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GERMANTOWN — Khalil Owens had seen this script before, not from prior experiences, but from a dream the night before. He fantasized a career showing, capped with The King’s Trophy in Northwest’s possession.
Fast forward less than 24 hours later, with reporters mobbed around him and cameras clicking away, Owens reacted as if it was too good to be true after he powered for 174 total yards and four touchdowns to send No. 9 Northwest past No. 22 Seneca Valley, 35-23.
“Couldn’t write it any better than this,” Owens said, who finished with 142 yards on 21 carries and caught four passes for 32 yards.
On a night where everything finally clicked for Northwest (2-0), Owens was center stage with gashing runs and indispensable leadership. Tireless work over the offseason that included a track stint to improve endurance and speed has helped the senior running back for key moments like Friday night.
“He’s all the things you want in a football player,” said Northwest head coach Michael Neubeiser. “He just wanted it, you could see it. He was fired up tonight.”
After quarterback Chris Craddock tossed Northwest’s first touchdown of the game to tie it at 7-7 in the first quarter, Owens carried the load for the remaining three quarters, accounting for the Jaguars final four scores.
His first came with 22.3 seconds left in the second quarter from two yards out, which gave Northwest a 14-10 lead at the half. Owens’ second and third were highlight reels — a 51-yard jaunt down the right sideline to ignite the Jaguar faithful and a 31-yard bruiser that gave Northwest a 28-16 lead with 8:31 to go.
“I just kept my feet moving, kept it turning, kept running hard,” Owens said of his third touchdown in which he broke four tackles in the process. “Just trying to get tackles off me.”
Owens’ fourth came with under two minutes remaining, when the game was already out of reach. It was a convicing win for Northwest on Friday night, who turned in a clean game with no turnovers and minimal penalties. Last week, the Jaguars sputtered against Gaithersburg and were plagued by turnovers and inefficiency on offense. Though they escaped with a 27-6 win over the Trojans, Neubeiser knew his team couldn’t afford to duplicate the performance.
For the first time in a while, Northwest played their brand of football that once saw state championships in 2013 and 2014.
“No turnovers for us is huge,” Neubeiser said. “We knew if we didn’t have any turnovers, we would do pretty well.”
A large part in Northwest’s ability to control the football came from quarterback Chris Craddock, who is succeeding for two-time state champion quarterback Mark Pierce. Those are large shoes to fill, and the spotlight may have gotten to Craddock in Week 1, but on Friday night, the junior quarterback did what he had to do to ensure the Jaguars would regain the throne of Germantown.
Craddock completed 10 of his 12 passes for 63 yards and one touchdown. He also added 20 yards on the ground, including a 12-yard run on second and long to set up one of Owens’ four touchdowns.
“He’s grown up,” Neubeiser said of Craddock. “He’s a smart kid. … You can see him maturing and his confidence growing.”
Seneca Valley (1-1), meanwhile, received solid performances from Adrian Feliz-Platt (178 total yards and two touchdowns) and Darius Golston (63 yards and one touchdown), but only generated 81 yards of total offense outside the backfield duo. Two turnovers in the second half also faltered the Eagles down the stretch.
“We wanted to win this game (as) bad as anything,” Owens said. “It’s just a huge rivalry, and it’s big.”
When it was all said and done in the muggy Friday night atmosphere, after a heavyweight slugfest between two programs separated by three miles apart, Northwest football players and coaches posed for photo ops with the hardware that was back in its possession.
“It’s a great memory,” Owens said. “A great feeling.”
Northwest running back Juwon Farri finished with 108 rushing yards on 15 carries. Seneca Valley quarterback Zack Robinson completed seven of his 17 passes for 108 yards. Seneca Valley wide receiver Lance Wilson caught two receptions for 63 yards.
Northwest travels to Blair next Friday while Seneca Valley is on the road at Churchill.
Box score
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| NW (2-0) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| SV (1-1) | 7 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 23 |
Scoring summary
First quarter
SV — Adrian Feliz-Platt 1-yard run (PAT good), 7:19
NW — Deion Mason 5-yard pass from Chris Craddock (PAT good), 1:09
Second quarter
SV — Harold Dotson 15-yard field goal, 7:13
NW — Khalil Owens 2-yard run (PAT good), 0:22
Third quarter
SV — Darius Golston 10-yard run (Kick failed), 7:42
NW — Khalil Owens 51-yard run (PAT good), 6:08
Fourth quarter
NW — Khalil Owens 31-yard run (PAT good), 8:31
SV — Adrian Feliz-Platt 15-yard run (PAT good), 5:59
NW — Khalil Owens 1-yard run (PAT good), 1:16
