Point After: Bulldogs Under Appreciated
ASHBURN, VA - As a reporter covering the Northern Region, let me say we all made a mistake. Well, except for the folks in Loudoun County because they had things right. But the overall sentiment was that Edison would be the team to repeat in Division 5. There was Ben Barber, Drew Baldwin, Stephon Robertson, Kevin Carter, and Corey Washington all coming back. Oh, and there was also up and coming players like Westley Doles and Akeen Perry. Then the line! How could I forget them? Last year, they took a great Stone Bridge line and made them look average. When speaking with head coach Vaughn Lewis at length during the off-season, there was potential for that line to be even better. How could it not be Edison's year? The Stone Bridge Bulldogs were respected a great deal, but after losing nearly all of their playmakers and linemen, Edison became the easy pick to repeat.
But after watching Stone Bridge dismantle the Eagles in all aspects of the game, the "wow" factor has set in. The "wow" as in, 'where did these guys come from?' Andrew Nuss, that highly touted recruit now playing for Notre Dame was lost to graduation? No big deal. Say hello to Brian Slay and David Wang. Need to replace all-everything Y'Lou Brown? Meet Kareem Alexander. Two-year starting quarterback Terence Glenn also graduated. Enter Patrick Thompson. He's never played quarterback before in his life, but flat out got the job done.
So the overall result of all this mixing and matching? You get one heck of a football team. One thing the Northern Region was quick to learn on Friday was that Stone Bridge can never be counted out. There could very well be 22 seniors starting, but Thompson always has more studs just waiting in the wings to take their spots.
The development of the younger players in the Stone Bridge system is just remarkable. First, take a look at the defensive line, which is comprised of all juniors. Brian Slay, Zach Thompson, and Jimmy Bradford were the core of a defense that surrendered very little points or yardage all year long. They made Ben Barber look human. Following Barber for his entire career, I've never seen him contained in such a high-profile game like he was on Friday. Normally Barber shines the brightest in the biggest games, but that wasn't the case Friday. In most cases, the only time Barber isn't doing something special is when Coach Lewis puts him on the sideline.
In addition to Patrick Thompson's emergence at quarterback, there was also the emergence of Matt Irwin and namely Ryan Moody. All three playmakers proved their worth in their victory over Edison. Getting by the likes of Washington and Baldwin in the secondary isn't easy either, but those two got the job done (something high-flying West Springfield can't say).
What's funny about this whole thing is that Stone Bridge was without perhaps their strongest back in Daniel Allen for the entire year. To still see Alexander and the run game perform at such a high level speaks incredible volumes at the talent this Stone Bridge program is able to produce.
Then (of course) there's Jeron Gouveia. He's the player that puts the exclamation point on this program and this entire year for the Bulldogs. Yet he's probably the only player the Northern Region knew to look for at the beginning of the year. Admit it too. If you're reading this and living outside of Loudoun County, did you ever think Moody, Alexander, or Thompson would be just as productive as Gouveia? If so, then contact Andy Hayes about possibly working for Gameday Magazine, because I have dozens of databases of players and teams (some of which haven't played a down of varsity football) and never did I think that they would all be statistical leaders in the Northern Region.
Yet as I sit here writing this, they proved me wrong as well as the majority of the Northern Region. At the beginning of the year, the storyline was how good Edison could be, and now we're talking about how great Stone Bridge is. They're sitting as underdogs right now against a powerful Phoebus team, but here's some advice from the Northern Region to Phoebus and the Tidewater area: do not overlook the Stone Bridge Bulldogs. As Edison found, that is a big mistake.
Derek Lecomte is a senior writer for GamedayMagazine.com and Gameday Magazine. Lecomte Covers the Northern Region online and in print.....
