Cougars fight off Warriors
Gaskins rushes for three touchdowns in Stone win
Thomas Stone’s football team has experienced ups and downs throughout the season.
“It has been waves of momentum, kind of like a rollercoaster ride so far. We had the heartbreaker to St. Charles, and then reeled off three pretty nice wins, and then we got beat by two pretty nice teams,” Cougars head coach Danny Ripple said.
Friday night, the rollercoaster analogy for Stone’s season could be compared to the wave of ups and downs in their game at La Plata in a matchup of two Chesapeake Division teams in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference.
After Stone (4-3, 2-1 SMAC Chesapeake) raced out to a 20-0 lead, La Plata orchestrated a comeback that fell just short and the Cougars prevailed 26-20, spoiling the Warriors’ homecoming game.
“This win means a lot honestly. Tonight was a hard game, definitely not what we expected, but we came out on top and we owe it all to every football player,” Cougars senior Austin Workman said.
On the opening drive of the game, Stone orchestrated a 9-play touchdown drive that was capped off by senior running back Trent Gaskins rushing 29 yards for his first of three touchdowns on the night.
“It was a really good win for us. Our offensive line played really well for me
running the ball downhill,” said Gaskins, who rushed for a game-high 247 yards.
La Plata (1-6, 0-4) struggled to sustain any drives of over four plays in the first quarter and registered just one first down after 12 minutes of play.
The Cougars continued to utilize their ground attack in the first half.
After a poor snap on special teams, Stone began its first drive of the second quarter with outstanding field position at the Warriors’ 25-yard line.
The Cougars wasted no time in capitalizing on their short field. Gaskins found the end zone on a 22-yard run with a burst of speed through the La Plata defense to put visitors ahead 13-0 after the missed extra point.
La Plata’s offense had not found its rhythm yet midway into the second quarter. Sophomore quarterback Da’Mani Brown was picked off on a third down play by Stone senior Jaylen Kelley.
The Cougars stuck with what was working on offense and continued to pound the ball on the ground. A 6-play drive ended with Gaskins running from 7 yards out to score his third touchdown of the game.
After senior Nicco Vargas made the extra point, Stone found itself ahead 20-0 with 3 minutes 32 seconds left in the first half.
La Plata was able to salvage points on its final possession before the half when Brown connected on a deep ball to senior wide receiver Josh Bayer for a 73-yard touchdown.
“The bottom line is these kids don’t quit. They play with passion, and as a coach that is all I can ask for them to do,” Warriors head coach John Lennartz said.
The Cougars responded with just over two minutes remaining in the first half and executed a fake punt at midfield that kept their drive going.
Gaskins rushed for 30 yards on the fake punt before
going out of bounds at the La Plata 20. Vargas connected on a 30-yard field goal on the last play of the half to push the Cougars’ lead to 23-7.
“Thomas Stone went out and executed pretty well in the first half,” Lennartz said. “We made some adjustments and you know our kids didn’t quit and they haven’t quit all year. As a coach, that is what you ask for from your football team and they responded.”
The Warriors responded right away on their first possession of the second half. Brown capped a 12-play, 60-yard drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Cobb with 6:40 left to play in the third quarter. A failed 2-point conversion attempt left the Warriors trailing 2313.
Stone continued to respond and ride the waves of momentum in this game. Vargas connected on a 28-yard field goal with 44 seconds left in the third quarter to extend the Cougars’ lead back to 13 points at 26-13.
On their ensuing drive,
the Warriors faced a fourth down-and-10 from their own 42. Brown dropped back to pass and threw a high deep ball over the middle to Bayer who leapt up, made the catch, and ran into the end zone amid roars from the home crowd. La Plata found itself down 26-20 with 10:51 left.
Stone had a 21-yard Gaskins touchdown run negated due to a holding penalty on its next possession. Two false start penalties halted the promising Cougars drive which knocked them out of field goal range and forced a punt back to La Plata.
“There were a lot of mishaps on both sides of the ball, but we pushed through and fought hard like we usually do and kept it going,” Cougars senior DeAndre Watson said.
The Warriors got the ball at their own 12 with 5:01 remaining, trailing by six points.
After making it all the way down to the Cougars’ 29, Brown’s pass was intercepted by Gaskins with 25 seconds left to secure the Stone victory.
“I am proud of my teammates for having each other’s back and getting this win together,” Gaskins said.
The Cougars are scheduled to host Lackey at 7 p.m. Friday. The Chargers (4-3, 1-2) defeated Chopticon in Week 7, 3921.
“We need to improve in some areas, but the objective is to come in here and win the game and that is what we did,” Ripple said. “If we are going to be a good team, we got to beat good teams and we got to beat Lackey because they are a pretty good team.”
Lennartz was pleased with his team’s fighting spirit and knows consistent improvement and hard work will continue for the rest of the season.
“We are back to work now and we will continue working to get better as players as people and as a team,” Lennartz said.
The Warriors are slated to host Calvert at 7 p.m. Friday. Calvert (5-2, 4-0) defeated Patuxent in Week 7, 49-14.