It was opening night in West Huntington for two MSAC opponents as the Spring Valley Timberwolves would play host to the George Washington Patriots. If you know the calling cards for both these teams, then you would know that the game unfolded as most would have expected. Spring Valley wanted to shorten the game. George Washington’s game plan was to get the ball in the hands of their playmakers.
After receiving the opening kickoff, George Washington began marching the ball down the field. Jaden Black received a screen pass from Tavion Woods and would take it to the Spring Valley 30-yard line. Jaden Black would receive another screen pass from Tavion Woods for a big gain. Woods would score on the QB keeper from a yard out to put the Patriots up 7-0.
On Spring Valley’s opening possession, it would only take them 2 plays to find pay dirt. Colton Mathis would break a tackle in the backfield and run it 61 yards for the touchdown. Tying the game at 7 halfway through the first quarter.
After each team scored on their opening possession, the game turned into a defensive battle. Quick possesion by George Washington would force them to punt. Spring Valley would start on the George Washington 46-yard line, and Ethan Washington would rush for 4 yards. A block-in-the-back penalty would set up a third down. The stingy George Washington defense would stop Colton Mathis for 1 yard. Forcing a 28-yard punt.
On the ensuing drive, George Washington started on their own 14-yard line. Tavion Woods on the keeper was stopped by Spring Valley’s Cam Booth. After back-to-back incomplete passes by Woods to both Derek Valentine and Mason Maurer, the Patriots were forced to punt.
Offensive struggles would continue for Spring Valley as Colton Mathis was stopped by DJ Spencer for a 3-yard loss. QB Caiden Lovejoy would then be stopped in the backfield. Forcing the Timberwolves once again to punt the ball.
On the ensuing Patriots possession, sophomore Desan Isabell took the field at quarterback and began moving the ball downfield. A long gain by running back Jaden Black would put the Patriots deep in Timberwolves territory. Isabell would pick up a first down on a quarterback keeper on a 4th and short after Spring Valley would stop Jaden Black on a 4-yard gain. Just shy of the first down marker. The drive was capped off by a touchdown run by Jaden Black with a little over 1 minute remaining in the 2nd quarter.
George Washington would go into the half with a 14-7 lead over Spring Valley.
In the second half, Spring Valley's offensive struggles continued. Penalties marred their offense, forcing them to punt to the Patriots.
George Washington began to find its footing. Driving down the field. Desean Isabell would complete a screen pass to Davon Brockman to pick up a first down. George Washington would continue to march down the field. The drive was capped with Jaden Black scoring from 4 yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the game.
Spring Valley’s next possession, they would begin to find some rhythm. Colton Mathis would rush for 16 yards to pick up a first down. After a defensive pass interference penalty on the Patriots, Spring Valley was in good position in George Washington territory. But disaster struck as Caiden Lovejoy’s pass was intercepted by Derek Valentine.
Desean Isabell would find Derek Valentine on a pass for a 22-yard completion. Jaden Black’s long gain of about 20 yards would put them deep in Patriots territory. Desean Isabell would score on the QB keeper from 12 yards out to put the Patriots up 28-7 over the Timberwolves.
In the fourth quarter, Spring Valley again couldn't sustain drives. Later in the quarter, George Washington’s Davon Brockman would score from 20 yards out on a toss from Isabell. Putting George Washington up 35-7. Pretty much sealing the victory for the Patriots.
After the game, we caught up with Head Coach Steve Edwards Jr. to ask what it feels like to start the season off with a victory. “Well, it's really good. You always want to win. We won't be 0-10, so I dodged that again. So I'm good about that. So you know, it's great to get your first win, and it's great for these kids. We needed this win really bad, and that's a good quality ball club. They're going to win a lot of games, and they pushed us to the limits. They made us play, and that's what I was looking for: to see how we would react. And I thought we reacted pretty well.”
When asked why the team went with Desean Isabell at quarterback, Coach Edwards said it was good to have two guys who can run the offense. Noting that Tavion Woods was a key contributor on defense. “We’ve got two good quarterbacks; two good quality quarterbacks. Tavion’s playing some defense, so he got a little tired, and it helped us a little bit. So you know, those are things that we'll go with game to game. Who's hot? Who's not, and what we can, you know, do, but we're just looking to win. I, you know, and those kids are looking to win. They don't give a hoot. They just want to win, and that's what we did tonight. And I'm really proud of them.”
Next week, George Washington faces off against another MSAC opponent, and coach Edwards doesn't want the team to rest on their laurels. “Well, we got to work on our concentration. We got to work and sharpen some things up. We got to move. We got to execute a little bit quicker, a little sharper. We made some mistakes this evening. We got to tackle better. So hopefully we'll get better doing that because we're going to have to with the schedule we play and on down the road for sure.”
Next week, George Washington is again on the road as they travel to Hurricane. Hurricane opened the season on a bye, so this will be their first game.