played a great football team.²

The Screaming Eagles scored on their first possession when Kelley (11-of-19 passing for 152 yards and two scores) engineered an eight-play, 55-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard touchdown pass to Levar Scott.

Scott¹s touchdown reception marked the beginning of what would turn out to be a remarkable all-around performance for the senior.

Against the Jaguars, Scott seemed to be all over the field. After scoring the touchdown, he kicked the extra point and would later intercept a pass on defense and score on a two-point conversion. However, on the ensuing kickoff, Scott made a tackle to prevent a possible Northwest score when senior French Pope returned the kickoff 47 yards to the Seneca Valley 48-yard line.

³He was doing everything,² said Kelley in reference to Scott. ³Levar is probably one of the best athletes in the county and he just comes out and does a great job and played a great game.²

On the first play of the second quarter, David Cavell¹s 21-yard touchdown run enabled the Screaming Eagles to build a 13-0 lead with 11:52 left before Northwest senior Raymond Custis gave his team a lift with an exciting 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

After receiving the ball at the10, Custis found a gap and raced to the outside where he beat Seneca¹s Scott en route to the end zone.

³My hole was very big,² said Custis, who played on the Seneca Valley varsity two seasons ago. ³The special teams, they did a very good job. We¹ve been practicing all week for it. Practice and hard work pays off.²

Seneca Valley countered on the ensuing kickoff with a 35-yard kickoff return by Kelley. The Screaming Eagles had little trouble moving the football on the ground and through the air as Kelley drove Seneca Valley 55 yards in nine plays. Senior halfback Rafael Mason capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 8:13 remaining to increase the Seneca Valley lead to 21-7.

The Seneca Valley defense forced Northwest to turn the ball over five times.

The Screaming Eagles converted two Jaguar miscues into touchdowns to take a commanding 27-7 lead at the half.

Defensively, the Jaguars received strong efforts from a unit led by defensive backs Custis and Pope and lineman Bill Rodriguez, who sacked Kelley for an 11-yard loss in the first quarter and recovered a Seneca Valley fumble with 4:23 remaining in the third quarter.

³We just didn¹t play our game,² said Rodriguez. ³We had a couple turnovers that really killed us. You can¹t have turnovers on a team like this. You just can¹t. Turnovers kill you on any team but a team this good, that¹ll just kill you and that¹s what got us tonight.²

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Rodriguez said his team would rebound from the disappointing loss.

³This kind of game builds character,² he said. ³We just got to come back even stronger. We gave it our good effort. Maybe if we would have played our game, things would have come out different but we can¹t really dwell on that and we got to just go on. With one loss, we can still make it to the playoffs and that¹s what we¹re looking forward to.²

Notes: Seneca Valley, ranked No. 1 in the Maryland state Associated Press poll, has also received some national recognition with a No. 28 ranking in last week¹s Fox Sports Net Fab 50 high-school football poll. The Screaming Eagles were also among the top 15 teams in the East Region with a No. 5 ranking.

The East Region includes Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.