After a long and challenging game Friday night, the Centreville Wildcats fell to the West Potomac Wolverines, 27-20.
Going into Friday night’s game, both head coaches had their concerns about their opponent. Chris Haddock, head coach for Centreville, said the Wildcats were concerned about the Wolverines’s speed.
“Every week we have a different concern. They have speed, and there are a few kids they have that can be dangerous. But every snap is a learning experience,” said Haddock. “We have some young players, but we’re going to go out and have a good game tonight.”
Jeremiah Davis, the new head coach for West Potomac High School, was concerned about the Wildcat’s offense, describing it as tough to prepare for.
“Coach Haddock is very organized,” said Davis. “He runs a tough system to prepare for in a week, so that’s definitely one of my concerns going in.”
The pace of the game was set quickly with Centreville scoring right out of the gate. Within the first six minutes of the first quarter, both teams were on the board.
The Wildcats scored first and the Wolverines quickly returned the favor with a touchdown and a successful field goal by kicker Chris Blewitt, bringing the score to 7-6 West Potomac, with six minutes left in the first quarter.
One of the many highlights of the night occurred early in the game when Blewitt kicked a 50-yard field goal setting a school record for WPHS and making the score 10-6 after the Wolverines strategically moved the ball up the field.
With ten minutes left in the first half, Centreville quickly regained momentum by scoring a touchdown, bringing the score to 10-13 in their favor. Right before halftime, Centreville widened the gap, making the score 10-20 before retreating to the locker rooms.
During the second half, the Wolverines’ defense was tight making it difficult for the Wildcats to get ahead. The Wildcats threw a few incomplete passes and missed what Haddock estimated to be about 40 tackles.
With seven minutes left in the game, CVHS was still unable to gain possession.
Centreville was then given a penalty during a Wolverine field goal attempt, giving West Potomac a second shot with 30 seconds left in the game. West Potomac took advantage of the do over and added three more points to their lead, making the final score 27-20.
As Davis and some of his players predicted before the game, it came down to the Wolverines’ special teams.
“We depended on our special teams, which is what I said we would do early in the week. Our kicker kicked a field goal that set the school record,” said Davis. “It was down to the last minute, and I told them they have something to prove to the district, to the region and to the state that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
Davis admitted it was a tight game and said Haddock has a great team this year. “Kudos to Coach Haddock and his squad,” said Davis. “They have a lot of good athletes out there and it took all we got.”
After the loss, Haddock thought the Wildcats could have done better in the basics of the game and in tackling.
“We didn’t play very good fundamental football,” said Haddock. “We didn’t tackle very well at all, and they’re too good of athletes to do that.” In the future, Haddock said the Wildcats need to improve in these areas in order to succeed on the field.
Next week, Centreville will play a home game against Mount Vernon High School.
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