Trojans Prove Themselves
Simba Gwashavamhu had a huge day receiving for the Trojan with 147 yards and 2 touchdowns.
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Senior Billy Brown caught Fetters first touchdown pass of the night.
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Val Dijidotor had another big day for the Vikings on the ground.
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By: Jeremy Moreland
BETHESDA, MD - After Friday night, if there's anyone who still doesn't think that Zack Fetters and the Gaithersburg Trojans are for real, they need to reconsider. The Trojans (6-1) showed off their explosive offense in a dominant 26-7 road victory over Whitman (5-2), that puts them in the driver's seat for a #1 seed in the 4a playoffs
Fetters, one of the clear-cut candidates for the county player of the year, threw for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns while running for 31 yards and another score to lead the Trojans high-powered offense.
Gaithersburg wasted little time to get going. After a Billy Brown interception of a Henry Kuhn pass on Whitman's first possession, Fetters responded with a 36-yard bomb to Simba Gwashavamhu for the first score of the game (PAT failed).
On the ensuing kickoff the Trojans caught a break when Khare Cross' kickoff was mishandled by the Vikings' return team and recovered by Gaithersburg. And despite some of the crowd comparing Gaithersburg head coach Kreg Kephart to the Saints' Sean Payton, the kick was not an intentional onside kick.
"That was supposed to be a squib kick, and it didn't go as far as I thought it was going to go and obviously didn't go as far Whitman thought it was going to go. That was a fortunate break for us," said Kephart.
Fetters returned to the field and kept his foot on the throttle, completing a number of throws to get his team inside the 15 yard line. Then after 3 consecutive incompletions, Fetters found senior receiver Billy Brown on 4th-and-9 for a 12-yard score (2-point conversion failed).
After Whitman went three and out, Gaithersburg went right back to work. Fetters connected with Gwashavamhu on a quick slant for 52 yards and then took it himself on a keeper for a 14-yard touchdown run (2-point conversion good). Before Whitman even knew what hit them, they found themselves in a 20-0 hole less than 10 minutes into the g
Whitman finally got a chance to move the ball in the 2nd quarter, and found some success in the running game with Val Djidotor. The Vikings put together a time-consuming drive that resulted in a Djidotor 2-yard touchdown run. But those would be the only points for the Vikings on the night.
On the ensuing drive, the Trojans moved the ball methodically and capped the drive off with a Fetters to Gwashavamhu touchdown to make it 26-7 (2-point conversion failed) right before the half.
In the second half the Trojans defense completed their impressive performance. They held Viking quarterback Henry Kuhn to just 12-of-30 passing for 121 yards, with most of that coming when the game was firmly in hand. The highlights of the Viking offense were Djidotor who ran for 138 yards on 20 carries and Michael Flack who caught 5 passes for 83 yards.
The Trojans, who probably have the largest receiving corps in the county, took advantage of the much smaller Whitman defensive backs. Gwashavamhu led the way with 5 catches for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sylvester Oni, Billy Brown and Kris Westphal were all major weapons that this Viking defense didn't have an answer for.
"We have four pretty good receivers and we'd like to think that out of those four guys we can get one of them open on every play and give Zack enough time to find which one is open," said Kephart.
With Sherwood falling to Damascus 27-20, Gaithersburg is in fine shape to not only make a playoff run, but to grab the #1 seed in the 4A East Division and home-field advantage, something that would suit coach Kephart & Co. just fine.
"We've been in the playoffs before, and it's always best when you got home games in the playoffs. That's the easiest route I believe."
