Coming off of a blowout loss to the Yorktown High School Patriots, the Falls Church High School Jaguars were hoping to bounce back against the Hayfield High School Hawks last Friday. But the Hawks were on the winning side of a shut-out game against the Washington-Lee High School Generals, 39-0, when they last took the field, and were facing the Jaguars with a 5-3 season record. The Jaguars arrived for their final home game of the season at 2-6, after being shut out by the Patriots 48-0 the previous week, and their streak of poor performances would continue with a 54-21 loss to the Hawks.
Scoring was close at the beginning of the game. The Jaguars were first to put points on the board in this high-scoring game, as junior running back Dieon Dupont scored on an eight-yard run. A successful extra point kick put the Jaguars up 7-0. The Hawks tied the game up soon after on a nine-yard run by junior running back Osman Kargbo.
Kargbo put an end to the ensuing back and forth of unsuccessful drives between the two teams by finding the end zone again early in the second quarter on a 35-yard run. The extra point was no good and the Hawks led 13-7, but they were not finished for the quarter. Kargbo scored again from five yards out to put the Hawks up 20-7. Hawks senior backup quarterback Tucker Holland scrambled for a three-yard touchdown and put the score at 27-7. Still, the Hawks were not finished. Senior linebacker Nathan Trebach intercepted the ball from Jaguar junior quarterback Adam Daly and returned it for an 85-yard touchdown, extending the Hawks lead to 34-7 going into halftime.
A 25-yard pass from junior quarterback Ellis Knudson to sophomore receiver Michael Cobbs increased the Hawks lead to 41-7 in the third quarter, but the Jaguars didn’t roll over in the face of a 34-point deficit.
The Jags struck first in the fourth quarter, on a three-yard pass to Dupont from Daly, to put the score at 41-14. The Hawks struck back; Knudson found junior receiver Stephen Sudik for a 10-yard touchdown to bring their lead back to 34 points.
Sophomore receiver Will Mejia ran the ball in from eight yards bring the Jags their final points of the game, but Hayfield went on to score once more, on a 41-yard run by senior Darius Poindexter to put the final score at 54-21.
More than victory is at stake for the Jaguars this week. They’ll travel to J.E.B. Stuart High School Friday to take on the Raiders in a Falls Church rivalry game. The Raiders, like the Jags, have a 2-7 season record. The Jaguars will be fighting for “the bell,” a trophy that is handed to the winner of the rival game every year, and is currently in the hands of the Raiders.
