The Armchair Quarterback loves a team that never gives up

By Ralph Hitchens

It was AQ’s wedding anniversary, and custom dictates spending it somewhere other than sitting in the stands at Walter Johnson High School. So I wasn’t there to see our gritty Falcons come charging back from a 15-point deficit in the 4th quarter to send the game into overtime last Friday, where they would not be denied. The Gazette, whose sportswriters had voted 5-1 against Poolesville in their weekly predictions, published a fine article in their Saturday online issue that well captured the drama of this victory, albeit with different stats than the Washington Post’s AllMetSports game summary. So although the Armchair QB loves his stats, it really doesn’t matter all that much if the Falcons’ stalwart running back Nikolay Henze carried 28 times for 147 yards (Gazette) or 26 times for 137 (Post), or whether QB Kirby Carmack completed 12 of 19 passes for 126 yards (Gazette) or 9 of 18 for 117 yards (Post), both lads and their teammates came through when it counted. Henze scored the final TD in regulation play, while Carmack had no fewer than 4 TD passes and a clutch 2-point conversion to tie the score and send the game into overtime. Once again the Falcons were lucky and capitalized on it – a late 4th quarter Wildcat fumble set up our final drive in regulation, and the overtime period ended with a botched snap on 4th and goal, killing Walter Johnson’s desperate attempt to tie the score and keep the game alive.

Next up for the Falcons is a home encounter this Friday against a real powerhouse – the Rebels of South Hagerstown High School. Bringing in a 4-0 record, the Rebels have outscored their opponents by a staggering margin of 147-27. The Falcons’ defense will surely need to rise to this occasion. To date they’ve given up way too many yards (288 at Walter Johnson, against our offensive production of 291 yards), and we’ve seen far too many missed tackles both at the line and in the secondary. No doubt we’ll also need every bit of that “smash-mouth offense” that our Dawsonville neighbor the “Big Prognosticator” praised on MoCoVox.com last week. But for now, the Armchair Quarterback is savoring a hard-earned victory, a 3-1 record, and a Poolesville HS football team with a renewed sense of confidence.