Football roundup: Hayfield rolls, West Potomac and Mount Vernon fall, Edison gets W

September 24, 2016 Sports
Mount Vernon offense

Mount Vernon lost a shootout with T.C. Williams on Saturday afternoon in Alexandria.

Week four of the high school football season saw two dramatic finishes, an offensive explosion and a hard-earned first win in contests featuring Richmond Highway-area schools.

Heartbreaker for West Potomac

The game of the week was Friday night in Burke as unbeaten West Potomac faced off against unbeaten Patriot District rival Lake Braddock. The Bruins, behind University of Virginia-bound running back Lamont Atkins’ 194 rushing yards and three touchdowns, escaped with an overtime win thanks to some clutch defense with the game on the line.

Lake Braddock scored first and never trailed in the contest, but the Wolverines were able to answer every Bruin score. The game stayed knotted at 21 after West Potomac’s Mark Ellis hit Brandan Lisenby for a score with 8:07 left in the fourth quarter.

The Bruins held West Potomac (3-1) scoreless on their opening possession of overtime thanks to a swarming pass rush that kept the Wolverine offense off balance much of the night. Lake Braddock only gained three yards on their overtime possession, but Jack Rawlins was able to nail a field goal to give the Bruins the win.

Ellis finished 11-19 for 116 yards and three touchdowns. Lisenby, Da’Juan Bellfield and Khalil Williams Diggins all caught scores for the Wolverines. Senior running back Justine Annan finished with 81 yards rushing

Edison gets a W

This season has been a rough one for Edison, with the Eagles being outscored in their first three games a combined 161-7. But Edison (1-3) got to be the bully for a change on Friday, drubbing Thomas Jefferson 48-0 on the road.

Hayfield cruises

After falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter against Washington Lee, Hayfield’s offense came to life and buried the Generals in an avalanche of touchdowns  en route to a 54-29 win.

Hayfield senior quarterback Jacob Keeney put up a monster game, throwing for 515 yards and six touchdowns. Seven Hawk receivers were the recipients of Keeney’s passes. Junior wideout Brian Cobbs had seven catches for 137 yards, while fellow junior Javon Pailin caught four balls for a whopping 192 yards and two touchdowns.

The Hawks (3-1)  are among the highest-scoring offenses in the state, with 207 points already this season.

Mount Vernon drops first

Mount Vernon has been the biggest local surprise in 2016, jumping out to an impressive 3-0 start. The Majors traveled to Alexandria on Saturday to face district rival T.C. Williams in what turned into a wildly entertaining contest.

T.C. Williams (2-2) drove down the field in the final 1:34 of regulation to score the game-winner and hand Mount Vernon (3-1) a 42-37 loss. Moments earlier, the Majors had engineered a long scoring drive of their own to take the lead on a field goal by freshman Samuel Renzi, who had literally just put his uniform on after arriving from a soccer tournament.

Mount Vernon junior quarterback Tim Heltzel had another huge afternoon passing, throwing for 414 yards and four TDs. Heltzel now has two 400-yard games on the season.

Fellow junior Darrien Newton caught all four of Heltzel’s TD passes, and put up his best statistical game of the season with of 15 receptions for 233 yards.