T.C. Loses in a 30-7 Blowout
Hunter Langley
On Friday September 7, the Tuscarora Huskies, ranked 32 in Virginia, came to Parker-Gray Memorial Stadium to take on the undefeated T.C. Williams Titans. After receiving the kickoff the Titans fumbled the ball on their own 35 yard line; this would be a common theme throughout the rainy Friday afternoon.
Coach Longerbeam had full confidence in junior quarterback Ricardo Ross who got his first full start at quarterback “There was no reason we didn’t play [senior Jack Rossi].” said Longerbeam. “We played Ricardo a lot the week before and we felt he was going to give us the best chance to win.” Even Rossi said, “I didn’t mind.” But he also said, “I wouldn’t support” Ricardo at quarterback if it became a one quarterback system, indicating that he would not give up his spot without a fight.
Both the Titans and the Huskies coughed up the ball in the rain. But T.C. was not getting the lucky bounces that Tuscarora was, and because of that Titan fumbles resulted in turnovers that gave Huskies strong field positioning. The Huskies were able to take advantage of this by scoring two touchdowns, giving them a 12-0 lead with about nine minutes to go in the second quarter.
Right after the touchdown the refs blew their whistles to suspend the game. There was lightning, which marked the second straight week of lightning delays for the Titans. A delay turned into a postponement when it started pouring rain, and the stands emptied with people sprinting to get inside. The game resumed at 10 A.M. the next day.
The game resumed, with the weather still overcast and the bleachers almost empty. Tuscarora kicked the extra point to put them up 13-0. With about four minutes to go in the second quarter junior running back Anthony Eaton ran for a three yard touchdown, the Titans’ only score of the game.
On the next drive the Titans recovered a Tuscarora fumble, giving them the ball at the Tuscarora 11. After failing to cash in for a touchdown, they attempted a field goal and holder Tavarus Brown fumbled the snap resulting in a turnover on downs and shifted the momentum of the game. [Insert picture here]
It went downhill from there as T.C. failed to capitalize again, going for it and failing from the Tuscarora 24 yard line. Two plays later Tuscarora junior quarterback Ethan Gick launched a 62 yard touchdown pass to give Tuscarora a 20-7 lead. [Insert picture here]
T.C. went three and out the next drive and punted to Tuscarora,
and junior kicker Max Skirkanich kicked a 27 yard field goal to give Tuscarora a 23-7 lead. For the rest of the game T.C. Williams offense was stagnant. Tuscarora went down and scored again on a defense that seemed to be mentally out of the game from that point on.
Tuscarora senior utility player Mikey Ortega said, “T.C. Williams was one of the more athletic teams we’ve played, and they played well.”
