Gouveia Leads Bulldogs To 35-0 District Win....
ASHBURN, VA - The Stone Bridge Bulldogs bounced back from a stinging defeat to smother the George C. Marshall Statesmen 35-0. On a muggy, rainy night the Bulldog defense was in no mood for fun as they limited the Statesmen to 46 yards of total offense, snapping up four turnovers in the process.
Marshall opened the game with the ball, and managed two first downs behind the running of Chris Hurlburt before bogging down at the Stone Bridge 37. The punt backed the Bulldogs up to their own 5, and a quick three-and-out by Stone Bridge turned the ball back over to Marshall near midfield.
Marshall pressed to the Bulldog 37, where a Statesman fumble was scooped up by Marshall and advanced to the Stone Bridge 18. As if to try and repeat the 19-yard gain, the Statesmen proceeded to put the football on the ground three more times in succession, recovering their own miscue each time until the last, when Jimmy Bradford finally jumped on it for the Bulldogs.
Stone Bridge then put together a drive, highlighted by a Kareem Alexander's 28-yard run, and moved to the Statesmen 38. On fourth-and-six, Jeron Gouveia broke free and scampered the rest of the way for the Bulldogs' first score. Ronnie Shaban, who was perfect for the night, added the PAT and Stone Bridge led 7-0
In the next series, Marshall was able to net only one yard after five plays from scrimmage. On third-and-nine, Michael Prince picked off an Aaron Gooding pass and raced 33 yards down the right sideline to score. The kick made it 14-0, and the Bulldogs seemed to gain control.
Again, in the next series, Marshall was unable to post positive yards, and a sack of Gooding by Mike Stancik left the Statesmen at their own nine. The punt brought the ball out just past mid-field where the Bulldogs took over. Patrick Thompson hit Ryan Moody for 21 yards three plays later, and Stone Bridge eventually worked to the Statesmen 13. But a holding penalty backed them up to the 27, and on the next play a fumble by the Bulldogs let Marshall escape for the moment.
It was a short-lived reprieve. On the next play, Gooding turned to throw a sideline pass to Jaimie Cleer when then ball struck the ground. Realizing that the pass was backwards and therefore a lateral, John Bladel pounced on the ball and recovered for Stone Bridge. Five plays later Stancik slammed in from the two and Stone Bridge led 21-0.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with the ball, and wasted little time. On the second play from scrimmage, Gouveia broke free to the outside and then romped in to score his second touchdown. The PAT made the score 28-0.
The Statesmen went three-and-out thanks to continued pounding by the Bulldogs, and again a punt left Stone Bridge backed up inside their own ten. Moody snuck behind the Marshall secondary for a long pass from Thompson and the Bulldogs were quickly near mid-field, but a second fumble tossed the ball back to Marshall. The Stone Bridge defense gave nothing back, and when Gooding's pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-11, the drive ended.
The Marshall defense showed some teeth of their own on the next series. Four straight runs by Alexander netted only four yards, and the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs. On third-and-long, Gooding was picked off by Gouveia, who raced 54 yards for an apparent TD, however it was called back for an illegal block during the return.
Stone Bridge went to the air for a short time with Thompson completing three of five passes, and pushed the ball to the Marshall ten before Alexander burst in for the touchdown. Shaban's final PAT completed the scoring at 35-0.
Overall, the Bulldogs got back on track with a no-nonsense conference win, and next face rival Loudoun Valley in a Thursday night match-up.
Prepared by, Dave and Suzy Barta
spbarta@aol.com
