Seneca Valley upsets Northwest, capture The Kings Trophy

GERMANTOWN- As time was winding down, Seneca Valley head coach Fred Kim hunched over and put his hands on his knees, taking in the moment from the sideline. He believed what he was witnessing, but at the same time was in a confound state of mind.

The buzzer sounded – Seneca Valley players rushed to the middle of the field, raising their sparkling green, Eagle logoed helmets in the air. Seneca Valley fans erupted in celebratory fashion. Kim himself, thrashed a gaudy fist pump.

Moments later, Kim had an entire water cooler unloaded on him and was hoisted in the air by members of his Screaming Eagle team.

It was a game that will go down in the history books as an instant classic. And one that Seneca Valley will be talking about for quite some time as they accomplished a feat that was near impossible two years ago.

But all of the unpleasant memories faded rather quickly Friday night when they dropped the defending two-time 4A state champions Northwest and The Kings Trophy was in their possession. Everyone got in on the trophy presentation – players, coaches, Kim among them, and even cheerleaders. It was celebrated “The Seneca Way.”

The program that formerly won 12 state championships in their first 27 years flashed signs of old motives that once dominated the gridiron tracks.

Going into Friday night’s showdown between rival Northwest, Kim laid out two points of emphasis to his Screaming Eagle team – to not be brought down by self-defeat and to limit miscues, such as turnovers and untimely mental errors.

Kim walked out of Northwest Friday night grinning from ear to ear knowing he exercised those two things to almost perfection in the 14-7 win.

“The mindset coming in was to not let Seneca Valley defeat Seneca Valley,” Kim said. “That’s what has happened in the past, committing turnovers and shooting ourselves in the foot. We needed to win the turnover battle tonight and sure enough we did. It made a significant difference.”

In the past two meetings, Seneca Valley turned the ball over six times in both games alone and had losses of 20-13 (2013) and 46-6 (2014). On Friday night, they had a plus three turnover ratio and in the nine drives Northwest had the ball, it ended in some kind of turnover five times – whether it was a fumble, interception or turnover-on-downs.

And when Northwest appeared to be gaining momentum back ever so slightly, Kim’s unit slammed the door.

With 1:30 left in the first quarter, Northwest was mounting a drive into Seneca Valley territory. The game was still knotted at zero a piece. Jaguar back Khalil Owens ran into congestion at the front line, causing the ball to slip out of his hands. Seneca Valley linebacker Dione Jordan was there for the recovery, scooping it up and put on the after burners, 65 yards for the touchdown firing the games opening salvo.

Then on the very next possession, Northwest had sustained a 14 play, 75 yard drive all the way down to the goal line only to turn it over on downs after failing to convert on a fourth and goal situation.

Later in the last half of the third quarter, the Jags drove down to the Seneca Valley 13 yard line and came up short, again, turning it over on downs.

“We didn’t earn it,” Northwest head coach Michael Neubeiser said. “Way, way too many mistakes. Can’t win football games doing the things that we did tonight. I give a ton of credit to Seneca Valley. They came to play.”

The only time Northwest scored was on a seven yard quarterback keeper by Mark Pierce right before halftime. For the first time since Week 4 in 2013 the Jaguars were held to single digit points.

And fundamentals weren’t the only thing that Northwest couldn’t tackle. Seneca Valley’s 5-foot-8, 208 pound junior running back, Darius Golston, steamed rolled his way for 150 total yards on 16 touches including a 36 yard touchdown reception in which he channeled his inner Marshawn Lynch – trucking through five Jaguar defenders to make it 14-0 with under five minutes until halftime.

“Ground and pound, that was the motto tonight,” Golston said. “Don’t let the first man take you down, ever.”

Golston got his fair share of the workload for most of the night though sitting behind household name, Adrian Feliz-Platt, since his freshman year. The two have been on the same team since middle school and both have claimed when healthy, playing at the same time, that no opposition has an answer for them.

“I can’t remember a time where a team shut us down,” Golston said. “We’re always there for each other and always will be.”

For Golston he’s just getting into the swing of things being diagnosed with colitis and the end of August. Golston and Feliz-Platt combined for 27 carries for 182 yards.

“Adrian (Feliz-Platt) and Golston are our one-two punch,” Kim said.

After Friday nights dethroning of Northwest, the 3A West playoff race intensified. And Fred Kim probably slept a little lighter last night knowing where his team stands unlike years in the past.

“We were unsure last year,” Kim said. “Still, coming into this year, we were unsure. We needed a big win and tonight we got that.”

Northwest’s Mark Pierce went 15/22 for 100 yards and two interceptions while adding eight rushes for 33 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Khalil Owens had 25 carries for 135 yards. Seneca Valley’s Petey Gaskins went 7 for 11 for 125 yards one touchdown and two interceptions.

You can follow me on Twitter at @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access at @MDSportsAccess

 

Box score

 

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SV 7 7 0 0 14
NW 0 7 0 0 7

 

 

Scoring summary

 

SV NW
1st 1:30 Dione Jordan 65 yard fumble return (PAT Good) 7 0
2nd 4:44 Darius Golston 36 yard pass from Petey Gaskins (PAT Good) 14 0
2:44 Mark Pierce 7 yard run (Nicholas kick) 14 7

 

Individual statistics – Northwest

 

 Passing Comp Att Yards Comp% TD INT QBR
#11 Mark Pierce 15 22 100 68.20% 0 2 39.96

 

Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Fum
#4 Khalil Owens 25 135 5.4 0 1
#11 Mark Pierce 8 33 4.1 1 0
#8 Juwon Farri 4 30 7.5 0 0
#1 Reggie Anderson 1 6 6.0 0 0
#13 JJ Funez 1 3 3.0 0 0

 

Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Fum
#9 Alphonso Foray 4 49 12.3 0 0
#1 Reggie Anderson 4 46 11.5 0 0
#13 JJ Funez 3 20 6.7 0 0
#4 Khalil Owens 3 11 3.7 0 0
#19 Austin Riel 1 7 7.0 0 0

 

Individual statistics – Seneca Valley

 

 Passing Comp Att Yards Comp% TD INT QBR
#11 Petey Gaskins 7 11 125 63.60% 1 2 93.19

 

Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Fum
#32 Darius Gleason 15 114 7.6 0 0
#7 Adrian Feliz-Platt 11 68 6.2 0 0
#11 Petey Gaskins 3 -6 -2.0 0 0
#23 Daquon Simpson 1 5 5.0 0 1
#8 Cortez-Lee Chase-Ervin 1 2 2.0 0 0

 

Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Fum
#13 Dawayne Kelley 3 15 5.0 0 0
#8 Cortez-Lee Chase-Ervin 1 47 47.0 0 0
#32 Darius Golston 1 36 36.0 1 0
#3 Antonio Fox 1 21 21.0 0 0
#6 Donovan Sims-Beckett 1 6 6.0 0 0