GMHS Can't Contain Cougars' Terrell

It looked for a while that George Mason High School might have had the answer to undefeated Manassas Park and their star quarterback senior Zach Terrell. But late in the second quarter Terrell put it in the air with an impressive touchdown pass, and the Cougars took the lead, never to look back, winning 21-7 at Mason in the Mustang’s final home game of the season.

For the Mustangs the game was indicative of both the strengths and the weaknesses of this year’s team. Despite the stellar performance of Terrell and the 21 points scored, the Mustang defense was able to contain the Cougars for the majority of the evening, turning the game into a battle over field position and defense.

But the offense, which at times looked strong, made too many mistakes and failed to take advantage of solid field position and strong running games by backs Steve Williams and Travis Greene.

Two plays in the second quarter highlighted the Mustang’s problems. Midway through the second quarter, still tied at 0-0 the Mustangs were moving the ball well, the running game was creating lanes and Green was racking up the yards. In the middle of a solid drive, Quarterback Eric Blush connected with Williams for a first down, only to find the pass negated by a costly holding penalty. Instead of first and ten in Cougar territory, the Mustangs were penalized ten yards, then another five for a false start violation, forcing them into a punt.

The Cougars scored on the following drive. The second play occurred as the time ticked down to the end of the first half. Looking sharper than they had looked to that point in the game, they pushed the ball within 20 yards of the goal line, but Mason failed to complete the half with a score.

Starting off the second half with the ball, the Mustangs came out of the gates slowly going three and out and spent the majority of the second half trying to find weaknesses in the Cougar defense while doing its best to contain Terrell. Mason Coach Tom Horn said that the strategy was to force Manassas Park to take chances. "We expected they'd run until they decided they couldn't," he said. "We wanted to force them to have to make big plays."

For the most part the strategy was successful. Except for one impressive drive, where over ? plays Terrell carried the ball the entire length of the field for a score, Mason was able to stymie the Manassas Park running game. But Terrell stepped up with two big touchdown passes, including a long connection to Joe Green to put the game out of reach. "He has to be played with perfection," Horn said. "He doesn't make mistakes."

In the fourth quarter the Mustangs' passing game showed signs of life. The drive, led by runs from their tailback Green, culminated in a perfect pass from quarterback Blush to Matt Lemen. The play was beautifully operated as Lemen beat his man and Blush lofted the pass over the defense to allow him to run under it for the score.

Although too little too late, the drive was indicative of potential of the Mustang offense, that combines hard nosed running interspersed with well timed passing.

Horn said that despite the loss the game showed the Mason as a team that doesn't give up. "There'll be some disappointment, but this is a character group," he said.