Dominion Falls Just Short to Pride 14-7
Heritage's Russell East surges ahead across the goal line to give the Pride the go-ahead and game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter
Photo By: Marc Le Maitre
Ross Madison soared above the Dominion defense on Friday, rushing for 145 yards...
Photo By: Marc Le Maitre
STERLING, VA -- Standing at 1-5 on the year, the Dominion Titans may not seem like a threat in the Dulles District, but they again nearly upended one of the district's better teams in Heritage, before losing 14-7.
"This game hurts, we were there," said Dominion head coach Karl Buckwalter.
Up until the start of the fourth quarter, play had been fairly even, with both teams deadlocked at 7-7. That was until Pride quarterback Brian Rody found tight end Russell East near the 5-yard line, who ran it in from there to give Heritage the lead at 14-7. The score would hold for the rest of the game to help give them their fifth win on the year.
"The defense came up with the big plays. That was the key for us," said Heritage coach Wes Driskill. "Plus, we made it count at the end."
Meanwhile, for Dominion, a loss moves their record to 1-6 on the year, but a potential upset bid over the Pride does bring with it some positives.
"The anger over losing this game over whether we should have won means we've turned the corner," said Buckwalter.
This is now the third game in a row for Buckwalter and his Dominion in which they nearly upset a high-ranking team in the Power Points. Two weeks ago, the Titans fell to Briar Woods 7-0 and then fell to heavily favored #8 Broad Run late in the fourth quarter last week. This week, another close loss to a potential playoff team has seemed to have hit a nerve with Dominion.
"This loss makes us angry. We had a short field three times and didn't take advantage," said Buckwalter. "We need to focus on taking advantage of opportunities and give our seniors a going away gift."
In helping to not make the Titan's upset over Heritage possible, was the play of senior running back Ross Madison. Rushing for 145 yards on 27 carries, he helped carry the load offensively for Heritage the whole night.
Madison would get things started for Heritage just before the first quarter ended on a touchdown run from five yards out to give his team an early 7-0 lead.
The Dominion defense would hold Madison in check from there, as they moved to tie things up after a Trey Baxter touchdown pass to Aaron Good made the score 7-7 midway through the second quarter.
The stalemate ensued all the way up until the start of the fourth quarter, which is when the Heritage special teams would factor into the equation. By partially blocking a Dominion punt, the Pride would start with excellent field position at the 35-yard line.
The Heritage offense would not let the field position go to waste.
East, who had previously converted a key fourth down earlier in the drive, slipped in between the linebackers and secondary to score the go-ahead and game-winning touchdown.
Yet with over 10 minutes of time still left to played, Heritage needed help running out the clock. That's when Madison answered the call.
On just two drives, Madison had helped chew up nearly all of the remaining time after East's touchdown, which proved to be paramount in preserving the win.
"This win feels good," said Madison. "Once we got the ball moving, we took control."
Although Dominion would have the ball one more time late in the fourth, it wasn't enough, as the Pride held onto the win.
"We had this game. We just made too many mistakes," said Dominion's Joe Williams. "We need to step it up on offense, step it up in practice and get it straight in games."
